Chapter 32 – Reunion
Apocalypse?" said Lillian frowning. "I thought the apocalypse was like the end of the world?"
Nicolas shook his head exasperatedly. "Sometimes you really are dumb Lillian."
"Hey!" yelled Lillian indignantly.
"Not sometimes, all the time," said Harry smirking.
Lillian was ready to retort when Penny rapped both the teens on their heads.
"What was that for?" asked Harry angrily.
"Can you stop it for at least a minute and try and be nice for once?"
"Yeah, can't you?" asked Lillian grinning. "You arrogant arse."
"And watch that tongue of yours young lady," Penny said sharply to Lillian.
Lillian glared back at Penny not intimidated in the slightest.
Suddenly Harry gasped.
"What?" asked Lillian as all three turned towards him.
"I finally figured out what's so different about you."
"And that is?"
"Your hair!" he exclaimed. "It's short!"
"You just noticed?" she said incredulously.
It was true. Lillian's hair came just half way down her neck and the front of her hair was almost longer than the back with was tied in a small pony. Harry was amazed that he hadn't noticed it before.
"Why'd you cut it?" asked Harry. "Didn't like your hair before? Not that it looks any better now."
Lillian flushed red in anger. "I didn't cut it, it got burnt."
"It... got burnt?" Harry asked, mystified. "How?"
"You don't need to know alright!" she snapped.
"Ohhh… getting all defensive! Why, you couldn't control your element and you burnt yourself?" he asked grinning widely.
Harry felt a little uneasy when he saw Lillian smile instead of getting angrier.
"If you really want to know how I got burnt, maybe you'll find out when we fight," she said, her blue eyes crackling with the prospect of taking Harry down in a fight.
"Careful Freckles," said Harry. "You speak as if you think you can defeat me."
Lillian walked up to him and looked him in the eye and whispered. "It would be too easy."
Harry took a step forward too, their noses almost touching each other. "If we ever do have a duel..., make sure you have enough medical equipment around to keep you alive."
Both stood at equal height waiting for the other person to back down.
Suddenly they were roughly forced apart by an irritated alchemist.
"If you two want to fight, we'll let you fight and let you suck each others blood out. But for now go to your rooms and rest! We'll be getting back to your training after lunch."
Reluctantly Harry and Lillian forfeited their staring contest and headed upstairs silently.
"Honestly those two," said Nicolas shaking his head. "How are they going to fight together if they can't not fight each other!?"
"They have to kiss each other," said Penny.
Nicolas laughed. "Fat chance of that happening."
Penny shrugged. "Let's their hormones start taking over and then see the spark of magic!"
Nicolas looked at his wife with a grin spreading on his face. "You know we have two hours till we restart their training."
"So?" said Penny feigning ignorance.
Nicolas moved closer to her and put his hand on her butt. "Garage or couch?" he whispered.
"Garage," said Penny huskily, moving her hands under his shirt. "Let's see if you're still that good!"
Nicolas lifted her into his arms eliciting a squeal from her. "Let's see if you can keep the volume down," he said and practically ran out of the house.
On the staircase Harry and Lillian looked on with their mouths wide open.
They looked at each other and blushed red.
"I… I think we weren't meant to see that," said Lillian uncomfortably.
"Or hear that," added Harry with a quiver in his voice.
They looked at each other again and suddenly leapt away from each other and hurried to their rooms, both eager to get rid of the nasty images in their minds.
Lunch was surprisingly a quiet affair after which Penny and Nicolas took their trainee's back to their make shift training grounds.
"Man I missed this place," said Harry with a sigh.
Penny raised an eyebrow as she surveyed the place. It was green, surrounded by trees and peaceful, but she was sure that wasn't what Harry missed.
"Why?" she asked him.
"Well, you do tend to miss the place where you spill precious blood," he said, unconsciously rubbing his right shoulder.
"Heh," was all Harry heard Penny say before what felt like a fist of iron came smashing into his jaws sending him flying.
Groaning Harry stood up slowly feeling dazed. He looked in Penny's direction and saw her grinning.
"W-what the hell was that for?" he asked wincing as he spoke because of the pain in his jaws.
"No magic allowed Harry," she said cheerfully.
"For what?" muttered Harry still feeling a little dazed.
"For this!" shouted Penny as she began to run towards Harry with her fists raised.
"Shi…," said Harry as he ducked under her punch only to be kicked in the stomach… hard.
"Gyahh!" he shouted as he felt the air being squeezed out his lungs from that kick.
Gasping he slowly moved away from Penny and pushed himself onto his feet.
"For the next five days we're going to study hand to hand fighting," she said.
"What good is hand to hand fighting in a battle of magic?" asked Harry skeptically.
"What good is hand to hand fighting?" she said in surprise.
"Well I suppose you don't have the issue of loosing your wand but it is important. In a battle where you have to preserve your magical reserves hand to hand combat is very useful. You could easily knock a wizard out and with speed and strength you could defeat him or her without showing all your skills."
"So you decide to teach me that by beating me to pulp!?"
"Noo…" she said as if talking to a one year old. "I intend to beat the skills into you. Maybe if we had more time I would have taught you the stance and made you practice each block and attack like a good karate teacher but that's just not me."
"Yeah," grumbled Harry. "You love beating skills into a person."
Penny laughed. "Oh, you're so cute Harry. Now come, try and hit me."
"With pleasure," growled Harry and launched himself at her.
She dodged his fist with ease and swiped him off his feet.
Harry landed with a thump on the ground. "You idiot. Did you really expect to hit me with that lousy attempt!?"
Harry ignored her and tried to hit her again. This time she simply caught his wrist as his fist came flying at her and slammed her other palm on it snapped it like a twig.
Harry screamed in pain.
"What an idiot," said Penny with a sigh and pushed him away.
Tears were rolling down Harry's eyes as he fought to remain conscious and ignore the pain in his wrist.
Penny let him feel the pain for a whole minute before healing it.
"Do you still think this skill is useless?" she asked him.
"Screw you."
"You're too young for me Harry. Maybe when you're of age I could give you a good time."
Harry clenched his fists controlling his anger at the woman.
Penny sighed. "Can't even take a joke."
"You broke my wrist."
"I almost separated your right arm from the rest of you when we dueled. You weren't angry then."
"I was unconscious then."
"Oh! Yes," said Penny remembering that day again. "It was funny you know, the way your arm was literally hanging from your shoulder. You should have seen your face!" she said laughing.
"Only you would find something like that funny," said Harry and charged at her again determined to wipe that smirk of her face.
She caught his fist again and Harry instantly swung his other fist at her face which was caught by her other hand and before Harry knew what had happened, Penny crashed her head into his forehead knocking him out cold.
"Teenagers," she grumbled healing some of his wounds and then reviving him.
"What happened?" said Harry standing up, his green eyes looking puzzled. "Why is the last thing I remember is your head?"
"I slammed it into yours knocking you out," she said. "Now do you remember our training to make you move really fast using your magic?"
Harry grinned and moved at least 20 feet away from her. "Of course."
You're going to attack me using that skill and keep probing me for openings and see if you can get a hit on me."
Harry closed his eyes and began to gather some of his magic under his feet.
"Come!" shouted Penny and Harry vanished from sight and in the blink of an eye was behind Penny ready to give her a taste of her own medicine.
Instead Penny's leg smashed into his face breaking his nose. Harry felt like a hot iron rod had been shoved up his nose.
He felt the blood drip down his lips and his anger spiked when he saw Penny beckon him to attack again with a mocking smile.
No matter how much Harry tried and no matter how fast he moved, he just couldn't land a hit on her.
Deciding to try a different tactic he suddenly slid in front of her and tried to hit her feet but simply jumped over him and slammed her foot on his face.
This time Harry lost a tooth and his mouth began to fill with blood. But that didn't stop him. He knew he couldn't hit her with such an attack so he quickly grabbed on to her leg surprising her and making her loose her balance and quickly stood up while gathering magic in his fist and slammed it into her chin.
She staggered back, the surprise and shock evident on her face.
Harry moved back spitting the blood out of his mouth with a smug grin on his face.
"Bet you weren't expecting that bitch!" he said panting. Gathering magic under his feet and moving that fast took a lot out of him.
"No, I wasn't," she said trailing her wand on her chin healing the cut. Harry's punch was as quite powerful considering the fact that it was loaded with magic and she was protected by a number of charms to prevent any damage to herself.
The fact that she got cut was a testament to the power in that punch.
"But you seem to be at the limit too," she said.
"You wish," said Harry, even when it was too painful for him to gather magic in any particular location anymore.
"Alright," she said with a devilish grin. "Now it'll be who shall attack and you defending.
"Make sure to dodge Harry, because you know who much I love to give you pain!"
Harry sighed. The next five days were going to be bloody… literally.
It was finally over.
Only a few hours were remaining until the duo got back to Hogwarts and the Flamel's had decided to end their training.
They were all sitting by the lake resting comfortably.
"So did you have fun?" asked Nicolas.
"No," said Harry flatly and turned his back to them.
"A bit, you're quite a good teacher," Lillian said to Nicolas. "How was Penny, Harry?"
"She's a vicious blood loving leech," he said nastily.
Lillian stared at Harry blankly while Nicolas just chuckled.
"Err… she is?" she asked uncertainly.
"Yes she is. She loves watching people bleed to death and then save them only to watch them bleed again."
Lillian looked at Penny with a disturbed look in her eye while Penny was coolly looking at Harry twirling her wand in her hand.
"I can still teach a lot, you know that right Harry?" said Penny, with a dangerous edge to her voice.
Much to Lillian's surprise Harry actually gulped in fear and shut his mouth!
"Wow!" she said laughing. "You got Potter tamed!"
"Shut up Freckles," snapped Harry. "I like to see you train with her for a week and survive."
"Well I didn't," said Lillian, "So there's no need to see."
"Now, now, stop fighting children," said Nicolas calmly.
Harry sighed and turned away from Lillian and Penny.
"Even so, do you think you have changed after coming here?" asked Nick.
"Of course," said Harry. "According to your wife I could easily defeat any strong wizard if I use most of my abilities, while if I can only use magic then I'm probably at the level of a trainee auror."
"Hmm… that's quite good," said Nicolas thoughtfully. "Lillian on the other hand has much to learn when it comes to casting spells but her elemental training as been excellent."
"Spell casting sucks for you huh?" Harry asked her.
Lillian shrugged. "Nick says I need to give my magic more time to develop before I can attempt harder spells."
"Ehh, whatever," said Harry dismissing her. He turned to Penny instead. "You're absolutely free today right?" he asked her.
"Yes," she said wondering what Harry was thinking.
"I want to see my family tree. I remember you saying you have the history of practically all magical families and I want to see mine."
Penny and Nicolas exchanged a glance.
"No," said Nicolas. "If you want to find out about your ancestors do it on your own."
"What! Why?" asked Harry angrily.
"Because we don't want to," said Penny. "If you want to know more about your family then go find your family home. I know you have the portkey to the house."
"But you won't tell me," said Harry. "Is it because they were dark or something!?" after a moments pause.
Nicolas sighed. "Look Harry. Even if Dumbledore asked me to show him his family's entire history I wouldn't."
"But why not!?" questioned Harry.
"If you want to find out about your family, you should do it by normal means."
"Are you bound by an oath?" asked Lillian.
"No," said Nicolas. "But our records have things that are not meant to be revealed to anyone but us."
Harry frowned. "Then just give me an overview," he said.
"Your family line extends back to the time of Merlin, that's all I will tell you," said Penny.
"Back… to the time of Merlin!?" said Harry, his eyes going wide.
"Don't worry," she added with a laugh. "You aren't related to anyone famous. Not the founders, nor Merlin himself."
"Then who!?"
"Why is it so important to you?"
Harry looked down at his hands and curled his fingers. "Because it is."
Penny looked at him hard knowing that he wasn't going to tell why and then just shrugged. "Well I guess it's your headache then."
"Penny," cut across Lillian suddenly. "Do you have records on me too?"
"Yes."
"So could you tell me if…"
"If you're mother was a witch? No she wasn't. You are one hundred percent muggleborn. If you want the answer as to why you're able to wear Slytherin's ring, then maybe you and Harry should take a trip to the chamber of secrets and try to do some in depth research on your family."
"Chamber of secrets? But nobody knows where it is!"
"Harry does," replied Penny with a smirk.
Lillian looked at Harry in surprise. "You do!?"
"Isn't there anything else to do around here?" Harry asked Nicolas wearily.
"Well I suppose there is one thing you could do," said the alchemist slowly.
Harry eyes lit up in interest.
"You and Lillian could have a little duel."
"Huh?"
"You heard me, let's see you two have a mock duel. I'm sure you both wouldn't mind trying to kill each other."
Penny looked excited too. "Yeah, let's see you two duel."
"Yeah Potter, let's duel. I can't wait to kick your butt," said Lillian in a challenging tone. "Unless, you're too scared," she added.
Harry stood up. "Too scared? Freckles, if we fight, it'd be over in second. That's all it'll take me."
Lillian stood up too and drew her wand. "Let's find out then, shall we?"
Penny jumped to her feet clearly eager to see the fight. She drew her wand and cast a spell over both of them.
A bright yellow light washed over them and slowly faded away.
"What was that?" asked Harry.
"That was to make sure you don't kill each other, don't do any permanent damage to anything and none of your body parts get detached by accident," said Nicolas.
"So I could go all out and not end up killing her," said Harry with a grin as he summoned his wand.
Penny and Nicolas moved away from them and nodded. "Take a bow and begin!" said Nicolas.
Harry and Lillian gave a small bow to each other and slowly moved a few steps away from each other.
Both were waiting for the other to make the first move with baited breaths.
Their heart rates steadily increased in anticipation and thrill when Lillian's wand was suddenly ripped out of her hand and flew into Harry's.
Harry smiled. "You lose," he said.
Lillian sighed. "You're so predictable Potter. I knew you would do that," she said and suddenly a ring of flames surrounded her.
"Stupefy," muttered Harry and to his shock the curse was stuck down by a burst of fire from Lillian's circle. He had decided not to use his element yet and first see what Lillian was capable of.
"None of your curses can get through by defense Harry," said Lillian with a smirk. She then raised her hands to the sky and brought them down sharply.
For a moment nothing happened and then huge balls of fire began to fall from the sky right at him.
Harry was forced to put up a strong shield and he began to run towards Lillian while continuously throwing low level curses at her which failed to penetrate her ring of fire.
Lillian too began running towards him with her hands ablaze ready to fry him.
"Take this!" she shouted and let loose a burst of flames obliterating everything in their path when suddenly she saw Harry leap over her head!
Harry took aim from atop and said calmly, "Confringo."
The area around Lillian exploded and Harry landed gracefully away from the blast area.
"You think it's going to be so easy," said a very familiar voice from behind him.
"What!?" he gasped in surprise as he twisted around.
Lillian was behind him with a ball of fire in her hands.
"Eat this," she growled and threw it at his feet. Harry's was blown back, his eyes seeing nothing but fire around him.
He landed hard on the ground and the only reason he wasn't burnt to crisp was because he had managed to conjure a shield just in time.
He quickly stood up and began to gather magic in his body to strengthen it.
"Behind you Potter," came Lillian's voice again and Harry flashed out of the way to avoid another fire ball bomb.
Using his incredible speed he quickly moved behind Lillian and fired another exploding hex.
Again Lillian was not there and had somehow escaped the blast.
A burst of fire from behind him told him her new location and he immediately moved away.
Harry stopped and then quickly turned around just in time to see Lillian appear in front of him in a flash of fire.
"Confringo," he said again as soon as she appeared. Lillian wasn't expecting that and flamed out of there immediately.
This confirmed the theory brewing in Harry's head. Lillian could teleport using her elemental ability.
Lillian meanwhile was also a little confused and amazed by the speed at which Harry was moving.
She would flame behind him and attack but he would move away so fast that she could only see a blur of him moving away!
Harry decided to change tactics. He had to lure Lillian into a trap, so he stopped moving and gathered his magic around his body to prevent any damage from the flames. He also had his wand aimed backwards hidden under his arms.
Just as he had predicted, Lillian flamed behind him and as he heard the noise of fire behind him he fired two spells in succession.
"Ignisorbis, aetasflatus!" he whispered.
The first was an extremely fire resistant circular disk which was closely followed by a tiny black ball which would explode in three seconds.
His plan was success. The disk barely managed to get through Lillian's defense and the time bomb spell managed to get through and explode blowing Lillian away along with creating a foot deep crater.
When the smoke cleared, Lillian was lying a few feet away her clothes burnt in a few places and she was sporting a few cuts on her body. One cut above her eye was bleeding quite profusely.
Harry didn't give her time to recover and fired a stunning spell at her.
Lillian's eyes widened and she rolled out of the way, still feeling a little winded.
"Give up?" Harry asked with a smirk. "You're going to get hurt if we continue this."
"You must be insane," growled Lillian and stretched out her hand.
Harry's gasped in surprise when Lillian's wand which was in his pocket burst into fire and disappeared and appeared in her hands.
"That's new too," muttered Harry.
Lillian transfigured a number of stones into steel dogs and made them start running around Harry but not attack.
Harry frowned and stood still waiting for some form of attack
Suddenly the dogs opened their mouths and steel arrows began to fly at him at tremendous speeds.
Harry had quickly flashed out of range but the dogs seemed to sense his moments and followed his moments while continuously firing arrows at him.
"Confringo, Confringo!" shouted Harry blasting two of the dogs to oblivion out of the seven.
"Stupefy!" he heard Lillian yell behind him and he side stepped the curse while blowing the rest of the dogs to bits too.
Harry and Lillian were now engaged in a cat and mouse game. Lillian would keep teleporting and firing curses while Harry would keep moving fast avoiding her curses and trying to predict her next location to take her out.
"Why don't you use your element Potter," called out Lillian stopping a little distance away from Harry.
"You sound out of breath," said Harry instead of answering her question.
"So do you," she shot back.
They both stared at each other for a moment before shouting Confringo at the same time.
The curses met each other midway and made a ear shattering explosion.
"Conseco," said Harry flashing beside her and a deep cut formed on her left hand making her cry out in pain.
"Infusco," she said angrily with tears of pain in her eyes and everything went dark for Harry.
"Shit," cursed Harry. He never expected Lillian to know the darkness curse and he should have closed his eyes when he heard her say it.
Now the darkness wouldn't lift unless he managed to get a hit on her again.
Suddenly it was raining fireballs again and Harry lost patience and summoned his element.
The ground around his feet began to freeze as the temperature around him dropped drastically.
He quickly covered himself in an ice shell and shouted, "relucesco," pointing his wand up. A bright white light emerged from his wand which was guaranteed to blind Lillian for a moment.
He then fired ice bullets from his ice shield in all directions with such a fury that each time one impacted an object it made a resounding sound.
Lillian meanwhile was overwhelmed by the sudden retaliation by Harry and she was forced to lift the darkness spell and focus all her energy on her shield.
"Play time over Austin," growled Harry and flashed behind her and unleashed a torrent of water over her head which froze everything it touched.
Lillian immediately twisted her body and let loose a burst of fire barely managing to counter Harry's attack.
"Confringo!" roared Harry flashing behind her again and Lillian simply teleported out of the way.
Harry's eyes scanned the area for her and increased the magic under his feet readying himself for a final attack.
"There!" he thought seeing her appear to his left and flashed an inch away from her.
"Game over," he said and slammed his fist into her face knocking her out.
But much to his surprise she simply turned to ash and Harry realized he had been fooled.
He felt a wand tip touch his back and tried to flash away but it was too late.
"Confringo," she said with such fury that the explosion threw her back too.
She quickly stood up and waited for the dust to clear while preparing herself in case Harry and escaped her blast.
But he hadn't. When the dust cleared Harry was on the ground groaning and his entire back looked like it had been shredded with a jagged knife.
"Gross," thought Lillian at the sight of his back.
Harry was feeling incredible pain. Slowly he turned around and pushed himself to his feet, his eyes devoid of any emotion.
"If I hadn't protected by body with magic I would be I a lot worse condition," he thought grimly as he spotted Lillian.
"Nice trick," he commented as he drew a rune discretely with his leg. "What was that?" he asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know," she said sarcastically and quickly flamed away as soon as she saw Harry flash towards her.
Harry quickly drew a rune there too.
"This duel is not going to end like this," he said flashing to another spot.
"One of us will make a mistake at some point," said Lillian keeping her distance from Harry. "Look at your back."
"True," said Harry and flashed away again. Lillian thought he was trying to attack her and flamed away but actually Harry flashed to a different place to draw another rune.
When he had finished his drawings he flashed to the centre and pretended to trip and fall.
"Chance!" muttered Lillian and flamed right behind him with the tip of her wand glowing red.
Harry jumped back and yelled, "Activate!"
There was a flash of blue light and Lillian found herself frozen.
Harry had drawn a pentagram with the runes signifying body, motion and end at all ends.
"What is this!?" demanded Lillian as she tried to move and flame away but nothing seemed to work.
Grinning Harry sauntered towards her and plucked her wand out of her hand.
"Now you really lose. Stupefy," he said and she dropped like a sack of potatoes.
.
.
.
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Clap, clap, clap.
.
.
.
"Interesting duel," commented Nicolas walking with Penny.
"Turn around," grunted Penny moving next to Harry. She removed her wand and slowly healed all of Harry's injuries.
Nicolas did the same with Lillian and then revived her.
Nicolas then conjured four cushioned chairs and directed everyone to take a seat.
"First of well done the both of you and congratulations to Harry."
Lillian gave a dirty look to Harry and folded her arms looking away.
"Why thank you Nicolas," said Harry cheerfully. "After all we all knew I was going to win that duel."
"That said," cut in Penny loudly. "Both of you were idiots."
"What? Why?"
"Harry, you could have easily immobilized her by using your magic and element and Lillian you could have caused some serious damage to Harry by using that special skill you learnt while training with Nick, plus when you tried to blow Harry to shreds you could have stunned him instead and won."
"I didn't want to show that to Potter," she mumbled. "I was going to use that as a last resort and well the stunning spell didn't cross my mind when I had him trapped."
"And because you were keen on hiding most of your abilities, you lost by getting trapped in a rune trap made by Harry," said Nicolas.
"But I think the two of you should have a duel in which you're not allowed to use your teleporting ability and moving fast power," said Penny to Lillian and Harry. "If Harry hadn't used the pentagram rune, the duel would have never ended."
"I don't understand how come Lillian can use her element to teleport whereas I can't use mine to do the same," said Harry.
"Each elemental has their own unique powers," said Nicolas. "If you haven't discovered any then give it time and soon you will."
Harry nodded.
"Well," began Penny standing up, "The suns almost down and we have to send you back to Hogwarts in a few hours time. So Nick and I are going in and you two can come in whenever you want to. Dinner will be at eight."
Nick and Penny shimmered out of view leaving Harry and Lillian alone.
Both looked at each other uncomfortably before Harry turned around and sat under a tree staring over the lake.
Lillian followed him and took a seat next to him.
"Where did you learn runes?" she asked him after a while.
"Read about them," said Harry. "And I asked Penny to teach me a few basic ones."
"Oh I see," she said and they relapsed into silence once again.
The sun was almost out of sight and darkness was beginning to set in.
"It was a good duel," said Harry out of the blue. "You've improved your element quite a bit."
Lillian grinned and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Thanks," she said. "I see you've managed to put your moving things ability to greater use huh."
"Yeah," said Harry. "So you excited about going back?"
"I donno," replied Lillian. "It will feel so weird. I mean, to them we've gone for just over a month but in reality it feels like a lifetime."
"Well its not," said Harry. "You're friends are quite dumb and they'll believe anything you told them."
"Don't underestimate them Potter," said Lillian annoyed. "They're smart too."
Harry rolled his eyes. "What about Weasley?"
Lillian laughed. "He's a little passionate about a few things and very sensitive about a dozen more."
Harry snorted. "He's an arse."
"That's why he is your best friend in the other universe?" she asked raising her eyebrows.
"The other me is an arse too."
"Hmmm… or maybe you're an arse and not everyone else."
Harry thought for a moment. "Could be that too," he said with a smile. "But I rather doubt it."
"Well of course you do," said Lillian rolling her eyes. "Moron."
"What do you think must be going on back in the real world?" asked Harry changing the topic.
"I don't know," said Lillian. "I honestly have no idea why the Flamel's refused to tell was what's happening outside."
"I've never seen them get a newspaper," said Harry.
Lillian snorted at that, "They probably have spy cameras in every major office in the wizarding world."
"Hmm… I never really thought about that," said Harry looking surprised at himself.
"Oh and one more thing," she said with a little hesitation.
"What?"
"I'll be entering the portal first."
"Huh," was Harry's intelligent reply. "What brought this on?"
"Weeelll," she said uncomfortably "We do have a tendency of… you know… err… falling on each other. So… you know…"
Harry felt himself heat up. "Err… I don't think that's going to happen again," he said, purposely not looking at her. "So… you know…"
They both sat still feeling extremely awkward.
"Well whatever," said Lillian quickly, stretching her lithe body as she stood up. "I'm heading back inside. It's getting a little too cold for my liking."
"I'll be in soon," said Harry when she stood there waiting for him. "Unlike you I love this kind of weather."
Lillian gave a shrug. "Suit yourself," she said and headed back to the house which was glittering in the moon light.
"What a beautiful sight it must be from above," thought Harry. He imagined himself flying over the house and saw just tree's every where and a glittering house made of gold with a lake in front of it.
"I guess I now see the beauty of building a house of gold," said Harry to himself chuckling.
He sat there for another hour before going back, thinking about nothing and just enjoying the weather for he knew that when he got back… it would all be gone.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Well here we are again!" said Nicolas rubbing his hands together. "Here's where I freaked you both out and almost scared you to death."
"You did not scare us to death! We were ready to blow you to bits for your kind information," she said putting her hands on her hips and looking fierce.
"Ohh, touchy aren't you," he said with a chuckle ignoring her glare.
"Will we be seeing you again?" asked Harry. His question directed at Penny.
Penny gave a sly smile. "Why Harry? Going to miss me?"
"Yes," said Harry with a straight face surprising her.
"Oh," she replied, clearly at a loss of words.
Harry could not keep the grin of his face. "This is probably the first time I've ever got the upper hand in a conversation with you."
"And the last," she said.
"Anyway," said Nicolas. "You have about thirty seconds left before you leave. So listen carefully."
Harry and Lillian stood straighter.
"If there ever comes a time when you don't have the strength to go on," he paused. "Summon the sword of Gryffindor."
"What!? What do you mean?" asked Lillian confused.
Nicolas just smiled in a knowing way and placed his wand on a particularly odd looking rune and muttered some incoherent words. To Harry it looked like a bleeding phoenix within a rune which looked like a Japanese letter. It was the only rune on the entire wall which had an image in it.
Slowly the entire wall began to pulse a bright orange before slowly darkening to a dark blue color.
"Will we meet you again?" Harry asked again.
"You might," said Penny, her eyes unusually moist.
Suddenly the runes started rearranging their positions and started moving in concentric circles with a screeching noise like a rusted tap being turned slowly. Their speed and volume kept increasing by the second and when they looked like blurs the wall vanished and was replaced with a blue vortex with no end visible.
Harry and Lillian watched on amazed as this transformation took place.
There was a strong breeze blowing within the old cave but there was no pull from the vortex like the last time.
Nicolas removed a compass from his pocket and slipped it into Harry's pocket. "To see how much time you have to kill Voldemort," he shouted over the noise of the portal and shoved them both in.
Albus Dumbledore was on his night time stroll in the castle when he felt the wards he had placed on the wall in charms corridor alert him of some major magical activity taking place.
His face lit up in happiness and he hurried towards the corridor which was only a few minutes away.
"God dammit Freckles! Do you always have to fall on me!?" he heard a voice he hadn't heard for more than a month say.
"That's why I told you to let me go through first!" said the other voice he hadn't heard for more than a month.
"And have me land on top of you!? You'd be squashed."
"Oh please, I'm taller and healthier than you so you're the one who should be feeling squashed."
"You're taller than me!? Which world are you living in Freckles? If you're heavier than me, it will be because of your large arse."
"My arse is perfectly normal you jerk!" she said angrily.
"Not from my angle."
"Than stop staring at it you pervert."
Dumbledore choose than moment to intervene. "Mr. Potter, Ms. Austin. How nice to have you back within these walls," he said, his eyes twinkling brightly.
Harry and Lillian immediately stopped their argument and looked at the headmaster.
"I can actually see the twinkle in your eyes in this darkness," said Harry in awe. He never understood how the headmaster's eyes could twinkle so much. He had a theory that Dumbledore might have put some holiday lights or defective tube lights inside his eyes to enhance his twinkling eyes effect.
"Thank you Mr. Potter," said Dumbledore his eyes twinkling even more brightly, making Harry more confident about his theory. "I'm just glad to have my two missing students back."
"It's good to be back professor," said Lillian, her eyes sparkling with happiness.
"Well why don't we head to my office then," said Dumbledore gesturing down the hallway.
"Sure," replied Harry. "I really want to know what we've missed."
"Oh you have no idea."
Quietly they walked in the corridors, their footsteps echoing all the way. They thankfully didn't meet anyone as surprisingly the entire law breaking student body had decided to stay indoors today.
Once they reached the headmasters office, they both let out a sigh of relief.
"What seems to be the matter?" asked Dumbledore politely.
"Nothing professor," said Harry. "It's just that past few weeks have been really crazy."
"I'm sure it'll be a wonderful story to hear," he said.
"So what's the story behind our disappearance?" asked Harry.
"Apparation accident," said Dumbledore. "You cast a spell wrong that forcefully apparated the two of you outside Hogwarts. You were hurt very badly and are in intensive care. Or you were in intensive care."
Harry was horrified. "I… cast a spell wrong? Are you insane!?"
Lillian nudged Harry frowning. "Watch it," she hissed.
Harry ignored her. "I bet nobody believed you."
Dumbledore smiled serenely. "Actually everyone did. Though I did notice the doubt and disbelief on your roommate's face when I did make the announcement."
Harry sighed in relief. "At least someone knows me somewhat," he said.
"Oh get over yourself Potter," snapped Lillian. "You're not god when it comes to spell casting."
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Why don't you tell me about the world you visited," he said, his eyes peering over his half moon spectacles with disguised eagerness.
And so Harry and Lillian carefully told the headmaster about their surprisingly uneventful journey to the other world.
They obviously didn't mention anything about the detour to the Flamel's home as they were bound by an oath they swore during their training.
They also left out the parts where Lillian's element began to malfunction but told him about all the events that took place in that world up to the time they were present in that world.
Dumbledore's eyebrows were burrowed in thought when the two finished their story.
"Well first of I am extremely glad you two ended up in a relatively safe universe. Secondly knowing the future in that world is of no use to us since there are a lot of differences between the two."
"We know that," replied Harry. "The other you told us that, us leaving our world will cause a lot of drastic changes to occur."
This was a lie. It was Nicolas who had explained the workings of the dimension portal to them.
"You're right," said Dumbledore solemnly. "After you left, Peter Pettigrew escaped, Sirius Black has been cleared of all charges and Voldemort has risen again."
The last didn't surprise them one bit but it was the first two that made Harry jump to his feet and Lillian gasp in shock.
"Sirius has been cleared of all charges!?" he shouted in surprise.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes. After you disappeared and did not contact your godfather. He grew worried and decided to come check on you. Luckily I captured him on the grounds and a few drops of veritaserum later he was cleared of all his alleged crimes with the minister of magic as witness."
Harry slowly sank into his chair, his happiness filling his heart.
"Where is he now?"
"At Grimmauld place," said Dumbledore. "But in your excitement about Sirius's release, I hope you didn't miss the last of my sentence."
"We didn't Professor," said Lillian solemnly. "What's going to happen now?"
"Now," said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling again. "You go back to your dorms and meet your friends and have a good night's sleep."
"But what do we tell anyone who asks what happened to us?"
"You recovered and you're fine and you don't want to talk about it you dumbass," said Harry rolling his eyes. "Goodnight headmaster, Freckles," he said and stepped out of the office.
"How rude," said Dumbledore in amusement. "But quite right too," he added. "Now run along Miss Austin. I'm sure you'd want to catch up with your friends after a month long absence. If they're still awake that is."
Lillian nodded respectfully and quietly slipped out of the room and made her way to her common room.
When Harry entered his room it was well after midnight and Blaise was fast asleep.
After leaving Dumbledore's office Harry didn't go back to his common room but went to his private den and stored the compass and portkey in his golden trunk.
That done wandered aimlessly around the castle enjoying the feel of the walls and the corridors and the magic that flowed through them.
He narrowly avoided being spotted by Filch who was prowling about looking for students to catch and finally went back to his dorm where he changed into his night clothes.
"I'm home," thought Harry before crashing on his bed and falling fast asleep.