Chapter 24 – Mona Lisa - Part 1

Original World

"Hermione, have you seen Scabbers around?" asked Ronald Weasley.

"No, why?"

"I can't find him anywhere!" exclaimed Ron. After a moment of silence he added, "I hope your cat didn't eat him."

"Of course not," replied Hermione shrilly, "I've made sure he doesn't enter your stinking dorm anyway!"

"Alright, alright," muttered Ron, "I'm just worried about Scabbers that's all."

"Don't worry then," snapped Hermione, "He was useless anyway."

Ron glared at her but didn't say anything for fear of causing another row between the two.

Flashback

"Can you believe it!" said Dean Thomas, "Potter and Austin apparating within Hogwarts!"

"I can't," mumbled Ron, "Hermione's been going on and on about how you can't apparate within the walls of Hogwarts. Frankly my ears must have had the word imprinted in them by now."

Seamus sniggered, "Yeah, well we all know how passionate Granger is about studies and Hogwarts."

"Too true," said Ron.

"Do you think they'll be fine?" said Neville nervously.

"Who?" asked Ron.

"Whom do you think you idiot," said Dean, rolling his eyes. "Potter and Austin, that's who!"

"I don't care about Potter," said Ron, "I'm hoping he's injured bad enough so that he doesn't come back here, or he should do the world a favor and just snuff it."

"You'd want that to happen to Lillian too?" asked Neville strangely.

"Of course not!" exclaimed Ron. "Why would you even suggest that, she's my best friend!"

Dean and Seamus snorted.

"What was that for?" asked Ron, confused.

"Maybe you should open your eyes mate," said Seamus, "I've hardly seen you and Granger hanging out with Austin nowadays. Half the time either she's on her own or she's talking to Potter."

"WHAT! Where did Potter come into this!" he shouted.

"Its true," said Dean, "They're kinda friends, even though Potter would deny it. I honestly don't know what his definition of friends is."

"And to top it off, Austin supported Harry last year when everyone thought he was the heir of Slytherin and it turns out she was right."

"Mary is NOT friends with Potter and nor will she ever be friends with Potter," said Ron firmly.

"You're the only one who thinks that mate," said Seamus. "And I'm sure even Hermione will agree with us."

"No she won't," said Ron adamantly.

Dean and Seamus just rolled their eyes.

"Do you think Sirius Black is going to come to Hogwarts?" said Neville in a small voice, hoping to change the direction of the conversation. He knew Harry Potter was a very dangerous subject to bring up around Ron.

A rat snoozing comfortable pillow woke up with a squeak. It had just heard Sirius Black and Hogwarts in the same sentence and that was definitely not good.

"I think he is," replied Dean, "According to a few people he's coming to kill Potter for getting rid of You Know Who."

The rat began to tremble in fear. How could he have escaped Azkaban! thought the rat in panic. And it knew if Black was coming to Hogwarts to kill someone, it was going to be him, Peter Pettigrew and no one else.

"Yeah but he can't kill Potter if he's not here is he," said Ron, "Pity," he added.

Wait, what was that? thought Peter. Harry Potter was not at Hogwarts? What was going on? He knew sleeping so much was a bad idea, even if it was relaxing.

"Maybe Potter has gone into hiding because of that!" exclaimed Seamus, "He knew Black was going to come after him and maybe his apparating was just a diversion from the truth!"

Ron was ready to believe him.

"They disappeared right in front of us Seamus," said Dean, "And even if he did go into hiding, that doesn't explain why Austin disappeared too."

Ron looked disappointed.

"Ma-maybe we should sleep now," said Neville, it made him nervous when he stayed up to long. "It's getting late and we have class tomorrow."

"Yeah, Neville's right," said Ron. "Goodnight guys, goodnight Scabbers," he said. A few seconds later, his loud snores could be heard throughout the dorm.

"Wanker," muttered Dean and put his ear plugs on and went to sleep himself.

30 minutes later, when Scabbers was sure everyone was asleep, he leapt of Ronald's bed, transformed and made his way to the fifth years dorm. He needed a certain map to enact the terrible plan forming in his head.

If there was one thing Peter Pettigrew was good at, it was escaping. And right now he had to escape from a mad dog that was certainly going to kill him if it found him. He knew he could no longer stay at Hogwarts because sooner or later Sirius would expose the truth about him if the dog was caught and with Lupin around, there was always the fear of being recognized by the wolf. If he were to stay alive there was only one place to go… a place he never wanted to return to again.

He knew where the map was hidden by the twins and once he checked it he realized that what the kids had said was true. Harry Potter was no longer in Hogwarts.

He put the old parchment back in its place and transformed again. With fear guiding his heart Peter fled from the castle. His old master was the only one who could protect him and keep him alive and Peter certainly didn't want to die.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alternate World: Harry's'' Room.

"Where did you find that ring?" hissed Harry'' angrily.

"What's it to you?" replied Lillian, equally hostile.

"What's it to me? You know damn well that ring is mine! I saw it in your eyes the moment I asked you to follow me out of the kitchen!"

Lillian glared at him. "I found it in the cellar. It didn't have your name stamped on it so I put it on," she snapped.

Harry'' was confused. "But how on earth did you manage to put it on!" he shouted.

Now Lillian was confused, "What do you mean how I put it on? I just slipped it on my finger and it fit perfectly. The only problem is that it won't come off!"

Harry'' and Lillian glared at each other, both silently daring the other to say something.

Finally Harry'' sighed and took a deep calming breath and said, "Austin, could you please explain to me where you found my ring and what do you mean it won't come off?"

Lillian simply continued glaring at Harry.

"If you start talking, then maybe I can tell you why the ring won't come off."

That got her talking.

"Like I said," she began, "I found it lying on the floor after you left. It must have fallen out of your pocket. It looked really beautiful and it felt like the ring wanted me to put it on," she said irritably. "So then I put it on and now it refuses to come off!"

She tried pulling the ring off to emphasis her point.

Harry stared at her incredulously. "Haven't you learnt not to touch any unknown magical artifact in the wizarding world?"

Lillian sighed in annoyance, "How was I to know it was a ring that would get stuck to your finger."

"And yeah, about the ring," began Harry slowly "Did you bother examining it before you put it on?"

"Yeah," she said. "Why?"

"Did you examine it properly, every nook and cranny?"

"Maybe," she said biting her lip.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Meaning you didn't," he said flatly.

"Whatever Potter," she said hotly. "Now will you kindly remove this thing off!"

"I can't," said Harry simply. "I was never even able to put in on my finger."

"What do you mean?" asked Lillian perplexed.

"That ring belonged to Salazar Slytherin. I could not wear that ring because I am not a descendent of Slytherin. And the only way that ring would accept you is if you were a descendent of Slytherin himself."

Lillian looked even more bewildered. But then she two and two together and her eyes widened in horror.

"But-but," she spluttered.

"But that can't be true because you're muggleborn," stated Harry'' dryly and Lillian nodded wordlessly.

"But I'm a Gryffindor," she said in a small voice staring at the ring. "There's no way in hell I could be a descendent of Slytherin."

"The thought crossed my mind too and I completely agree. And the fact that your not even a parselmouth."

Lillian didn't say anything. But the look in her eyes said it all.

"Oh my god, you're not a Parselmouth are you!"

"I am," she said in a small voice.

Harry'' looked at her in disbelief. "How!"

"I wish I knew," she muttered.

Harry'' just shook his head trying to get over this latest revelation when a thought struck him.

"Well, I think I might know how to find out if you're a descendent of Slytherin or not."

"How?" asked Lillian.

"We find out more about your mother," he said.

"My mother was a muggle Potter," she said with a dry laugh.

"Really?" said Harry sarcastically, "because if you're mother was a muggle then you're father has to be a wizard. The ability to speak parseltongue is supposed to be a blood trait."

"Then how can you speak it?" she shot back.

"I can speak it because the night Voldemort attacked me some of his powers were transferred to me."

"Oh."

"Whereas you on the other hand haven't had any dark lords with Slytherin blood in them attack you," he said with a smirk.

Lillian rolled her eyes.

"Rolling your eyes is not going to change the fact that you have Slytherin's ring stuck on your finger."

"Well what am I supposed to do!" she said exasperatedly.

Harry'' thought for a moment and then said, "Well I suppose we could conceal it."

"And how are we going to do that?"

"Using magic dimwit," he said rolling his eyes.

That said he removed his wand and cast a concealment charm on the ring hiding it from view from everyone.

Lillian stared at her finger, "I can still feel it."

"Of course you will... you just can't see it that's all."

Lillian sighed, "Now what?"

Harry had a strange gleam in his eye, "Now nothing, but when we get back home, lots of things. Now let's get back before the others start getting worried about your safety."

"My safety?"

"I'm a Slytherin remember? Evil and most likely to do bad things?" he said with a smirk.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Better get going before Ron comes barging in yelling about how evil you are and how he was sure you were going to do things to me," she said with a giggle.

"How could I forget Weasley," said Harry in mock horror, walking out of his room. "Spit flying out of his mouth, yelling incoherently and Granger trying to hold him back and prevent him from doing anything stupid."

Lillian laughed, "Now why don't I remember that ever happening?"

"That's because you weren't there. I believe it was during our second year, a few days after his brothers were petrified."

Lillian frowned, "How come they never told me about that?"

"It might have something to do with me vanishing Weasley's pants leaving him standing in front of Granger in his boxers," said Harry with a grin.

"Oh my god, you didn't!"

"I did. And Weasley never bothered me much after that."

"Oh my god," said Lillian again, laughing as she imagined Hermione's face seeing Ron in his boxers! But as a result she didn't watch where she was going.

"Look out!" yelled Harry'' as Lillian missed a step on the staircase.

Lillian yelped as she began to fall. Downstairs the Weasley kids saw her fall and rushed towards the stairs, but it was too late.

But then something unexpected happened.

.

.

.

Lillian vanished in a ball of flames and reappeared at the bottom of the stairs in the same position and fell flat on her face.

There was stunned silence in the house.

That was until Lillian got up holding her nose and eyes scrunched in pain.

Mrs. Weasley ran to Lillian waving her wand frantically, trying to find out if she was hurt in anyway.

"I'm fine Mrs. Weasley," said Lillian. "Will someone please tell me what happened!"

"That's what I'd like to know," said Fred, looking at Lillian with wide eyes.

"Yeah, me too," said Hermione who was staring at Lillian like she'd want nothing more than to experiment on her. "You just vanished in a ball of fire before you fell and the next thing we know you're at the bottom of the stairs!"

Lillian was confused. "What?"

"Don't be ridiculous Hermione," snapped Mrs. Weasley.

"Maybe it was accidental magic," suggested Harry.

"It's true mum," said Ron, ignoring his best friend's comment. "We saw her."

"Whoa, Whoa, hold up!" shouted Lillian. "What do you mean I vanished in a ball of flame!"

"Exactly what it means, "said Ron, "You vanished in a ball of flame when Potter tripped you and appeared at the bottom of the stairs. It was like you apparated leaving a trail of fire. Ask Potter."

"How'd you do it?" asked George.

Lillian was scared. She didn't understand what had just happened, but she did know that her elemental side had just gone berserk before she fell. And now everyone was claiming she apparated or whatever! And what did Ron mean when he said Harry'' tripped her!

Mrs. Weasley sensing Lillian's distress shooed all her sons away and the lone witch and took Lillian to the kitchen.

"It's alright dear, we'll figure out what happened. Until then why don't get something for you to eat?" she said kindly.

Lillian just nodded, wanting to clear her head and think rationally.

Harry'' on the other hand had his mind working in over drive. He honestly had no idea what had just happened but he was sure that Lillian's magic had just saved her from a very nasty fall. The question was, was it another elemental ability or was it just a bout of accidental magic?

On top of that the Weasley's had seen her disappear and he knew that once that information got to Dumbledore he would no doubt put the pieces together and uncover her secret. Thankfully his was still safe and he didn't have any intention of changing that.

The point was they had to get out of this world soon and soon meant real soon. If more people found out about them, sooner or later unwanted people would find out about them and then all hell would break loose.

From what Blaise had told him, the reason elementals stayed hidden from the rest of the world was because every wizard go out of their way to capture one and use them for their own purpose.

Thankfully the world had forgotten about them and hopefully it would stay that way.

Harry'' shook his head warily, trying to clear his mind. Being magical is extremely complicated, he thought.

He made his way down the stairs and headed to the dining hall. There was another plan he needed to put into action.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Harry'' walked into the living room in search of Hermione. No matter how much he detested being around her and the Weasel, he couldn't deny that she was extremely knowledgeable and could be the only one who knew what he wanted to know.

He found the three friends sitting near the fire place playing a game of exploding snap.

"Hey Hermione," said Harry''.

Ron narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"What do you want?" asked Hermione, equally suspicious.

Harry'' rolled his eyes, "Maybe I just wanted to say hi."

The elder Harry snorted. "The day you say hi to us because you felt like it is the day I tell Malfoy I love him."

Harry'' grinned, "Point taken." Turning back to Hermione and said, "I wanted a little information."

"What kind of information?"

"Don't tell him anything Hermione," said Ron, who had kept quiet until now, but was eying Harry'' with distrust.

"Nothing too bad," replied Harry'', ignoring Ron. "I just wanted to know about the Mona Lisa."

Hermione's eyes lit up in surprise, "The Mona Lisa!"

"Yes, the Mona Lisa."

"Well, the Mona Lisa, also known as the La Gioconda, was a masterpiece painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in the 16th century. I don't know much about its history but it is said that it took Da Vinci over 5 years to complete the painting. Currently it is in the Louvre museum in Paris."

Harry'' was silent for a moment. "Was there ever any incident in the museum, like a fire breakout or something?

Hermione frowned, "I'm not sure, but I think I remember reading somewhere that there was a fire in the museum about 15 to 20 years ago but no famous paintings were damaged. The fire was contained before it could do any more harm."

"Where could you have possibly read that Hermione!" asked Harry in amazement.

"I read books Harry," retorted Hermione in annoyance. "And this one happened to be about art!"

Harry'' on the other hand nodded his head absently, while Hermione decided to enlighten him about the other famous paintings kept in the Louvre museum and about how Da Vinci was actually a squib who made a life for himself in the muggle word. Ron tuned her voice out losing interest in the conversation and the only one left listening was Harry.

"Why do you want to know about it anyway?" asked Harry. "From what I know it's a muggle painting."

"Don't be silly Harry," admonished Hermione. "Just because it's a muggle painting doesn't mean it can't be interesting."

"Do you really want to know?" asked Harry'' with a knowing smile.

"Of course," replied Harry.

"Leonardo Da Vinci wasn't born Leonardo Da Vinci. His real name was Leonard Potter."

Stunned silence greeted him.

"Are you telling us that Da Vinci was a Potter?" gasped Hermione.

"That's right. The Mona Lisa is actually the portrait of his mother or some relation of the Potters," he said. "I'm surprised you never bothered to look into your past Harry," he added, looking at his older counterpart.

Harry shrugged uncomfortably, "Never felt the need to," he said.

Hermione on the other hand was looking at Harry'' with burning curiosity. "How do you know all this?" she demanded. "I've looked up every possible book regarding the Potters and I have never found a single one which goes anything beyond Harry's parents!"

"I have better sources," said Harry'' smugly.

Hermione huffed. "If you have better sources then why ask me about it in the first place?"

"Just wanted a muggle perspective of the painting," said Harry'' nonchalantly.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Didn't grow up in the muggle world!" she said, stressing on the word muggle.

Harry'' winced and glanced at Harry. "Let's just say I wasn't much aware of the world around me until I became eleven."

Hermione just rolled her eyes not understanding what Harry'' meant.

"Anyway thanks for your input," said Harry'' and walked out of the room. He felt his stomach growl and decided to go to the kitchen and have something to eat.

Back in the living room Harry was staring at Hermione with a frown.

"What?" she asked him.

"You never told me you had tried to find out about my family," he said.

Hermione blushed, "It was a long time ago, back in our first year when we weren't friends yet," she said, not looking him in the eye. "I was very curious about you."

"And you've never tried to find out more ever since?"

"N-no."

"You're lying," said Harry.

"Ok fine, I might have asked Dumbledore about it in our third year," she said, biting her lower lip.

"We were friends then... weren't we?" asked Harry flatly.

Hermione sighed, "Look, Harry. I didn't want to tell you because I never found anything. Even Dumbledore didn't know much."

"What did he know?"

Hermione looked extremely uncomfortable. "I promised him I wouldn't say anything to you unless the facts were right Harry."

Harry tried to control his temper, "Hermione, you better start talking before I lose my temper," he said angrily.

"He just told me that your family had a long history," she said hurriedly, "He said your family was very, very rich but he didn't know anything else."

Harry was fuming internally. Harry'' was right he thought. Dumbledore was keeping things from him.

"Harry?" called Hermione nervously.

"You should have told me Hermione," said Harry.

"You're right," she said, "and I'm really sorry."

Harry sighed. "It's alright, all's forgiven."

Hermione looked relieved.

"Did Dumbledore tell you anything about my Gringotts vault by any chance Hermione?"

"No he didn't, why?"

"No reason," he said, thinking about what his younger self had told him about the two other vaults belonging to him. He hadn't believed him then but he was certainly starting to believe him now.

Maybe it was time to make a visit to Gringotts and find out for sure.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Harry'' entered the kitchen hoping to find it empty.

He sighed in relief when he just found Lillian sitting on a stool staring at the wall. Usually he would get annoyed by her mere presence but now it was nothing. If he would have thought more about it he would say it was strangely comforting!

"Hey," he said, startling her.

"Oh, hey," she replied dully and went back to staring at the wall.

Harry'' frowned. Usually she'd scowl and just ignore him. This time it was just a glance and no look of hostility.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" he asked.

"My knickers are perfectly fine, thank you very much," she said glancing at him and went back to staring at the wall.

Harry'' just stood there trying to figure out what was wrong with her when it struck him.

"You feeling any different?" he asked hesitantly.

"Hmmm, what do you mean?" she asked.

"Hello? You just apparated in fire or whatever! Surely you must be feeling something or at least wondering what exactly happened!"

"Of course I wondering what happened, you jerk!" she snapped. "But lucky for you I figured it out."

Harry'' blinked. "You did?"

"Yep," she said with a triumphant look. "The reason my element has been reacting so much is because I'm maturing. And the reason it hasn't been happening to you is because girls mature faster than boys!"

Harry'' spluttered.

"That-that's absurd!"

"No its not."

"Well, how do you know you're maturing!" he demanded.

"That's because, because... it's a girl thing!" she yelled blushing furiously.

"That makes no sense whatsoever," deadpanned Harry''.

Lillian goggled at him before regaining her composure. "Don't worry, it'll make sense one day," she said with a smirk and quickly exited the kitchen.

"Girls are crazy," muttered Harry'', shaking his head and began looking around for some kind of snack to prey on.