Three

"It's called Expression," Harry was explaining. He and Bree were still in his lab, a bottle of whiskey on the desk, and a sandwich in front of Bree, the air was alive with the buzzing of warding charms.

"Never heard of it," said Bree and taking a bite from her sandwich.

"I think it's a witchy secret," said Harry. "The only reason I heard about it was because I was asked by the ghost witches of this town to do some work for them."

"And you agreed?" Bree asked, surprised.

"They sort of made me give them my word I would help," said Harry sheepishly. "I didn't have much of a choice, there was a girl's life at stake and I wasn't thinking straight."

Bree hummed. "Always the hero."

"It's how we met though," said Harry. "If you still remember."

"Of course I remember," she said. "She almost ripped my head off."

"Which is where the term Ripper came from, I've heard," said Harry. "No less, you're right. I was playing hero, and the witches got me to help them in a little matter of stopping a ritual. An Expression Ritual."

"The same Expression you think has the potential to change the world?"

"The same Expression I know has the potential to change the world," Harry corrected. Bree looked doubtful, so Harry went further. "How do you know I'm from another world?" he asked.

"The witches on the Other Side talk," said Bree, "and some have a very deep connection with Nature. I heard through hearsay, but I didn't think for the life of me it could be real."

"It is," said Harry and didn't go on.

"Are you going to tell me how you did it?"

Harry shook his head. "Maybe later. Right now I was about to tell you something. It's true that I come from another world. Another Earth which existing in another dimension. An earth with a different system of magic. One which doesn't come from Nature, but from each and every wizard or witch. This is the reason my spells are a lot different from yours, or why I use a wand, or I'm able to do Transfigurations while you can't."

Bree had stopped eating, her full attention on Harry. "Is it also why you can talk to ghosts?"

Harry shook his head. "That has to do with something else I won't tell you about yet," he said. "Anyway, in my world there's something called the Death Veil; it's this arch with a curtain which always ripples for some reason. Go through and it instantly kills you, sends you Beyond in both body and soul."

"I don't know where this is going."

"I want to create something like that. Something which could, in theory, break through the veil only, and allow safe passage to the Other-Other Side."

"Why only through this Veil? Why not just create a spell that could just break the Other Side apart?"

"Well for one, every supernatural being would come back to life, which I don't need to explain how bad that is, and second a spell that size would require fuel. The death of thirty-six. The same fuel the witches are trying to get me to make sure isn't ignited."

"Someone's already trying to break the veil?" Bree asked as realisation hit.

Harry nodded. "Yep."

"And the witches of Mystic Falls want you to stop that," again Harry nodded. "Then wouldn't you be breaking your word if you tried to break the veil as well, even if it's in one place?"

"There's the brilliance of it," said Harry, smirking. "The witches don't trust me, they didn't trust me even before they asked me for help. Which I believe was their mistake. They didn't want to tell me about the specifics of Expression, and so they asked me stop the deaths of twenty-four, in other words they want me to indirectly stop the ritual and the Other Side from being destroyed without them giving me information."

"Clever," said Bree. "But then how did you find out Expression in the first place?"

"One of them told me," Harry said. "It was a spur of the moment thing, I guess, and I was set to break my word of helping them."

"That doesn't sound like you."

"I was pretty pissed that they would just appear in my house, not knock, not greet, them just dangle bits of information in front of me. Anyway, we got off track there; Expression is powerful enough to have built the Other Side in the first place," said Harry. "So to break it, I thought Expression would work best."

"So that's why you called me here? Brought me back to life?" she asked even though she knew the answer full well. "You want me to learn this Expression of yours and help you bring down the veil?"

Harry nodded. "You and thirteen others."

"Thirteen?"

Harry nodded slowly. "I've given it some thought, what I'm planning to do needs the death of thirty-six. That's a lot of power. Power I couldn't hope for one witch to match without her dying, again. I haven't thought on how I will make the mechanics of my ritual yet, but fourteen is a good number to start with."

"Do you think you could pull something like this off?" asked Bree.

Harry shrugged. "I won't know until I try, but I can't try until I can breathe, and Niklaus Mikaelson is making that sort of hard."

"The Original Hybrid?" Harry nodded, and Bree let out a disbelieving chuckled. "You get yourself involved with interest people, Harry, I have to admit."

"It wasn't by choice I assure you," said Harry. He conjured himself a glass, then poured himself some whiskey, doing the same for Bree. He gulped it down, and poured another. "I have the inklings of a plan, mainly create a prison that will able to hold Niklaus indefinitely. One that no-one, not even I can pass, and whose enchantments won't fade when I die."

"Then you would need to bind it to something eternal," said Bree, which surprised the wizard a little. When Harry had met Bree, she hadn't known much about magic except for a few spells Harry had learnt were basic. The witch hadn't had the backings of ancestors, she hadn't even known she was a witch until she had been taught by Damon Salvatore of her powers, and so that she knew about bindings caught Harry off guard, then again, so had her display of power. But she has said the witches on the Other Side had taught her a lot, which would certainly explain her knowledge.

"Like what?" Harry asked even though his magic didn't bind things to others. He had her, if she knew the theory, then given time she would practise and she would be able to do it. Luck was on his side it seemed, but the thought quickly vanishing and Harry was hit by a sinking feeling. Luck was never on his side, right now, he expected the worst.

Bree hummed, thinking it over. "Something like the sun or the moon," she started. "If you made a boundary spell bound to the sun, then as long as the sun rose, the spell would exist."

"It could work," said Harry. "But there's the little problem of the sun setting. Wouldn't the spell stop then?"

Bree sighed. "Unfortunately it would," said Bree. "That's the problem with magic, it always has a loop hole."

"How about something always there?" asked Harry. "A tree perhaps? Trees are long living and the only reason they would die is if they are cut down. They're also of nature so that's a plus?"

Bree mused it over. "It could work, but still, trees die, they rot. We need something that won't even fade, not even in the slightest. I liked the stone idea better. Diamonds? Gold? Metal maybe, Platinum?"

"I have gold," Harry said, but stopped as he felt a shiver climbed up his spine, someone had just gotten through his wards. Harry stood. "If I gave it to you, do you think you would be able to perform an Entrapment Spell linked to a bar of gold?"

Bree nodded. "I could try."

"It's a start. Someone just came in, with the hybrid guards outside it's either Lexi or Connor, I need to get them caught up." Harry disabled the charms and opened the door with a flick of his wand. Bree followed.

"You brought Lexi back?"

Harry nodded. "A few minutes before I brought you back, but right now she's with her Ripper friend."

"Stefan Salvatore? I thought you would have killed him by now."

"Even in death Lexi continues to protect him," said Harry as they scaled down the stairs. Harry's wand gripped tightly in his hand. Constant Vigilance was somewhat ringing through his mind. He saw a flash of black, then there was a screeching sound as tires hit the driveway. Harry cringed. "And that would be Connor," said Harry walking out of the house.

The car was parked over Harry's flowerbed, and the haggard, paler looking Hunter was stepping out; the hybrids guarding Harry's house stared at the man with interesting, though Harry thought the eyes were for the car which had just flew in.

"Mmmm," said Bree and Harry spared her a glance, she had a smirk on. "Tell he's single."

"I wouldn't know," said Harry turning back to the hunter. Connor grabbed a bag from a bag from the back and pulled out. "Welcome back, mate," Harry said when the hunter was close. "Good talk with your friend?"

"We need to talk," he said all serious, he took a glance at Bree. "Who's she?"

"Connor, Bree. Bree, Connor. She's my witch. He's my hunter."

"Hey," said Connor.

"Hey, back," Bree returned with a grin that told Harry enough.

"Well, let's get back in the house then, before you go all hunter on our guards." The three walked in and took a seat in the living room, Harry took a solitary couch while Bree took the long couch and Connor stood.

"Is she one of us?" asked Connor, and the way he asked it Harry heard the underlying question, 'Does she know about your plans?' Harry gave a nod, then remembered that he had another ally who should be in on the conversation they were about to have.

"Lexi, do you mind joining us?" Harry said out loud. Bree frowned at that so Harry explained. "A side effect of being brought back by to 'life'—you're not really alive, you're just a very corporeal ghost, I should add—is that you have a choice whether or not to accept my call."

"Why is that?" Lexi asked, appearing.

"I can see her now?" asked Connor, showing slight surprise.

Harry shrugged in answer to Lexi and nodded to Connor. "She's like Alaric," said Harry over the murmurs of excitement between Lexi and Bree. "Both of them are," he added, "and can we get things on the move, there's much to do."

"What? Are we allowed to even catch up?" asked Bree.

"Not now. Connor has something important to tell us. Something a lot more productive than the both of you catching up."

Bree and Lexi scowled, but remained silent. "Okay. I did some digging about this Niklaus you keep talking about," Connor started, putting his bag down and opening the Zipper.

"Unneeded," said Bree. "Everyone here knows who Klaus Mikaelson is."

"Let him talk, Lex. I've only heard about Klaus through rumours, something concrete would be nice."

Harry chuckled at that, and there was a slight smile from Connor. "Anyway I did some digging, and it looks like this guy is major bad news. He's part of a family called Originals, the first vampires." He reached into his bag and pulled out a black cloth, unwrapping it slowly. "Now, they can't be killed, but there is a way to put them down indefinitely. This."

"The White Oak Ash Dagger," said Lexi, having got to her feet. "Where did you find this?"

Connor's face scrunched in disgust, but he closed his eyes and took a few breaths, calming down. Then he continued. "A witch gave it to me, said it was my destiny to wield it."

"Destiny, never liked it. You think this has something to do with your magic?" Harry asked.

"You're a witch?" asked Bree.

Connor shook his head. "Supposedly I'm a new strain of magic," he answered. "I'm a Hunter."

"So that's why you're interested in him?" Lexi asked too low for Bree and Connor to hear. Harry gave a minute nod. Bree was looking at Harry for an explanation.

"I haven't had time to get the full abilities of his magic, but," the wizard looked at Connor for permission and got it, "so far it seems his capabilities are designed to exterminate vampires; he's agile, tough, and strong enough that blocking his punches hurts, a lot; not to mention he can curse stakes—still don't know what those do by the way."

"Compacted sunlight," Connor offered. "It burns every vampire it touches. Very effective in putting a few down," said the man with a smirk.

"You don't like vampires?" asked Bree.

"Loath 'em," the man said with an amount of pride.

"Back to the dagger," said Harry. "Lexi, what do you know about it?"

"Klaus has four, and another belonged to John Gilbert before he gave it to Damon to kill Elijah," she said.

"They work?"

"Yeah, but they also need—"

"This." Connor pick up something akin to a salt shaker in his hand, it was filled with ash. "The witch told me the dagger doesn't work without the ash."

"Can I see that?" Harry asked standing. Connor handed it over to him. The dagger was thin a long, made entirely of silver, and the moment Harry touched it he felt a wave of magic engulf him. "So you propose we use this?" Harry asked Connor, though the wizard wondered how he had never heard of something like this.

"It's worth a try," said Connor. "Originals are supposedly unkillable." Harry handed the dagger back to the hunter, who showed a little relief when he had the dagger in his hands.

"Nothing is," said Harry. "But in this case it's opportune that you've thought of an alternative. We can't kill Niklaus."

"That's what I just said," said Connor.

"No I mean, we can't kill Niklaus without a pedigree ripple effect which kills countless innocent vampires." Connor's face scrunched in disgust. "Don't forget your reading," Harry said.

"I won't forget," said Connor.

"So I'm guessing it's a no on the whole binding business?" Bree asked, and Harry shook his head.

"The greater amount of options we have, the better, in often time things don't go well for me, and by association all of you. My plans so far are in two parts; imprison or dagger him. We need a third to be safe."

"Why a third?" asked Connor.

"Three is a magic number," Bree answered.

"So is five, seven, and all their multiples," Harry added. "What else is in the bag?" Harry asked.

"Vervain," said Connor, "and a lot of it."

"Thinker," said Bree and she said it in an almost purr, Lexi shot at her a questioning look, not that the witch noticed with her eyes focused on Connor. "I like that."

"Okay, obvious flirting aside, is there anything else?" Harry asked looking at Lexi. "Have the vampires of Mystic Falls come a decision?"

"They're neutral, but Damon had me tell you that if the hunter tried to kill one of them again, he'll personally help Klaus to kill you."

"Damon's still alive?" asked Bree with disdain. "Oh what I'd if I set my eyes on him."

"If you saw him today, nothing," said Harry. "They are not on our sides but they are not against us, which is good, we don't need further odds against us, underdogs only win in movies. But then again, we have a wizard, a witch, a vampire, and a hunter, I wouldn't necessarily say we're underdogs."

"Same here," said Bree and Lexi nodded.

"Okay, right now we don't have the sheer power to make the first move, so we're going to plan. Lexi, I ask that you be our eyes in Mystic Falls, myself and Bree will be in the lab for a while trying to work on particulars of a spell, while Connor and I test the full length of his capabilities, so I won't have time to keep my eye out for those deaths of twenty-four."

"Simple for a battle plan," Connor commented.

"If you want to make improvement, it's your prerogative," said Harry in return.

"Taking out our guards for one," said Connor. "We've been complacent for the last couple of days, they wouldn't be expecting us to pick them off, one by one."

Harry quickly shook his head. "Without knowing the specifics of the Expression Ritual, I can't be sure whether or not killing them would be aiding the ritual."

"Then why not ask the witches?" asked Connor.

"They are kind of suspicious of me. They think I'm going to be dabbling with Expression." Harry shook his head as he noted the frowns and his look was enough to stop anyone from asking the obvious questions.

"Then tell them you want to know in order to help," said Lexi.

"I tried that already, but I mucked it up and sort of confirmed that I was up to something, from their perspective."

"Then threaten them," said Bree.

"I already tried," said Harry. "Which is the reason why their suspicions, from their perspective, were confirmed. They saw it as a deflection." Which it was, Harry thought, and could see from everyone else that they were thinking the same thing.

"So no on the killing then?" asked Connor.

"Until there's no alternative, unfortunately, no."

Connor sighed and Harry internally did the same, being bound by his word was proving to be really problematic. Then Harry smirked. "Of course, we can scare them off."

"What are you thinking?"

"Target practise, with those bullets of yours. I think I can get a pair of identical sniper rifles and charms them to shoot those wooden bullets of yours."

"I'm in," said the man with an equal smirk.

It took fifteen minutes, breaking into a Special Forces headquarters, which was by far the easiest thing for the wizard, and charming the guns to fire wooden spelled bullets. Harry had in the fifteen minutes also tried to charm the bullets to self-replicate themselves, but the inherent magic hadn't worked on the copies so Connor had had to carve more of Harry's furniture for ammunition. The wizard had not been pleased, but the prospect of venting his feeling through shooting was one Harry was looking forward to.

"Will the ladies be joining us today?" Harry asked taking a hold of Connor's shoulder. Both Lexi and Bree shook their heads.

"We got a lot to talk about," said Bree.

"Girl stuff."

"We'll leave you to it then," the wizards said before turning on the spot and appearing instantly at the roof of his house from which they had the perfect view of the entire property. Connor put down the large case he had in his arm, popped in, and began putting the weapon together, the wizard enlarged his own from its shrunken form and let magic do the work while he surveyed their ground.

They four pairs of guards Harry noticed, all in pairs and lazily sitting in trees most chatting amongst themselves. They didn't pay much attention to the house, and Harry guessed that they might have gotten bored with watching a house where nothing happened and no sound got out, but this would prove their mistake. Harry's gun finished setting itself up only a second faster than Connor, and Harry couldn't help but be impressed, were he asked to put together a gun, the task would be nearly impossible without magic.

"No heart," Harry reminded the hunter as the got into position, looking through the scope and towards the first pair. Harry remembered the both of them, the man who had been his guard and the hybrid Harry had planned to kill with his Curse when he had fought Niklaus. "Okay, now I've charmed the bullet with a minute Partis Temporus, the branches will bend away if the bullet gets too close, so you don't have to worry about foliage."

Connor shook his head. "You know this magic of yours is making things too easy right? Where the fun if there is no challenge?"

"The result?" Harry said. "We'll be indirectly hurting Niklaus, that's fun enough for me.

Harry saw the corners of Conner's lip quirk up before he let loose a bullet, Harry following a second later. Harry felt a shiver rise up his spine as the two bullets passed through his wards and to the trees; branches shifted only for Harry's bullet and there were two soft thuds as the bullets hit, then there were high-pitched screams as both hybrids fell from their perches, slamming into the ground.

"Two down, six to go," Connor said, gently shifting and pointing his rifle at the hybrids who had jumped to the ground and were about to run. The hunter shot, and it was only a second before Harry did the same. Connor's bullet landed, but Harry's was a second slow and missed the hybrid by the barest of inches.

"Bollocks," Harry muttered before delivering another shot at the same time as Connor; to close together the bullets deflect each other and missed the hybrid, giving him enough time to pick up his fallen comrade and disappear as he ran. "Okay maybe the charms were a bad idea," said Harry as they chose their next targets who had appeared next to the still screaming hybrids. Harry and Connor shot, and this time both their bullets landed, Harry's in a hybrid's arm while Connor's landed in the middle of the neck.

"Two more," Harry said, but the pair were nowhere to be seen. "Off to get re-enforcements?"

"Probably," said Connor, who kept his scoping the surroundings of the missing pair. Harry's kept his eyes on the hybrids who were trying to pick themselves up, obviously in a lot of pain, and were they not working for Niklaus, Harry thought he might have felt sorry for them. But now, he could give them not even an ounce of his pity. This was fun, and by far that was all that mattered.

"How is you urge to kill going?" Harry asked, there was a shot as one of the hybrids managed to get out the searing bullet from her leg.

"This helps," Connor said. "But it's getting easier. Burying down my emotions is sort of easy considering I've had to do it before." Harry raised a brow at that, not that Connor saw, but he must have sensed the silence. "I was in the military," said Connor. "It's where my I first became a hunter and I was forced to kill a friend of mine." Connor stopped looking through his scope and took a seat on the roof, taking a few breaths to calm himself.

"He was a vampire?"

Connor nodded. "Imagine my surprise, a person I'd known for ten years suddenly turning into one of those things," he said in disgust. "At the time I hadn't even been sure what was taking over me, I just felt this strong urge to kill, and the next instance I was overwhelmed by an immense amount of guilt. I just buried it all down. It seemed easier than taking responsibility."

Harry patted the man's shoulder, at a loss at what he was going to say, or whether or not he was supposed to say anything. The wizard knew he wasn't too good when things concerned emotions, he was lucky when to have been devoid of such responsibility when two of the hybrids got up and bolted.

"We should get back inside," said Harry. "Get started on the greater plan."

Connor, getting started on mechanically taking apart his rifle. Harry watched in awe at the sight, though he was aware enough to sweep his wand and let magic do it for him, he did ask Connor to teach him the skill though, with Harry's long lives, who knew when he'd need to put a rifle together with speed.

Silently they appeared in the living room, which was devoid of Bree and Lexi. "I'll get back to my reading," said Connor before scaling up the stairs.

'D'you reckon we can trust him now?' Harry cringed as his mind was flooded by a very loud thought. 'Sorry, sorry,' said the thought and Harry couldn't help cringing again at the volume, 'lab, now, we need to talk.' Harry didn't think anything, quickly climbing the stairs before another thought sounded and he was killed by a pounding headache.

The wizard quickly scaled the stairs, filling with panic with each step. Never before had the voices in his head sounded so real. Before Harry would have said they were his, reflections of his different feelings towards day-to-day dealings, but just now it had sounded like someone had infiltrated his mind. Harry walked into his lab, closing the door with a loud thud and sending a Locking Charm so no one could interrupt him. The wizard walked to the middle of the room and lay on his back, closing his eyes, and pushing himself into his mind.

Harry appeared in an office filled with all amounts of gadgets, habitually spouting out different sound and colourful smoke. The Headmaster's office in Hogwarts, if there were a few things Harry thought he would never forget, this office and the building it was in was one of them, not to mention all his children as well. Harry looked around, it had been a century since he had needed to take a foray into his mind, but he was sure this was not the room he had been using last. Harry tried to think back and finally the memory hit, the last time he was sure he had been in his house, the property he had first owned in Godric's Hollow. So what was different now?

"That would be us," said a voice, sounding much like Harry's only gruffer. Harry whipped around, there were two of them, standing beside the door leading into Hogwarts: both looked a lot like Harry, though they had noticeable differences, one looked a lot burlier, while the other was thin and wiry, with hair sleeked back, and wearing round rimmed glasses.

Faces to voices, Harry thought. But it was impossible. The voices in his mead might have shrugged, scowled, or glared, but Harry had never really thought of them as having faces. It was disconcerting to see, especially when the thought came to him that there might be something wrong with his mind, with his Occlumency barriers.

"Don't fret, Harry," said the taller of the two, putting on what Harry would have thought as a genial smile. It did nothing to put wizard at ease. "Nothing is wrong, well, something is wrong," the Harry corrected himself, "but the trouble isn't coming from us."

"Who are you?" Harry asked, and quickly found that this was about the most stupid question he could ask. This was still his mind, they were parts of him, that they had faces didn't change the fact that he controlled them.

"We don't have names yet," answered the burly one. "We haven't been alive?" he asked looking at the other.

"Aware," the other corrected.

"Right, aware enough to have got them yet. What do you think?" the burly one asked Harry.

The wizard didn't answer, too caught on what the burly one had said. "What do you mean aware?" Harry asked.

"It's strange," said the one with the sleeked hair. "But a few hours ago, I was suddenly aware."

"Happened to me not too long after," added the burly one. "Wiry over there said he felt a shift when it did. Whatever that means."

"You felt a shift?" Harry asked then shook his head. "Even so, how can a bloody shift make you aware?" Harry asked. There were mutual shrugs.

"It's not something we've had time to think about. New experiences and whatnot," said the one with the sleeked hair. "Remus," he said. "I prefer Remus not the one with the sleeked hair."

"You can hear my thoughts?" Harry asked and Remus answered just as Harry was thinking it.

"This is your mind, we here everything you think."

Harry started thinking of ways of stop that, but quickly desisted. They would hear him if he thought it.

"True," said—"Sirius, I liked the guy when he was alive. I mean you liked they guy…or was it? What do I say do that? Am I him, or am I me?"

"Give him an hours or so," said Remus. "I was like that too when I first became aware. It's a lot to take in trying to figure out where we fit in in the greater scheme of things."

Harry swallowed, then rubbed his brow before going and taking a seat in the Headmaster's chair. "Who was it that called me here?" Harry asked.

"Me," said Remus. He pulled out a wand held together by a piece of tape in the middle. "I found this in the Room of Requirements. For the life of me, I don't know why I couldn't find one still intact. I did a Sonorous Charm, and was lucky enough that you could hear me."

"Why did you call me here?" Harry asked.

"I'm confused," said Remus. "We both are. Why are we here? What do we do now that we're here? Do we live our newly acquired lives? And if so, how? We're in here. How do we get out there?"

"You want to get out of my mind?" Harry asked.

"Yes, and I'm sure Sirius will come to the same conclusion when his thoughts are far enough," said Remus.

Sirius snapped out of his musings. "I do. I want to get out," he said. "This place is really, really boring. I've been in here for less than an hour and yet I've already explored every crevice of Hogwarts you've ever explored, and there's nothing left for me to do. I want to go out. I want to live. I want to fight in a war with an Original!"

Harry shook his head. "Until I know why this happened, what effects it will have on me, I can let the both of you out," Harry said. He dreaded to think what would happened if he lost an important part of himself. The person he would become.

"And we don't get a say in the matter?" asked Sirius.

"I'm sorry but, this is my mind, and out there is my body, why, all of a sudden, should this be a democracy? I'm sorry. I really am. But I could go crazy if I lose the both of you, that's something that can't happened."

"In all honesty, Harry, you're already crazy. What difference would it make if you lost us?"

"I don't know," said Harry. "Which is why I'm weary. A few months is all it will take, in the least. I promise I will make it priority, but until then you're in here."

"I find, I don't like you," said Remus.

"Mutual," said Sirius.

"I'll be getting back," said Harry. No wands. The restrictions was absolute. The wand in Remus' hand disappeared, and before there was comment Harry pushed himself from his mind and into the real world.