Chapter Three: The Illusion of Progress

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except any characters I invent and the plot.

A/N: Again this chapter follows somewhat along the lines of Deathly Hallows, but with my own twist. I hope you are all enjoying the new version of this story. Please let me know in a review!

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A bright white mist swathed the area as Harry lay face down on the ground. Finally, he stirred and sat up, touching his face. His glasses were absent, and he peered into the mist, but he couldn't see anything. Harry frowned as he heard a faint thumping somewhere out there, in the mist.

Harry stood and looked up, seeing a domed glass roof suspended above him which looked oddly familiar. The thumping persisted, intimidating, and Harry squinted into the mist as he walked through it. The thumping grew louder until up ahead a small mass quivered making Harry recoil. A thing, like a small naked child, lay shuddering on the ground. Its skin was raw and rough, and Harry leaned close to it.

'You cannot help,' came a familiar voice and Harry spun around to find Dumbledore standing within the mist. Dumbledore beamed at him, spreading his arms wide and Harry noticed his hand was whole and no longer damaged. Harry ran to him, and Dumbledore encircled him in a hug. 'Harry. You wonderful boy. You brave, brave man,' Dumbledore said, tightening his arms around the younger man. He pulled back and smiled down at him. 'Let us walk,' he suggested, and the two started wandering through the mist leisurely.

After a few moments of silence, Harry looked up at his old Headmaster. 'Sir, this… is this… I mean, forgive me, but you are dead, aren't you?' he faltered, not wanting to offend Dumbledore.

'No, Harry, but to the Wizarding World I am dead,' Dumbledore countered cryptically, making Harry frown at him.

'Sir?' Harry enquired, deliberating on what Dumbledore meant by that. 'Am I dead?' he asked, glancing at him.

Dumbledore smiled. 'Ah, that is the question, isn't it?' he disputed, eyeing Harry over his half-moon spectacles. 'On the whole, I think not,' he finally replied with a snicker.

Harry glanced up at him in uncertainty. 'Not?' he queried, his frown deepening.

'Not,' Dumbledore confirmed, beaming down at Harry.

Harry looked back at him in bewilderment. 'But, I didn't defend myself. I let him kill me,' he stated, shaking his head.

'And that will, I think, have made all the difference,' Dumbledore contradicted, looking down at Harry with twinkling eyes. 'I suspect you now realise that you and Tom have been connected by something other than fate since that night in Godric's Hollow all those years ago, Harry,' Dumbledore said earnestly.

Harry nodded. 'I was right then. A part of his soul does live in me, doesn't it?' he answered, looking up at Dumbledore for confirmation.

'Did,' Dumbledore said with a nod, glancing sideways at him. 'It was just destroyed only moments ago by none other than Tom himself,' Dumbledore elucidated as Harry moved his fingers over his sternum. 'You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry. The Horcrux he never meant to make,' Dumbledore clarified with a sigh.

'And you knew this? That's why you were certain I wouldn't die?' Harry questioned, stopping and turning to face him.

'I wasn't just certain, Harry, I knew you wouldn't die,' Dumbledore responded, looking back at Harry with a smile.

'How did you know?' Harry asked him dubiously and ran his fingers through his hair.

'I am a Time Traveller, and I've come from the Third Age, Harry. I saw what would happen and I knew how to prevent it,' Dumbledore clarified, and Harry gaped at him, wondering if the old man really had utterly lost his marbles.

'Sir, forgive me, but I'm not sure I quite understand what you mean,' Harry said, shaking his head as he tried to process Dumbledore's words.

'Tom's Horcruxes may have all been destroyed, but he had one more trick up his sleeve, Harry,' Dumbledore said, shaking his head. 'It was something I never even fathomed until Severus tipped me off,' he answered, looking off into the distance.

'Snape?' Harry probed with a frown, marvelling how Dumbledore could still have confidence in the man after he deceived him. 'But, Snape murdered you! I saw it! How could you still trust him after that?' Harry questioned, asserting his thoughts and gaping at Dumbledore in confusion, expecting he had a damn good reason.

'Severus was not a traitor, Harry. On the contrary, he's the reason Tom's Horcruxes are now just memories,' Dumbledore answered, his blue eyes twinkling. Dumbledore placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. 'Severus enlightened me to a rather… peculiar object in Tom's possession. Something which I overlooked,' Dumbledore advised cryptically, looking away thoughtfully.

Harry frowned in thought, wondering what Dumbledore was talking about. Suddenly, the ring he had seen on Voldemort's finger came to mind. 'Sir, Voldemort was wearing a ring,' Harry told him.

'Ah, you saw that did you,' Dumbledore stated with a sigh, gesturing for them to keep walking. 'Harry, Tom was not always as he is now. As you know, he was a student at Hogwarts, and you'll be astonished to hear he was very much like yourself,' Dumbledore told him, making Harry look at him in disbelief.

'Like me, how?' Harry asked, trying to imagine Tom Riddle as anything but evil.

Dumbledore chuckled. 'Tom was a decent student. He was quiet but intelligent and resourceful. He was good-natured and a delight to teach,' Dumbledore told him, and Harry gawked at him in shock.

'What? Seriously?' Harry enquired, wondering if this was really Dumbledore he was walking next to considering as he had literally just labelled Tom Riddle as the perfect student.

'Oh, yes,' Dumbledore countered, eyeing Harry seriously. 'Tom had a lot of potential, but then something I never predicted transpired,' Dumbledore paused, shaking his head forlornly. 'I suspect Tom found a ring and has possessed it since, or rather, it has possessed him since. If I am correct in my theory, Tom Riddle was controlled by a malevolent spirit lingering in that ring. A malicious spirit many in my time tried to destroy altogether,' Dumbledore explained despondently.

'Sir, what is that ring? It sounds like a Horcrux,' Harry replied, speculating if someone else had made a Horcrux and manipulated people with it. 'Does that mean Voldemort is under a spell like the Imperious Curse?' he queried, unable to stop the flow of questions entering his mind rapidly.

Dumbledore nodded. 'You could say the ring is a Horcrux in a way. In all honesty, I never even thought of that. It belonged to a Dark Lord of my time and, with it, Middle-Earth was completely razed, and his followers were all that remained. I left believing all hope was lost and came to this time. I let my own selfish motivations get in the way of aiding those who needed me back then and instead of gaining allies to help them, I chose to stay here, and live in peace,' Dumbledore elucidated, tears welling in his eyes at his greatest failure.

'Sir, you said you are a Time Traveller. Couldn't you go back to before it ever happened?' Harry enquired, frowning in confusion.

'Yes, but meddling with time has repercussions, and as a punishment, I was compelled to live with my transgressions. I could not go back unless it was forced. The only way to make a Time Traveller go back in time and give them a chance of redemption is through death,' Dumbledore clarified, smiling at Harry sadly.

Harry's eyes widened in realisation. 'So, you told Snape and he…' he trailed off as more questions came to the forefront of his mind. Everything had rapidly become so grey, he could no longer see it in black and white as he initially believed.

'Yes, Harry. I gave Severus several errands of utmost importance. One of which, was to kill me. It was the foundation of a strategy we discussed. As far as I can tell he has followed my commands precisely as I instructed and my plan is coming together nicely,' he told him with a chuckle.

'Sir, what was your plan?'

'As a Time Traveller, I could not only travel through time, but I could see it. However, visions in one's dreams can be obscured in shadows, and there were some things I did not grasp. Tom's ring was one of those things. I already had an idea about how to defeat him, but Severus' revelation caused that notion to change significantly,' Dumbledore said, pausing in his story to smile at Harry. 'I believe Tom found the ring at the beginning of his second year. There was an unexpected change in him, and he also started to hate me, which was very unusual in itself,' Dumbledore said with a snicker.

'How so?' Harry enquired in interest.

'I was Tom's favourite Professor,' Dumbledore responded, looking down at Harry's dumbfounded expression. 'One morning Tom woke up and he had a peculiar air about him. I could sense a shift in his demeanour and the way he started to regard others. As I cited, Tom was quiet and amenable, even to Muggleborns. Abruptly, they were blood-traitors and beneath him. It was deplorable and unsettling. Now I wonder if it was the ring's influence which took hold of him. If Tom is under Sauron's control, and we kill him now, the ring will only possess another, and they will become a Dark Lord,' Dumbledore enlightened, stopping and regarding Harry.

Harry looked at him apprehensively as the magnitude of Dumbledore's words hit him. 'So, killing Voldemort would be a waste of time?' Harry asked looking at Dumbledore in alarm.

'It would bring peace, but only for a time. Tom would have taken up the mantle of "Dark Lord" because Sauron is the Dark Lord. Sauron desires power in this time and will use anyone to achieve his goals. If we were to look back far enough through history, we could probably determine who had the ring before Tom chanced upon it,' Dumbledore explained, shaking his head dejectedly. 'It is a pity Tom didn't have the will to contest the effects of the ring,' Dumbledore added forlornly with a sigh.

'Sir, when I saw the ring I experienced something odd. I felt like it was talking to me,' Harry told him.

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows at him. 'Yes, what you would have sensed would have been the soul fragment inside you responding to the call of the ring,' Dumbledore clarified, and Harry nodded in relief. Dumbledore saw this and shook his head. 'Do not take that for granted, Harry. You may yet feel the call of the ring, but a strong will can overcome its effects,' he told him, and Harry nodded.

'But, it's over now. The Horcruxes have been destroyed, so someone is bound to kill Voldemort and Sauron will just possess someone else. It's all been for nothing,' Harry said despondently, lowering his head and thinking of all those people who died.

'As soon as Tom's last Horcrux was destroyed, Sauron would have told him to pull out. Tom would not dare go against him, especially not while under the influence of the ring. No, I imagine Sauron has guessed I have been working against him, but whether he knows exactly what I have set in motion, we may never know. In any case, Sauron will do anything to stop us. The ring must be destroyed,' Dumbledore enlightened and started walking at a faster pace through the mist.

Harry jogged to catch up. 'Sir, only Snape knows about the ring though, right? Does he know to destroy it?' Harry enquired, hoping whatever Dumbledore told Snape would stop this madness from happening again.

Dumbledore laughed mirthlessly. 'If it is the same ring, it cannot be destroyed here, Harry. No, only in the fires of Mount Doom can that ring be unmade. And Mount Doom only existed in my time,' Dumbledore explained.

'So, is that why you went back?' Harry asked, receiving a nod to his question. 'So, what now, sir?' he posed, trying to keep up with Dumbledore.

'Severus played his part splendidly, but the game has only begun,' Dumbledore told him, slowing to a stop as the thumping Harry heard earlier became much louder.

'Professor is that-?' Harry paused in his question, squinting through the mist trying to make out a large object which was the source of the thumping.

Dumbledore sighed. 'Yes,' he answered, looking around the area.

'Exactly where are we, sir?' Harry asked, peering around and comprehending there were now two large objects making equally frightening thumping sounds.

'I was going to ask you that,' Dumbledore chuckled, reaching up and stroking his beard thoughtfully. 'Where would you say that we are?' he asked, looking at Harry with twinkling eyes.

'It looks like King's Cross Station, only a lot cleaner,' Harry said, pondering on his surroundings.

'King's Cross! Is that right?' Dumbledore exclaimed with a smile.

'Sir, why are there two trains waiting?' Harry questioned as the two thumping objects became clearer revealing them to be trains.

Dumbledore looked at him. 'This is where you need to make a choice, Harry. I will be leaving on that train,' he said, pointing to the train on the left.

'Where does it go?' Harry asked nervously, not wanting this conversation to end. He was so pleased to be reunited with Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled. 'It will take me to Middle-Earth, back to before this disaster began. The other train will take you home, to Hogwarts,' he clarified, looking at Harry.

'Wouldn't my choice be clear then?' Harry asked, playing with a ring on his middle finger.

Dumbledore's eyes moved down to the ring, and he smiled wistfully. 'Do you know what that is, Harry?' he asked, reaching out his hand with his palm facing up. Harry took his ring off and handed it to Dumbledore without question. The old man studied it for a moment, before looking at Harry over his half-moon spectacles.

'It was my father's ring, passed down to him. I didn't think it had any real importance. If anything, it made me think I was related to Slytherin when I received it in second year,' Harry said reflectively, looking at the silver ring, dulled with age. The base of the ring was two twin serpents with eyes made from emerald. Both the snakes' heads met beneath a crown of golden flowers, which one of the snakes upheld, and the other was devouring. Between the snakes was a large emerald in the shape of an oval. 'I never even questioned it, if I'm honest. Does it have some sort of significance, sir?' Harry asked him, frowning at the ring.

'In my time, it does,' Dumbledore stated, making Harry look at him with wide eyes.

'You mean I had ancestors in your time?' he asked, looking at the ring in wonder.

'Of course, you did, Harry,' Dumbledore replied, scrutinising the ring more closely. 'It has been passed down to the eldest son in your line for thousands of years. It was more noteworthy back then, but only because of what it symbolised,' Dumbledore answered, shaking his head. 'You will learn soon enough, Harry,' Dumbledore added, smiling down at Harry who frowned as he pondered how he would learn about it.

'How?' he said, voicing his thoughts out loud.

'That remains to be seen, but it depends on you,' Dumbledore answered cryptically with a shrug, and Harry couldn't help the slight irritation he felt at that answer.

Realising he wasn't going to get anywhere with that line of conversation, Harry decided to ask, 'Do I have to go back to my time, sir?'

'No, you can finish what you started. If I am right about this ring, Sauron is your greatest adversary for it is through him that Voldemort acts against you. Even if you were to kill him, Sauron would find another to come after you and your friends. You will never know peace until he is destroyed,' Dumbledore clarified, and Harry's eyes widened in understanding.

'So, it was technically Sauron that killed my parents and so many people that I loved?'

Dumbledore nodded despondently. 'Yes, Harry. I believe Sauron's spirit within his ring has been manipulating people throughout the ages to do his bidding,' Dumbledore countered, looking back at the trains. 'Whether you go back or not, that is up to you,' he added, gesturing to the waiting trains.

'Why is he after me, sir?' Harry probed, eyeing the left train which would take him to Dumbledore's time.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, and Harry had the sneaking suspicion he was about to keep something important from him. 'You oppose him, and he will destroy everything that goes against his ultimate design,' Dumbledore replied, shaking his head sheepishly. Harry felt he was right in his assumption. Dumbledore had left out volumes in that statement.

Harry sighed. 'And what is his ultimate design?' Harry enquired, although he anticipated he already knew the answer.

'To rule over all,' Dumbledore answered without missing a beat.

'And by destroying his ring, Voldemort will cease to exist,' Harry asserted contemplatively, rubbing his chin.

'As he is now, yes.'

'With all due respect, sir, I think what we need here is a miracle,' Harry said with a chuckle.

'I've never put much stock in miracles, Harry. On the other hand, I can attest wholly to the extensive advantages of a related phenomenon,' Dumbledore said, grinning down at Harry.

'Which would be, sir?'

'Luck.'

Harry studied Dumbledore's face for a moment before peering back into the mist. The thumping continued, more faintly now. 'Professor?' he questioned, looking back at Dumbledore. The old wizard raised his eyebrows, and Harry gestured to his surroundings. 'Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?'

Dumbledore chuckled. 'You and your surroundings are real. I am but a projection of myself here to advise you of the choice before you and guide you,' Dumbledore told him, and Harry frowned in uncertainty.

Harry nodded watching as Dumbledore moved towards the left train. He turned back just before stepping on and smiled at Harry. 'The choice is yours,' he reiterated before vanishing into the train.

Harry glanced between the two trains and thought about his life up until this point. He nodded to himself, making his decision, and stepped on the train…

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A/N: As you may have noticed I diverted quite a bit from the Deathly Hallows canon here. I hope you all enjoyed it in any case! Let me know in a review…