Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 2: Elixir of Epoch

Dumbledore slipped into the Great Hall that night at the end of dinner. Only a few students were milling about at the four tables, and Elphias was one of them. He slipped into the bench beside him and started filling up a plate with food. He hadn't eaten at all that day and he could feel the pangs of hunger in his stomach.

"Where have you been?" Elphias asked him. "You missed Charms."

Dumbledore chewed before replying. "I'll tell you when we get somewhere private. You wouldn't believe what's happened."

He glanced down the Gryffindor table and spotted Atticus Potter with a friend of his. His hair stuck up in the same spot as Harry's did. As Atticus stood up to leave, he noticed they had the same frame, too.

"I find anything that involves you hard to believe, Albus," Elphias said as he flipped the page of the Evening Prophet. His eyes immediately focused on one section of the page. "Ah, shame. Dexter Fortescue's son died. Can you believe that? Had Dragon Pox."

Dumbledore shook his head, moving closer to Elphias to read over his shoulder. He frowned as he read, remembering the former Headmaster's son while he was a seventh year during Dumbledore's first year. He had had a small son and a wife and they owned a sweet shop in Diagon Alley. Sighing wearily, he turned back to his meal. "I can never understand why some of the best people die young."

"Rotten bit of luck, I'd say," he said. "I did rather like him, though. He was the only seventh year who didn't laugh when I had Dragon Pox myself."

Dumbledore could remember that. He, too, hadn't minded that Elphias had Dragon Pox. Their two other dormmates weren't as sympathetic. Greyson Abbott and Thomas Witherson had tried to stay as far away from Elphias as possible until the green pimples had disappeared. They still rarely talked. Greyson and Thomas were best friends while Dumbledore and Elphias stuck together. Dumbledore didn't mind either of them, but he knew for a fact that they thought he was odd.

Elphias continued to read while Albus ate. He glanced down the table again. Only about six Gryffindors, including them, sat at the table. One of those included Dumbledore's brother, Aberforth, who was silently sketching down at one end of the table nearest the empty teacher's table. Dumbledore filled a plate with dessert, and stood up. Elphias looked up, but when he saw Dumbledore was going the opposite way of the doors, with a plate in hand, he looked back down at the paper.

"Hello, Aberforth," Dumbledore said, dropping his plate down and sitting directly opposite his little brother. "What are you drawing?"

Aberforth grunted, "Hokey," in return and lifted his notebook up to show him. Dumbledore smiled at the drawing. Aberforth was quite a good artist, especially from memory. He'd gotten the likeness of Hokey well.

"Care for a treacle tart?" Dumbledore asked with a gesture to the plate he'd brought with him. Aberforth eyed it, but said, "No, thank you."

"It's delightful," Dumbledore said before taking a bite of one on his plate.

"Delightful my a-"

"That's no way to admire the cooks."

Aberforth glowered at Dumbledore as he grinned politely at him.

"Mother sent a letter today," Aberforth said.. He flipped to the front of his notebook to retrieve the parchment. He handed it to Dumbledore to unfold.

"'Dear Albus and Aberforth,'" he read aloud, recognizing their mother's handwriting, "'I hope your first week of school went wonderfully. I was talking to Mrs. Bagshot the other day about how well you both were doing in school-'" Aberforth huffed, saying. "Load of poppycock," but Dumbledore shushed him. "'She's writing a history book with a chapter dedicated to Hogwarts at the moment, and will be visiting in two weeks. If you see her, tell her hello. Ariana is doing well. She misses you both. I, too, miss your presence. With love from your mum, KD.'"

"How lovely," Aberforth said in a slight sarcastic tone. "I'm glad Ariana's doing well if anything."

Dumbledore nodded, taking another bite of his tart, and handing the letter back to Aberforth who carefully folded it and slipped it back into his notebook again. Aberforth stood, gathering up his school bag from the floor.

"Are you going back to the common room?" Dumbledore asked him. He gave a small nod. "May I join?"

"If you must," Aberforth said.

Dumbledore gathered up Elphias and the three boys made their way up to Gryffindor Tower. Elphias and Dumbledore were talking, but Aberforth held back some, trailing behind them as if he wasn't wanted.

"When did Mum say Mrs. Bagshot was coming?" Albus asked him even though he knew.

"Two weeks," he gruffed.

"A history book of the magical world?" Elphias said. "Have there been any of those, or is this the first?"

"It's the first since the Muggles invented the printing press," Dumbledore said. "I think someone wrote one in the fifteenth century, at least, that's what Madam Pince said."

Elphias laughed. "You've talked to her before?"

He gave a shrug. "She's not so bad. Maybe a little mad, but isn't everybody?"

"People say you're the maddest in the school, Albus," Aberforth said behind them. Elphias stopped chuckling at Aberforth's words. "With all your ridiculous inventions."

Albus laughed, humored. "I take pride in knowing how odd I am."

"Is that the only other thing you care about beside your marks?"

Dumbledore spun around. Aberforth stopped dead, just inches away. For a fourth year, he was practically as tall has his older brother. Elphias looked between them warily.

"I care about Ariana, if that's what you mean," Albus said calmly, though on the verge of irritability.

"How'd you know?" Aberforth asked quietly. "Whenever I see you, you're caught up in some new brilliant idea. If you cared half as much about your family as you do about your studies-"

"I care," he said.

Albus pulled out his wand at the same speed as Aberforth. But as Aberforth said, "Impedimenta!" a shield found its place in between them, although no other words had been said. The shield swallowed Aberforth's spell, which only made Aberforth angrier. But instead of cursing Albus, he dropped his hand and stalked off down the hall, his wand emitting red sparks.

Once he was out of sight, Albus shook his head. "He's been rather ill-tempered lately," he said calmly, turning back to Elphias. They continued on their way toward Gryffindor tower, but before they got to the seventh floor, Albus pulled him aside.

"I've got to show you something," he said quietly, grabbing onto Elphias's arm and pulling him left off the staircase.

"What is it?" he asked, his small eyes growing as wide as they could.

"You'll see."

Albus knocked on Merrythought's office with a quick rap. The door opened on it's own and the first thing Albus saw were yellow sparks lighting up the room, followed by a bright blue. He smiled. A duel was going on.

But what he didn't expect as he ushered Elphias in and shut the door was Harry dueling with Merrythought. Spells were flying everywhere, each getting rebounded or dodged. Harry moved out of the way of a stunner, which hit a glass vial behind him and exploded. The shards flew. Both Merrythought and Harry stopped dueling at the shattering sound. Harry turned, and realized the shards were coming toward him. Before they hit, Albus waved his wand and the glass turned to powder. Harry dropped his arms, a surprised expression on his face.

"Thanks," Harry said. Not even two second passed that he spun back around as Merrythought sent another spell at him. He deflected it easily. "Call it even?" he said.

Merrythought gave a wicked sort of grin, but dropped her hand down, ending the duel.

"Hm," Merrythought said. "Not bad at all. I can see why you're an Auror."

Harry pushed down his bangs again, looking slightly embarrassed. "I've had practice."

Albus took the moment to study him again. Harry had taken off his blue robes and was wearing some strange clothes in Albus's opinion; a plain short-sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers in the fabric that farmers in the Muggle part of Godric's Hollow wore. Albus didn't even attempt to make sense of his shoes. Those were even stranger.

"Maybe I should rethink having you as an assistant," said Merrythought. "I could use someone with Defense abilities."

But, Harry wasn't paying attention to her at all. Instead, his eyes were set on Albus's friend. "Elphias," Harry said. He jumped, surprised.

"Yes. How do you know?"

Albus didn't waste a moment. "Should I explain?" Albus asked Merrythought.

Merrythought nodded, taking her place behind her desk again. Dumbledore sat down comfortably on the couch again and allowed Elphias to sit next to him.

Then, the story began.

"Harry is a time-traveler," Dumbledore said.

Immediately Elphias's expression turned shocked. Harry was reminded of Bill Weasley's wedding, when Ron's Aunt Muriel started rattling off about Dumbledore. Elphias had been highly offended, stuttering that none of it was true. Even though what Dumbledore was saying then was true, Harry could still see the trace of the old man he'd seen of Elphias in his time.

"How long?" Elphias asked, examining him. Harry didn't get the impression that he was x-raying him, like he often got with Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled. "One hundred years."

"Ah," he still was shocked and Harry couldn't blame him. "Do we know each other?"

Harry nodded. "Not well. I'd only met you a couple time before-" Harry cleared his throat, realizing he was about to say something about Dumbledore's future. He died, Harry finished in his head, looking down at the carpet. "Sorry."

There was a moment of silence where the three others watched Harry. He refused to look up, only because he knew that if Dumbledore caught sight of his eyes, he might read his mind again. He couldn't give away any information.

"In any case," Dumbledore continued. "Harry Potter is an Auror who fell into a batch of time-turners in the Department of Mysteries when he was chasing a break-in.

"The problem with this is that he knows too much about my future," Dumbledore sighed and Harry saw a glimpse of the weariness that would come in the months before he died. "The best thing to do is to get him back as quickly as possible. However, that also presents a problem, as there isn't a way to get him back. I went to the library to try to find anything that would help. I found a book in the restricted section that could have what we need, but it's written in Ancient Runes."

Dumbledore picked up the book he'd brought back from the library, shrugging. The book was large, and it had made Harry cringe when he'd brought it back to the empty office where Harry had stayed while Merrythought went off to teach a class. Dumbledore allowed Harry to flip through the book, but it had nothing he could understand except the occasional illustration. He'd never taken Ancient Runes.

"I've also written a letter to Nicolas Flamel to see if he knows of any way to get him back. Fawkes should be back at any moment," he paused again and flipped the book open on his lap. "In the mean time, Professor Black's said Harry could be Professor Merrythought's assistant. I have to say, you are quite good at dueling," Dumbledore said, glancing up at him, his eyes twinkling.

Just hearing that from Dumbledore caused Harry to smile. It took a moment to realize that this wasn't the Dumbledore he knew. He wasn't experienced enough. His mother and sister were still alive.

He didn't know who Dumbledore was, not really. Remembering the conversation he had with Hermione after they'd read The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, about how he'd been practically practicing the Dark Arts at this age caused Harry to drop his smile and look away. Could Dumbledore already have the same ideas as he did when Grindelwald came?

He didn't have much time to contemplate that because there was a pop along with a cloud of red smoke. Harry heard the musical cry of Fawkes as he landed silently on Dumbledore's knee. Harry couldn't help but smile again as he took in Fawkes' bright red and orange feathers. He was smaller than Harry remembered, obviously only months old.

"Hello, Fawkes," Dumbledore said softly. He ran a hand over the bird's plumage, and then untied the string that was on his leg. "Thank you," he said, unrolling the letter. He read it quickly, his eyes flying across the page. He frowned toward the end and dropped the parchment. Stroking Fawkes wings again, he said, "There's a way to do it through Alchemy, but it would take months to make what we need. He said there are other ways, such as-" he let out a humorless smile, "-wait until your time comes again. He does have a rather odd sense of humor. I assume you'd rather not wait a hundred years?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I have a four month old godson. I have to get back."

Dumbledore nodded, but Harry had a feeling that he wasn't very sympathetic to the situation because he immediately went to the book and started reading. "I'll start researching other ways. I'd rather not resort to Alchemy because it can be dangerous, but if it's the only way, then so be it."

"How would I get back through Alchemy?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore looked back at the letter. "Through the Elixir of Epoch. It induces a point of time to occur for the drinker, essentially bringing the person to the point in time where they want to be. It only works if the time has already occurred, but in your circumstance, it has occurred. It's been done successfully once in medieval times when Leonardo the Laputan accidentally sent himself back in time when he was inventing the time-turner. The Alchemist Albertus made the Elixir and Leonardo wrote about it. What happened came to the attention of Nicolas after he met an Alchemist who knew Albertus. He waited until Leonardo's time and questioned Leonardo himself about it. It's not very known."

Harry thought about that. "So, I can choose any time I want to go back to? I can go right back to where I'd been before?"

Dumbledore nodded. "I'd suggest going to where you were a few minutes beforehand. There'd be two of you for a time, so you wouldn't be able to be seen until the other you disappeared, but if this works, that means there's already a Harry Potter in your time. No one will know that you traveled through time unless you tell them."

"How dangerous could that be?" Harry asked, remembering Dumbledore's words before.

Dumbledore looked up sharply, causing Harry to be slightly taken aback. "Vastly. If the Elixir was made wrongly, you could die. There's also the paradox factor. Just you being here could change the course of events."

Harry swallowed. "I'm prepared to die. I've been before," he said. What he was more worried about was Dumbledore. He knew that he couldn't change him at all. If that happened, too many things could go wrong. As much as he hated it, he'd have to let him meet Grindelwald. He'd have to let Kendra and Ariana Dumbledore die.

"What about your godson?"

Harry became aware that there were two other people in the room, and a phoenix. He was forced to look over at Merrythought.

Harry closed his eyes, thinking about the last time he held Teddy. He'd been heavier and more delicate than he thought a baby would be the first time he held him. After three and half months, though, he began to get used to it. He liked holding the child. "He won't know why I died," Harry said, almost repeating the last words Lupin ever said to him. "But, at least I tried."

And, with that, Dumbledore sighed, asked Merrythought for a quill and parchment and wrote a one lined response for Nicolas Flamel. Fawkes popped out of sight again, and suddenly the room was completely silent. He hadn't realized the phoenix had been singing. A heavy weight seemed to fall in his chest when he realized how calming the bird could be.

"I'll continue looking for other ways," Dumbledore said, standing. Elphias followed. "Nicolas will start preparing the Elixir, if that's the way you'd like to return to your time. Goodnight Professor, Harry."

Dumbledore smiled and left with Elphias, who muttered a short "'Bye." Harry was left with Merrythought who conjured up a blanket and pillow and laid it on the couch for Harry to use.

"I'll make arrangements with Professor Black about your living situation tomorrow. You don't mind sleeping here, do you?"

Harry shook his head. Merrythought smiled and disappeared up a door that Harry hadn't even noticed before. Slowly, he made himself comfortable on the couch and thought about Dumbledore.

What a strange occurrence this was, and in the eyes of Harry Potter, that was saying something.

AN: First off, thank you for all your reviews :) They made me very happy and even more excited for this story. Chapter 3 will be up on Friday, August 27. School starts tomorrow, the 25th, so I will be busy with that.

Second off, the word Laputan. It's from Gulliver's Travels. I wanted a good word that was alliterate to Leonardo and I thought "a neglect of useful occupations and a devotion to visionary projects" would be a good fit for that young wizard.

And on a third and final note, Aberforth drawing. I'm obviously not illiterate and I've never met someone who was, so I'm not sure how well they would be able to draw. I don't know. I wanted to give him a decent talent. shrug Aberforth's going to be a subplot, too. I don't want to leave him out because I like his character in the books.

Please review, good or bad. :)