Interlude: Memories

He looked around and found that he was quite confused. He sat up and drew back the deep velvet curtains and found that really what he had thought first was true: He was in the Gryffindor Dorms. He stood and wondered down to the common room, it was empty, impeccably clean and a toasty fire burn in front of his, Hermione and Ron's favourite sofa. It brought a smile to him, but that was quickly wiped away by the feeling that something was deeply wrong.

He descended further, roaming the castle for what felt like hours and found nothing.

No one.

He swallowed, a lump growing in his throat the longer he looked and the more he roamed. This was wrong. Absolutely wrong. After so long thinking of spells and rituals that would allow to return back home, and finding nothing, he now found himself within Hogwarts.

Hours passed and he found himself sitting in the cluttered office of the Headmaster, the paintings lining the walls empty except for their backdrops.

"Why am I here?" he asked himself. The question echoed queerly in the room and with it came a shift he didn't understand, then, at the edge of his mind, he felt a presence.

Everything started making sense and questions started bubbling in his mind.

Who am I? was the first.

He stood, quickly searched for a mirror and found one at the back of the office, letting him see his entire body: skin slightly tanned, hair neat while a vivid black, his form was wiry and tall, with not much muscle, and definitely didn't fit what he remembered.

What did he remember?

He was Harry Potter. A wizard from a far off land. The Master of Death.

But he shook his head. That couldn't be right. He was not Harry Potter. He was like him, yes, but he was not Harry Potter. He was someone else entirely. But who?

I need a name, came a thought, and immediately names rifled through his mind, one standing out the most.

Remus.

He knew he wasn't the man and yet the name appealed to him.

Remus, from now on that would be his name.

Remus sat again in the Headmaster's seat, letting memory after memory flood through him. He could remember everything Harry Potter remembered and yet he felt with a powerful feeling he had not felt, though he remembered such feeling in a vague sort of way, that he was not the wizard whose memories he had.

He was not Harry Potter and yet he remembered everything the man did, the conclusion was obvious; he was some part of the man's mind. He was some part of the man's mind.

"No," said Remus. "I am Remus," he said. "I am not Harry Potter," he said. "I am not a figment of the mind."

Remus paced. Five times he had found himself a quiet corner to think and yet he knew that once Sirius thought about finding him, the entirety of Hogwarts would bend against his will, showing the man the path to him. Remus took a long breath. His self-tutorship of Occlumency were going rather slowly, even as the days passed he found he didn't yet have a strong grasp of it. He tried to build walls, strengthen his hold on the mental castle and best Sirius when they fought.

Close to a month had passed and still nothing had happened. Harry Potter, the bastard that he was, had yet to even attempt an investigation of why they were here, much less try and get them out. Remus was pissed and the castle in kind reflected that, the walls got darker as though they had been scorched by a wild fire, grime growing on the ground to reflect his malcontent.

Revenge, Remus thought, the moment he got out he would show Harry the agony of being imprisoned.

Remus paced in front of the Room of Requirements, and still it did not open.

He still had work to do.

Sirius disappeared and in his place was Harry Potter, pale looking and not at all himself. Remus rose, thick ropes appearing to bind the wizard in place but the scene shifted and for a moment Remus was standing in front of a tall troll with a giant bludgeoning-stick.

Remus disappeared before the troll could act and appeared back at Hogwarts.

He could feel it every time the wizard was close to waking, as if the castle was happy at those moments. Remus didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do on that point, all he could do was pace faster and hope Niklaus Mikaelson would arrive and free them from their prison.

FREEDOM

Niklaus was smirking as he drove, something not shared by Sirius and Remus.

"We've got him in a corner now, don't we?" said the man, smirk still in place and glee shining in his eyes. "Without his wand and above all forced to go through the embarrassment of teaching the both of you magic." Niklaus chuckled, but stopped when he noticed that his wizards didn't share the same thought.

"What's the problem now," said Niklaus sounding a touch exasperated. "Is this not what you wanted?" he asked particularly Sirius.

"It was," said Sirius. "But…"

"But what?" asked Niklaus, still sounding exasperated.

"He has a plan," said Remus. It had to be the only reason Harry had been so calm about the entire ordeal, so methodically about his dealing, and the reason he had allowed his hunter to fly out of the property the moment the wards broken.

"Remus is right," said Sirius. "Harry has learnt to come back from tough situations. I know already that he has something planned. I shouldn't say this, but I can almost feel it."

Remus shot the man a look. "You can feel it?"

Sirius shook his head. "It's nothing important," said Sirius, "at least not now. Klaus, we need to talk privately."

The Original, now sobered, gave a curt nod.

"Gregory, tell me, how did Harry escape his Binding?"

Remus sat in front of the older looking gentleman, sipping on a cup of tea. Gregory looked up from his book, it was thick and made of leather, and in it was written all the curses and hexes, spells and rituals of Gregory's ancestors.

"He's a witch," said the man as though the answer was beyond obvious.

"He's a wizard," Remus corrected. "The thing with wizards is, they need wands to do magic."

Gregory shook his head. "The difference between witch and wizard still eludes me. Both can do magic, both have given power and continue to take power from Nature."

Remus was quick to shake his head. "We don't need Nature to perform magic," he said. "We have a core that continues to grow with each spell we perform."

Gregory nodded then thought it over. "At first he begged for help," said Gregory, his eyes showing that they were in thought. "I did not see to who, but nonetheless he asked. When that did not work, he started an incantation. Pyrus Pestis."

"Cursed Fire," Remus murmured. "He must have been very desperate."

Gregory went on. "The spell took a few tries but eventually it worked, blocked only our lines. He got started on another. Desino Pestis. It as well took a few tries, but it really started working when he had stopped the incantation and Sirius had escaped. The lines exploded and he vanished with a large crack."

Remus sat in silence for a long while, thinking it over, but found there was nothing he could use.

He would have to get better at magic to the point where it didn't matter where the Elder Wand's allegiance lay.

Remus sat hunched as smile drawn across his features.

A knock at the door interrupted him, and for the first time in a long while the wizard wasn't perturbed. He was done, his failsafe in place.

"Alohomora," he said gesturing the wand at the door. It opened with a click, on the other side stood a young witch who looked a little shaken.

"Klaus is calling a meeting," said the witch.

Remus nodded. "Give me a moment," he said.

He looked at the Elder Wand and smiled. It would be his, and with Gregory in his pocket, Sirius would be none the wiser.

"How I hate that bastard," Victoria seethed. "How dare he interfere when he knows he has no power?"

"I think he's given up," said Remus. "Snapping at everyone because he has nothing else to do. Sirius and I should be able to handle him." He twirled the Elder Wand in his hands. It would take some work, but Harry was wandless, sooner or later he would have to give them the battery.

"We have the house, Sirius. I don't know why you're so worried about," Remus said exasperated.

"He feels happy," said Sirius looking apprehensive, "and above that I have a sinking feeling."

Remus shook his head. "I don't know what you want. Harry's left Mystic Falls and run-off with his tail between his legs. We have his house and pretty soon we'll have the vault. What can we take from him?"

"He is still the Master of Death," said Sirius. "And above all else…" Sirius stopped looking conflicted and finally shaking his head. "The next time we meet Harry, and he will return, we take him down with extreme prejudice. He'll do the same if guesses what we are."

Remus frowned. "What we are?"

"Think about it Remus," he said. "I don't want to say, I don't want to think. I fear the lengths Harry will go if he finds out."

Remus sat and though and finally it came to him.

"Merlin's beard."