Amelia looks at Albus suspiciously, the way he looks at odds with the way the Minister and the people around him are reacting. He got back to the UK a week ago and started asking about Harry's whereabouts. Given that he didn't even attempt to ask her, or any of the staff at Hogwarts, his enquires had been stymied thus far. Coming to a decision, she floo's the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts. It doesn't take long for someone to answer. Sticking her head in the fire, she sees that it's Poppy that answered.

"Poppy, would you be able to ask Healer Gosling and her boss to pop into the Ministry. Albus has been wandering about for the last week, and he looks decidedly odd. However, no-one else is reacting to his appearance. I have a feeling that what ever he had last time didn't go away, he just worked out how to hide it."

"She's with Hogwarts in the Sanctuary at the moment, can it wait till tomorrow?"

"I don't know if he'll still be around tomorrow."

"Do you want the Head because he went to Sanctuary?"

"Yes, same as I did. As they're both healers they'll be able to override any objections the Minister might raise if Albus causes problems."

"I'll go to the hospital and ask him myself then. I'm only on standby in case there's any injuries during the course."

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It doesn't take much more than an hour before the Head of St Mungo's has manufactured a semi-legitimate reason to visit the DMLE. Amelia meets him at the main floo bank.

"Good afternoon Director. How may I help you?"

"We were checking our records and we noticed that a number of your Aurors have let their field treatment qualifications lapse. I know you've all been very busy with the upcoming Quidditch World Cup and the sudden need to provide a presence at Hogwarts, so I thought I'd seek you out to discuss it."

Amelia starts to head back to the DMLE offices using a back route that is usually quieter and happens to coincide with the Ministers offices, "Very well, if you'll accompany me I'll have the records pulled and we can look at scheduling them in for testing. Would you prefer to do it using our training facilities, or at the Hospital?"

"I think I'd like them to come in for the theory, and we can do the practical aspects in your facilities."

The conversation smoothly moved into the sort of small talk people use when they're filling a gap in time. As they were passing the Ministers office, they heard Albus and the Minister talking about the upcoming Quidditch cup. As they didn't have any silencing charms up, the Head of St Mungo's knocked on the door.

"Enter" called the Minister.

"Good afternoon, sorry for intruding, but I heard Mr Dumbledore's voice and I wanted to see how he was… Merlin, what happened to you?"

As the Director was a qualified Healer, he had been allowed to keep his wand, though it was now fitted with a ring, the brother of was on his finger. If, the wand was more than 1 foot away from the ring the Security office would be notified. Because of this, he snaps out his wand and begins casting diagnostic charms, one of which is used to supress the magic of patients that are trying to hide their symptoms.

Amelia watched the Ministers face, and when his expression went from annoyed to concerned she sent a wandless stunner Albus.

"Minister, would you be able to help me with Albus, as from your reaction you've just seen what I saw."

The Minister gibbers slightly, "He's got snake eyes, and scales."

The Director nods absently, "He does, we could see it happening when he was last in for treatment. However, all of our scans were coming back normal when we discharged him. I've been taking lessons from Madam Pomphrey and Mrs Granger as the rediscovered diagnostics are sometimes better than the modern scans. As they're wandless, I hit him with it as I poked my head in. I'm glad I did now, as I my wand scans were coming up normal until I used the one to supress magic on the subject."

Amelia shakes the Minister slightly, as he's gone glassy eyed, "Minister, I need you to help me get Albus to the DMLE, I can then get one of our Aurors to help me get him to the Hospital while the Director continues to monitor him. We'll go through the Atrium, as it's the shortest route even if it's busier."

Numbly the Minister helps Amelia pick Albus up by taking one arm each and plodding to the DMLE. It doesn't take long for them to get to the DMLE, and the Minister perks up once they reach the Atrium and people start muttering about how sick the 'Headmaster' looks, and he realises that he's been seen helping Albus.

It doesn't take long for Albus to be transferred back to the hospital and moved into a private room. One that is secured against all of the forms of magical transportation that Amelia knows. The head of St Mungo's signs conditional discharge papers that makes it clear that Albus is not allowed out of the hospital without the magical signature of either himself, Master Healer Gosling, Trainee Granger, or Mediwitch Pomphrey. He also adds a note that the patient can choose to be diagnosed by Hogwarts, but will need an Auror escort.

He shakes his head as Amelia leaves as he wonders is this is what the Elder was talking about in the Sanctuary. He knows that his actions have now effectively imprisoned Albus in the hospital, and that he has some sort of mark on his soul that can make him a danger to people around him. There are also the changes that he's undergoing, without knowing what the outcome of them will be he could be an unknowing danger to the people around him too. With that thought he calls for one of the Hospital House Elves.

"How can Sully help?"

"Sully, would you be able to tell the Director of the Department of Mysteries that we have Albus back in the hospital because he concealed his symptoms. Those symptoms have progressed to be very obvious, if you can get past whatever concealing magic he's using."

"Sully can, would headsy be wanting to write that down?"

"No, they don't like taking letters", he says tiredly.

He looks back in the room as the memory of taking his oaths as a healer came unbidden to his mind. Yes, he was skirting very close to violating his oaths. While it might be too late for him, he could still release Gosling and Poppy until they were able to come up with a set of oaths that satisfied the spirit of a healer without crippling them when they face things like this.

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Minerva sighs as a Goblin and a Gringotts curse breaker are both forced to drop out due to not being able to pace their magic use. At least they've both learnt enough to be safe traveling the first three worlds of the dream. She sighs as she realises that this is probably the first group of normal magicals that they've taught. She glances over at Karen who is only observing the training on pain of Healer Gosling and Elder Isbeil confining her to quarters. If she didn't know she only had one child, she'd have thought she was pregnant with twins or triplets. At least they now know why the pregnancy has been taking so much out of her, she was going to be giving birth to a near toddler, they'd already told her that there was no way she was going to be allowed to try a natural birth.

"I bet we have less than 10 for the presentation."

"Only Gringotts or independent." Karen counters.

"That's not fair, anyone can see that they only reason the Ottomans are here is because they were told to be."

"Ok, three goblins will make it. Four of William's curse breaking team, and four of the Aurors."

"Oh your on, and a bottle of finest to the winner?"

"Sure. I just need to go and ask Hogwarts something. You're doing really well with this class, but I never thought we'd need to be stopping people from running themselves into the ground. Oh and betting that one of the Ottomans will disappear from their room one night despite our best efforts to save them?"

"No bet, any idiot can see that they are desperate to push on far harder than they should be, from fear rather than desire."

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Karen waddles to a chair in the Library, "Hogwarts, do you have time to have a word?"

Hogwarts ghostly image appears in a seat opposite her, "Sure, what do you need?"

"Petunia and I would like you to be Selene's godmother."

Hogwarts just stares at her with her mouth open as she tries to process the request. Karen watches patiently while committing the scene to memory, especially as Hogwarts is starting to drift through the chair.

A moment later Hogwarts snaps out of it, "I would be honoured, though I do wonder at the need for a godmother to a goddess."

"While she's not temporarily losing her memories this time around. If everything works out properly, she is going to get a very mortal ability. After all, only mortals seem to have the ability to emotionally deal with memories. Granted there's conditions like PTSD, which end up engraving a few memories into our hindbrains. But even there, it seems that magical healing can dislodge those memories."

Hogwarts nods, "It's true, though you'll find that it gets harder to do now that you've been to the sea of magic. It's because your body is now an optional part of you. I don't know if you were lucky or unlucky in going straight from non-magical to immortal. But the fact that you were able to forget your home means that you still have a mortal mind for the moment."

"I know we can still be killed, but can we die? By which, I mean, if I step out into the Sea will I die."

Frowning Hogwarts answers, "I don't actually know."

"This is likely to be very personal, but does your magic look like a small patch of land that is full of life?"

"It, it is. It looks like the area I was born in. Or at least that's what I remember thinking about it. I sometimes visit it so that I can be reminded of what life was like back then."

"Petunia's and the children's magic is now a fully fledged world, complete with oceans, continents, and the like."

"Once Selene's able to talk to us again, we ask her what hers is like."

"I don't think I need to. Their worlds are lacking things like a weather system. The reason I was asking about if we can actually die, is that I'm not sure they can anymore."

"How do you mean?"

"When we start travelling the dream, the reason why we're likely to die is that our magical body grows uncontrolled, and our body can no longer contain it. Which as out body is the container of our soul, means that our soul leaks out around the gaps in our magical bodies. The last journey where this matters is the crossing to the sea of magic, where once we reach the edge of the Earth and the Sea, our magic forms a complete body around our souls. If we survive that process, then our bodies are just convenient containers. Selene is proving that they are also replaceable. Going into the Sea isn't necessarily a death sentence, just like crossing over from the deep desert into the desert isn't necessarily a death sentence. We have four examples to prove this, three of which did it without absorbing a gods powers first. It seems like the problem is getting back to the Earth before your body is destroyed."

Genuinely curious Hogwarts asks, "Where are you going with this?"

"What if the sleepers are people like Selene from dead worlds, and they are stealing iron from worlds in order to be able to return to their inner worlds and live there in peace, because they can't just die."

Hogwarts laughs, "While it's the first time I've heard that theory. The truth is it doesn't matter for the Sleepers. Though I can see why you'd be worried about the rest of your family."

"Worried enough that I'm going to start investing in space exploration, and see if I can work out how to use magic to travel from one world to another. "- Karen takes a deep, calming breath- "I'm also worried that I'm now the person that's most vulnerable, and as such will put Petunia in Danger of losing herself."

"Why would you think that?"

"She is my bonded wife, but our magic isn't merged. We're not anchored together. So if one of the sleepers, or a Titania or Oberon for that matter, chose to I could be hunted down and killed. I know that while I'm skilled for my age, I don't have the experience or knowledge that someone like you has gained through an unknown number of asymmetric battles where the only thing that kept you alive was your experiences and skill rather than your power."

"I wish that you would never need those skills, and I hope that you don't acquire that experience for a good long time. However, I think that we will face a battle for the survival of our world sooner rather than later. It became inevitable when Harry and Hermione travelled into the dream their first times.

"It's why I consider the decision of the warlock council to be foolish and short-sighted. Humans like to explore, we always have. I doubt that Harry's great-great-grandfather was the first to explore the dream since that stupid decision, just the first to survive going that deep. If I wasn't around, or it had happened in another country, they'd be exploring with no guide, and having to learn about the dangers of the dream with no guidance."

They both settle into silence as they think about the conversation, and the future.

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Petunia looked over to the door as Harry burst through it in one of the more frequent shows of youthful exuberance that they'd been displaying since they'd moved to the clan lands. Alexia and her parents both looked over too, though Ralphy continued to be amused with the paper and crayons that were holding his attention.

"I know what I want to do for my birthday!" Harry said as he bounced on his feet with a booklet in his hands.

"Harry! Give me some warning before you do that!" Hermione's voice floats through the open door.

Doilidh frowns, "Did you forget something Harry?"

Harry frowns, "I should have warned Hermione? I would have done if I realised I was going to change."

"While that would have been the nice thing to do, changing like that is part of who you are. I don't think you are going to settle down to one gender anymore. But that's not what you've forgotten."

"Erm, I don't know."

"This isn't your home here. While Petunia is one of your Human mothers, she is not your Sidhe mother until she is ready to re-take her oaths of adulthood. It is good to see you excited, but you are no longer a child that is excused basic courtesy. You've been shown how to signal that you wish to enter, and there's always knocking." Harry looks embarrassed, and turns to leave the house his exuberance dampened by the mild rebuke. "There's no need to leave now, come take a seat and tell us what has you so excited."

Taking a seat Harry puts the colourful booklet on the table, "You know we've been taking trips to Earth to start mapping areas in Mexico. We were in San Diago and I saw a pamphlet for something called ComiCon that is happening a few days after my birthday. So, we took the time to find out what it is, and look, I could take all of our friends. They could even keep their wands on them, though they probably shouldn't. And we have those rings with a small chip of Magicite in them, so we could also take our Sidhe parents and some of the adolescents that are friends here. They wouldn't even have to disguise their features, as there are people that dress up as elves"- Harry opens the booklet to a couple of photographs- "we just need to make the right costumes."

Alexia looks at the photo wistfully, "I'd love to go to that."

Doilidh leans over to hug her briefly, "Not this time dear one, your control over your magic isn't good enough yet."

"But Mum!"

"Alexia…"

"I know Mum, I can't go back to earth until I'm able to use my magic through the third kata. But it's so cool."

"There will be other times you can go when you're no longer a danger to others from an accidental outburst because you're too emotional. Don't forget, Humans are very fragile."

Alexia sulks, "I know, but I was human."

"Harry, if you'd excuse us, I believe that we need to continue this discussion with Alexia without an audience. Maybe you should take your idea to your Sidhe parents."

Buoyed by the fact that his idea wasn't dismissed outright, Harry fair skips out shouting over to someone else as he closes the door, "They didn't say no!"

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The Voice kneels behind the Emperor, "Your Excellency, we bring news of the experiment. Some squibs have succeeded in moving between the next two realms. It appears that we weren't the first to build in this area, there is an old outpost near where they were testing. After the first squib succeeded, they were able to help a few more. We now have 5 non-warlock squibs that are able to traverse the three worlds. We are having less luck with full witches and wizards, as they seem to need a much greater level of control to start with. However, they have been able to keep their magic supressed so that they don't travel elsewhere. With that in mind, I have started trying to get the squibs to take a curse breaking team to the ruins."

"Well done, you will arrange instruction for me so that I am not vulnerable at night. "