Tonks sighed as she looked around the station in search for the exorcist that was supposed to come and take care of this 'Akuma' problem. It was rather early in the morning but there was still quite a few people out and about. Families, friends, and lovers all greeting or saying goodbye to their loved ones in their own special way, as those select few entered or left the trains resting on their tracks. As much as the Muggle World and its people fascinated her, this was not what Tonks wanted to do first thing in the morning.
"Hey Lupin, what's this guy look like again?" she asked out of boredom, already knowing the answer. Idly she began playing with a lock of long plain brown hair.
"Dumbledore said his name is Allen Walker and he would be wearing something akin to a black trench coat with silver markings. He'd said it'd be distinctive and that we would know when we saw it." Lupin answered not bothering to take his eyes off the morning crowd.
"Hey, how do you think Dumbledore knows all this? I mean, this is the first time that our world has had to deal with 'Akumas' right? Heck, I'm still a little confused on what we're dealing with." Tonks asked out of the blue. She had been thinking about it ever since the meeting with Dumbledore last night but had never gotten the chance to ask him.
"Actually, the Wizarding World does seem to have some knowledge on these creatures. Severus was right; no one bothered to keep up with their studies after school had ended." Remus said softly as he sat down on a bench, Tonks joining him soon after.
"I'm beginning to believe that Snape just makes it his business to know everything." Tonks snorted as she stretched her arms out and let out a loud yawn.
"With a job like his I can't say I blame him." The werewolf told the auror with a slight warning in his tone. Sirius may not be willing to let go of old grudges but Lupin was, and it was clear to him that Snape was starting to get sick of all of it. He wouldn't be surprised if after the war the Potions Master took several years of vacation to make up for all the stress Voldemort and the Order put him through.
"Ok, fair enough," Tonks said, slightly ashamed. She may not like Snape but Remus was right; she certainly didn't want to be in his position! The man was risking his life and the Order didn't exactly welcome him with open arms. The least she could do was treat him with a little decency. After all, the worse he's ever done to her is sneer at her clumsiness. "But Snape's only read about them. Dumbledore actually met one! He probably fought it and won! What do you think?" She asked her companion excitedly, her mind conjuring up images of the older wizard fearlessly battling some unknown creature.
"Yes, actually I asked him about it right after the Order was dismissed a few nights ago." Lupin told Tonks with a slight chuckle in his voice.
"Oh? Do I sense a funny, possibly embarrassing, story regarding these akumas and old Dumbledore?" Tonks asked with a wicked smile as she scooted closer to Remus.
"Well, Dumbledore told me that about 30 years ago, Nicolas Flamel and himself had gotten their hands on a Time Turner. . .and some fire whiskey. In a moment of stupidity, they both put the time turner around their necks and began to spin it backwards as fast they could. Just to see how far back they could go in time. Apparently it left them somewhere in the 19th century."
"I wondered how they figured that out."
"He said they ended up in an alley way, so no one saw them. The building structures and the clothes the people were wearing helped immensely in figuring out what era they were stuck in as well as what they needed to transfigure their robes into. Anyway, since they had nothing better to do, Flamel and Dumbledore began walking until they came across the town square. They were enjoying the scenery and the people, when a person in the town square just ripped right apart."
"What?" Tonks exclaimed loudly as she sat up straighter, not even caring that her yell drew looks from the crowded train station. Lupin nodded excitedly and continued on.
"It's true. The skin ripped right off for no reason and from underneath emerged this grotesque creature. The headmaster couldn't even properly describe what it looked like, only that it had a clowns face on this round form that made up its body. People were screaming and running in all sorts of directions when it began to attack them." He ended on a solemn note.
"Did it. . .?" She had wanted to ask if it had killed anybody but didn't have the heart to say it aloud. Her friend understood her unasked question and nodded in confirmation.
"Yes. It killed dozens. It fired out a type of spiked bullet and anyone it hit, their bodies had stars appear on them before they crumbled into a poisonous dust. They used magic to shield themselves from the dust when they saw it was killing people the monster failed to hit. Dumbledore and Flamel tried to stop it but their spells just bounced off it. They were nothing to that creature but mere annoyances. Dumbledore told me that he and Flamel were prepared to meet their fate but were spared when a man came and killed the Akuma; just like that!" Here, Lupin had snapped his fingers and Tonks's eyes became wide as saucers as her jaw practically hit the ground.
"Seriously, this guy just came in and killed it like a bug?" Lupin nodded at her question.
"Yes. Dumbledore and Flamel were both very confused and shaken on what happened, but the man was kind enough to explain things to them."
"Wait, he just told them? Wouldn't he have kept it a secret?"
"No, apparently this was common knowledge back then. Akuma attacks are rare these days, so I guess nobody's really that concerned. They were probably thought of as extinct until now." There was silence between the two until Tonks spoke up again.
"Lupin, you said that exorcists wore black trench coats with silver on them, right?"
"Yes."
"I think I just found our exorcist." Lupin looked to were Tonks was pointing, and almost fell off the bench in shock. The auror was pointing at a boy around Harry's age, but at first glance looked like an old man because of his white hair. He was wearing the uniform that they were on the lookout for and he seemed to be looking for someone. Still, the boy was so scrawny; it looked like he hadn't eaten in days.
"Is that really our guy? He looks like a strong wind could knock him into next week. I was expecting a really big muscular guy with an axe or something." Tonks whispered in disbelief.
"He is wearing the description of the uniform, so I guess we should go see if he's the person we're looking for." Lupin said getting up from the bench. The two wizards slowly made their way through the crowd that had grown larger in a short amount of time. It took a lot of shuffling and more than one apology to a disgruntled passerby but they finally reach him.
"Excuse me," Lupin started, slightly out of breath, as he taped the boy on his shoulder to get his attention. The boy looked at him and Tonks and smiled kindly.
"Yes?" He asked them politely. Both Lupin and Tonks were surprised by his soft voice that was full of gentleness. Both of them knew that very few people possessed that trait these days.
"Are you by, any chance, Allen Walker?" The boy's eyes widened with surprise for a moment but quickly went back to normal as he answered.
"Yes I am. I take it you're the escorts?" Lupin and Tonks nodded at the question and the teenager gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! I was worried I was at the wrong place." Allen didn't have the heart to tell them he had gotten lost three different times in the last hour. Somehow he doubted that would make a good impression, especially since his hotel was right across the street.
"Nope! You're right where you need to be!" Tonks told him cheerfully. "My friend here is Remus Lupin and I'm Nymphadora Tonks but you can just call be Tonks." The boy bowed politely to Tonks, and shook Lupin's hand before introducing himself.
"Allen Walker but you already know that don't you?" The boy laughed. "It's a pleasure to meet you both. Are we going to your world now or later?" Allen asked curiously.
"We'll be leaving right now, if you'll follow us." With that all three began to walking towards the Leaky Cauldron. On the way, Tonks and Lupin gave Allen more details on what was happening both still a little shocked that this kid, no matter how polite, was the exorcist they were waiting for. After walking for what seemed like forever, the trio finally made it to the Leaky Cauldron.
"Well, here we are." Tonks said. She watched in amusement as Allen's eyes got big.
"I can honestly say this is not what I expected." He replied, keeping the distaste out of his voice. The place looked . . .dirty for lack of better word. 'It looks like a place Master would love to go.' Allen thought, barely suppressing his shudder. 'Happy thoughts think happy thoughts, Allen. He's not here, he's not here. . .' Allen chanted in his mind.
"Yeah, well you weren't what we expected so now we're even." Tonks said, ignorant to their guest's inner turmoil. Opening up the door the trio went inside. After stopping for a moment so they could adjust to the dim lighting, Lupin lead them over to the bar and began to talk to the bar tender.
"Hello Tom. Do you have the boot?" Tom laughed and nodded as he handed Lupin a raggedy old boot from behind the counter.
"Yep. Kept it for you just like I promised." The older man said with a big grin before going to help another customer.
"Thank you." Lupin called out to him. Turning back to Tonks and Allen he almost burst out laughing at the lost look on the poor boy's face.
"Allen, I need you to hold onto this boot with Tonks and myself." Allen had no idea why Lupin wanted him to touch the boot, but did as he requested. A moment later, he felt a familiar tug at his navel, and everything began to spin. 'Again?' Allen thought as he closed his eyes so he wouldn't get sick from all the colors spinning together, not that it was really helping. The next thing he knew he felt himself fall onto a floor. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on the floor of an office with Tonks laughing at his dazed expression and Lupin talking to an old man. As he sat up, both of the men came over to him and the old man smiled as he spoke.
"Hello, young man. I take it you're the one they sent to help us deal with our Akuma problem, correct?" Allen nodded slightly.
"Yes, I am." The old man laughed joyfully at this.
"I'm very glad to hear that. I'm Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of the school Hogwarts. Tonks, Remus, if you'd be so kind as to wait outside? I have some important things to discuss with our guest." Dumbledore told the other two, who nodded and left after saying goodbye to Allen.
"It's a pleasure to meet you sir. I'm Allen Walker." Allen said after a moment of silence. Dumbledore chuckled softly at Allen's actions. It had been a while since he had met someone so young and polite.
"I assure you, the pleasures all mine." Dumbledore's smile widened when Allen straitened up and looked at him curiously. Yes, this young man is certainly one of a kind.
"Welcome, Allen Walker." Dumbledore said as he shook his hand. "Welcome to Hogwarts."
"Thank you. I wish it was under different circumstances." Allen told the old man. "Oh! That's right, before I forget, here's you're necklace back." The exorcist said as he fished the necklace out of his pocket and handed it over to the Head Master.
"Thank you child," Dumbledore said softly. "But you'll need that if you want to go back home."
"Actually, I needed to speak with you about that." Allen responded, rubbing the back of his head. "Is there a place with a lot of space? Preferably one that won't have too many people in the vicinity. "
"Of course." Dumbledore told him, though there was confusion in his voice. Taking ahold of Allen's arm, the Head Master concentrated and, before Allen knew it, they were standing in an empty classroom.
"The great thing about being Head Master is that I be anywhere almost instantaneously within Hogwarts walls."
"That's amazing!" Allen said. Then it was Dumbledore's turn to be amazed. The young man had moved to the middle of the room and began to glow. The floor around the boy formed perfect circles and out of the ground came a strange shape with the number, +1 etched on it. As Allen opened his eyes and stepped away, Dumbledore noticed the number was also in the center of the circles.
"Truly brilliant." He whispered. Never before had he seen magic like this before. "What is it, may I ask?"
"It's a gate so if I need to leave or reinforcements need to come through, then it can be done with little hassle. The plus in front of the one is different though." Allen said casually. "Let me see if it worked right; I've never made a gate under these circumstances." With that said, Allen walked into the gate and found the door the led to the Black Order. Opening it, he gave a small sigh of relief at seeing familiar faces.
"Hello." He said with a wave to all the shocked faces, not even caring that it was above Komui's desk.
"Really Allen, above my desk?" Komui asked with exasperation.
"I'm still mad at you." Allen told him with a sweet smile. "The Gate to the Wizarding World has +1, on the door, got that?" Then, without waiting for an answer, he left.
"Wow, he wasn't kidding about being mad." Ravi said.
"Just shut up, Ravi."
"Ok. It's working like it should." Allen commented as he jumped down by Professor Dumbledore. The wizard had come closer while he was gone to investigate the Gate.
"This is a most interesting piece of magic." The old man said in wonder. "How do you do this?" it hadn't passed by him that Allen hadn't even said a world while summoning the gate.
"It's in the blood." Allen brushed off. He really didn't feel like explaining the 14th and the skills he gained because of him. "Is there a way to seal off the room, so that curious people don't let themselves in?" Allen asked, changing the subject.
"Why of course. Step out into the hallway, if you will." After closing the classroom door, Dumbledore took out his wand and casted and spell under his breath. After a moment of chanting, he stopped and looked at Allen.
"This door can only be opened if a person is automatically keyed in or knows the password. This particular spell can only be undone by the castor, so no one- unless unusually powerful- can break it. Now then, what would you like the password to be?" He asked the young man.
Allen let loose a slow smile before replying.
"Innocence."
A/N: Dumbledore had two timers on him when he went back in time. One for the exorcist and one so he could get back himself.