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Here's the summary:

Marauders' Era Time Travel AU: A better prepared Harry never faces Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. Six years of fighting follow that costly choice. His inevitable defeat does not leave him dead and buried, but stranded in a strange world ruled by Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and their greater good.

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Harry Potter and the Conjoining of Paragons

By ACI100

Chapter 58: Desperate Pleas


April 9, 1944

The Chamber of Secrets

11:33 PM

An entangled pair of shadows danced in the light of a flickering torch. The shadows rose and fell, twisted and wavered in time with the dim flame.

Harry let himself drown in a sea of melancholy as he watched their shadows dance and breathed in the chamber's thick scent. It was damp and weathered, yet homely and comforting.

Maybe we should just stay down here. Grindelwald was no Parselmouth; there would be no way of reaching them here. They could hide down here while he sieged the castle and…

And what? Starve to death? Cerastes could hunt for them, but the basilisk might not find much.

And Grindelwald might not need Parseltongue. There was nothing the dark lord wanted more than Harry. Well, the stone if I'm right, but he thinks I have it. Grindelwald would not rest so long as he evaded him. He'd probably tear the castle down searching, and then what?

The panic tried stabbing through the melancholy he cloaked himself in, but he stared back into the shadows and allowed his mind to clear. An empty void was better than what was coming for them.

Emily let out a long breath and turned the stone over between her fingers. "Three rotations and a thought. That's all it takes to summon long-dead souls, but it's no use."

"We're out of time." The panic seeped back through, slowly but surely. The deadline was becoming real now.

Emily's fingers closed tightly around the stone. "We haven't lost yet. Just because Grindelwald has the ministry doesn't mean our time is up. There will still be resistance and there are the wards to consider."

Harry bit back his retort. If you haven't reverse engineered the stone in five months, you won't solve it by the time he's here. But he could not make himself say it that way, not while remembering that desperate look when she had explained her deepest fears.

"And what if we do run out of time?" The question sucked their hope away and left a morbid air drifting through the chamber. All homeliness was gone; now, it felt dark and damp and desolate.

Emily shut her eyes. "We can't think about that."

"We might have to." He made himself turn away from the shadows to face her. "We really might not have time."

"Then we lose, and all our dreams were for nothing."

Harry's heart clenched. "You can't mean that."

"There was one escape. The infallible cloak and an endless, undead army. We can't beat him on our own." Her expression smoothed back over. "But it won't matter. I will make the stone work. All we need is the cloak from Potter."

Harry lacked the heart to voice his doubts about the stone. "If he has it," he said in reference to the cloak. "That's two countries that have just suddenly fallen in the past few months. It could be the cloak."

"No."

"Emily—"

"No. Do you not think Charlus would worry if Grindelwald had the cloak?"

"I'm not sure how much Charlus knows."

"He has to know something, and Potter's no actor. He must have the cloak; we'll have that, no matter what."

"So if you can't figure the stone—"

"I will."

"But if you can't—"

"I will!"

Harry shut his mouth. I'll ask when the day comes, then. Stealth would be their only hope.

"Can we not talk about this?" Harry's stomach dropped when he heard the way her voice trembled. She's scared; really scared like I've never seen before.

Harry shoved his own worries deep down into the empty void and wrapped his arms around her. She took shuddering breaths into the crook of his neck while the pair rocked back and forth.

"It's okay," he murmured. "We'll win. We're not allowed to die, remember?"

She trembled against him as shaky laughter left her lips. "We'll find a way."

But how? How does someone beat a dark lord who's so much stronger than them? How does someone beat a man who kills anyone in his way?


April 11, 1944

An Abandoned Classroom

10:03 PM

Sweat carved smooth tracks through the layer of grime that cloaked his cheeks. Stitches stabbed in his side as his chest rose and fell. His shoulder felt nearly numb and his wand trembled between his fingers. So tired.

There had been hardly a moment since Grindelwald seized the ministry.

Once they had decided not to hide out in the Chamber of Secrets, Emily and he had decided all they could do was prepare. That meant they had been locked up with Charlus for most of the past two days, practicing scenario after scenario until Harry's body ached and his eyelids fluttered.

"I think that's about all we can do tonight." Emily alone looked alert. I wonder how much she's relying on Occlumency. Hers was better than his. Probably a ton.

"Should I meet you back down in the chamber?" Harry whispered as they shared a tight embrace.

"No," she whispered back. "I want to spend more time working on the stone. You're cute, but distracting. Head back to the dorm when you two are done."

"What a world we live in," Charlus mused when she was gone. "Never thought I'd see the day the pair of you were together."

Harry felt stinging heat caress his cheeks. "I could say the same about you and Dorea, you know."

Charlus smirked. "You could, but she's not here. Makes it harder to fluster me."

Their mirth drove back the shadow looming over the castle for but a moment. Slowly it crept back over them. The room appeared to darken and the fatigue crept back in. Their smiles crumbled and anxiety clawed back the foothold it had lost.

"They'll be all right, won't they?" Charlus asked.

Harry swallowed a lump in his throat. Why does everyone ask me? What did that say about the state of things? I'm younger than both of them and scared out of my wits. How bad must they be?

It dawned on him that they had never faced the things he had. He had expected to die while chasing Quirrell down into the depths of Hogwarts, then again when facing Tom Riddle and the basilisk — he would not think of the monster he slew as Cerastes.

I'm used to it. You just have to keep moving forward, no matter what.

"If we have anything to say about it, they will."

Charlus shook his head. "I wish we could be more sure. I wish there was something else we could do."

Harry's eyes roamed over Charlus's robes. Nothing bulged out from his pocket, but the Cloak could be folded until there was no sign of it.

Should I ask now? His heart pounded. It seems like the perfect moment. But something stilled his tongue and closed his throat until the words would not leave him.

"You all right?"

He swallowed the lump in his throat and made himself nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."

"I think we all are." Charlus glanced out the window. The sky was dark and cloudy; there was no sign of the moon and the gloom was so thick that the lake and forest were all but hidden. "It'll be over soon, one way or another."

Charlus's stare found him again and Harry shifted beneath its weight. There was something searching there, something he had never seen before. It was like Charlus hoped to find something beneath his skin, or hoped that looking long enough would uncover some hidden disguise.

Guilt's knife twisted in his chest. He's right, but looking won't tell him anything. Harry Potter looked just like Hadrian Pavonis. Skinnier and with glasses, but much the same.

But so different. I've changed so much.

"We'll find a way." It felt like the right thing to say, and Charlus's shoulders did ease when he said it.

"We'll kill him," Charlus whispered, turning back to stare out the window yet again. "Somehow."


April 12, 1944

Reginald Gress's Office

7:45 PM

Harry adopted the air of a cautious hunter while watching Reginald Gress shuffle papers behind his desk. There was no lab coat or eccentric hat today — instead, there were bright yellow robes and a pair of thin-lensed spectacles.

He threw Emily a glance from the corner of his eye when Gress just continued shuffling papers, but she shrugged. Not even she can figure Gress out.

"Don't just stand there," the professor said. "Come in and sit down." Gress tucked away the stack of papers as the couple took their seats.

There were more stacks of parchment spread throughout the room than Harry thought possible. I guess it makes sense. Gress had been teaching Transfiguration in addition to Alchemy since their return from winter holidays.

The stress had aged a handful of the professors, but not Gress. Sitting there in his lurid robes, he looked not a day older or a shade wearier than the first time they had met.

"Uh… sir, could you not just fix your eyes?" Harry's cheeks burned the moment that question left his lips, but the awkward silence had dragged on too long.

Gress actually chuckled. "I could," he admitted. His stare swerved towards Emily. "Any guesses why I haven't?"

Emily studied him and his spectacles. "You don't think the necessary exchange would be worth it?"

Gress clapped his hands. "Precisely." Age crept across that face for the first time. "I've sacrificed more than enough already. I have to save some things in case I need them later."

That fucking word again…

"It's not just magic that's all about sacrifice. Love is too. If you still love her after whatever she's done, then you might have to make the sacrifice and live with it. That or go on being miserable — completely up to you, Hadrian"

"What was it you wanted, Professor?" Any time he remembered that talk, he felt uneasy and wanted away from Gress. There's something about him.

"I wanted to check in on the pair of you and give you two a warning."

The pair exchanged looks. "We're doing as well as can be expected, Professor," Emily said carefully.

"And there's no strife between you?" They shook their heads. "No arguments?"

Emily's lips curved up into a soft smile and she squeezed his hand beneath the table. "We don't agree on everything, but we haven't argued."

The age faded from Gress's face; it was like that one sentence had stripped ten years away.

Why does that mean so much to him? Harry had never considered it back then —- burdened as he was at the time — but Gress's fixation on their relationship was odd.

It makes sense coming from Slughorn. Creepy, but I get it. The Potions Master hoped to benefit later down the line, but Gress? What's his game?

"Keep it that way." There was a certain sharpness in the professor's voice. "You'll need each other when Grindelwald comes."

Emily's grip tightened on his hand. "Is that your warning, Professor?"

"Yes. Don't let the stress divide you. You two make up much of the resistance against Grindelwald."

Depressing, that. The castle was bursting with ministry officials, packed to capacity and cramped for the first time in living memory. If we're the world's best chance, maybe we should give up now.

That desperate look Emily had worn all those months ago steeled his resolve. No! We'll win — we have to win!

"We know." Emily rubbed soft circles on the back of Harry's hand. "We have a plan, sir."

Harry's heart raced as Gress studied them, then nodded. Do we really?


Soon after…

The pair split just outside Gress's office. Emily was heading back up to the dorm after two long days of studying the stone, while Harry was ostensibly off to the library.

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts four."

"You are alone," Cerastes hissed once freed from the statue. "That has been rare lately."

"I need to ask you something away from Emily."

"Away from the heiress?" Harry could practically feel the serpent's coils tighten. "Is it time you tell her your final secret?"

"No."

Not until Grindelwald is dead. It was too risky while the dark lord lived. If one of us is captured, it could be used against us.

Harry forced the panic down. I've gotten too good at that lately; it can't be healthy. "I wanted to ask at what point do you abandon a plan you think is doomed to fail?"

"You do not think your plan will work?"

Harry shut his eyes and shook his head, unable to watch the gesture mirrored by his shadow on the wall. "I don't think she'll figure out the stone in time," he admitted. "The more time passes, the more I think what we planned isn't possible."

"The cloak?"

"I still don't know, but it might not matter. An endless army was a huge part of our plans."

"Do you have a better plan?" Cerastes asked.

"No." That was what terrified him most of all. "How could I? How do you plan for a dark lord who you know you can't beat? Someone older, wiser, and stronger who's killed everyone in his way?"

There was a long pause. "You once defeated a dark lord not unlike the one you described."

Harry scoffed. "I was a baby. I had no idea what I was doing."

Cerastes's slithering grew restless and a bout of agitated hissing followed suit. It almost sounds like he's in pain. "But your mother did."

His heart froze.

"It's not just magic that's all about sacrifice. Love is too. If you still love her after whatever she's done, then you might have to make the sacrifice and live with it. That or go on being miserable — completely up to you, Hadrian."

Oh… oh, fuck…


Back in Reginald Gress's Office…

"Miss Riddle — how entirely unsurprising. What can I do for you?"

Emily wrung her hands, stepping across the threshold and pulling shut his office door. "I don't know if there's anything you can do, but you're the only one I can think to ask."

How many times have I heard that before? The long years weighed heavily on his shoulders. More years and more weight than any of these children realize. It would all be over soon; the burden would be lifted at long last.

"What is it you need from me?" he asked.

"I need… an answer." He waited. "My biggest fear has changed and my plans don't match it anymore."

"Ah." I expected Pavonis to come ask this, not her. "And what, exactly, do you fear most now, Miss Riddle?"


Author's Endnote:

I advise those of you who have been calling Gress a self-insert or a plot device to read his scenes more carefully. There are hints as to what is really going on — spoiler alert, it is neither of those things.

Please read and review.

A heartfelt thank you is extended to my high-tier patron, Cup, for her unwavering support.

PS: The next chapter will be posted in exactly two weeks. It will be released here for readers on Wednesday, September 20th, 2023.

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