Disclaimer: I do not own anything in this story that is recognisable from the Harry Potter books, movies, etc. Everything else however (eg. story plot, original characters, etc.) stems from my own imagination and belongs to me. No copyright infringement is intended and I am not profiting financially from this story in any way.
AN: Edited on 30th March 2008
Note: Continues on directly from the Prologue which was Harry's reminiscences.
Chapter 1 – Rituals and a One Way Trip
Sun, 18/9/2005
At the sound of footsteps Harry was shaken from his memories and looked up to see the shadowed form of his closest friend framed in the doorway; Neville Frank Longbottom.
Neville had changed considerably from the clumsy, forgetful boy that Harry had started out Hogwarts with. Once short, the passing of time had seen him grow to an impressive height. Once chubby, years of constantly training and fighting had lent him a rugged, muscled build. Rounded boyish features were also changed; he now bore a strong, square jaw and numerous scars covered his face and body. All in all he was rather tough in appearance; an assessment undermined only by his kind smiles and gentle nature.
Harry winced then smiled fondly as his friend stepped into the room and tripped down the steps. All other changes aside, the clumsiness of his earlier years was unfortunately still with him.
"Damn it, where did I put that chalk?"
As was the forgetfulness.
Harry rose and stalked over to his confused brother – the grace of a skilled fighter ever-present in his movements – and grabbed at the box of chalk hanging out his pocket.
"This what you're looking for Nev?"
Harry removed a piece of the much needed white calcite from its box. Neville meanwhile, gave the chalk a short glare before nodding in an annoyed manner.
"One of these days-" he said and Harry finished the often heard declaration.
"- you'll grow out of this," he paused and smirked, "phase."
"Oh, shut up Potter," he snatched a piece of chalk from the box and turned towards the room, "Now, where do you want me?"
Glancing up, he referred to the meticulous writings on the blackboard at the front of the room; Luna's last great achievement.
Over the course of the war many a discovery had come from the insane genius of Luna Lovegood. Not held back by the common assumptions of what was and was not possible, she had made a number of magical breakthroughs, particularly in the area of Ancient Runes; specifically Runic rituals.
This breakthrough in particular had been finished shortly before her death. So soon in fact that she had not even had the time to tell them of it personally before she died, only to give them the password to her laboratory and instructions to read the letter on the desk. It had been a few months after she was gone before the two could bear to enter her lab and read the letter. Harry could still remember by heart what it said and was sure that Neville could as well. It had read:
To my best boys,
If you are reading this then I am dead. I am sorry if that seems overly dramatic but it must be true. After all the only way you would be able to get into my lab without my password was if the Fobbister let you in and everyone knows they only obey witches with purple eyes and six toes on their right foot.
The boys had had a good if sad laugh at that completely Luna-ish comment.
I was meaning to tell you both about my discovery tonight but then the Death Eater meeting came up. It seems that fate is set against us. It's a pity; I was hoping to go with you both. Not to the meeting but to the other place, because I am sure I went to the meeting. After all if I didn't then you wouldn't be reading this letter. Unless of course one of you really is purple eyed and eleven-toed with a rather large secret. It would have to be Harry of course because I'm fairly sure I would have noticed on our wedding night if my Neville didn't have a-
At that, Neville had blushed crimson and slipped off his chair. The letter had continued on in Luna style, extolling her husband's many admirable qualities before veering off onto several other tangents – including but not limited to candy floss, Bowtruckles, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and some rather questionable suggestion for the use of Dr. Filibuster's Fabulous Wet-Start No-Heat Fireworks – before coming back to the point.
My latest research has been on trans-dimensional travel. No one wants to admit it but the truth is undeniable. Augureys flock to Britain, foretelling uncountable deaths and the Gigglewicks are burrowing underground, a portent of the rising of the dark and the ruination of the light. We are losing the war.
If this idea works you will both be able to travel to another world and start over. The world will be somewhat similar to ours but with some minor differences, although I can't tell what they may be. Also, there will be no way to return. I'd say think this over carefully but I know my boys are reckless Gryffindors at heart.
Instructions and diagrams for the ritual are on the blackboard. So long as you follow them precisely everything should go as planned. Rest assured there is only a 0.031 percent chance that you will instead erase your souls from all dimensions, a 0.017 percent chance of you landing a dimension so fundamentally different that your human bodies are incapable of survival and a 0.004 percent chance of completely destroying the fabric of existence. Good luck and fun travels.
The boys had blanched at these possibilities but it seemed Luna knew them quite well, as they had quickly decided to go through with it nevertheless
Oh also, since alternate versions of yourselves may or may not exist in the other world I have created another ritual. Details are on the smaller blackboard behind the filing cabinet. And I suggest you both make a large withdrawal from Gringotts before you go. No point in going to all the trouble of travelling to another world only to find yourselves destitute.
Remember to wash behind your ears and always wear clean underwear.
Love from,
Luna
P.S. Boys, don't miss me too much. Recall me fondly as I shall watch over you both. Remember Neville, you are the love of my heart, Harry you are the brother of my heart. Always. I love you both.
With a sigh Harry focussed his attention back on the task at hand once again. Neville – still stood before him – was giving him an understanding look, knowing how easy it was to get lost in thoughts of the past these days. Smiling sadly back he shook his head and looked around the lab.
Most of the equipment and furniture in the room was pushed back against the far wall, leaving only the two blackboards Luna had spoken of and a whole lot of clear floor space. Or rather what had been clear floor space.
Over the last three hours Harry had steadily worked from one side of the room to the other, covering the previously clean floor in complex and detailed chalk markings. The markings in question showed exact copies of the two rituals displayed on the blackboards, only on a larger scale.
Looking away from his work he cracked his aching back and stretched his hand before kneeling back down in front of the larger ritual, putting chalk to cement.
"I'm actually nearly finished this one and the other one's already done," he finally said to Neville as he referred to the large blackboard and continued drawing, "Could you maybe start double checking that one for me? Second set of eyes and all that, just to make sure I haven't made any mistakes anywhere?"
"Sure, no problem," Neville said, dropping the packet of chalk he had brought off to the side and approached the smaller ritual.
They worked together in relative silence, the only sounds Neville's carefully footsteps – cautious so as not to smudge any of the runes – and the scratching sound of Harry's chalk on the cement floor.
It wasn't much later when Harry let out a satisfied sigh and leaned back on his haunches. His companion, who finished also after a moment, looked at him, eyebrow raised.
"Done?"
"Yep, finally."
"Want me to check that one as well?"
"Yeah if you can," Harry nodded
Getting up, the ebony haired man walked over to the wall and then slid down to the floor in a relaxed sitting position. His idle hands played with the remainder of his piece of chalk as he watched his friend meticulously check over his work. The silence resumed for some time
"So," Harry said, suddenly remembering just where Neville had been whilst he was working, "How'd the errands go?"
"Fine," Neville murmured most of his attention clearly on what he was doing.
"Didn't run into much trouble?"
"Nope. Pair of Death Eaters was wandering about the Alley when I was scavenging for that chalk of yours. No problems though. Had the cloak and silencing charms on – all the usual. They didn't notice a thing."
"Good," Harry nodded, "And at the bank?"
Neville snorted and looked over momentarily to give a smirk.
"Bank was almost empty and the guard Goblins looked like they were there for more than show – but that's to be expected in these times I suppose."
"Then what was the laugh about?" he asked, a frown on his face and head tilted curiously to the side.
"Weeellllll," Neville continued to draw the word out until his friend lost all patience and chucked the piece of chalk at his head, "Alright, alright, I'll tell! The Goblins were about as pleasant or rather unpleasant as usual… until they found out why I was there."
"Let me guess," Harry smiled, catching on, "They simultaneously burst into tears."
"Pretty close to it. Kept begging me to change my mind then they switched to trying to bribe me," his smiled faded to be replaced by a frown, "One of the Goblins though – Grellnick or something – kept going on about wasn't there anything he could do to change my mind. He was disturbingly suggestive about it, if you know what I mean."
He gave a vaguely revolted shudder and Harry tried to look sympathetic. He really did try. Understandably the effort only lasted a couple of seconds before he burst into raucous laughter. Huffing in annoyance but unable to completely hide a small smile at seeing his friend laughing – such genuine, unrestrained happiness was a rare thing in these times – Neville finished checking the last of the ritual whilst Harry calmed down some.
"Well," he said finally, nodding, "This all looks right to me, just the candles and dagger left."
"Good," mostly calm now, only a few snickers broke through.
"Well, if you've finished laughing at me," another snicker caused him to sigh, "I'll just pretend you are. I have something for you here," he dug into his pockets coming out with two small boxes no bigger than a deck of playing cards, "I believe you ordered one Potter family fortune," he spoke, mimicking a Muggle fast-food server as he tossed one box to Harry, then re-pocketing the other, "And one Longbottom family fortune for me."
"Ta," he caught the tossed box – a more detailed examination of which would reveal it to be a miniaturised trunk – before pocketing his as well.
"So what next?" asked Neville as he slid down to sit beside his friend.
"Well, how about names? You picked one out yet?"
When they had first looked at the smaller blackboard Luna had referred them to, they had been at first stunned and then elated. It seemed the young woman had been experimenting in the area of gene alteration. Her notes indicated that she had begun the project knowing there were many children made orphans by the war and that they may like the opportunity to be adopted not only by law, but also by blood and magic into a new family.
The original idea of the spell was to give the child a combination of the blood and in turn the appearance of their new parents. Luna however had decided to expand upon her idea, making a deviated ritual in which the change was instead a mutual one between two parties – both changing somewhat to match each other. In other words, Harry and Neville would be able to become brothers not only in their hearts but in blood as well.
It was the perfect way to disguise themselves without the risks associated with a glamour or Polyjuice. That is to say that they needn't worry about the spell being seen through or dispelled, or a potion running out. It would be permanent. Not only that but it was something they would have done anyway if given the chance.
So it was that they were both understandably very exited about the idea and had decided to also choose new names for each other. After all, there would be little point in going to the trouble of changing appearances only to be caught out by their names.
"I finally decided just yesterday," Neville said excitedly, "And you?"
"Yep, all done. Why don't you go first?"
"Well I was originally thinking Bambi or possibly Fawn, after your dad's Animagus form," at the stern glare and smack to the head he laughed and continued on more seriously "Sorry, I had to say it. Okay, seriously now. Well, for your first name I decided to go with Evan. You know, after Evans, your mother's maiden name," he looked uncertainly at Harry until the other nodded then returned his smile and continued, "And for your middle name, at first I was going to use James, for your father. But, I decided that was a bit too obvious."
"Yeah, I think so too," he agreed.
"Right. So then I decided to do something with his surname instead."
"I think 'Potter' would be a bit of a giveaway too Nev," he said sarcastically.
"I know that," he rolled his eyes, "Now shut up and listen. Anyway I couldn't find any names that meant 'a potter' or anything like that, and the only other name I could think of was Clay or Clayton, but I didn't really like that."
"Oh, good," Harry gave a relieved sigh, "Neither did I. Now hurry up and get to the point."
"You know, patience is a virtue," he told his friend who glared until he finally continued, "Okay so then I started thinking of Sirius instead and that started me thinking of the Marauders and the perfect name came to me. Foley! It's perfect because you have Evan for your mum and Foley quite literally means 'marauder', so it can count for your dad and Sirius and maybe even Professor Lupin as well," he explained then looked expectantly to his friend, hoping he would like it.
"Evan Foley," he murmured before looking up and breaking out in a huge grin, "I love it, it's perfect."
"Oh, thank Merlin. I'm glad. I took me forever to choose and if you hadn't liked it I don't know what else I could pick. Now, tell me what you chose for me."
"Leander Philip," he stated simply.
"Right," Neville said, used to his friend's habit of oversimplifying, "Any particular reason for that?
"Well, Leander means 'brave man' or 'lion man' and you are the perfect Gryffindor – brave, noble, righteous," he explained.
By the stuttering and red of the elder Gryffindor's face, he was obviously flattered and more than a little embarrassed. He had learnt some amount of grace over the years though, and after a moment managed to stop – the stuttering that is, but not so much the blushing – and smile gratefully. Giving a small, amused smile back, Harry continued.
"As for the second name, I had the same idea as you. Your mum's maiden name was Phillipson right?"
"Yeah."
"So, your middle name is Philip. Happy?"
"Yeah, I really like it. We still need a surname though," they both lapsed into thoughtful silence for a moment.
"How about Franklin?"
"Why Franklin?"
"From Frank, after your father."
"Really," he seemed excited before he deflated a bit, "No that wouldn't be fair. We can't just use my father's name and forget about yours."
"Neville," he rolled his eyes, "Relax. I already have a name from my mum and one from my dad. You only have one from your mother since Leander was about you. So, Franklin would be the best choice."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely," he nodded firmly.
Finally agreed, they both went about finishing setting up the smaller blood-brother ritual, following the directions given. Thin candles in red and white were placed in the proper positions and a ritual dagger was placed over the point joining the two small circles of runes in the centre. It was in these two circles that the two participants would be seated. Finally finished, Neville looked up to Harry for confirmation. When he nodded they both started stripping off their clothing.
The ritual required that both participants be completely naked and clean. Well, I wasn't so much a requirement as a very strong suggestion. Luna's notes had described what might happen otherwise.
…if some foreign matter, say a woollen thread from your clothes, were to enter into the ritual you may instead find yourself sharing traits with a sheep or possibly a robe. Neither being a desirable outcome. Unless that is, you…
In other words, they really wanted to be undressed and as clean as possible for the ritual. As they each cast strong Scourgify charms on themselves Harry looked up at his friend and gave a mock-mournful look, heaving a great sigh.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. Just thinking how disappointed your Grellnick would be to know he missed the show."
"Prat!" he threw his ball of clothes and his wand at Harry who set them aside with his own and laughed unrepentantly.
Harry then stepped carefully over the runes to kneel in one of the circles and Neville copied the movement opposite him.
"Ready?" the young, green-eyed man asked.
"Um, I hope so," the other wizard replied, eyes quickly scanning over the incantation on the blackboard one last time, "Yeah, I'm ready."
"Okay," they both took a deep breath and locked eyes before speaking in synchronicity.
"I call upon magic, to grant my wish," the candles began lighting of their own accord as the magic in the room built up, send goose-pimples racing over their skin, "Let the brother of my heart, become the brother of my blood."
There was then a pause as Harry picked up the dagger and cut across his palm from the base of pinkie to thumb. For a moment there was nothing but a thin red line before rivulets of blood started tracing over his palm and dripping from his fingers
"Remake me, Harry James Potter, as Evan Foley Franklin," he said alone then handed the dagger to Neville who copied his actions.
"Remake me, Neville Frank Longbottom, as Leander Philip Franklin," he chanted and they clasped cut hands, blood mingling as they finished together.
"So mote it be!"
The candles flared briefly and they screamed as pain flared for but an instant, before the candles died down and they both slumped forward in exhaustion. After a few moments a moan sounded and the smaller of the two rose slowly, rubbing at his still sore eyes. Only a second later the other gave a groan also and struggled into a sitting position.
"Well, that wasn't particularly pleasant," said a mock-cheery voice and Neville looked up to give his companion a glare.
"I think that's a bit of an under-eep!"
"Under-eep?" questioned Harry, still rubbing at his eyes not knowing he was being stared at.
"Uh, Harry you might want to take a look in a mirror or something, because the ritual? Kinda worked."
"What do you me-" he paused hands half lowered and sat there blinking for a moment, "Well I'll say. You're changed as well."
"I am?"
"Yep," he jumped up and retrieved his wand and glasses before pausing, "Well, now I know why my eyes hurt as well."
"What do you mean?"
In response Harry removed the recently placed spectacles from his face, threw them to the floor and then – with a delighted grin – crushed them under the heel of the boot. The other boy gaped for a moment before speaking up.
"Er, you do realise you just destroyed your glasses – as in, the only things preventing you from having to go about blind as a bat?"
"I know," he grinned then took pity on his befuddled friend and explained, "I don't need them anymore! My eyesight must've been one of the things the ritual decided to copy from you."
"Really? That's fantastic," Neville enthused, glad for his friend.
"It really is; and more for you than me. After all there was always the chance the ritual could have done the opposite and given you my eyesight instead," then – not giving the other man time to worry over what could have occurred – he raised his wand and conjured a large mirror in front of them, "Now, what say we both take a look."
Both of them approached the mirror and then stared curiously at their new selves, taking in the changes. They most obvious detail was their eyes – because they hadn't changed at all. Harry's were still an emerald green and Neville's a sky blue.
Their hair on the other hand had changed. Both had a new colour. Harry's once black and Neville's brownish-blonde had both chosen to settle somewhere in between at a chocolate brown colour. Harry was also amused to note that although his hair still stuck up abominably, his friend's had acquired a certain messiness that hadn't been there before as well.
Build-wise neither had changed overmuch. Neville was a little less broad and not quite as tall, but the change was negligible; he was still quite muscular and imposing looking. Harry on the other hand was a just little less skinny, and his muscles more defined. He had also grown a couple of inches, but was still obviously the shorter of the two – it seemed he was doomed to never reach any sort of respectable height.
Then there were the faces. Neville seemed to have noticed that his main wish had been granted and his ears – which he had often complained about, and was now examining cheerily in the mirror – did not stick out quite as much as they used to. Other changes were more subtle such as a slightly less rigid though still square jaw line and a generally softening to his features. As for Harry the opposite seemed the case. His features were still far too delicate for his tastes, but his jaw was a tad squarer and his features a little more defined.
The last noticeable difference was in skin tone. Harry's once pale skin had changed to match Neville's - slightly tanned with light freckles across his face.
Now, standing together side by side, the two of them could not be mistaken for anything but brothers. More importantly though was that despite the changes seeming minor when taken separately, when combined together the effect was rather dramatic. Neither was ever likely to be recognised as their otherworldly counterparts, except perhaps in the vaguest of references that they bore a passing resemblance to the Longbottom and Potter families and 'were they perhaps distant cousins of a sort?'. Overall, both were quite happy with the changes.
Finally satisfied that he had properly inspected his new form, Harry walked across the room. He stumbled awkwardly at first, unused to the slight change of height, before regaining his sense of balance and leaning down to pick up the piles of clothes.
"Here," Harry threw Neville his pile, wand included, and began pulling on his trousers, "Best get changed back. Unless of course you changed your mind about inviting your Goblin friend over…"
Laughing lightly at the growl in response, he then danced out of the path of the clothes thrown his way and skipped out of the room. In the hallway outside there were four trunks leaning against the wall. One each held Harry's own and Neville's belongings, one contained the possessions they had kept from their fallen friends and in the last was packed the remainder of Luna's research notes and technical doodads from her laboratory. There were also two smaller duffle bags with the lot, containing a few essential belongings – enough for them to live out of for several days if necessary without needing to riffle through their tightly-packed trunks.
Finishing reattaching his main wand holster to his forearm, he drew his wand and waved it at the bags for their journey. With a quiet, "Reducio, Levitas," he shrunk them all down and made them feather light so that they could all be gathered up. Returning to the room he found Neville finishing buttoning up his shirt.
"Here," he handed over Neville's luggage as well as Luna's for him to carry, adding the remaining three to his own pocket with the trunk Neville had returned from Gringotts with earlier.
"Thanks," he paused purposefully, "Brother."
They both grinned at each other, high on the realisation that they were now family by blood.
"No problem, brother mine," he returned.
"So Harry, when d-"
"Evan," he interrupted, suddenly serious.
"Huh?"
"We'd best get used to using our new names. Don't want to slip up when it really matters."
"You're right," Neville nodded, agreeing, "From now on you're Evan and I'm Leander."
"Good."
"So, Evan, when do we do the other ritual? How long do you want to wait?"
"Wait?"
"Well the blood-brother ritual took a bit out of us as it was. I'd imagine travelling to another dimension would be even worse. I just thought maybe we should rest a bit," Harry stared at him and started fidgeting, "What? What have I missed?"
"Sorry," he shook his head, "It's just I though I would have told you. Must have slipped my mind. Anyway, the ritual needs to be performed at the moment of the full moon."
"When's that?"
They both glanced at the wizard's clock on the wall, reading the many hands pointing at various planets and moons.
"Tonight," he stated, "Or rather this morning, since it's after midnight."
"Tonight?" Neville said, sounding worried, "When tonight?"
"Well, it's four fifty-seven in the morning. So in about… four minutes."
"What!?" the blue-eyed man's worry had now escalated to outright panic and he started fluttering rather pointlessly about the room, "How could you not tell me? Merlin, there's so much to do. We need our gold from Gringotts-"
"You did that earlier."
"Well we have to pack-"
"Already done.
"We need to get our luggage together and-"
"What do you think those trunks were for?"
"But we still have to tell the others of the Resistance-"
"I did it last night, what did you think the party with the 'Good Luck' banner was all about?"
This continued on for some time before Harry grew tired of it. Besides, they were running out of time listening to his babbling. Marching over to his friend his grabbed hold of his shoulder with one hand and with the other, slapped him soundly across the face.
There was silence.
"You slapped me," he said in a wounded tone, a woebegone expression on his face.
"You were panicking."
"You slapped me," annoyed now.
"You were wasting time. We only have a minute and a half left to start the ritual." He explained logically and Neville's annoyance turned to pouting.
"You slapped me," he whined.
"Oh stop sulking," he rolled his eyes in exasperation, "We have a ritual to do."
He then proceeded to drag his moping friend over to the ritual and into position in the centre circle of runes. Said friend muttered the whole way about what sounded suspiciously like "ruffians with violent tendencies". Ignoring the maligning of his character, Harry went about placing the candles before taking his place in the circle also.
"It's time."
Neville, seeing the serious expression on his face, immediately focussed on the task at hand.
"You're sure I don't need to chant?" the question had been bothering him.
"Positive," Harry responded, "Luna's notes say that only one person needs to chant for everything in the circle to be transported. You'll be dragged along, sort of like a passenger."
Neville nodded and glanced around the room, another thought occurring to him.
"I thought we agreed it was too dangerous to leave any information behind about the ritual," he gestured towards the blackboards, "Shouldn't we erase those?"
"It doesn't really matter either way since the actual ritual will still be set up once we disappear," at Neville's anxious expression he continued, "Don't worry, I asked Beaumont to come in later this morning and clean everything up. You know how against this whole idea he was. He's not likely to leave behind any information for anyone else to do the same thing."
Neville nodded, satisfied with the idea.
Looking at the clock showed they had only seconds left till the moon reached its fullest. Harry took a deep breath, scanning the incantation on the blackboard one last time. At the second hand made the last jump, he began to chant.
As the chanting commenced, the candles lit up. Then magic began to build up in the room. It swirled around them like wind, but the candles' flames remained steady with nary a flicker. Faster and faster it span and Harry had to chant louder and louder to be heard over the storm. Neville chanced to look up and started at what he saw. At the top of the wind tunnel which the magic had formed, the ceiling could no longer be seen. Instead, blocking the view was a pulsing energy that seemed to be made of nothingness. Realising the direction of his friend's attention, Harry too looked up as he chanted, surprised to see the void above them.
They continued staring into the blackness as the ritual continued and watched as images eventually began appearing in what they now realised was the portal through which they would be travelling. The images passed by too fast for either to see them properly but both had the distinct feeling that they were different worlds. Finally, the chanting reached a crescendo and with an inaudible 'snap' the picture froze on an image. Both had but a moment to stare at the picture of an empty field before the wind became so strong their feet left the floor. Then, with a roaring 'whoosh' they were pushed up towards and then into the void, unconsciousness claiming them.
..ooOOoo..
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