"They were bound to write back quickly; they couldn't possibly ignore a dementor attack. He'd probably wake up tomorrow to three fat letters full of sympathy and plans for his immediate removal to the Burrow. And with that comforting idea, sleep rolled over him, stifling all further thought."

Excerpt From Order of Pheonix, and just before our story starts.

In the universe of Harry Potter, Magic was a revered and hated concept. It was used in things like to Heal, to commit crimes, to judge, to award, to punish and much more. Magic had existed long before the first dinosaur was even born and would exist long after humanity would meet its end.

So, what was magic?

The question had a lot answers over thousands of years of its existence depending upon who was answering, but there was a few components in all of them which would seem similar. Even who considered it nothing more as a tool, agreed that it was a primordial force, which seemed to have some sentience of its own, and was unpredictable and chaotic at its core. While some believed it was easy to control magic, the brightest minds of every generation knew that the best any magical being could do was channel it rather than control it according to their wish. This brings us to the night Harry Potter went to sleep after being attacked by Dementors in Surrey.

See Dementors were not natural beings, created by foul use of magic by a human, and were corrupted to their core. Any magical thing or being they interacted with, would be shaken and affected the corruption in them, especially if the said thing had a powerful ability to channel magic. Harry Potter, not only being a wizard born in a historically powerful family, was also a prophecy child and was not an exception to the being affected after such a close encounter with dementors. The wild magic mixed with his own family magics had created a maelstrom inside him, which his emotions were influencing. So, when he went to sleep at that night with a tired body and mind, he unconsciously wished for something, anything that would help him, that would save him from everything that has been happening and would happen. His already tired body channelled the mix of magic inside him in the wish, and after a brief pulse, it responded like it always did, in a chaotic and unpredictable way. The mix of magic looked in anything for existence that would answer the child's wish and found it soon enough. It tried to pull the answer close to the Harry Potter, but there was resistance. Harry's family magic recognised that it needed a powerful source, and around No 4, Privet Drive there was such a source available. The blood wards, created by James and Lily Potter's sacrifice of souls were sucked away in a blink and with the infused power, the resistance gave away.

In a universe, far, far away, James Potter, the Lord of House Potter, stilled in his seat as he seemed to feel a tug like a portkey for a moment, but unlike the portkey, the tug seemed to stay on his place. This stillness was noticed by his wife, Lily Potter, his elder son Harry Potter and his best friend, Sirius Black who were also at the dinner table. His younger twin daughter, Harry's wife Daphne and Sirius's wife, Mary Black remained oblivious, but for only a second. They noticed James's troubled face when Sirius spoke up.

"James?"

James Potter crooked his head, as he tried to understand the pull on him. Then, in a snap, something very heavy filled the room, affecting everyone in the room. The only reaction that happened was sound of curses by adults and cries by twin, but in next moment when the elves arrived, the room was empty of all its inhabitants. Across the world, all Potter and Black properties and vaults went into a lockdown phase as their Lord and Lady disappeared from the world but remained in the realm of living. At the same time, in the universe of our Hero Harry Potter, eight figures popped into existence in an empty field, all of them unconscious. Some distance away from them, stood a partially destroyed manor, with a crest of griffin carved on its front wall. Nobody including Harry Potter knew that help had arrived for him, but magical tremors created by their arrival was felt by people like Dumbledore, Nicolas Flamel, Voldemort. They knew something major had happened but could only guess at what it was.

The first to wake up was James Potter. His whole body felt heavy and aching as he opened his eyes. Despite his glasses still present, everything around him seemed to be blurry, and it took many him some time to finally come to his senses. Immediately, he looked around for his family, relaxing when he found them all lying around. Getting up with some effort, he first checked up on twins, before moving to his wife and others. All of them only seemed unconscious, with no visible injuries. Looking around, he noticed a empty field and a building which looked familiar, but ignored that for now. His wand dropped in his wand, and he muttered a charm. His wand seemed to buzz as the charm took effect, forming a large light dome around them, disappearing a moment later but James knew it was not as powerful he had intended. He had to do it twice again before it was satisfactory. After setting up a few perimeter charms, which all took multiple tries, he finally relaxed. His entire body still felt sluggish, but he knew something was different, wherever he and his family was. Pushing it back at his mind for a moment, he called for his elves to take them home, but none of them appeared. James frowned, but Lily's groan caught his attention. His wife's eyes were confused for a moment, but the next second they snapped to him. She jumped up, staggering a little as she moved to their children. The next to gain consciousness was Daphne, followed soon by Sirius and twins, who immediately started crying. That sound woke up Harry and Mary too. As Lily and Mary looked at twins, Harry Daphne and Sirius walked towards James. All of them felt tired and it was visible on their faces. Sirius called at James, but the man didn't respond, his eyes fixed on the destroyed manor some distance away. It took Harry calling his at father that the man responded, but his eyes remained at that building.

Harry looked at what his father was staring at, feeling confused. The ruins looked familiar, but he couldn't identify it. Suddenly Sirius gasped.

"That…that's not possible."

James didn't answer, his eyes still fixed on the ruin, trying to find a sense in what he was seeing, but unable to. Sirius was right, the sight in front of them was not possible, but it was still there. There was a possibility of illusion, but such a large illusion would take too much magic, something rarely heard of before. He heard Daphne's question but couldn't find the words to answer it.

"What's not possible?"

"That is Potter Manor"

Harry snorted as he shook his head.

"That's not possible, Padfoot. We were…"

His father cut him off, the man's voice shaken.

"He is right, Harry. That is Potter Manor."

"But we saw it just….", Words seem to fail the Potter heir as he looked at the manor, trying to understand what was happening.

"It was destroyed years ago, maybe even a decade." Daphne's voice broke the silence as she observed the ruins and the area around them. Harry once again shook his head as refused to believe it.

"No, it is not. There is no quidditch field or the fountain that mother designed. If it's Potter manor, that should be here. We played a game here last Sunday, dad."

Lily was the one who replied, as she came next to him with Iris in her arms. Seeing the young girl shiver, Harry wand immediately shot out, but when he tried to cast a spell, he frowned. James noticed it immediately.

"You feel it too, right?"

His son looked at him before trying again. This time, the spell left his wand, but left his arm shaking.

"What is happening to me?"

"We all seem to have trouble casting", Mary replied as she came forward with Rose, "It took me multiple tries to cast the diagnostic spell".

The other drew their wands to try, but all of them were facing difficulties with casting. Nobody noticed as Sirius's eyes suddenly widened as his gaze switched between the destroyed manor and the area around him and then on his own hand. His shaking voice called out, making everyone turn towards him.

"Daphne, are you sure about its assessment?"

Seeing the girl nodding, he closed his eyes, his mind bringing up old memories of reading through accounts of House Black. Initially his murmuring was low, but soon enough others were able to hear it.

"It is supposed to be myth, stories. It can't be happening. It's not"

Everyone was confused as James spoke up.

"Padfoot, what is not possible? What are you talking about?"

By now, Sirius was just too tired as he sat down, but instead of answering, he looked at Harry, who seemed the most stable of them.

"Cast the tempus, please, Harry".

The Potter heir felt a shiver inside, as he had never heard his godfather sound so scared or say please. His wand came out again as he muttered the charm. When the results came, he was confused for a moment before dismissing it. There were a few exclamations and deep breaths behind him, but he didn't pay attention, casting the charm again as Tempus charm was not always correct. The results were still the same. He did it two more times, but it never changed. This time, he turned around to face his godfather, who was staring at the results while shaking his head.

"Siri…?"

"I will explain…but…James, is the pouch still there?"

James looked at his friend for a moment before pulling out a small pouch dangling at his neck.

"Summon the tent. I will explain everything later. Harry, Daphne, come with me, we need to secure the area."

"Sirius, what is…?"

"Later, James. Please do as I ask."

With that Sirius turned around and walked away, the other two following behind. James, after sharing a look with his wife, started doing as his friend had instructed. He summoned the tent out of his pouch. He still had difficulty in casting, so Mary had to help him set up the tent. Lily stayed around, observing the secure dome of magic that Sirius and others had raised around. Once the tent was set up, they entered inside. It was a small tent, enchanted with enough area and materials for two people. The twins and Lily took one room while Mary and Sirius took another. Harry and Daphne had to conjure up beds in the hall area. Once the twins were settled down, the potter joined their son along with the Blacks. Sirius was the one to break the silence.

"Before I explain, I have a few questions. Did anyone try to apparate?"

Daphne answered before anyone else.

"I thought about it, but I feel too…"

"Weak do it", Sirius completed her sentence. When the young witch nodded along with James and Mary, Sirius leaned back in the cushion.

"James, you remember when I took up the Lordship, I disappeared for a few days."

James nodded, wondering where his friend was going with.

"I had to spend those days in the Black Library, going over books and records, like every new Lord before me had to do. In a few of them, there were mentions of….incidents, I would say. I always thought that as myths or fancy tales, but now, I don't know."

Lily, who was already tired, snapped at that.

"What tales, what do you mean, Sirius. Explain clearly."

Sirius sighed before answering.

"House Black is very old. We existed in some form before the first Viking had landed on the shore of British Isles. With history that old, there were mentions of incident, where in desperate situation, a witch or wizards call to help was answered by people not of their world…. Or time."

He continued, speaking over the confused questions.

"Over centuries, members of my house mounted expeditions around the world in search for more records of these events. It was done to find a way to duplicate this event and convert into a weapon. A few of these expeditions were successful. Eventually, they found a pattern."

Sirius paused to drink from his glass of water, and then continued.

"This event always happened when a magical called for help from anything that could save them from a grave danger. In a very rare chances of them, this call was answered, as I mentioned earlier, by people. There were records of when only a single person arrived to help and also when an entire clan or family arrived. Another few similarities were that all these helpers, I would say, arrived from the future, deeply tired and were related deeply to the magical calling for help, be it blood or something else, and would have trouble casting during their stay. These helpers stayed for varying durations, ranging from few hours to months, sometimes even for more than a year before one day disappearing without any notice. I always thought about them as nothing more than myths."

"But now you think them true, and that it has happened to us."

At Sirius's agreement, a silence spread in the room. Had it been any other group of witch and wizards, there would have call for lies and ridiculousness, but this group was way too close for such thing to happen. Even Daphne, who had only come in contact with them a few years ago, didn't say anything, for there were other things like the resistance in casting to consider.

"So how do we prove this?", Mary asked.

"Unless we are under a massive illusion, we know from the state of manor and the tempus charm that we have travelled back in the time, and most likely a different world.", He started giggling after that.

"It's so easy to say what I can't just believe would happen."

Other started to give their suggestion, but James stayed silent, his gaze unfocused. When Lily called him upon it, he answered.

"If what Sirius is saying has happened, I was wondering who was that called for help."

Sirius, who now had stopped laughing, answered easily.

"It is from someone in your family, Prongs. Daphne's presence answers that."

At the look of confusion, Sirius explained.

"If it had been someone in my family, Daphne would not have been here. Your and your family presence could be counted due to our blood oath as there was records of this happening before, but her bond with Harry is too new for her to come along with us. No, it is someone in Potter family. My guess is that either it's Harry, or his children, depending on how much the timeline had changed. Also, James, did you notice your missing Lord ring?"

James looked down on his hand, finally noticing the missing ring.

"The family magic will never let there be a Lord of the family without a claiming ritual. It means that here, the Lordship of both of our houses remains vacant."

"But my heir ring is still here while Daphne's isn't, does it mean…."

The entire Potter family tensed at that, but Sirius shook his head.

"We can't be sure. A few wards around the manor are still standing, that means there is a potter out there, alive. It is possible their claiming ritual has not been yet performed. For Daphne, the heir ritual might have been done by the Greengrass family. Either way, we cannot assume anything unless we have more information."

Lily, who had been silent till now, spoke up.

"Since we don't know whether we can trust the same people as of our world, we cannot approach just anyone. I think the best option would be to visit Diagon Alley…"

"But how do we know that even exists here, or is located in same place as ours?", Daphne questioned gently. Lily paused, having no answer to that question. After a brief moment of silence, Mary gave a suggestion.

"What about House elves?"

Both James and Sirius shook their head.

"I cannot feel any of them, Mary."

"Kreacher also?"

Sirius paused at that, having not considered his family's old elf. After taking the mantle of Lord Black, he had banished the demented elf to an old Black property, where the elf had eventually passed away, but here, he might still be alive.

"We will see. Let's rest today. There is enough supplies here for two people for a week. With eight of us, we would have to go out soon either way."

James agreed as he stood up.

"Tomorrow we can check the manor first, then we will decide on a further course of action."

With that, everyone left to get some rest, but none of the six adults slept easily that night. Some distance away in east, a sleeping owl woke up. Her head swept around twice, before it suddenly hopped out of the window and took flight.