Chapter 26 – Realization
Harry was cursing his counterpart and Sirius for the umpteenth time today.
They had told him they would be back before midnight and it was now 7.00 AM in the morning! Harry didn't think he could keep their disappearance a secret any longer since almost everyone knew that Harry'' was always the first one to be down for breakfast and Sirius always made a big deal about Mrs. Weasley's cooking everyday.
There was no way anyone would fail to notice their absence. They might ignore it during breakfast but not lunch!
He hoped for their sakes they would make it back soon and also prayed nothing went wrong with their trip. He had wanted to accompany them at the start but the idea was shot down immediately. Mainly because the people in the house might disregard Sirius's and Harry's'' disappearance for a little while but not his, as he was too important to go missing for even a few hours.
Even inside the house people kept checking on him every hour or so and it annoyed him to no end. Honestly, what could possibly happen to him in a house under the fidelius charm and filled with order members to boot.
Harry sighed loudly hoping there wasn't any order meeting today and nobody would bother about the two missing people.
"Hey Harry, have you seen the other Harry'' around?" came a sleepy voice from behind him.
Harry groaned. Looks like the gods were not on his side today.
Lillian pulled a chair beside him and sat down rather grumpily.
"What's up with you?" asked Harry, a little amused.
"Nothing," she said accompanied by a huge yawn, "It's just Ginny and Hermione."
"What about them?'
"They've been up almost all night arguing about god knows what. Your name seemed to come up a lot followed by a lot of giggling."
Harry's heart leapt into his throat, "My name!"
"Yeah," she grumbled. "Don't know about what though, all I know is that they cost me my beauty sleep."
Harry grinned, "Well you certainly do look like a beauty now."
Lillian raised her head and blinked owlishly.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Pig," she muttered finally and let her head crash into the table.
Harry snorted. "If you're so sleepy why don't you just go back to bed?"
"Need to talk to Harry'' about something," she mumbled.
"I'm right here."
"Not you, the other one."
"Oh, right," he said awkwardly. "What is it that you want to talk to him about anyway?"
"Stuff," she said vaguely.
"What stuff?"
"General stuff."
"What general stuff?"
Lillian pushed herself up and narrowed her eyes. "Why are you so interested anyway?"
"Whoa, don't need to get all defensive... I was just curious."
Lillian sighed. "Sorry," she said, "I'm just having a bad day that's all."
"The day has barely begun," pointed out Harry.
"And it's steadily going to get worse," she replied snidely.
Lillian felt the bubbling of her element deep inside her as her anger rose and quickly calmed herself before anything went wrong. She had almost torched Hermione and Ginny for talking loudly last night but she had managed to crush the feeling ruthlessly.
"Look I really need to talk to Harry'', have you seen him?"
"No I haven't," said Harry. "He must be in his room."
"He's not in his room and he's always early for breakfast," she said frowning.
"Oh yeah," said Harry suddenly, "I did see him down here and I think he went back up to have a shower. He wasn't feeling too good."
"Oh no, I hope its not happening to him too," she said under her breath but Harry heard it.
"What's not happening to him? Is something wrong Lillian?"
"Nothing, nothing," she said quickly, a little too quickly. "Where on earth is Mrs. Weasley? I'm starving!"
"Lillian wait!" said Harry as she slid out of the chair and hurried to the kitchen.
"What the hell is she hiding that would make her so nervous?" wondered Harry.
All his thoughts were put to a stop when Mrs. Weasley came in floating a huge tray of delicious bacon, eggs and bread. The kind of food that would make ones mouth water instantaneously.
"Harry dear," she said cheerfully putting down the trays. "Where is Ron and the rest of the kids?"
"Still sleeping," said Harry with a grin.
"Really now," she huffed and then took a deep breath.
Harry and Lillian quickly covered their ears.
"BREAKFAST IS READY! AND WILL BE GONE IN 15 MINUTES!" she screamed.
There were thuds heard from above, a little yelling and scrambling.
Two minutes later the entire Weasley family present in the house was sitting around the table gulping down all the food like there was no tomorrow.
It was a little funny truth to be told.
"Where's the other Harry'' dear," asked Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh, he wasn't feeling too well, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. "Hopefully he'll be down for lunch."
"Oh, dear, maybe I should go and check on him."
"NO," shouted Harry.
Everyone stared at him.
"I mean, you know how he is," he added hastily. "He'll probably just insult you."
"Arrogant shithead," muttered Ron, stuffing a piece of bacon into his mouth.
"Watch your tongue young man," reprimanded Mrs. Weasley.
Ron mumbled an apology not meaning it at all.
Harry was thanking the gods that no one noticed Sirius's absence. He honestly didn't know what excuse to come up with for his godfather.
10 minutes later not a crumb was left on the table and Mrs. Weasley gave a contended sigh. She really was proud of her cooking.
Just before Harry left following Ron back to their room, Mrs. Weasley called Lillian and him back.
"Harry dear, if you see Sirius, please inform him there is an order meeting at 11.00 today."
Harry felt like smashing his head on the wall.
"And Mary, Professor Dumbledore would like to speak to you before the meeting."
"About what?" she asked, frowning.
"I think it was about your accidental magic a few days back."
Lillian paled and Harry noticed it.
"Why does he want to talk to me about that?" she asked nervously.
"I don't know dear. I'm sure you'll find out when he gets here. Now run along there's a lot of work to do today."
"Yes Mrs. Weasley," they said and hurried out of her range. Both of them were not eager to do any work she gave them. Usually it ended it a lot of pain and bug bites.
Lillian practically ran up the stairs before Harry could even stop her.
Shaking his head he made his way back to his current room hoping nothing bad had happened to Sirius and Harry''.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Harry'' and Sirius meanwhile were enjoying their trip back from Brazil.
Sirius kept ogling at the beautiful air hostesses and Harry'' was eating ham sandwiches and chocolates non stop and taking an occasional sip from Sirius's drink.
"I shouldn't be allowing you to drink that you know," said Sirius lightly.
"I've never been one to listen to anyone else other than myself," replied Harry''.
"I can see that," said Sirius. "And your inability to hold your liquor is showing too. A thirteen year old isn't supposed to be drinking."
"Relaxx Ssirius. I'm just tasting it and it'ss not like I'm gulping it down am I?"
"You've been tasting for the past 20 minutes and you're speaking with a slight slur to your voice now."
"Am not!" protested Harry'' feebly.
Sirius merely raised an eyebrow.
Harry'' raised his eyebrows too.
Sirius raised them higher.
Harry'' pulled his upwards with his hands.
"You loose," he said with a smirk.
"I wasn't aware it was a competition."
"That's why you lost," said Harry''.
Sirius just rolled his eyes.
A women walked past and Harry'' eyes followed her.
"Did you see her boobies!" he said with a gasp.
"Harry!" hissed Sirius, glancing apologetically at the people staring.
"But they were huge!"
"If you continue talking so loudly that woman is going to shove your head into the toilet."
"But Sirius, they were popping out of her shirt," he said and cupped his hands to his chest and made a weird action.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Her breasts falling out of her shirt," said Harry''.
There a few outraged gasps by the women around.
"Teach your son a few manners mister," said the lady across them.
"You got nice boobies too lady," said Harry'' cheekily.
The lady blushed and looked away.
"Okay, Harry. It's time for you to sleep," said Sirius. "It's my job to flirt with hot women not yours!"
"I'm not flirting! I'm just complimenting them."
"Go. To. Sleep!"
"Maybe I should show them a few magic tricks too," Harry'' said thoughtfully.
"Damn it Harry'', close your eyes!" he hissed.
Harry'' obediently closed his eyes. And just as Sirius had hoped, he passed out a couple of minutes later.
Sirius turned to the lady across them and gave her a charming smile.
"Sorry about that. The kid was a little high on sugar." And a little alcohol he added mentally.
"No problem," she said with a smile.
"You really have a wonderful smile you know," he said with a wink.
The lady giggled and the rest of the flight passed by too quickly for Sirius's liking.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Welcome my friends," said Dumbledore to the recently arrived members.
"Why did you call a meeting today Albus?" growled Moody. "As far as I know there haven't been any complications in our duties."
"A painting was stolen from the muggle world."
"And this concerns us how exactly?" asked Remus.
"This painting is of a witch whose identity I do not know, but apparently it holds the key to some sort of treasure," he said. "At least that's what I have found out in short notice," he added.
"And you're worried You Know Who might have something to do with this," said another member.
"This treasure could be anything. It could be gold or knowledge or even some other way for him to gain more power."
"Or it could just be a muggle who stole the painting seeing that the painting is very valuable in the muggle world," said Kingsley in his deep voice.
"Is there any proof that it was You Know Who?"
"None, however I do want you to find out everything you know about this painting. On the other hand how is your team performing Alastor?"
"Good," said Moody, "We've managed to take out Morgan and replaced his brother with a polyjuiced agent of ours."
"That's good news indeed," said Dumbledore as some of the members whistled in appreciation and congratulated Moody. "Has he found the blueprints?"
"Not yet, but he is close."
Dumbledore nodded approvingly.
Suddenly he noticed the absence of Sirius.
"Molly, do you know where Sirius is?"
"No, Albus. I haven't seen him all day."
"Could you please bring him down, I want him to be here for my next announcement. He'll probably be in Buckbeck's room."
Molly nodded and left the room.
But she returned 10 minutes later without Sirius.
"I can't find him anywhere Albus!"
Dumbledore frowned. "Did you check the library?"
"I checked everywhere. Even the kids haven't seen him all day!"
Dumbledore glanced around the room looking at the members questioningly. "Have any of you had contact with him?"
Almost all them shook their heads in negative.
Dumbledore's eyebrows knitted in worry. "Alright then, gentlemen, ladies today's meeting is adjourned. Kingsley, please stay behind."
Everyone slowly emptied the room. Few left by floo and most through the front door.
Once all the order members where gone he asked Mrs. Weasley to bring everyone to the living room.
As soon as everyone was down he cast a spell which caused a whopping sensation in everyone's stomach.
"He's not in the house," said Dumbledore gravely.
"He wouldn't have left the house, would he have Albus?" asked Mrs. Weasley sounding equally worried.
"I hope not."
"Harry's'' not here too!" said Lillian suddenly.
"Beg pardon?"
"Harry''! The other Harry''! He's not here too!" she exclaimed.
"Oh dear," muttered Dumbledore. "I hope they haven't gone out somewhere without permission."
"Ask Harry, your Harry," she said accusingly, "Apparently he was the last person to see them!"
"Hey!" said Harry. "Just because I was the last person to see him doesn't mean I know what they were up to."
"Ah-ha! So you knew they were up to something!" said Lillian triumphantly.
"Wait, now just hold on one sec," said Harry indignantly, "Why no one is supporting me here!"
"Harry," interrupted Dumbledore calmly, "Do you know anything about Sirius and Harry'' whereabouts?"
"Of course not!" Damn right I do, he added in his mind. "I wouldn't let Sirius just leave the house without any protection!"
He wasn't lying in a way. Sirius did have protection in the form of Harry''.
Dumbledore sighed, "Good, because last night a very famous muggle painting was stolen from the Louvre museum and I pray to god Sirius and Harry'' weren't remotely involved in the theft."
Hermione gasped loudly.
"Is something wrong Ms. Granger?"
"Harry'' was asking me about the Mona Lisa last week," she said covering her mouth.
"That is indeed the name of the stolen painting," said Dumbledore with a frown. "Harry, are you sure you don't know where Sirius is?" he asked again, this time a little urgently.
"No sir, I don't. And I don't think they had anything to do with this because I saw Harry'' this morning."
"I see," Dumbledore said quietly.
There was silence for a moment before it was shattered by the headmaster.
"Everybody, back to what you are supposed to be doing," he said suddenly with a note of authority in his voice. "Kingsley, I need you to check the transportation department and check all the list of all the registered portkey's going out of the country.
I want the rest of you to wait here and inform me as soon as those two get back. Harry please stay back."
"Yes sir," they said dutifully and slowly shuffled out of the room.
Once everyone was gone Dumbledore turned to Harry.
"May I speak with you for a moment Harry?" he asked politely.
"Of course professor, you did ask me to stay back after all," said Harry with forced sweetness, when all he wanted to do was scream obscenities at the headmaster for keeping secrets about his own life from him.
"Now Harry, are you absolutely sure you know nothing about Sirius and your younger self's whereabouts?"
Harry was getting angry now. "I think I heard them talking about some vaults sir," said Harry, stressing on the word sir. "Something about family vaults and things like that you know. Or wait, that's what the other Harry'' was telling me about."
Harry's voice was steadily increasing and Dumbledore just looked at Harry serenely.
"Harry," said Dumbledore, trying to interrupt Harry's rant but Harry ignored it.
"What I'd like to know is why did you choose to keep me from entering my own vaults, why are you so adamant on me staying in Privet drive every summer when you know I hate it there, why do you not let me stay here with Sirius and why have you been avoiding me every time you enter this house!" Harry took a deep breath. "Why professor!"
Dumbledore looked at Harry with sadness etched deep in his eyes.
"I did not feel it right to tell you about your vaults so soon and I wanted to tell you about them as a gift of sorts when you turned 17. I know there are a lot of things I have done wrong when it comes to you Harry but I honestly just want the best for you."
Harry looked down to the floor feeling guilty.
"I understand your anger and pain Harry," said Dumbledore gently, "But please understand that everything I am doing is to protect you."
"Yet the Dementors attacked me at Privet Drive," Harry couldn't help but add.
Dumbledore suddenly frowned. "Those were not rogue Dementors Harry," he said gravely.
"What do you mean?"
"They were still under the control of the ministry."
Harry stared at Dumbledore stunned. "Are you saying the ministry ordered the Dementors to attack me!"
"Not the ministry Harry, both of us know that Voldemort has spies in the ministry and there are certain elements within the ministry who would love nothing more than to see your wand snapped."
"Fudge," said Harry dully.
"Amongst others," said Dumbledore. "While you are safe from deatheaters, Voldemort and other dark creatures at Privet drive, I cannot stop the ministry from doing anything stupid. And if the ministry falls then Voldemort will most certainly have the power to break through the fidelius charm if he puts enough effort. That is why you are safest at Privet drive."
"Then how come the Dementors were able to attack me?"
"You were outside the wards," he said. "That is why I had an order member stand guard at your house every day. I knew I could not force you to stay close to the house everyday so every time you strayed outside the wards, an order member was there to protect you. Unfortunately Mundungus had to choose that particular day to make a sale."
Harry chuckled and Dumbledore smiled.
"I'm sorry sir, but if you had just told me this before, none of this would have happened."
"Another one of an old mans mistakes," said Dumbledore with a laugh.
"Sir," began Harry hesitantly.
"Yes my boy?"
"You're not keeping any more secrets from me are you?"
"Would you believe me if I said no," he asked, his eyes twinkling.
"I would if you'd say so," he said seriously.
Dumbledore sighed.
"There is always a time and place for everything Harry. You must learn to be patient and things will be revealed to you when the time is right."
Harry nodded.
"Now run along Harry, I'm sure you have much to discuss with your friends."
"Yes sir," he said with a sheepish smile and hurried up the stairs to talk to Ron and Hermione.
The smile on Dumbledore's face lingered as Harry vanished. "Take care my dear boy," he whispered before heading to the fireplace and flooed back to the castle.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
It was two in the afternoon when cab pulled up in front of number 15 Grimmauld place and a blond man and a boy got out.
They paid they cabbie and walked tiredly to the spot between number 11 and 13 before completely disappearing.
"My head is pounding Sirius," grumbled Harry''.
"That's what happens when a thirteen year old consumes alcohol."
"It's not like you stopped me or anything!"
"That's true," said Sirius with a chuckle. "I wanted to see how you'd behave with a little alcohol in your system and I wasn't disappointed."
"Don't remind me," groaned Harry''. "What was I thinking?"
"The look on that air hostess's face when you hit her butt was Priceless!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was so glad when she didn't say anything. For an instant I thought she was going to slap me," said Harry''.
"I thought she was going to spank you."
"Whatever, now just open the damn door. God only knows what kind of reception we're going to receive."
"What about our disguise?"
"Just remove the contacts and turn your hair back to its original color. The blonde color will disappear after a good head wash."
Once that was done the duo quietly opened the door and tip toed towards the staircase hoping not to be seen.
Luck wasn't on their side for once.
"Oh my god, I found them!" shrieked Hermione.
The curtains covering the portrait of Mrs. Black ripped open and her screams and obscene language filled the hall way.
Wincing Sirius rushed towards the portrait and forced the moth eaten curtains shut causing a welcomed silence to fall in the Black house.
"Where have you been!" hissed Hermione, beckoning them towards the dining hall.
Harry'' smiled coldly, "Wouldn't you like to know," he said with a sneer worthy of Professor Snape.
"Play nice Harry''," muttered Sirius quietly.
Hermione just huffed and walked out calling for Mrs. Weasley and the others.
Harry'' sighed. "Can I stun her Sirius?"
"That wouldn't be a good idea. And no matter how much you dislike her, I don't thing it would be in your best interests to make more people mad at you right now."
"Like I care about that," he said with a snort. "And look! Here comes the cavalry," he added with a smirk as Mrs. Weasley came running down the stairs followed by everyone else in the house.
"WHERE IN MERLINS NAME HAVE YOU BEEN SIRIUS BLACK!" she screamed as loud as her voice would permit.
"Merlin, did she put steroids in her vocal cords!" muttered Harry''.
Sirius suppressed his laughter.
"Calm down Molly. Harry'' and I just had to visit Gringotts."
"Gringotts! Why in heavens name would you want to visit Gringotts! Harry'' doesn't even have a vault in this world. And even if you wanted to visit the order would have planned a trip at the appropriate time! Do you know how IRRESPONSIBLE it was on your part!
Mrs. Weasley was breathing heavily and all the children behind her had moved as far back as possible to avoid her wrath just in case she turned towards them.
And don't worry Harry'', I know you had nothing to do with this. I'm sure this man must have dragged you along just for his own amusement," she said nastily.
"Err, Mrs. Weasley?" said Harry'' suddenly, suppressing his urge to choke the life out of her.
"Yes dear," she said, her demeanor changing from intimidating to loving in a matter of seconds.
"Are you Sirius's mother?"
She looked confused. "Pardon?"
"Are you or are you not Sirius's mother?" he repeated slowly as if explaining to a dumb child.
"Of course not!"
"Then what gives you the right to dictate where he goes and what he does?"
Mrs. Weasley stared at Harry'' doltishly, her face red in anger and confusion.
Harry'' just smiled serenely with a dangerous look in his eye.
She pulled herself together and put her hands on her hips.
"That is not the point. He should not be putting you and himself in harms way! What would have happened if you both were seen! How do you think the public would have reacted if they saw an escaped convict walking in Diagon Alley along with a much younger Harry Potter!"
"Do you really think we would be dumb enough to go into Diagon Alley without a disguise Molly?" asked Sirius sarcastically.
She seemed to be swelling as her anger grew.
"I'm calling the headmaster," snapped finally. "He'll deal with the two of you."
"Ohhh," said Harry'', pretending to shiver in fear.
She just shot him a nasty glare and left the room. Sirius followed her out so that he could intercept Dumbledore when he arrived and save Harry'' the trouble of making explanations to the headmaster.
Harry'' decided to have a snack but stopped short when he found all the Weasley boys standing in front of him with their wands out.
"Is this supposed to be a blockade or something?" he asked. Not intimidated in the slightest.
"Shut it Potter," snarled Ron. "It's time you learned not to talk so rudely to our mother!"
Harry'' just rolled his eyes. "And you're going to do what exactly?"
He saw Harry move towards Ron to calm him down and Hermione and Ginny went to the twins. Lillian was just watching the proceedings quietly and Harry'' could tell from the look in her eye that she wanted nothing more than to pound him to bits.
"Cool it Ron," Harry said gently, "Lets just go back upstairs."
"Yeah, go back upstairs Weasley. You wouldn't stand a chance if you tried to pick a fight with me."
Ron broke free from Harry's hold on him and lunged towards Harry''.
"Ron don't!" shouted Harry, remembering the time he had tried to attack his counterpart.
But it was too late, Ron was barely an inch away from Harry'' when he was viciously blasted back and went crashing into the twins.
"Ron!" shrieked Hermione and Ginny.
Ron groaned and slowly pushed himself up.
"Ron, are you alright!"
Ron nodded and stood up shakily.
Suddenly his cheeks blew out and he covered his mouth, his eyes wide in terror.
"What's the matter Ron!"
And then for the second time in his life Ronald Weasley began to puke slugs.
Harry'' just smirked and quietly slipped into the kitchen. All that talking had made him even hungrier then he was before.
-x-x-x-x-x-
Harry sighed in defeat. "Why did Ron have to be so temperamental?" he thought. Now he'd have to wait even longer to find out what about Sirius and his counterparts trip to Paris.
He knew what was going to happen now. Mrs. Weasley was going to come and scream bloody murder when she saw Ron. Dumbledore would then arrive and remove the hex. The headmaster would then proceed to question Sirius and Harry'' who would lie spectacularly and then he'd finally get his chance to talk to the two alone.
Total chaos in other words.
Shaking his head ruefully, he patted Ron on the back who was now puking slugs with renewed vigor.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
It was close to midnight when Harry, Harry'' and Sirius finally managed to meet each other alone.
Presently they were sitting in the Black library with the painting unfolded in front of them along with the map Harry'' had.
"What do we do now?" whispered Harry.
"No clue," said Harry'' with a shrug. "What do you think Sirius?"
Sirius frowned.
"Place the map in the centre of the portrait."
Harry'' did. "Now what?"
"I don't know," said Sirius, "But it may need some sort of catalyst or something, something which will make sure that a Potter is the one who is accessing the map."
"Blood?" suggested Harry.
"Maybe," said Sirius. "Why don't you give it a try Harry''."
Harry'' nodded and conjured a small knife and placed his thumb over the map before pricking his thumb lightly and letting the drops of his blood fall on the parchment.
Slowly the blood was soaked up by the parchment and then all the dots and lines began to wiggle and move like worms all around the parchment. Ink from the portrait and the parchment began to leak and they started mixing with each. The sequence of dots and lines kept changing and the parchment kept getting darker and darker and suddenly it just stopped.
"What," began Harry but shut his mouth when all the ink began to ooze out of the map. It slowly rose above the parchment swirling furiously forming no recognizable shape when out of the blue there was a flash of silver light and a small rectangular silver stone fell onto the parchment with a thump.
All three occupants of the library were silent after that particular event.
Sirius was the one who broke the silence. "That was unexpected."
Harry'' gently picked up the stone and looked at it closely from all angles.
"Look!" Harry said suddenly, pointing to the parchment.
A word was now written on the parchment.
"Dom..," Harry'' began but was quickly cut of by Sirius.
"No Harry'', don't say it!"
"Why not?"
"It could be a password to activate a portkey. And if I'm right that stone is a portkey to your ancestral home. Now unless you want to go there right now, which I think is a bad idea. Just let go of the stone."
Harry'' put down the stone.
"What does Domus mean?" asked Harry.
"It's Latin for home," said Sirius.
"Straight forward password," said Harry''. "Anyway, I should keep this with me," he said, picking the stone again. "Wouldn't want to loose it."
"Why can't we use it?" asked Harry. "I don't know about you guys, but I'd really like to visit my ancestral home."
"You can't use this stone, because it's from my world and if it's a one time use portkey then I'd like to use it in my world," said Harry''. "The portrait seems to be unchanged so I'm sure if you got your copy of the map out of the vault, I'm sure you'd get your portkey."
"What about returning the portrait? I thought the plan was to return it once we were done with it."
"This portrait rightfully belongs to the Potters so you don't need to worry about it. But if you're so concerned..."
Harry'' took out his wand and said Geminio, pointing his wand at the portrait. Instantly there was an exact copy on the table.
"Call Hedwig or preferably some common barn owl and ask it to drop this at the entrance of the Louvre without being seen. The muggles won't even know the difference."
That said Harry'' walked out of the library and back to his room with a satisfied smile on his face. "Looks the trip across dimensions turned out to be beneficial after all," he thought.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Morning Daily
Mona Lisa Returned!
In bizarre turn of events, the Mona Lisa which was stolen from the famed Louvre Museum in Paris was found rolled up at the entrance of the museum and was found by a security guard.
There was no comment from the museum after the Da Vinci master piece was found, but it was reported by a source that experts were currently trying to determine if the portrait found is indeed the original Mona Lisa or a fake.
For history of the Mona Lisa... turn to page 3
For history of Leonardo Da Vinci... turn to page 3
For history of the Louvre Museum... turn to page 4
"Can you believe this!" said Hermione.
"Believe what Mione?" asked Ron, trying to stuff two toasts into his mouth at the same time.
Hermione just shot him a disgusted look and turned away from him.
"What do you think Harry?"
"Maybe one of the employees was playing a prank on the museum authorities or it's just a ploy by the museum to get more attention."
"Nobody would be stupid enough to play such a prank on the museum Harry," she said rolling her eyes. "And they don't need to go to such extents to bring people to the museum, they're well known enough as it is."
"Maybe they were losing customers and they wanted people to remember the beauty of art or something," he said with a shrug.
Hermione bit her lip.
"Just drop it Hermione. You don't need to solve everything."
Ron snorted causing a few pieces of half eaten bread crumbs to fall out of his mouth again.
"Stop stuffing your mouth like that Ronald!" said Hermione sharply, "It's disgusting."
"Sorry," he mumbled, the tips of his ears turning red.
Hermione turned back to Harry, "Have you seen Sirius and Harry'' yet? Mrs. Weasley asked me to keep an eye on them." She said Harry's'' name with as much scorn as possible.
"Harry'' had breakfast before we even came down and I guess Sirius is still asleep."
"I really don't understand him," Hermione burst out. "I don't understand why he is so rude and looks down upon everyone he meets. You and him are the same but yet so different!"
Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance, but he could understand Hermione's dilemma.
"He may be the same as me physically but there are a lot of differences in our upbringing," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing," said Harry with a sigh. He knew they wouldn't understand life living with the Dursley's. Harry remembered a conversation they had about the Dursley's and he was horrified at how the Dursley's had treated his younger self. Sure the Dursley's insulted, mocked and treated him like servant but never had they hurt him physically.
He had then realized why Harry'' was so cold, rude and uncaring all the time. It was all because of the way the Dursley's had treated him. Discovering magic for him was like discovering a new life, a way to survive.
He shook his head trying to get rid of all those dark thoughts.
"Stop trying to compare the both of us Hermione. We are two completely different individuals," he said tiredly. "Anyway, I'm going upstairs... Coming Ron?"
Ron nodded and followed Harry out leaving Hermione at the table.
Hermione was quiet, her mind racing with thoughts trying to find a logical answer to what Harry had said.
The answer was quite simple and straight forward but she wanted to know why. What made them so different, where the always different or was it a particular event that made them different.
She really didn't know why, but she had made it her personal mission to figure out what exactly made them so different. Sure Harry had said it was their upbringing which was different but different in what way? She knew the Dursley's didn't like magic and were very rude to Harry and she was pretty sure it was the same for the other Harry''.
It then struck her that Harry never spoke much about his childhood, his friends at primary school and all such things. All Harry kept saying was that the Dursley's didn't like him and didn't care about him.
Obviously be kept saying that because he didn't like them. Harry could be so childish at times, she thought.
"Well, now I know what to do," she said aloud with determination. She was going to find out more about both the Harry's childhood to find her answer.
She knew neither would be forthcoming but it was the only she could find out what she wanted to know.
She never even considered the thought that Harry never spoke about his childhood with good reason and it would cause him unnecessary pain.
Little did she know that in her quest to find her answers she might just create a rift between her and her best friend.
.
.
An irreparable rift.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Headmasters office, Hogwarts
Albus Dumbledore idly read the letter he had received a year back, thinking what to do about it.
When he had first found the letter in the middle of Harry's fourth year, laying in the charms corridor addressed to him he was really confused. And what confused him further was that it was in his handwriting!
And when he read the contents of the letter his mind just froze to a halt.
"Ridiculous," was the first word out of him mouth. But then he couldn't deny the facts.
There was a letter addressed to him in the charms corridor whose wall apparently had runes which made traveling through dimensions possible and two students from another dimension had ended up in this world.
Upon conformation he knew that the letter was indeed in handwriting and had charms which would enable only him to open and read it.
But there was one inconsistency.
There were no students who had appeared from the wall, let alone a different Harry Potter and someone called Lillian Mary Austin.
That was one year ago.
Apparently the portal worked in mysterious ways.
Today he was reading the letter once more and wondering if it would be a good thing to send them back to their own world.
He knew they were powerful and after Lillian's little fire show, he knew she was a fire elemental.
How beneficial their powers would be to the war. Having two Harry Potters fight Voldemort would be much better than one. Two boys who were capable of defeating Voldemort according to the prophecy would be much better than just one, he thought.
But those were yesterday's thoughts. Today he realized the dangers of keep them in this world. Harry'' had snuck out of the house for a reason not known to him and if they were seen the results would have been disastrous.
His Harry now knew about the Potter vaults thanks to his counterpart. Harry could now find knowledge in those vaults which he certainly didn't want Harry to have access to. Especially if the rumors about the vaults were true then he definitely didn't want Harry having access to them.
He rubbed his forehead feeling the headache come. It was time to send the dimension travelers back to where they belonged before they ruined more of his well laid plans.
He should have known better and not tried to meddle with fate. His plans had failed spectacularly and Harry could easily slip out of his control if he spent more time around his younger self who was clearly extremely independent and wouldn't stand anybody trying to interfere in his life.
"He's my counterpart's headache," he muttered, "Not mine. Better get rid of him before he causes anymore trouble."
And with that Albus Dumbledore retired to his room. Tomorrow he would be sending Harry'' and Lillian back to their world.