Chapter 1
Breathlessly, Harry barreled into the next room in the Department of Mysteries, hoping that this time he could reconnect with some of his friends.
The massive chamber echoed with his footsteps as he gazed around in wonder. His steps slowed while he glanced around the chamber for anything to see except the odd archway sitting at the bottom of the the bowl-like room
The room was empty of anything except the archway and though the only lights in the room were nearby it, it seemed to be dimmer than the rest of the chamber. Harry's eyes were drawn to the dim structure which seemed to have a floating grey gossamer cloth suspended inside it.
As he drew closer and closer he could even hear a whispering near it that sounded like a hundred voices speaking nearby but also several rooms away. He stepped up to it and realized there was no cloth a fluid like disturbance in the air of the archway that rippled and undulated in a nonexistent breeze.
A series of pops around the edge of the room broke him out of his scrutiny of the objects and he was horrified to see the remaining Death Eaters surrounding the room and holding his various friends at wand point.
"This is the end of the line Potter." Lucius Malfoy drawled from a dozen feet away. "I'll be taking that prophecy orb from you now. If you're quick about it, we might even let your little friends go free."
"Speak for yourself! Little Neville and I have catching up to do." Bellatrix Lestrange cackled as her wand pressed firmly into his ear, causing him to flinch in pain.
"Don't do it Harry! Don't give in to them!" Neville yelled out to him.
"Shut it boy! Don't act out of place dear Bellatrix. Remember our Lord's words! You see Potter, all we've really been ordered to do is bring back that orb. You give it to us and we can all be on our way. Don't be a idiot like your foolish misguided parents." Lucius drawled softly. He stepped slowly and softly forward with his hand out coming within a few feet of Harry cautiously.
Harry took the orb out of his pocket and looked at it. He knew it was a trap. He had brought them all here though and couldn't stand the thought that they might be injured because he had been stupid enough to have believed that vision. This was all his fault. A soft pop behind Lucius drew his gaze upwards and he grinned in triumph as he pocketed the orb.
A hand grabbed Lucius and spun him around, punching him to the floor. "Get away from my godson."
The Order of the Phoenix had finally shown up to save the day. A series of pops appeared around the room and the Death Eaters dropped their hold on the teenagers in order to face the more dangerous threat of the newly arrived adults.
As Lucius rolled away and popped to the other side of the room, Harry puts his back to Sirius' and began flinging spells along with him. An orange spell sailed past his head and he returned with a Stupefy and a Depulso and the battle began in earnest.
The Order gave back in droves and the Death Eaters quickly found themselves on the back foot as the Hogwarts teenagers joined in flinging the spells that they had practiced so hard in the Defense Association. Harry saw Ginny and Luna working back to back against two Death Eaters, while Hermione and Neville had another one cornered at a wall. Ron was still out of it against another wall from his time in the brain room.
Harry was having difficulties keeping his wandwork up against Lucius as he eyed his friends and his distraction gave him a moment of weakness as he had to roll to the left from a deep brown spell he didn't recognize. He returned fire with an Expeliarmus that was shielded and he followed that up with a Reducto that took Lucius out of the fight.
"Good one James!" Sirius said from behind him. He was apparently suffering form the same problem Harry was and had taken to keeping an eye on his fight as well. Harry turned to help him with his fight when he spotted Bellatrix's smirk and the red spell soaring towards him.
The world slowed to a crawl as Harry leapt to reach his godfather, but the distance was too great between them at this point. The spell had enough force that Sirius stumbled backwards and slowly stepped through the shimmering veil in the center of the room.
Harry wasn't aware of a lot of things at the moment. The cackling laughter of the insane witch who was running from the room bragging about what she had done. The ragged cry he had let out towards the closest thing he had known to a father in recent years. The feel of his honorary uncle Lupin's hands on his shoulders holding him back from running forward or begging him to stop.
All he could see was the empty spot where his godfather had been at the veil. The empty spot he had seemingly lifted off into and disappeared. The voices whispered louder and ever louder as he dragged his body and his uncles closer. He wrenched himself from the hands holding him back and leapt through the Veil.
His vision went black almost immediately as his forehead exploded into pain.
====X====
Another boringly listless day was going by for Unspeakable Soul as he monitored and the Veil of Death and measured the readings he was getting. This had always been one of the worst duties to be assigned as rarely anything occurred there.
Every once and while the Veil would put off a slight flash of magic that accompanied no other changes. This same flash of magic would not go off whenever a prisoner was thrown through and seemed to occur with no other reaction. Prisoners disappeared through the Veil and nothing was ever left behind of them.
And the whispers! They couldn't be recorded, couldn't be understood, and seemed to only get louder as you got closer. It didnt help that anyone hearing them who got to close seemed to become Confunded to go through the shimmering space into apparent nothingness.
The Unspeakable sighed as he contemplated what he had done to be shifted to this assignment. He had been actually uncovering things in the Brain room until he was moved. He knew that the Department was under new leadership but he couldn't figure out who he had upset. A larger uptick than usual from the Veil drew his attention back to his current monitoring spell and he snapped an Accio to his clipboard to begin noting his findings when the levels of Magic in the room flashed and a smell of ozone premeated his nostrils.
He looked up as a thud hit the floor near the Veil. A body had come through. The sound of ragged breathing had him rushing the side of what looked like a teenager in front of him. He levitated him and floated him further away from the Veil for safety and began a quick diagnostic spell.
The boy seemed to be unconscious and in pain with some small marks and signs of battle on his face and clothes. He turned the boy over and quickly noticed and open scar on his forehead in the shape of the soyuz rune with blood slowly running from it. A quick mending charm stemmed the tide and the boy's eyes opened up slightly and the boy murmured, "...Dumbledore...get...Sirius."
After getting the boy a bit more comfortable, Soul sent a quick patronus message to his own boss Croaker and then stepped over to a fireplace to send a message through to the well renowned Headmaster.
====X====
Albus Dumbldore sat at his great oak desk and rubbed temples the throbbed with strain and stress. Tom had been moving in the shadows for a year now and his actions were becoming a bit more brazen now. He was lucky that Sirius had been able to show up to stop the last raid on time. The ministry was holding their heads in the sand at the moment but at least Amelia's Aurors knew what was really going on.
Something had to give soon or he would have to take care of the prodigal Dark Lord again. Severus had been helpful to a degree but he had never been the same since the last fall. Depression was a difficult enemy after all.
The flash of green in his fireplace grabbed his attention and he recognized the man's face as an Unspeakable he had dealt with in the past. "Dumbledore sir. I need you to come through right away. Someone has fallen through the Veil and they're asking for you."
"Someone survived falling through the Veil? I was unaware a prisoner execution was scheduled for today."
"No sir. They must have fallen through some other time. I was alone when they fell to the ground nearby with signs of coming through a fight."
Dumbledore leapt to this feet and rushed to the fireplace his hand grabbing a handful of powder and thowing it immediately. "Coming through. Step back. Department of Mysteries Code Deep Magic."
====X====
Dumbledore stepped through the Unspeakable Saul Croaker's fireplace and the man leapt up from his desk. "Dumbledore? Whats got you rushing in like this?"
"Your Unspeakable just contacted me about the situation in the Veil room. I'm heading there right away if you are inclined to come along," Dumbledore stated while walking out the office without slowing.
"Really that had to have been some sort of prank. I just got the message and wasn't about to rush over there for a poor joke. Nothing has ever come through before and nothing will have today. Mark my words."
"Magic has spent hundreds of years surprising us as you know so I will laugh at a poorly done prank if so, but if not this could be representative of something new. I find myself pleasantly surprised at times."
As they pushed through the doors into the large chamber, they both picked up the pace when they noticed the man stooping over a body on the floor.
"The lad seems to have been through the wringer. I've mended what I could but he needs to see a Healer right away. His magic has been in flux since he got here." The Unspeakable shot a quick spell to wake the boy up and stepped back a bit to give the venerated warlock room to work.
The Headmaster's eyes were met with a face that seemed to be recognizable from the past but he could not recall from where and eyes of a vibrant green that also seemed to tickle at the back of his memories. The both together looked nothing like any of his present students however and he had always made a point of knowing his schools students each year.
"Headmaster Dumbledore? Did you get here in time to stop them?" The boy asked tiredly. "Is everyone alright?"
"What do you mean my boy? Is who alright?"
"My friends and The Order. Did they all survive the Death Eaters? Is Sirius alright? Did I save him?"
A cold chill creeped through him as the the name sparked recognition with the face. "What is your name lad?"
"What? Harry Potter of course. Are you alright sir?"
Albus Dumbledore's heart raced as he looked into the face of a grown up child who had died as a toddler in 1981.