Chapter 23 – Come back Soon
Original World
Albus Dumbledore was pleased. He had finally managed to recreate what and happened in the charms corridor and was a step closer to finding out what happened to his two students and to figure out if there was a way to bring them back. It had taken him days to figure out the right combination of spell work to activate the time sand.
He allowed himself to crack a smile as he lifted his wand and pointed it at the highly volatile sand which was lying in a small enchanted glass cup in the centre of his office.
He threw a quill into the glass and muttered a a sequence of spells under his breath.
Instantly the sand began to vibrate violently and was attracted to the quill like metal to a powerful magnet. The instant all of it covered the quill it was suddenly sucked into nothingness. It was as if it was sucked into a black hole.
But a second later, a hole appeared in mid air and the quill was spit out of it a few meters away from the glass.
Dumbledore smiled at his accomplishment. He had just discovered another way to travel. Now all that remained was to find a way to determine where the sand would send an object or a person if not protected like the quill.
The only reason the quill had not traveled to a place he could not locate was because of the immensely complex wards he had placed in an 8 meter radius around the glass. The wards in simple terms allowed things to enter but not exit, not even a phoenix could flame out if trapped in these wards. It was something that Fawkes had led him to discover and he was the only one that knew about them. After all, the knowledge of such wards could be very dangerous in the wrong hands.
A knock on his door snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Come in Severus, Minerva," he said cheerfully.
"What are you up to Albus?" asked professor McGonagall on seeing Dumbledore with his wand pointed at a quill.
"Just an experiment," he said, his eyes twinkling. "One which has just made our search for our missing students much more clearer."
McGonagall's eyes widened while Snape just looked irritated.
"Albus!" she began but was interrupted by an irate potions master.
"Albus," he ground out, clenching his teeth. "I need to talk to you in private."
Dumbledore, sensing the urgency in Snape's voice told McGonagall that he would talk to her later.
McGonagall just pursed her lips and walked out without another word.
"What is the matter Severus?"
"I received a letter from Lucius Malfoy requesting me to visit him earlier this day."
"And did you go?"
"Yes," replied Snape. "He requested me to bring him some ingredients to prepare a potion."
Albus raised an eyebrow. "I take it the ingredients are not so easily found."
"Worse," sighed Snape. "They are all used for extremely dark potions and if the ingredients he has asked for are to be used in the same potion then I can think of only one such potion."
"Which is?" asked Dumbledore, uneasily.
"A potion to merge souls," said Snape looking straight into Dumbledore's eyes.
Dumbledore sighed and sank into his chair.
"So he's finally coming back then," said Dumbledore wearily.
"Lucius does not know what the ingredients are used for and I am sure the dark lord never intended for him to come to me for help," replied Snape.
"But why did Voldemort choose to find Lucius? I know for a fact that he's too weak to travel for long distances unless he has help and I just had confirmation that he was still in the forest of Albania four days ago."
"That's because the dark lord never went looking for Lucius. He'd never stoop to the level of asking his followers for help. It's because Lucius himself decided to find the dark lord. And this was because of something his son told him. Something about a conversation he heard at school and something about a prophecy," said Snape in an accusatory tone.
Dumbledore paled. "How is that possible? I had put up privacy wards around the area and several charms to make sure no student came wandering around while I was there!"
Snape glared at Dumbledore and said, "Lucius gifted his son an artifact which lets you eavesdrop on conversations. It let him listen to whatever you were talking about with Minerva and prevented him from being detected by you. On a brighter note he didn't hear anything clearly but clear enough to make him tell his father."
Dumbledore closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"The balance is shifting Severus," said Dumbledore solemnly.
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since Harry'' has disappeared, there has been a sudden increase in dark activity."
"What do you mean?"
"Look around you Severus. In the past week there has been an increase in werewolf sightings, vampires are suddenly showing themselves more often, even the centaurs have been extremely restless. Just yesterday Hagrid told me they kept giving him funny warnings. He said they kept going on about doomsday and things like that."
A shiver ran down Snape's back. "So what does this have to do with Potter?" he asked.
"What does this have to do with Harry! Severus, that boy is the only one who can vanquish Voldemort for good! We do not realize it, but there has always been a balance between the two sides of magic. Every time a dark lord rises, there was always someone to destroy him. It was me during Grindelwald's time; it was Gryffindor during Slytherin's time and now it his Harry's turn during Voldemort's time."
"I've already told you I don't believe that prophecy Albus," said Snape stiffly. "If anybody's going to defeat the dark lord, then its going to be you."
Dumbledore wanted to deny it but Snape didn't let him. "Anyhow I have told you what I have discovered and I want to know if I should give Lucius the ingredients or not?"
"Give it to him," said Dumbledore after a while. "That way you can gain Voldemort's trust. Also inform Lucius you know about the potion and you want to help. I'm sure he will not refuse your offer knowing that you are one the best potion master's in the country."
"I never thought I'd be doing this again Albus," said Snape with a sigh.
"You and I both knew it was bound to happen sooner or later Severus," said Dumbledore gently. "We knew that the peace was not to last forever and the time would come when we would be at war again.
Be strong Severus, for darkness is about to cloud the world again."
Severus sighed irritably, "Must you always be so dramatic!" he demanded.
Dumbledore gave an apologetic smile, "It comes with the job."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Alternate World
Harry'' was irritated. He absolutely couldn't stand being surrounded by all the Weasley's and the worst part was carrot tops mother kept trying to mother him and he didn't like that one bit!
Cursing under his breath he glared at everyone in the room even if they had done nothing to set him off.
Hermione kept rattling on and on about ministry laws to no one in particular, Ron kept staring at Hermione, listening to her with rapt attention.
The twins and Ginny were lying flat on the floor with something pink stuck in their ears which had a barely visible thread leading into the next room.
Lillian was busy talking to Lupin about god only knew what.
"Die," someone suddenly whispered into his ears menacingly.
Harry'' jumped and spun around, his wand pointed at the source of the threat.
All he found was his rabid godfather laughing at him.
"Your face!" he said gasping and trying his best to stop laughing. "Priceless!"
Harry's'' eye twitched in annoyance. "Black," he said in a deadly calm voice. "You have 3 seconds to run. 1... 2..."
Sirius's eyes widened as he scrambled up and ran out of the room as fast as he could.
But it was too late. Harry's'' spell hit him in the back and he fell flat on the floor.
"You said 3 seconds!" he said groaning as he stood up. "What spell did you use?"
Harry'' just smirked.
Sirius looked around and saw everyone staring at him with wide eyes.
"What?"
Just then Tonks walked in looking extremely haggard.
"Wotcher all," she said tiredly and then her eyes got stuck on Sirius.
"Oh, my god Sirius!" she shrieked.
"What, what!" he yelled panicking.
"When did you grow breasts!"
Sirius looked down and indeed saw that his chest was bigger than usual. He jumped and felt them jiggling.
His face grew red and the entire room burst out laughing.
"Where did you learn that spell Harry''!" asked the twins excitably.
Harry'' just leaned back into the chair with a satisfied smirk in place.
"So, you want to mess with me again Sirius?" he said.
Sirius just smiled sweetly in return. "You've just started a war Harry''," he said, rubbing his hands together. "And you're going to learn why we were the greatest pranksters in the history of Hogwarts."
"I can see your tits, Sirius," said Tonks suddenly. "You might want to consider wearing a bra!"
There was another round of uncontrollable laughter.
"Stop staring at them," he whined, covering his breasts.
"I'll get rid of them for you Sirius," said Hermione. "It's just a variation of the enlarging charm."
Harry'' raised an eyebrow. Did she really think he'd use such an obvious spell! He just smiled and decided to watch their attempts at removing Sirius's assets.
"That's strange," muttered Hermione, "The counter curse is not working."
Sirius stared at her helplessly, "Does that mean I'm stuck with these!"
Lupin chuckled, "Move aside Hermione," he said gently. But even his efforts were useless. Frowning he cast another spell and his eyes widened in shock.
He turned towards Harry'', "You changed the levels of hormones in his system and completely changed their behavior in that region!" he exclaimed.
Harry'' smirked, "Something like that, yeah. But it's more complicated than that. I replaced his hormones in that region with those similar to a woman and cast another aging spell which caused them to grow. So if Sirius were a woman, that's how his chest would be at his age."
Harry'' turned towards Hermione, "You're rather stupid to think I'd use a spell that could be removed so easily. There'd be no point in casting it in the first place."
Hermione turned red, while Lupin and Sirius looked at Harry'' in awe. The rest just looked confused and amused.
"That... where did you learn how to do that!" asked Lupin in interest. He knew how to reverse the spell but it was rather fun seeing Sirius this way.
"Trade secret," said Harry''.
"So how do you undo it!" demanded Sirius. "I don't want to remain like this for the rest of my life!"
Ginny giggled.
"I'll remove them on one condition," said Harry''.
"If you want me forfeit the yet to start prank wars then you can forget it," said Sirius childishly.
Harry'' just walked up to Sirius and whispered something in his ear.
Sirius's eyes widened in shock and then lit up with glee.
"It would be my pleasure Harry''. I can't believe you actually asked me!"
"I do a lot of unexpected things," said Harry'' with a grin.
"Now remove these," said Sirius.
"I will," replied Harry''. "Only after the other me takes a look at them."
"Fine!" said Sirius throwing up his hands. "I shall parade around looking like half man and half babe. If I can't hide it, then I'll flaunt it."
"Good luck with that," said Harry''.
"Wait Sirius!" said Fred suddenly.
"What did you mean when you said you were the greatest pranksters in the history of Hogwarts?" asked George.
"You should know that Forge and Gred are the greatest pranksters in the history of Hogwarts!" said Fred.
"Except for the marauders though," added George.
"Except for the marauders," agreed Fred.
Sirius and Remus shared an incredulous look before breaking out in laughter again.
"May we ask what is so funny!" asked Fred.
"Hey Moony, how do you think they know about us?" asked Sirius.
"Maybe they found our map," replied Remus. "James had hidden it in Filch's office so that no one would find it."
Fred and George were staring at the two marauders with similar degrees of disbelief and shock.
"Are you saying," began Fred.
"That you are the incredible marauders?" said George.
"Who have inspired us ever since we found the map in Filch's office in our first year!" said Fred.
Remus and Sirius bowed. "They very same," they said in unison.
Fred and George literally had tears in their eyes.
"Our mentors," they began. "Our heroes, our inspiration"
With each word they took a step closer to the two marauders, who looked extremely pleased with themselves.
Suddenly the twins threw themselves at the two adults and grabbed their feet and held it close to them.
"Please teach us!" they wailed, "Help us learn new tricks and ways of pranking!"
Remus and Sirius were certainly not expecting this and tried their best to get out of the twins grip.
"What is going on in here!" screeched Mrs. Weasley.
Harry'' rolled his eyes. Trust the woman to ruin the fun.
Fred and George stared at their mothers with wide eyes but still clung on to the two marauders who were struggling to free themselves.
"Let Remus and Sirius go at once!" she yelled.
The twins exchanged a look and let go.
"This is not the end," said George.
"We will corner you when you least expect it and make you spill all your secrets," added Fred.
"Oh my god!" screeched Molly again dropping the plate of cookies she had in her hands. "What in Merlin's name happened to you Sirius?"
Sirius frowned and then glared at Harry''. "Harry'' decided to grow breasts on me," he said.
Mrs. Weasley stuttered and then rounded on dimensional traveler. "How dare you use magic in the house young man, you know you aren't supposed to until you are of age!"
Harry'' just raised an eyebrow. "And who are you to stop me?" he asked her politely.
Mrs. Weasley spluttered and then narrowed her eyes at Harry''. If it were any other Weasley they would be cowering in fear but Harry'' just stared back at her impassively.
"That is not the point! What if the ministry found out! You would be expelled from Hogwarts. Is that what you want?"
Harry'' just smirked, "I'm not from this world so I don't stand the risk of being expelled. Secondly this house is under the fidelius charm so magic won't be detected by the ministry and thirdly, you are not my mother and I won't take any orders from you. So don't bother trying to discipline me as you do with the rest of these idiots."
That said he turned his back on the stunned woman and headed back to his room.
"I'll remove those lovely assets when Harry'' gets to see them Sirius," he said as he left.
As soon as he was out of the room he punched the wall in frustration. "Damn that bitch for ruining my mood," he said in anger. For once he was having a good time watching the twins act the fool and then she had to come and ruin it.
Taking deep breaths, Harry'' tried to calm himself and made his way to the cellar instead of his room. He needed to cool his head and blasting things would certainly make him feel good.
He entered the cellar and immediately locked the door behind him.
He went to the other end of the cellar and tapped his wand thrice on the third brick from the bottom left.
The bricks suddenly rearranged themselves to reveal a small room behind it. Inside was a table and a small shelf with two to three books Harry had taken from the library. There was also an orange ball of light hovering near the roof providing the room with enough light.
This was a room Harry'' had created for his study of the things which he didn't want anybody to know about.
He collapsed into his chair and leaned back stretching his arms.
His table had a few papers on it, along with the things he had on him when he came to this world. There was Slytherin's ring lying innocently in a glass casing and there was the letter Blaise wrote to him regarding the Mona Lisa. He picked up the ring and after examining it closely he slipped it in his pocket.
He was rather proud of his room as it had taken him a lot of time and patience to perfect the spell to conjure space within space. In reality the room wasn't supposed to be there as there wasn't anything beyond the wall. It was a room created within the wall itself and enlarged by magic.
Sighing he wondered how Harry was doing. Whether he had been expelled or had he been cleared of all his charges. Frankly he didn't care but the thoughts ran through his mind anyway. The main thing he worried about was getting back home in one piece.
"Damn it," he growled, running his hand through his hair messing it up. He didn't know why he was so frustrated but he just was. He summoned a book from the shelf with the title 'Time Travel'. Out all the books he had looked through in the Black library, not a single one had even the slightest details about dimension traveling. All they said was traveling through dimensions was simply a work of fiction and there was no real proof of alternate dimensions even existing.
"And I suppose I'm just dreaming am I?" he grumbled.
He rubbed his scar absently flicking through the book in hopes of finding something but to no avail.
He glanced at the map he found in the vault and felt disappointed that the Mona Lisa had been destroyed when an insane thought struck him.
What if the Mona Lisa was not destroyed in this world! What if it was still there!
Shaking in excitement Harry'' got up and tapped the wall leading to the cellar. But to his shock as soon as the wall opened up a ball of fire came hurtling towards him.
He blocked it with a wall of water out of instinct.
"What the hell!" he exclaimed.
He waved his hands trying to clear the smoke and his eyes widened in shock when he spotted Lillian standing in the centre of the room, her hands on her knees panting.
"Potter," she said in surprise. "Where did you come from!"
"How did you get in here?" asked Harry'' in return.
"Through the door," she said narrowing her eyes. "But I can't say the same for you."
"It doesn't matter where I came from," replied Harry''. "How did you get in? The door was locked."
Lillian shrugged, "I burned the lock," she said.
Harry'' rubbed his forehead in annoyance, "And why would you do that?"
"Because it wouldn't open," she shot back. "There wasn't any sign saying do not disturb was there?"
"What are you doing here anyway?" asked Harry'' tiredly.
"Practicing," she said shortly. "Now if you don't mind I need to get back to work."
Harry'' looked at her closely. She had her wand in one hand and the other seemed to be a little black. She also seemed a little worn out and her clothes had a few burn marks on them. He glanced around and saw scorch marks everywhere.
"Don't you think the fire will spread when you use your ability?"
"I'm not a fool Potter," she snapped. "I placed an anti fire charm around the room before doing anything."
"What if someone hears you and comes down to inquire?"
"There's a silencing charm in place and nobody in the right mind will come down in this empty place."
"You did," pointed out Harry''.
"To practice," she said irritably. "Now will you get out!"
Harry'' smirked, "I was here before you, so maybe you should be the one to get out."
"Don't talk like that to me," she snapped. "You appeared out of nowhere and you want me to get out! I'd like to see you try," she said with a scoff.
"What do you need you wand for?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Look, it's none of your concern Potter! So why don't you piss off and let me be!"
Harry'' didn't move.
"You asked for it," she growled and sent a ball of fire at him.
Harry'' conjured a ball of water of his own and threw it in the path of the fire. They collided with a hiss and dissipated.
"What the hell is wrong with you!" yelled Harry'' angrily.
"I am NOT in the mood to play games Potter! So will you please get the hell out of here!"
Harry'' took a deep breath trying to calm himself before he decided to froze her into a block of ice.
"Not until you tell me why you just tried to fireball me."
Lillian glared at him trying to get him to back down but Harry'' glared right back. He wasn't going to leave until he got a proper answer.
Finally Lillian broke the staring contest and her shoulders drooped.
"It's my elemental ability," she said. "Since yesterday it's been acting all weird. My temper seems to be on the edge and I keep having these sudden outbursts. Just now during breakfast a fireball almost erupted out of my hands but I managed to control it."
Harry's'' look of annoyance turned to one of concern. "When did this start happening?" he asked her urgently.
"Yesterday, I guess," she replied. "That's why I came down here. I just had blast some thing apart."
"This is not good," muttered Harry''.
Lillian frowned, "Why do you think this is happening?"
"I think," began Harry'' slowly, "The longer we stay in this world, the more it will effect us. We do not belong here and if we do not get back to our world soon we might be in big trouble."
"We need to talk to Dumbledore," she said.
Harry'' nodded in agreement, "You on the other hand need to stay calm and if you feel like your about to lose control of your fire then get down here and release it."
Lillian sighed, "What about you? You don't seem to have any trouble with your element."
"Not yet," said Harry'', "I have good control over it and hopefully it won't start acting up like yours."
Lillian narrowed her eyes, "You make it sound like I have no control over mine at all!"
"You're the one who's having trouble controlling it not me," Harry'' shot back.
"Arse," mumbled Lillian.
Harry'' just rolled his eyes. "Just make sure you don't fry anyone by accident," he said and walked out of the cellar.
"He still didn't tell me from where he came from," she grumbled.
Sighing she decided to go back and maybe chat with Ginny for a while when she saw a ring lying on the floor.
Curious she picked it up and gasped at its beauty. She slowly trailed her fingers along the ring admiring the feeling of the emeralds in place.
"Wonder if it will fit me," she muttered and tried slipped the ring on to her index finger.
.
.
.
It was a perfect fit. Smiling she tried to remove it but it wouldn't budge.
She frowned in annoyance and tried pulling harder but the ring simply tightened its hold making her gasp in pain.
"Why is this thing stuck!" she said panicking. "What if it's Harry's''!" she said panicking even more, "That jerk will kill me!"
She tried pulling the ring out for another 10 minutes but it was useless.
"Get out of my finger you stupid ring!" she yelled and pulled even harder.
But all of a sudden her hands started heating up and three fireballs shot out scorching the walls of the cellar.
Lillian's eyes widened and she immediately forced herself to calm down.
"Calm down Mary," she said to herself and kept repeating it over and over again until she was sure she wasn't going to produce more fireballs.
"Now all I can do is keep my hand out of sight and hope nobody notices the ring."
Sighing, she slowly made her exit from the cellar wondering what on earth had she done in her past life to get into so much trouble in this one.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Original World
Severus Snape was scared. Nothing ever scared him, but seeing the dark lord in the form of a mutilated baby with red slits instead of eyes would be enough to make anyone want to scream and run away.
Thanking his Occlumancy for the umpteenth time, he held the dark lords gaze and replied.
"I never betrayed you my Lord and I regret believing that you had indeed died like the ministry had the entire wizarding world believe."
"Lucius," hissed Voldemort.
Lucius simply nodded and cast the cruciatus curse on Snape.
Snape's screams were like music to Lord Voldemort's ears.
Snape was panting on the floor shaking uncontrollably once the curse was lifted.
"Now all I want to know is that does Dumbledore know about my return or not?"
Snape gulped and reinforced his shields. "No, My Lord."
Voldemort stared into the potion masters eyes and then nodded, apparently satisfied with Snape's answer.
"Very well, Snape. You haven't lied to me so far and I do hope do won't in the near future or else you will regret it."
"Thank you my Lord."
"Now is the potion ready?"
"Yes My Lord. I have also drawn the necessary runes but there is a minor problem," said Snape.
"A problem... Snape?"
"To bring your body back you need to merge souls with the host."
Voldemort narrowed his eyes.
"Explain," he hissed, sending shivers down Lucius and Snape's spines.
"The potion essentially brings back your body as it was before it was destroyed. But for your magic to be restored to its original levels, the potion will need a soul. That is the purpose of the runes. The runes consume the hosts soul and body and will resurrect yours in return."
The dark lord's lips curled into a cruel smile.
"And does it matter whose soul is used?"
"No My Lord, even if you managed to use a person as powerful as Dumbledore, your magic levels will still remain the same as they were before you were vanquished."
"How do you know this Snape? Have you ever performed this ritual?"
Snape hesitated. "I sneaked into Dumbledore's private library and found several books which were written by Slytherin himself. In one of these he describes the ritual in detail and apparently he performed it on himself."
"I would very much like to get my hands on this book Severus!" he said, his voice suppressed with sadistic glee.
Snape chose not to reply.
"My Lord," interrupted Lucius.
"What is it Lucius?"
"Whom shall we use for the ritual?"
The dark lord was silent for a while before he started laughing. "Come out Wormtail," he hissed.
"M-my Lord?" stuttered Peter, clearly terrified that he was going to be the one to die.
Snape's eyes widened in shock when he saw Peter. He couldn't believe it! Peter Pettigrew was alive! But how is that possible, he thought. Sirius Black had killed Peter unless... unless Black was innocent and Peter was the real betrayer!
Snape's head was swimming with disbelief.
"I see you're rather stunned Severus?"
"I-I don't understand My Lord?"
"You're wondering why Peter Pettigrew is at my side and not Sirius Black," stated the dark lord simply.
Snape nodded.
"It's because Peter was my spy in the Order of the Phoenix. He was the Potter's secret keeper and he framed Sirius Black for the murder of the pathetic muggles."
Voldemort laughed at the look on Snape's face, if the noise he made could be considered a laugh.
"Now Snape," said the dark lord, his face suddenly becoming menacing. "What have you told the old fool about you vanishing for a day?"
"That I am collecting ingredients for the next potions class," replied Snape swiftly.
"Good," hissed Voldemort, "Now I want you to go back and tell him you're taking leave for a week due to whatever reason you come up with and I want you back here within the hour."
"Yes, My Lord."
"And Lucius, Wormtail," he said suddenly, "You will go and bring me Bartimius Crouch."
"May I ask why My Lord?" said Lucius hesitantly.
Voldemort narrowed his eyes, "Are you questioning me Lucius?"
"No My Lord," he said hurriedly, "I was just..."
"You were just nothing Lucius! I expect you to follow orders without questions... and do not think for one moment that you have been forgiven. No... All of you who abandoned me shall suffer the consequences. Now leave... all of you!"
Lucius and Peter practically ran out, but Severus stayed behind.
"What is it Snape?"
"My Lord," began Snape slowly, "Why do you not want to use Harry Potter to restore your body?"
Voldemort looked pleased at the question, "Because I will kill the boy in a duel to death myself," he hissed dangerously, "I will not have him die by this ritual... he will die begging for mercy, just like his mudblood mother."
Voldemort's red eyes seemed to burn into Snape's eyes and Snape could see the fury burning in those eyes.
"Now get out," he spat.
Snape bowed and walked out calmly though his heart was racing at a million miles a second. Boy did he have a report for Albus.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Alternate World
Harry was rolling on the ground laughing like there was no tomorrow. Ginny and the twins were dancing around the table imitating an Indian war dance yelling on the top of there voices. Hermione was screaming at Ron for splattering food on her shirt, Mrs. Weasley was yelling at the twins, trying to make them stop and Sirius was begging Harry'' to get rid of his melons!
All in all, it was a total scene of chaos in the dinning hall of number 12 Grimmauld place.
"STOP THIS RACKET RIGHT NOW!" screamed Mrs. Weasley.
"Please Harry'' please make me a complete man! Please get rid of these wonderful things that belong only on hot women!" cried Sirius.
"NEXT TIME LEARN NOT TO STUFF YOUR MOUTH WHEN YOU EAT!" screeched Hermione.
"You, you look beeeeuuutiful Sirius," said Harry, still unable to stop laughing.
Lillian was laughing at everybody with a toast in her mouth and Mr. Weasley was trying to get everyone to calm down.
"HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF!" yelled the twins and Ginny adding a sonorous charm to their vocal cords.
That got Mrs. Black to start screaming again and Sirius and Mr. Weasley ran to the corridor to get her to shut up and Sirius thankfully had his assets removed by Harry.
Once the portrait was quiet again, the dinning hall was quiet too. Mrs. Weasley had put a silencing charm on the twins and her youngest, Hermione had, had her shirt cleaned by Lillian and Harry and Harry'' were talking about the proceedings at the ministry.
"How did everything become so calm?" asked Sirius looking aghast. He was enjoying the noise so much! There was rarely any activity in the house.
"Be happy things have settled down Sirius," snapped Mrs. Weasley. "Honestly, what inspired all of you to act like morons!"
"Your constant nagging," muttered Harry'' in a low voice but Harry heard him.
Harry just rolled his eyes and grinned at Ron who was laughing openly at the twins who were being scolded by Mrs. Weasley.
Something shinning on the table caught Harry's'' attention. He looked carefully and his eyes widened in shock at the sight.
Slytherin's ring was on Lillian's finger! She was actually wearing Slytherin's ring! Lillian was actually wearing Slytherin's ring, he thought with disbelief.
He quickly felt his pockets and realized it must fallen out when he fell in the basement.
He stood up slowly and walked towards Lillian.
"We need to talk... now," he told her, his voice barely a whisper, but one could detect the underlying anger in his voice.
Lillian just gulped and followed him without a question. She had a good idea what this was about.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Original World
Albus Dumbledore could feel a massive headache build in his forehead. Snape had just left a few minutes back and the information he had given Dumbledore had in simple terms left him spell bound.
Peter Pettigrew was alive, Sirius Black was innocent, Lord Voldemort was going to be resurrected in a week and he didn't know how long it would take him to fully understand what happened to his most unique students and how in Merlin's name he was to bring them back from wherever they were!
The headmaster summoned a parchment and wrote down the things he had to do.
First was to find a headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, but he was sure he would find the perfect headquarters if he found Sirius Black.
That changed his first priority. It was now to find Sirius Black at all costs before the ministry found him and administered the kiss.
"I hope I can bring you back soon Harry''," whispered Dumbledore to no one in particular. "If not, we are doomed."
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
A few miles away from Hogwarts, a big black dog which could make superstitious wizards think they've just seen the grim, made his way towards the castle. The dog had not received a reply from his godson for a long time and was worried about his safety. It also couldn't wait any longer to kill the rat that had ruined his life.
Little did Sirius know, the rat was already reunited with its master, Harry was stuck in an alternate dimension and Hogwarts was being guarded by the most feared dark creatures in the wizarding world.
Things were moving fast indeed.