Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Harry Potter.

Chapter 13: The Second Coming

A month passed and Albus was thankful that a day hadn't come when his brother had told someone Harry's secret. Albus, of course, told Merrythought and she promised she'd keep an eye on him, but Albus heard nothing else from her. Actually, he barely saw any of her or Harry, but he did keep a watchful, preying eye on Aberforth in the common room, in the Great Hall, and the hallways whenever they passed each other. Aberforth, like most always, was alone and never acknowledged Albus's existence.

Mostly, though, Albus worked on two projects: one for Flamel with the tiny device that captured light from candles, streetlamps, or really anything that gave off light. It was simple, but actually difficult to make. He often cursed himself, wondering what possessed him to make something such as that, but he had to make something involving fire and that was the only project Flamel had approved him of.

The other project was Harry Potter. That scar Harry had on his forehead bothered Albus, the fact that he hadn't taken his N.E.W.T.s and was still an Auror bothered him, and it also didn't help his wonderment that he was in with the Minister of Magic or that Harry knew Albus in his future life. Honestly, he couldn't think of much reason why he had any of those things. To Albus it seemed almost as implausible to figure out as figuring out what went on in his little brother's head.

Albus spent a lot of time reading books about curse scars. He was sure an awful curse had hit him at some point, but he couldn't pin-point it without more information about Harry. Each time Albus tried to talk about it with him, though, he'd refuse.

At one point around early October, both him and Albus had been helping Merrythought find a Boggart when Harry said, "Boggarts was the first thing we did in third year."

"Was it really?" Albus asked as he crawled under a desk with his wand illuminated. "Texts must be different now."

"I think-"

Abruptly, the temperature in the room dropped and there was a loud rattling noise. An image of his father came into his head, but he shook it off, moving to see what had just happened.

There, Harry stood in the middle of an empty classroom with a Dementor standing right in front of him, stepping closer.

"Riddikulus!" he yelled out and the Dementor changed quickly. Instead of wearing a black flowing robe, instead, it wore a purple suit. Albus, as he looked at it, thought the suit would have been quite sensible if it wasn't on such a horrible creature.

Quickly, though, Albus conjured a box and as Harry swished his wand, the Dementor swirled into the box, trapped until the Boggart would be released again.

"Your worse fear is a Dementor?" Albus asked as he clasped the box together.

"Er, yeah, it is," he said, looking paler than normal.

"Can I ask why?"

Harry hesitated, running his hand over the back of his neck as if he had an itch there. "Well, it brings back memories."

"So, your memories are what you fear the most?" Dumbledore could only guess that some horrible things happened in Harry's life, but Harry didn't elaborate.

He only nodded his head. "I guess so," he muttered. "Let's get this to Merrythought, shall we?"

The whole ordeal with the Boggart frustrated Albus. He was growing tired after two months of learning only a dash of what Harry had gone through in his past. Harry Potter had to be the most interesting person Albus had met and to have him deny telling him anything about what was going on only sparked his interest further.

Even as he worked on his project for Flamel, his mind always wandered off to Harry. The complexities of the project seemed so large for such a small thing, just like how Harry's young age seemed to be the most simple thing about him, when he was, in fact, very complex, too.

Even through his wonderment about Harry and the amount of work he had, still, in the back of his mind, he knew that Aberforth would crack eventually. Aberforth had been a blabber mouth before, always running to their parents about something Albus had done that he shouldn't have been doing like using magic outside of school sometimes. He knew for a fact, too, that Aberforth had called people out to teacher's too, as if he wanted to be a prefect just as much as Albus had been.

The thought that Aberforth could do that, he hated to admit, terrified him. Aberforth would not keep his mouth shut. He had deliberately let him off to try to quell Aberforth's anger toward him, but he had a feeling that something about his speech down by the lake wasn't enough, not foolproof.

Albus needed to find out as much as he could about Harry. He had to before Aberforth did anything at all.

But, of course, that would not be so simple, either.

As Halloween approached, Harry Potter was getting adjusted to being Merrythought's assistant. He attended most classes of hers and he was always trapped in amazement over her lessons. He understood now why so many people had called the teacher's Dumbledore had were some of the greatest. She really was a very strong teacher and listening to her lectures and helping her demonstrate actually taught him even more than he already knew.

Harry really only had experience and a handful of real Defense lessons to his name.

He realized he still had so much to learn about Defense as he listened to her speak about magical creatures and different spells that he actually hadn't even been able to try before. Harry easily caught on fast enough that it seemed Merrythought didn't sense much about his inability for some spells when he first started trying to learn them, sometimes even during class.

Harry found a routine throughout the day, too. He went down to breakfast every morning and he'd sit with either Atticus or Dumbledore. Sometimes he saw Aberforth, but that was rare. He seemed to be conspicuously absent for the past month. He came to class, but he always seemed to be staring only at Harry throughout the entire class, as if he was trying hard to read his mind. But, Harry had long since realized the feeling of someone looking into his thoughts and Aberforth was certainly not there.

After breakfast, he'd go on to read over the lesson that Merrythought gave him to look over so he'd know exactly what spells they'd do in all the classes for that day. Then after all the classes, he'd go up to his office and look over his Marauder's Map for a while, a habit he'd picked up after he'd spent so much time staring at Ginny's name while he was still out camping. He often watched the Dumbledores' names or tried to see if he recognized any names.

After that, he'd go talk to Merrythought for a while or sit on in detentions.

It was probably the most relaxed Harry had ever been in his life because there were no threats on his life. No one but Albus, the Flamels (who sent him weekly updates on the potion via Fawkes), and Merrythought knew where he came from, and no one really new he was famous. He was just normal and he liked that.

But, he missed home. He missed his friends and his godson.

He might have been learning a lot, but he still wanted to be home.

"I guess your brother decided not to show," Elphias said on Halloween night. It was halfway through the feast and Albus was having a great time. He loved Halloween because it was one of those nights that the hosts told legendary stories and people seemed genuinely happy to put off school for a while to come down and enjoy the feast.

But mention of his brother took away that. Albus looked up and down the table and saw him nowhere.

"Doesn't he usually like Halloween?"

"He sure does," Albus said, but he only waved his hand, casting it off, though, really he was suddenly a little worried. "I'm sure he's probably snuck down to the Greenhouses to tend to his plants. I've noticed he's been doing that lately."

"Why haven't you stopped him? I mean, you are Head Boy."

Albus glanced up to the Head Table subtly, toward Harry sitting up there in between Professor Merrythought and, to his surprise, Garside. Harry didn't normally sit at the front, but he guessed today was an exception because it was a feast. All teachers were required to attend the feasts under Professor Black's ruling.

To be honest, Albus felt the need to be cautious around Aberforth. He didn't want to believe that such a thing would happen, that he would tell the truth about Harry. But, he felt the need to not rule over Aberforth too much. It was a cowardly thing to do, but for Harry's sake and Albus's sanity, he had to keep Aberforth's temper toward him at a comfortable level.

"He can do what he wants," as long as it isn't about Harry, Dumbledore thought.

Thankfully, though, James Connery, a sixth year said, "Hey, Albus, look at this," and he was distracted enough by a caricature of a witch who had been causing trouble in the Ministry that he actually started laughing again and found time to ignore the thoughts of his brother for a while longer.

It was odd for Harry to be up at the High Table for the Halloween feast. This was the first time he actually sat with the teachers in the almost two months he'd been at Hogwarts and to be able to see everyone and be actually be apart of the teacher's felt even more surreal than killing off Voldemort. Harry never attended the staff meetings, nor did he ever feel apart of them all. He was sure this was the first time more than half the teacher's had ever met him.

"So, Mr. Potter," said the teacher to his right. On his left was Merrythought, who turned her head slowly when the teacher next to him spoke.

"Yes, sir?" he asked wary because of the expression on Merrythought's face, which seemed to be a cross between a warning for him and a warning for the other professor.

"This is the first time we have met, I believe?" he asked coolly.

"Yeah, I think so," Harry said. "I'm sorry, but I don't know your name."

He raised an eyebrow as if offended that someone wouldn't know who he was. "Rolf Garside, Transfiguaration professor."

Garside stuck out his withered hand and Harry took it after a moment of hesitation the hair on the back of his neck stuck up. He hoped he just took it that Harry was shy, not vigilant of him. Constant Vigilance.

"Harry Potter," he said politely.

"It's good to finally meet you, Mr. Potter," he said. It was nothing Harry hadn't heard before, but it still chilled him somewhat. No one really should have thought it was good to meet him when he was not meant to be there. "I've definitely heard some good things about you. All the students seem to think highly of you."

Harry glanced at Merrythought, surprised. "Really? I didn't know."

"Of course," he said with a smile, his long dark hair falling across his face. He pushed it back. "You're only eighteen years old, is that rumor right? A professor's assistant right out of school is well off for you. You must have had fantastic N.E.W.T scores."

"Er, not really," Harry said, feeling his face go warm.

"Oh, nonsense, Harry!" Merrythought said, laughing. "He's being modest, Rolf. He's very smart. He picks up spells like lightening."

Garside's eyes narrowed slightly. "Lightening, you say? Speaking of, where did that-"

Something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and Harry looked up. It seemed to him like Aberforth was coming up to the teacher's table, maybe to ask a question to somebody.

But, then, he stopped and slowly turned to face the crowd. He silenced the whole room with the wave of his wand.

And then, Aberforth shouted something that made Harry shoot up in his seat.

Aberforth Dumbledore smirked.

He could see his brother chuckling along with a mousy haired boy who held a book between them as he edged in through one of the side doors of the Great Hall. He couldn't see anything other than Albus, not the piles of sweets on the table or the floating lanterns above everyone's heads or even the ghosts milling about, telling stories about how they died. Or, in fact, even Harry Potter, the time-traveler who didn't belong there.

All he could focus on was Albus' stupid, supposed perfectness. He could just imagine Albus laughing at a wrong formula in the book, laughing at someone's mistake. Aberforth's smirk turned into a sneer as he closed the door behind him and walked carefully down the side of the Slytherin table. Nobody took notice of him, though. No one looked up at him, but he hardly cared at all.

He stepped up onto the platform of the Head table. For a second he took his eyes off his brother and glanced at Potter, but he wasn't even looking. Professor Black was, though. The man's eyes narrowed as if unsure about what Aberforth was doing up there, so near to the teachers, or, really, who he even was. Aberforth didn't expect Black to know him, though. No one ever did know him, people who he'd even been in classes with over the full four and a half years at Hogwarts stumbled on his name at times. Sure Potter seemed to know who he was immediately, but he was from the future! Apparently he'd known Albus somehow and he was sure Albus would have told him god-awful stories about Aberforth.

Aberforth felt his face turn red with anger as he turned on the spot and then raised his wand. He muttered "Silencio" harshly and, then, sparks shot out of his wand and the whole hall turned silent.

Only one person in front of him stood up. Albus dropped the book he'd been laughing over with the blonde boy and stepped over the bench. He was mouthing words, obviously having forgotten about his wand.

"I'll tell everybody!" Aberforth threatened loudly. Albus faltered for a second, his jaw tight, but that only lasted for a second before he kept striding up to him.

A hand grasped his arm tightly.

"I know the truth, Albus!" Aberforth yelled. People's heads turned to the side. "About Potter!"

A chair scrapped against the stone floor as Professor Black started to pull him away.

"You know I do!" he yelled out again, fighting with Professor Black. He tried hard to wring his wrist away from the man. He could see his skin folding and turning red at the grasp. "Potter's a-"

Something wrapped around his mouth and Aberforth voice stifled as Professor Black pulled him into a chamber room behind the teachers' desk and everyone in the Great Hall disappeared from view as Black locked the door behind him with a locking spell he'd never heard before.

Professor Black's eyes narrowed as he turned to face Aberforth, who was rubbing his red hand where he'd grabbed his wrist.

"Who exactly are you, might I graciously ask?" Black said unkindly as he stepped closer to him.

"Dumbledore, sir," Aberforth said. His voice cracked unpleasantly. He hadn't realized how frightened he'd been when Black grabbed him, but he could also feel left over nerves, ones he hadn't even realized he had when he'd been walking up to the front. Had he been so dead set on telling everybody that he hadn't realized it had taken a toll on his body?

"Dumbledore?" he said, taken aback, though keeping his bravado face on. "I beg your pardon?"

"Aberforth Dumbledore. Albus is my older brother."

Black stared vehemently at Aberforth for a long time. Aberforth bit his lip, uncomfortable with his stare. It was like he was trying to see the resemblance to Albus in Aberforth, or at least, try to figure out what he meant in the Great Hall.

"You have information on Potter, did you say?"

Aberforth swallowed, his heart pounding. Merlin, that had been a bad, bad idea. He had no idea what to say to Black. The man seemed to tower over him, even though Aberforth was just barely taller than him already.

He thought about lying. He had to, but he couldn't make a decision. He was sure that Albus was out there, trying to get in, but that didn't stop him.

Slowly, Aberforth gave an answer.

"Harry, come with me."

Merrythought pulled him from away from where he'd been standing. Harry actually couldn't remember standing at all. In fact, he'd been so focused on Aberforth that he hadn't even seen Albus coming forward from the Gryffindor table. Harry's heart pounded as fast as it had when he'd been walking to his death to kill Voldemort.

Merrythought rushed Harry toward the door that Aberforth had walked in through.

"Albus! No, come here!" Merrythought yelled out toward him as he started up toward the teacher's table. Abruptly, the Hall exploded in talk as the charm Aberforth had sent over everyone was lifted.

Albus's eyes pierced Merrythought as he turned and strode towards them in anger.

"I am going to kill him," Albus said through his teeth as Merrythought shut the door to a side aisle

"Albus, you don't know what he's going to do," Merrythought said, though she didn't seem to believe that herself. Harry thought she seemed under the impression that Aberforth would, in fact, tell Black everything there was to tell.

"Oh! I know he's been planning it all along!" Dumbledore practically yelled. Harry's heart skipped a beat. "You know he's known! I know my brother and he will tell Black that Harry's from the future. He can't let the Headmaster of Hogwarts know anything. Harry won't last another minute here if he tells someone who's connected to the Ministry. Aberforth will ruin everything and I will not stand here and let him!"

"Wait, he knew?" Harry asked, shocked. "How did he find out?"

"He was eavesdropping," Albus said, his jaw set, glancing at Harry quickly before turning to Merrythought again. "I need to see him before he tells Black!"

Albus grabbed the handle of the door, but he jerked it back and rubbed it with his other hand. "You will stay here with Harry," Merrythough said fiercely, looking between them. "It's better to not have you two around when Black is done with Aberforth. Only I'll be able to get you. Wait here. Patiently, Dumbledore. We have to keep Harry safe."

He seemed to have a hard time controlling his rage as Merrythought left them alone in the room.

"I'm going to kill him," Dumbledore whispered again, harshly, as he paced back and forth down the hall.

"I actually agree with Merrythought," Harry said, glancing at the door. Truth was, he'd been in worse situations. He'd literally had to hide from the Ministry for a whole year, he'd snuck into Gringotts and got away on a dragon, and most of all, he'd lived through two Avada Kedavras. But, he had to admit that it did scare him. He wanted to go home, and he wondered if that would ruin his chances.

A knot formed in his throat.

"We don't know what he's going to do," Harry said.

"No, I do know what's he's doing."

"Why does it matter so much to you?"

Albus jerked his head, stopping his pacing for a moment. He took a deep breath and his voice seemed to be calmer, more like him, as he spoke. "It should matter more to you, Harry," he said, giving a sigh as if to let out his anger. "This is your life he's putting in jeopardy. Flamel's been working to get you back to your time and the time he's spent trying to get you back is well worth his time, but if Aberforth says anything to him, not only will it make things worse for you- you could go to Azkaban- but do you realize what it would mean for Merrythought and Flamel and me? We're keeping knowledge, very important knowledge, from the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Not only that, but the Ministry of Magic. We should have turned you in the moment you came here, but we didn't because… you don't deserve that." He looked away at a portrait on the wall.

A long moment passed as Dumbledore stared up at the man in the portrait. Harry studied him, literally seeing his anger start to fade completely. His shoulders visibly relaxed and, though his eyes were still dark, he turned to look at Harry with a sad look.

"I honestly don't understand why I'm outraged by my brother's actions, while you just stand there. What is it that's making you so calm? Why won't you tell me anything at all about yourself? I'm trying to help."

Harry honestly questioned his willingness to help. He was mad at Aberforth, but that didn't mean Albus didn't have ulterior motives. He'd done the same before, mostly. He set Harry up to the death without telling the truth of his actions. He manipulated Harry, but Harry, no matter all that, still believed Albus' older counterpart had truly loved him. Really, Harry didn't know this Dumbledore. He acted sort of the same most of the time, but he wasn't as calm as the Dumbledore he knew. He was still trying to prove himself. He had no true experience with dealing with the horrors in the Wizarding world just yet. He hadn't met Grindelwald or watched his sister die.

"You don't believe I deserve it, not yet, anyway." Harry said.

Albus' eyes widened, surprised. At what, Harry didn't know.

"But, I do know you believe in chances. I guess you gave Aberforth a chance, didn't you? To try to prove he wouldn't betray you. Now you're giving me a chance."

Albus looked confused as if not sure what the word Chance meant.

"You're still the same," Harry continued on. "I mean, you'll still be the same later on, except you'll be older and much more knowledgeable about the world. Right now, though, you don't understand my reaction to Aberforth because you haven't been through what I have. Much worse things have happened to me. I'm grateful for what all of you are doing for me, but trust me, I've had really bad things happen to me. I'm not going to tell you what yet. I just need you to trust me. I know the consequences of what could happen if Aberforth says anything to Phineas. I know what to do if I get arrested."

Dumbledore only got a nod in, though, when the door opened again and Merrythought beckoned them out the side chamber.

The Great Hall was completely empty.

"Everyone's being led to their houses as we speak," Merrythought said, striding down the long length of the Hall. She was walking so fast that even Dumbledore had trouble keeping up with her.

"What did he say?" Albus asked, struggling to walk at her pace. Harry practically had to run to keep up.

"Well…"

She pushed open the doors to the Entrance Hall. Aberforth was standing right there with Black and Garside. Aberforth was staring down at his feet as if ashamed.

Harry felt his heart sink.

Something lunged beside him.

"What in the world were you thinking, Aberforth?" Albus yelled at him, striding toward his brother. "What ever possessed you to go up there and say such a thing?"

Aberforth glanced at Harry, his eyebrows knitting.

"He's not going to help you," Albus said, glancing back at Harry. "Not after what you did."

Harry looked toward Garside and Phineas. Neither one of them were attempting to do anything to Harry. They were just staring at Albus's display, taken aback. Something was not right.

"Can't I explain before you start going down my throat?" Aberforth yelled abruptly, stepping up close to his brother, nearly eye-to-eye. "You're so full of yourself! Thinking you know everything!"

Then, Aberforth pushed him.

Albus stared at him in shock for a moment, but that didn't last very long because that just seemed to frustrate Aberforth further.

Harry watched as an outright brawl came between them. Without a second thought, though, Harry jumped in and tried to pull the brothers apart. He got smacked in the jaw by one of them- which one he wasn't sure- and grabbed hold of Aberforth's shoulder's while Garside grabbed Albus's. Aberforth fumbled for his wand, but Harry grabbed his hand quickly.

Albus ran a hand over his jaw where a welt started to form. Harry's own jaw started to throb as he tried his hardest to restrain Aberforth, who was trying to lunge forward again.

"Dumbledore, stop!" Merrythought said to Aberforth as she stepped between the two boys. "You already have a month's detention with me. Don't make me take away house points as well! Albus, Harry, come with me."

Garside let go of Albus and he got a head start with Merrythought before Harry let Aberforth go.

He was just ascending the stairs when Aberforth shouted, "Confringo!"

Harry reacted quickly, faster than he even thought himself possible. "Protego!" he yelled and a shield deflected the spell and sent it flying across the room. A statue of a Gargoyle beside the front doors shattered to pieces.

"Did you just try to blast me?" Albus said, shocked.

"Yeah, I did," Aberforth shouted. "Because you can't stop trying to boss me around. You boss everyone around! It's not fair."

"Please tell me what all of this is about, Aberforth," Albus said angrily as he stalked toward his brother again. "This isn't about Harry, this is about me, right? You risk Harry's safety to get back at me?"

"You don't care about him!" Aberforth said. "You don't care about me, either. You don't care about Ariana or Mother or even Father! You only care about yourself. Becoming famous, right?"

That seemed to do something to Albus. Harry felt something push on him, an invisible force as Albus pulled out his wand.

Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing.

And it only took him a second to jump in.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter! I'm finally done with school for four months and I'm going to spend most of the summer writing. I'm very excited. By the way, this is not Ariana's accident. That comes much later. This is a precursor to that.

Also, I'd like to say that this story had its one year anniversary on April 29th! I started it a year ago and left it floating around in my computer until August when I finally decided to post the first three chapter I'd written. It's definitely been a short year! Thanks for reading!

On side note: the word 'perfectness' was spelled that way on purpose.

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