Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter either. It belongs to its creator J.K. Rowling and probably Warner Bros. too. I'm not too sure about that. This piece of literature is simply the work of a humble fan. I also credit Jim Butcher for various themes, subjects, or references that I may use.
Author Notes: This is a Harry Potter crossover with the Dresden Files the book series. All my knowledge of the Dresden Files comes from the books. I've never seen the TV series. For the timeline that will be stated later. Thanks to the folks at DLP for help with editing.
Awaken Sleeper.
Chapter Seven: You Can't Go Home Again
by: Water Mage
Inhale. Pause. Exhale.
Smoke lazily curled through the air and Harry flicked the cigarette ashes into the tray on the table beside him. He slouched further into the armchair listening to the pitter patter of rain as it splashed against the window. The rain was more than a drizzle and the sun had been invisible for over two hours. Inhale. Pause. Exhale. He tapped the cigarette ashes once more into the tray and sighed. His gaze wandered through the room that had been his home for the past three days.
The W Hotel was one of the city's fanciest and luxurious hotels. With the 42' plasma televisions and eleven-foot ceilings, and amazing amenities it was reasonable that his suite was costing him four hundred dollars a night. It was worth it. And with the money from his trust fund, he could afford it. He continued looking over the room, searching over its contents. Even in the barely lit room he easily found the form he sought out. She was hard to miss.
A woman was asleep on the bed. A thin sheet covered only her mid-section, keeping her scandalously decent, and hiding all of her womanly bits. Yet it didn't hide her curves or her bare legs of a sun kissed hue, stretched incitingly across the bed. Blonde hair fanned across the mattress surrounding her head like a halo. Even in sleep, she was beautiful. Her beauty was what attracted him to her in the first place. Too bad he couldn't remember her name. He tugged at his memories. Was it Rory or Dawn? They sounded completely different, but they hadn't done much talking last night in the Ghostbar, the W's rooftop lounge.
It started in an apology over a spilled drink. There were introductions, flirting, and then enough drinks were consumed for them to forget discretion and take it back to his room for an all-night sexathon. It was the hottest and most intense night he had ever had. It had been far too long since he had felt the caress and feel of a woman sliding against his own body. Did the Earth move? Yes. Did he see fireworks? More than that. He saw a nuclear bomb. He shook his head. It had been far too long. He closed his eyes and brought the cigarette to his lips once more.
Inhale. Pause. Exhale.
The nicotine was doing a good job of soothing his nerves and mellowing him out. Hermione would have a fit if she could see that he was smoking again after he had quit for the second time. Some habits were just hard to break. It was helping but he couldn't fully stop his mind from wandering back to that night. The night from three days ago when all the cards fell down…
The steam he felt a moment ago drained from his body after his wild use of magic. The feeling it left him with was a hollow ache in his chest that was part sadness, dismay, and resignation. The secret was out. They stared at Harry with so much horror in their eyes that it caused a sinking dread to settle in his chest. He averted his eyes as the full weight of their gaze penetrated through his haze of draining fury. The quiet in the room was only broken by ragged breathing and Lily's quiet sniffling.
"I'm right," demanded James, breaking the unspoken silence. "You're Harry, aren't you?"
Harry flinched at the cold tone of the accusation and answered wearily, "My name is Harry Potter."
Lily shook her head wildly, tears splashing across her face. "H-how?"
"This is impossible," muttered James simultaneously. His face was hard but his eyes. His eyes gave away the inner emotions that swirled within. Confusion and shock was displayed prominently in his hazel eyes, easily read by any who knew him.
Harry laughed bitterly. "Impossible is my life story."
It was true. How many times had he defied the odds? He had escaped death twice and even managed to overthrow the darkest lord of his world not once, but twice as well. It was a miracle that he had even made it through his teenage years alive.
"Where's my Harrison?" demanded Lily, her green eyes pleading with him for an answer.
He looked away and replied quietly, "I don't know."
"You better figure out," snapped James, his tone growing colder after each word. "What's going on and where is our son?"
"I don't know damn it!" snapped Harry, running a frustrated hand through his hair. He gripped his wand in his other hand so tightly that his knuckles were white. "I was fighting. There was a Killing Curse—Green light was all I saw and I was here. I woke up in that place," he spat out the last part as if it were a swear word. "I don't know where Harrison is!"
"You're possessing my son!" Lily gasped, hand flying to her mouth.
They thought he had the answers. He didn't. He was just as clueless about all of this as they were. This is why he never told them in the in the first place. How could he give them answers when he had none for himself? Harry could barely look his father in the eye, fearing to bare witness to that cold anger again.
Harry sighed. "I'm not possessing anyone, okay! I just don't know what happened."
"I'll tell you what happened," declared James, dark eyes flashing. "You hijacked my son's body. His soul's somewhere and you'll put it back and get the hell out."
Lily's hair whipped around fast as she spun on her heel. "James!"
He ignored her and stared hard at Harry. "That's not Harrison!"
It was true but it still hurt. If he was going to have this confrontation then he was going to be a man about it. Harry squared his shoulders and stared James straight in the eye. He tried to project an image of collected calmness and remorsefulness.
"I'm sorry," began Harry softly. "I honestly don't know what happened to Harrison's soul. There's nothing within me of him that remains. All that he was I am. You're my parents just as you were his."
Lily took a step forward. "Oh—"
James grabbed her arm and jerked her back to his side. He glared at Harry. "Lily, stop it! You don't know what he really is."
"He's still our baby boy, James!" argued Lily, wrenching her arm from his grip. "He doesn't even show any characteristics of spirit possession. Look at him!"
James let out a hollow laugh. "That's not my Harrison. This thing is not my son. And I want him out of my house."
"James!" shouted Lily.
Harry ignored her. He stared at his father, intense, searching. "No, mum. It's okay. If he doesn't want this thing staying in his house then I won't stay here."
"Harrison— Harry…" Lily corrected herself, breaking into fresh tears.
"Is this what you really want?" asked Harry, not breaking eye contact with James.
James bowed his head and when he looked back up at Harry, those eyes were angry and glittered with righteous vengeance. "I will give you until the count of ten to leave this house. Once we're done I'll bring down the entire resources of the Venatori Umbrorum on you, and we will exorcise your soul from my boy's body. If it doesn't work, I will put a bullet in you."
Harry's hurt flickered briefly across his face before he schooled his features into a mask of blankness. "If that's what you want you're welcome to try. It'll take a lot more than that to kill me."
"We'll see," said James.
"Dad," Harry murmured, taking one last look at his parents before apparating away from the destroyed living room and their distraught presence.
He gathered his stuff from his room, checked into a suite at the W Hotel and hadn't looked back. That was three days ago. There was a clap of thunder and it startled him from his internal reminiscing. James hadn't made good on his word. There had been no sign of the Venatori, and Harry wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad thing. Either he had changed his mind or they were waiting to mass their forces before attacking him head on. If the latter was the case then they would be in for a fight. Harry would never go down without swinging. He swallowed thickly. James had been so angry. Harry had never thought that James was even capable of raising his voice. But Harry had started it, hadn't he? The rash of anger that had risen within him had been something unexpected and troubling. It was like something had taken over him in that instant. It had been more than irrational anger. It had almost been like a force within itself.
Arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders, circling him. He smiled as a chin came to rest upon his shoulder, and a soft cheek pressed against his own. Blond hair the color of the sun fell onto his shoulder as he turned his head. She regarded him with cornflower blue eyes, matching his smile with an answering one. She pressed a soft kiss against his neck.
"What are you doing up?" she asked softly.
Harry found himself staring at her rosy mouth that begged to be kissed. "I think the question is what the bloody hell am I doing away from you?"
He gave into temptation and kissed her long and deep. Emotions surged forth and he found himself ready to go once more for another round. He had way too much pent up sexual energy. If it wasn't for the need to breathe he probably wouldn't have even pulled away. And as if her kiss was like the sunrise coming up on the horizon, her name appeared to him in a sudden burst of clarity. Dawn. Her name was Dawn.
Dawn nodded at the cigarette in the ashtray. "Those things will kill you."
His lips twitched. "Death by cigarettes is definitely not how I see the end going for me."
"So says everyone else with lung caner," countered Dawn, raising an eyebrow. She placed tiny butterfly kisses against his skin and murmured, "Are you going to keep smoking that cigarette, or do you want to make it get it really smoky in here."
Harry snorted. "Nice come-on. It wasn't needed though. I'm a sure thing, love."
Definitely a sure thing, he thought closing his eyes and losing himself once more in the ensuing kiss. She took his hand and with a smile led him back to the bed. He stripped off the terrycloth bathrobe as he went, matching her current state of undress. Which was nothing. Thoughts of his parents, the Venatori Umbrorum, and any thought that didn't pertain to falling into bed with this gorgeous blonde fled his mind.
Harry took a seat at the table. It had stopped raining yesterday night. Dawn left after a very long day of not leaving his suite, enjoying the finer things two people can do together with just their bodies. The sun beamed down on him warming his skin. He adjusted his sunglasses and glanced at his watch. Why had he agreed to this? Surprise didn't cover it when the hotel front desk relayed to him the message that a one Lily Potter wanted to meet him for lunch. With trepidation and a healthy amount of suspicion, Harry arrived at the meeting place at noon. It was a charming bistro with outdoor seating.
He hoped he wasn't making a mistake by agreeing to this meeting. He really shouldn't have come but what can he say. He always was a sucker for hopeless situations. It must be the dormant masochist in him. He glanced at his watch again. Half past twelve. Meeting time. Lily Potter arrived right at that moment looking less than her forty plus years of age. She was dressed in a summer dress like the majority of other women on the street. Huge sunglasses hid half her face, and if they weren't the current style Harry would have suspected that she didn't want to be seen with him. She smiled shakily and took the empty seat at the circular table.
"I'm glad you decided to come," she said, sliding off her sunglasses revealing shuttered green eyes.
Harry shrugged, offering a tentative half smile. "I figured I had nothing to lose by not coming."
Lily looked at him for a few seconds, and then quietly admitted, "I've been worried about you."
It would be a lie if he said he wasn't relieved or comforted by that admission. He looked down at the sunglasses in his hands and sighed, "I've been alright."
"I guess you really are used to taking care of yourself." Lily looked on the verge of crying. "All those times I tried to mother you and…"
Harry shifted in his seat awkwardly. "I'm really sorry for lying, but I didn't want you to go through any pain from realizing you lost a son."
Her face paled and she swiped hastily at the tears pricking at her eyes. "Harrison's really..."
"Gone," muttered Harry, looking away. He couldn't bear to look at her crying. It caused the turbulent emotions warring within to claw that much harder at his insides. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry isn't good enough," said Lily abruptly, her eyes flashing at him sharply. She broke her glare after a pause that felt like an eternity and her shoulders relaxed, and she looked very tired all of a sudden. "I can't forgive you. Ever. But… I can try and understand."
Harry's shoulders slumped and he looked at her, perplexed. "But why? Your job is to hunt the supernatural. I would think you'd take me out with Dad and the rest of the Venatori."
Lily shook her head. "I convinced your father against telling the others. This is a family affair and I want to keep it that way."
Harry lips thinned in a frown. "How do you know I'm not dangerous? You remember what I did to the living room."
"I may not be a wizard such as yourself," said Lily solemnly. "But I have an even higher rank than James for a reason." She opened her purse and he saw the glint of steel of a handgun. "I've stayed alive this long by being careful."
He didn't want to let her know that in reality her gun held very little threat to him. What good was a gun when he could either magic a shield to deflect bullets or transfigure the instrument into a dove? Better to let her live in her bubble of safety. She clicked her purse shut as the waitress came by the table to take their order. They both ordered water and asked for more time to look through the menu.
"I have so many questions," sighed Lily.
Harry chuckled, but it lacked any warmth. "You aren't the only one with questions. I've been questioning anything and everything since the day I woke up here."
"Five months," murmured Lily, staring at the salt and pepper shakers. "All this time… You've been pretending to be Harrison for that long? Are you sure that there isn't some part of him that's not all gone. Surely there has to be something left."
He shook his head. "I have no memories of his or anything… Honestly, I just woke up and I was here. In this body."
"Harrison dreamed about Harry Potter, you," she corrected herself, sadly. "for so long. We would go visit him and it was like we weren't even there. He was lost in his fantasy world, always mumbling, shouting… I can only remember once, three years ago, when he was perfectly lucid and coherent. It was a breakthrough that was over as quick as it came."
Harry pondered that information. Three years ago would have put him at eighteen. The year that he became free from destiny's reigns. The Battle of Hogwarts and the defeat of Lord Voldemort. Memories rushed through his mind faster than he could track. Faces familiar, yet long dead appeared in his minds eye, replacing one after another by the many events that circulated through that unstable time. How could he ever forget? It was also the time he died. Technically. The Killing Curse from Voldemort failed once more to truly kill him, succeeding only in rendering him unconscious and thrusting Harry's spirit into that otherworldly King's Cross station. Had Harry's brief foray into that not-place somehow broken the connection Harrison shared with him enough to bring him to his senses?
"You have an idea," realized Lily, leaning forward intently. "Your eyes look just like James when he recognizes something."
He didn't know that. He rubbed his neck and turned away from her intense gaze. "Well, something in my life happened that year. Honestly, a lot of crap happened around that time. I was hit with a curse that should've killed me, but it only knocked me unconscious."
"So there's a connection between your lives," said Lily thoughtfully. "Your very souls…"
She stopped her train of thought as the waitress returned to drop off their waters. They confessed to needing more time to order and the young woman smiled and nodded, but it was clearly fake and it was easy to tell she wanted nothing more to kick them out for taking up a table. Harry had to remember to tip her really well.
Lily waited till the waitress was far away from them before continuing. "I've never heard of anything like this happening before. We of course had you, I mean Harrison…" her eyes dimmed but she trudged on. "Checked out by the Venatori to see if there was some unnatural reason for your condition. But they detected nothing. All tests came back normal. We obviously need better tests."
Harry just shrugged at her bitter tone. "I don't even know what happened and I'm the one going through it."
"I've seen a lot of wizards, but I've never seen magic slung around the way you did the other night," said Lily, lazily stirring the ice in her water with a straw.
"Seriously?" asked Harry, baffled.
He hadn't really done anything a sixth year Hogwarts student couldn't do. He had only tossed out a couple of reducto curses and a shrinking charm. Nothing complex. From the brief show of magic he had seen, which only came from his duel with Peter, the wizards here were nothing to sneeze at.
Lily nodded, eyes fixed on Harry. He wasn't sure what she was thinking. And he really wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Either she was crying, snapping, or sad around him, and each mood changed in the blink of an eye. She was trying to be strong and get through this with a clear head, but she was having trouble telling her heart what her head already knew. Harry just didn't want her to start crying again. He wasn't good around crying people or people who exuded lots of emotion and wanted to talk about it. Chick flick moments, James had called them once. He broke from his musing as Lily answered his question.
"The White Council are long time allies of the Venatori…" she broke off, and her eyes grew wide. "Do you even know about the Laws of Magic?"
Harry snorted. He couldn't help it. "I've met a couple of representatives of the Council. I've been informed of the Seven Laws and the penalty for breaking one. It was enlightening."
"Don't take a warning from the White Council lightly," warned Lily, utterly serious. "If they've warned you… That is your one and only warning. From what I've seen you can do things they can't, and I know that's not even all you can do. A magical school education…" she shook her head at the thought. "And with the way history works—"
"Humans fear what they cannot understand," interjected Harry, nodding knowingly. Surprisingly, he had remembered that from one of the handful of times of being awake during History of Magic in his younger years. The Witch Trails was a hard lecture to fall asleep to. Speaking of… "Do you think Dad will ever want to talk to me again?"
Lily rubbed her forehead, and Harry for the first time noticed how completely exhausted she looked. "I want to say yes. I really do, but I don't know. It's been rough the past few days."
Guilt swam up his throat so thick that he could have choked on it. Or maybe it was vomit. "I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I have to say it. Lying, hiding, the spell slinging. Truthfully, a large part of me was just being selfish at having parents. I didn't want to hurt you, but I didn't want to give you up either."
"I want to hate you so much," admitted Lily, swiping irritably at her bangs that fell in front of her eyes. She sighed and looked at him with sad eyes and continued quietly, "But it's impossible. Call it maternal instincts or something else, but I feel like you're still my baby. I've loved you since the day you were born, and these five months I've loved you just the same."
This is why he hated these sharing feeling moments. He never knew what to say. He knew how he felt. His emotions were wound so tightly inside his chest like a ball that just wound that much tighter when he tried to put his feelings into words.
"You're the only parents I've ever really known," said Harry, watching his own hands clench involuntarily. "It hasn't been that long, but...uh," he shrugged awkwardly. "I'm not very good at this – You, Dad, and Aiden are family to me now."
Lily smiled softly. "I feel the same way…Harry. Your father will just need some time to let it sink in and adjust."
"You're doing a good job," replied Harry, meaning it.
"Its either I try my best to understand," she answered, shifting uncomfortably. "Or lose my son again. And I…I don't know if I can go through that again."
"I'll stay away from Dad till he's ready to talk." He looked at Lily. "But I still want to see you and Aiden if you'll let me."
When she smiled this time it reached her eyes. "I'll like that a lot." She slid her sunglasses back on. "It's about time I left. I have a meeting on the Hill soon."
Meeting on Capitol Hill? The Potter's were more affluent than he thought. Harry rose. He really didn't know what to do. Do they go in for a hug or a hand shake? Finally they settled on a hug. It was stiff and lacked the usual warmth. But at least it was progress.
"I'm glad we had this meeting. At least you don't hate me," grinned Harry, unreasonably pleased.
Lily found herself mirroring his smile. "I'll look forward to getting to know you really this time. I'll keep in touch with you and arrange another meeting soon."
Harry's eyebrows rose. "How did you even know where I was staying?"
"We have our ways. Very few things are beyond our reach," she answered, silently implying the Venatori Umbrorum was not a power to be taken lightly.
His mother gave him another smile and hurried across the street. He lost her in the swarm of people walking the sidewalks. Harry stood there for a minute letting it all sink in. That went very unexpectedly to say the least. He threw down a ten on the table for the waitress, and then remembering that they took up her table for a half hour without ordering threw down another ten.
That had to have been one of the better meetings he had ever had. It was touch and go. Sometimes tense, sometimes awkward, but it was better than the bullet that James promised to put through him when they met again. So definitely a good meeting. At least he had one Potter on his side. He may have inherited his mothers temper, but his stubbornness came all from James. If there was one Harry knew how to do and that was hold a grudge. And he didn't see James getting over any of this anytime soon. He needed space and time to think. How long? He didn't know. He would keep his distance until then, and let his father make the first move.
Things were getting complicated too fast and too soon, and he still knew next to nothing about this world's supernatural environment. Two groups stood behind him like shadows. The Venatori Umbrorum and the White Council. He couldn't decide which one was worse. He snorted. The White Council obviously. The Venatori didn't have his number like the Council did. Martha Liberty looked pretty damn serious about coming down on him if he ever broke a law. If his mother was being honest then the Venatori Umbrorum didn't know a new breed of wizard walked this Earth, and he wanted to keep it that way. He was better off keeping his head low till he sufficiently learned more.
He crossed the street at the crosswalk navigating the back to the hotel. He could have apparated back but he needed to clear his head after that unpredicted meeting. He was thinking intently, but he wasn't too far in his thoughts not to notice that legs that fell instep next to him.
He turned and looked at the person who matched his long stride. Long, light brown hair the color of wheat fluttered in the breeze as Elaine stared straight ahead, face stoic and eyes carefully blank. Harry blinked. With her habit of appearing or disappearing without warning he could almost believe either he was imagining her, or the woman was a ghost. Both were false of course, but it would be a strong case.
Harry glanced at her and quirked an eyebrow. "Your I don't need a friend stance doesn't hold much water by seeking me out."
"Did you tell the White Council about me?" she asked flatly, not breaking her stride.
"No, no," he argued, shaking his head. "This is how it's going to go down. For every question you ask and I answer, I expect the same right back at you."
Harry deliberately led her away from his hotel, making a right instead of a left. There was a pause in silence that seemed to last longer than necessary, as the older woman mulled over the offer. Tough. It was the best deal she was going to get. Some people charged a first born child for information. She was getting off easy in some circles.
"Fine," she agreed, warily.
Harry shook his head. "Alright then, no. I told the White Council nothing about you. I'm no snitch." His lips quirked the tiniest bit at the familiar word.
Her shoulders lost some of their tenseness as she noticeably relaxed and she muttered, "Good."
"My turn. How did you find me?" he asked, face dark with sudden fierceness.
He was thankful he wore long sleeves today. His wand slid from its position in the sleeve and perfectly settled in his hand. He flicked his wand against his side opposite from her, silently casting spells. By the time he was done he had cast a notice me not charm around them and illusioned the immediate space in front of them. No one around them noticed the pair enter the closed construction yard, slipping through the plastic tarps covering the entrance to the unfinished building. By the time he was finished posing his question he had her out maneuvered and completely unaware. His kind of odds.
Elaine gazed at him intensely, taking in his dark expression. "Is this the part where you say or else?"
"Maybe," he answered shortly. She held up her index finger and around its tip was a single hair, dark and long. He looked at her expectantly. "I take it there's going to be an explanation? I'm not Sherlock Holmes, woman."
"I thought you had some intelligence." She rolled her eyes. "When I saw you last at Griffin's I took a hair from your head. I used it to track its owner, you. Your apprenticeship must've been extremely remedial if you don't even know a tracking spell."
Tracking spell? That sounded useful. Only the Ministry of Magic had the necessary knowledge to immediately track wizards and witches, and even then it was only useful after a trigger was set to initiate the trace.
"My training was fine," replied Harry, he brought his arm up and trained his wand on her. He smirked at the stunned look on her face. "Oh, look. The remedial wizard managed to get the drop on you."
Maybe it was the wand being trained on her but she stiffened in sudden shock and understanding. There was a swift sensation like soft buzzing along his skin and she lashed out with her arm. The illusion that they were still on the sidewalk vanished in a haze of rippling, distorted air. Their surroundings became the interior of a half completed building.
Elaine shook her head, disbelieving. "You didn't realize I put a tracking spell on you, yet you managed a glamour so elaborate I would expect to come from a Sidhe lord."
"Whatever," muttered Harry, not taking his wand off her.
He was damn curious about the fact she disrupted his spell only by waving her hand, and what was that weird buzzing sensation. Magic? Wandless magic wasn't powerful enough to register along his senses. It frankly was only useful for small magical spells, and certain talents. At least the wandless magic that he knew of. Who was to say what the wizards here could do without a wand.
"Only point that stick at me if you intend to do something with it," stated Elaine, managing to keep her expression opaque.
He wasn't completely buying it however. He could see the calculating caution in her eyes. Good. "I might just decide to turn you into a donkey. Keep talking."
"You would risk bringing down the might of the White Council? Transmogrification of others is against the law or didn't you know that either."
Harry's laughed. "Don't be stupid. I know that. But since you bring up the White Council... I have a question for you. Do you think I didn't notice your Houdini act the other day? I did some thinking. The only reason someone would hide when the White Council comes a knocking is if they've done something not so nice." His lips twisted into a wolfish grin, as he studied her next reaction. "So tell me Elaine, what have you done to hide from the big bad wolf."
If looks could kill Elaine would have liquefied him with her glare. Aw. Where's the love. "You were on a roll Inspector Gadget you tell me."
"Off the top of my head," said Harry, pretending to think. "Since you have serious friend issues let's start there. What was it? A fight, a murder, betrayal—"
Elaine moved quicker than he thought she was capable. She shouted something in Latin, incomprehensible in her rage and her ring and earrings glowed brightly, as electricity arched from her hands in jagged forks. Harry turned and vanished just as the blue bolts raced toward him. He apparated in time as the spot he once stood in was now smoking and charred black, and the smell of burnt ozone permeated the air. Elaine spun around surprised as Harry brought up his wand and hit her square in the chest with a full body bind. Her arms and legs stiffened and he waved cheekily as she tipped over. Her head hit the floor hard with a thud and he winced. That had to hurt.
Harry slowly moved into her line of sight, standing over her prone body. "Just for the record. You attacked me first. I wasn't going to hurt you or anything. A bloke has to get his jollies where he can you understand."
She made a choking noise in the back of her throat. It was between a growl and a muffled curse.
"Look," began Harry, shrugging. "How about I buy you a pint and we call it even? Actually you tracked me down, attacked me, so actually I think we're about square."
He moved a bit and looked her in the eyes. Her gray eyes were like the rolling clouds of a summer thunderstorm. They flashed at him threateningly and Harry knew that she wouldn't let this go anytime soon. There goes that thought of making an ally out of her. He was about to break his gaze when something with the force of a speeding train, slammed into his Occlumency barriers. He bucked back and impulsively reinforced his barriers, trying and failing to break away his gaze from Elaine's, which was proving impossible. It was as if his Occlumency had triggered an unbreakable connection between the force and himself, which he reasoned was coming from Elaine. Gritting his teeth, he lashed out mentally against the intruder. The force hammered again, as if spurred on by his barriers, and then simply washed over him like a tidal wave. That force rolled over him, mentally tearing at his mind. It wasn't after just his mind. The flood of foreign energy invaded his whole body, pouring through everything that made him what he was. It viewed the darker recesses of his psyche, and delved into his very soul.
His sense of reality tilted as the world he knew vanished and he looked down at Elaine. Just as she was viewing him, he could now see her in a different light. Shadows crawled along a ground covered entirely in an inky, black darkness. They were everywhere across this otherworldly scene. Except for one area where a shining pyramid rested radiating with an intense golden light. The shadows attempted to climb the pyramid and overtake it, but the light pulsed brilliantly and the shadows were pushed back by the gold radiance. At the top of the structure was non-other than Elaine sitting in a lotus position, her expression of upmost serenity.
She was a fighter, a loner, a caged bird that just wanted to burst free from her cage and fly away. She was trapped, stuck, but not forever. One day she would be free. She knew this and hoped for it day after day, praying that it would soon come. Temptation to stray from her chosen path was strong but she wouldn't give in. Not to no one. A small part of her took joy in helping people, but it was small. After all she had to help herself first. They couldn't find her. Not ever. If they did she was dead. Lurking behind her surface thoughts existed a terrible secret that haunted her every waking moment, a shame that she carried like a handprint over her heart. Something in the past that she had participated in, something she wished she could reach back into time itself to undo. It was an act that forced her into hiding, into a secret servitude to her in debtors.
Harry blinked and the overpowering force vanished as abruptly as it came, and he was able to wrest his gaze from Elaine's. He took a step back overwhelmed and out of breath.
"What was that?" he panted.
He looked at Elaine and the other woman was shaking on the floor, apparently free of the full body bind. Her eyes were open wide with stunned rapture.
Harry dropped to his knees, pining down her thrashing body by the shoulders. "Elaine!"
Her body went into spasms and her eyes lolled into the back of head. Her midsection bucked under him, and Harry held her down screaming her name. He brought his wand up to her head to stupefy her at point blank range, when suddenly she stilled.
"Elaine?" he asked carefully, studying the unmoving woman.
Her gray eyes rolled toward him, slow and glazed over. "A society at war. Torn. Then mended. Stars are bright. The dancing lights," she said rapidly without pause, taking no breath of air. "All that will happen, would happen, will not happen. Possibilities. Possibilities. Possibilities. Possibilities."
"Elaine?" he called again, shaking her shoulders, unnerved by the spout of information.
Her eyes began to clear till a spark of personality appeared in her eyes. "You…"
Harry jerked back. "Me? What did you see? What was that?"
Elaine slowly sat up with Harry's help and said tiredly, "Soulgaze. When you look into a wizard's eyes you see them for what they really are. It's a two way street. I saw your soul and you saw mine..."
She climbed to her feet unaided. Was his soul really that bad, that awful? He had seen some horrible things and did some unspeakable things, but surely looking at his soul wouldn't drive someone into brief insanity.
"Everyone experiences a soulgaze differently," she answered, seeing Harry's expression. "Some hear, some see symbolic representations of the true person, and others feel." She shook her head, eyes closed. "All my life I've never seen another person's soul and reacted like that."
Great. He didn't like to poke around his own head and now someone else had, and barely came away sane. "What did you see?"
She opened her eyes and they were shining with awe and a suspicious wetness. "Your soul…Its something more than… Your soul is beautiful." Elaine unexpectedly smiled blissfully, completely throwing him off. "Its beyond constraints, beyond time, it stretches so far past eternal… I saw your life and what you really are."
"And who am I really?" he asked neutrally, his face impassive.
Elaine didn't pause. "You're Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived." She peered at him speculatively. "Now you're a wild card. What you are…what you can do. You'll take everyone by surprise."
Harry shook his head. "Look, I still don't get what just happened. I'm no one's wild card. If you looked at my soul then you know that."
"Until you find a way home you'll need a teacher, someone to show you how things really work in our world," she said suggestively. "I'll be that person."
Harry quirked an eyebrow. It was exactly what he wanted from her and he didn't even have to ask. All it took was a peek into his soul and she was suddenly eager to please. Well, the eagerness did come after a brief slip of insanity. He didn't know what she was harping on about with his soul being extra shiny, but it boded further investigating. He needed all the leads he could get to understand why and how he came to be here. Having her around would also be amusing. She was easy to tease. A bit like Ron with how she easily she took offense to things. If anything he knew she would keep her word. Just as she looked at his soul, he had seen hers, and knew Elaine wouldn't screw him over. If things did get out of hand and she betrayed him, he would offer her to the White Council in a heartbeat.
"Seriously why do you want to help me?"
"Like I said you'll be a wild card," she replied bluntly, shrugging. "I've seen what you can do. And I want to be at your side when people realize that you aren't an ordinary wizard."
He wanted to try Legilimancy to see if she was telling the truth. But she said the soulgaze was a reflexive ability, and after the way it acted against his Occlumency he didn't want to attempt it. He mulled over her answer. It had a ring of truth and it felt honest. At least she didn't hold back when asked a straight up question. He wanted honesty and got it.
"Fine," agreed Harry, taking a step forward. "But I want to know everything you know about anything dealing with magic."
Elaine smirked. "Deal."
"You screw me over and I'll bring the rain," promised Harry, darkly.
She laughed. "I wouldn't respect you if you didn't."
They shook on it.
I appreciate the great reviews that people have dropped. Nice to hear from other Dresden fans, and potential fans. The plot is starting to move forward and in two more chapters we will be getting into the main events of Summer Knight. And of course Harry will meet Harry.