Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄🎄🎄

I'm back with Chapter 104, enjoy!

"Potter, Miss Granger," called McGonagall as the couple oversaw the Gryffindor students returning to their common room.

"Professor McGonagall? What happened to Daisy, is she alright?" asked Harry, hastily as he rushed to her.

"Daisy is... she will be fine," replied McGonagall. "Come to my office, bring Ron with you," she added, glancing at them.

Harry, Hermione and Ron made their way to McGonagall's office. Each one of them gave the other 2 worried glances, wondering why they were summoned at this time of the day. Her response to Daisy's well-being hadn't convinced Harry either, making their worries go through the roof. Hermione's breathing was through the roof, Ron's face was red with anger and surprisingly, Harry was the least affected of the three.

The moment the trio made it to McGonagall's office, there was a complete and utter silence.

"Daisy was tortured using the Cruciatus curse," began McGonagall as she stood in front of her desk, facing the trio. "By You-know-who," she muttered sombrely.

"What?" gasped Ron and Harry together. "Why? Why would he go after her?" asked Ron.

"He forced Daisy to call Jane," continued McGonagall as Harry and Hermione gave each other a worried glance. "The Order reached there in time... But You-know-who escaped. We have arrested Bellatrix Lestrange and Eldon Redwood," finished McGonagall.

"How is Daisy doing? I thought you said she is fine," asked Ron, hastily.

"We need to see her, Professor," added Harry.

"Harry... Ron... That won't be possible and both of you know that. I wanted to let you three know what happened personally, and hence you are here," replied McGonagall. "I know how difficult this is. But wait it out for a few weeks. You will be returning home in no time," she added.

"What about her treatment?" asked Hermione, chiming in. "She's a muggle... She won't be treated at St. Mungo's, would she?" she added, worried.

"And what about her memories?" added Harry. "The Ministry hasn't wiped her memories about Wizards, have they?" he asked. "You can't let that happen to her," he remarked, hastily.

"Daisy was treated on the spot by Remus and Professor White. But before we could think of further alternatives, she was taken away by Jane. Daisy is now with Jane," replied McGonagall, a little anger visible in her eyes.

"What?" gasped Ron, shocked.

"How is Jane? Why would You-know-who go after Jane?" asked Harry, confused.

"Jane... is under a lot of trouble, but I can't say anything further Potter," replied McGonagall and the trio watched her, stunned.

"Why not?" asked Harry, but he didn't get a response.

"That's all I had for you. It's late now and I suggest you all go to bed," remarked McGonagall. "If I get some more news, I shall share it with you," she added.

And with that, the trio left McGonagall's office.

"How are you holding up?" whispered Hermione to Harry's ear the moment the trio entered their common room.

"Not very well, Hermione... not doing well at all," replied Harry, angrily.

Hermione took his hands into hers and turned her glance towards Ron. "What about you?" she asked.

"I can't wait to get my hands on him..." retorted Ron, angrily and stormed away.

"He is just angry that he was helpless, despite everything..." sighed Hermione as she sat down with Harry.

After a couple of minutes, Harry spoke up. "I need some answers," he whispered and got up to go to his dormitory. After a minute or so, he came back down along with the two-way mirror and sat down beside Hermione.

"Sirius," he called. "Sirius, are you there?" he asked.

After a moment, he got a response back as his eyes fell on Sirius, through the mirror. "Harry," exclaimed Sirius.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry as he noticed a few bruises.

"I'm perfect, these are just minor cuts," replied Sirius.

"Hi, Sirius," greeted Hermione.

"Hey," greeted back Sirius. "How are things there?" he asked.

"Terrible," replied Hermione as she glanced at Harry. "We thought we had lost..." but Hermione didn't finish her sentence.

"Don't worry about Daisy... She will be fine in no time," assured Sirius in response.

"Why, Sirius? Why her?" asked Harry. "Professor McGonagall said that it was all for Jane," he added.

"Son," began Sirius and gave a pause. "This came out of the blue..." he remarked. "None of us expected he'd go after Daisy," he sighed, looking dejected.

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione, confused. "Were you expecting him to do something else?" she added.

Sirius stared back through the mirror for a few seconds. "To hell with it! I'm going to get into trouble for telling you this," he chuckled. After a moment, he continued, "We've been tracking many of You-know-who's lackeys, the entire Ministry has been," he began. "He was planning something, something big. And we were very close to finding out all about it," he continued.

"What?" gasped Harry.

"It came as a shock when we found out that he had attacked Daisy," sighed Sirius. "It still doesn't make any sense, why he'd attack her... that too for Jane," he added.

The three of them went silent for a few seconds. "Sirius," began Harry, inquisitively. "He attacked her..." remarked Harry. "He didn't send one of his death eaters... HE went after Daisy," he sighed, in an intrigued tone.

"And he brought Bellatrix and Redwood along with him," chimed in, Sirius.

"Do you reckon he knows something about Daisy and Jane that no one else knows?" asked Harry, glancing at Hermione.

"No..." gasped Hermione, shocked.

"Whatever happened today... it was personal," replied Sirius as he went into a deep thought. "He risked everything to bring Jane out into the open," he added.

"This is bad, Sirius," sighed Harry, despondently. "How's Jane, by the way?" he asked after a moment. "Professor McGonagall seems to think that she is in a lot of trouble," he added.

"Why? Unless she thinks You-know-who will go after Jane again," wondered Sirius, out loud. After a moment, he continued, "I hope Jane's fine... she has been on the run for far too long," he replied.

"She needs our help, Sirius," came a voice from behind Sirius, it was Remus'. "We need to do something to heal her before it is too late," sighed Remus.

"Remus," exclaimed Harry, happily.

"It's not like we haven't tried to contact her," sighed Sirius.

"Hello, Harry, Hermione," greeted Remus.

"You look hurt," said Harry.

"It is not much, I have had worse," chuckled Remus.

Talking to Sirius and Remus always brought Harry some peace. And the four of them continued for a couple of hours before calling it a night.

Jane woke up with a jolt the following morning and found young, innocent eyes staring back at her.

"Daisy," exclaimed Jane and sat up straight, instantly.

"Did I startle you?" asked Daisy, taken aback. "I didn't mean to do that," she added, in a weak voice.

"No... Uh... No, I mean, a little," sighed Jane as she looked around her house. "You are awake," she remarked, after a moment, a little surprised.

"What is this place?" asked Daisy, glancing around, looking at the shabby walls, that looked unfinished.

"Home," replied Jane, getting up.

Jane got up and guided Daisy to sit down on the bed, before kneeling to face her. She began by examining Daisy's arms first and then moved on to her legs. She continued towards her abdomen, chest and back, and finished with her face.

"Your bruises look better than they did last night," remarked Jane. "You shouldn't be up though," she added and stared into her eyes. "Does it hurt still?" she asked, gripping her hands.

"Everywhere," replied Daisy as a few drops of tears trickled down her cheek. "I woke up a while back and couldn't get back to sleep," she replied.

Jane pulled her into a hug slowly and embraced her like never before. "I'm so sorry about this, I shouldn't have let this happen," she whispered. "I'm going to give you something for the pain... You should have woken me up," she added hastily as she released the hug and got up.

"Mrs Smith," began Daisy and watched Jane rush out of the room. She came back a moment later, holding a small goblet. "Jane," called out Daisy and only then till Jane glanced towards her.

"Here," said Jane and handed her the goblet.

"You're hobbling," sighed Daisy, looking worried. "You don't look well," she added.

"I can take care of myself, this is not my first time," retorted Jane and held out her hand once again.

This time, Daisy took the goblet and stared at the dark-coloured liquid. "Will this put me to sleep?" she asked.

"And give you the strength to recover faster," replied Jane, assuringly. "There's one more thing I can do," began Jane after a brief pause. "I can wipe your memories of yesterday and put you under an illusion... when you wake up, you won't even realise that you were hurting till now. You will be as good as new," she suggested.

"No," exclaimed Daisy, instantly. "Don't..." she remarked, panicked.

"I'm not wiping all your memories, Daisy... Just yesterday's," retorted Jane, calmly.

"No, you cannot, please," protested Daisy.

"I can't see you like this..." remarked Jane, guiltily.

"I'll get through it, Mrs Smith... But I don't want to forget anything," replied Daisy, confidently and instantly, gulping the contents of the goblet.

Jane helped Daisy walk over to the adjacent room and helped her lie down on the bed.

"When you wake up, I'll take you back home... you will have to take care of yourself for the next couple of days, but the effects of the curse will have also receded," remarked Jane. "I spoke with Jacob and Olivia last night. They were a bit confused, but are not suspecting anything odd," she added.

"Thanks, Mrs Smith... It is better they are kept in the dark about all of this, at least for a while," replied Daisy, smiling briefly.

The pair stayed as is for a couple of minutes. Daisy stared around her room and then back at Jane, while she seemed to be staring back at her, lost for words.

"Stop looking at me like you caused all of this. You are not responsible for what happened last night," said Daisy, breaking the silence.

This time, tears trickled down Jane's cheek. "You have no idea the things I have done, darling... I can't apologise enough for what happened to you last night. It was just life's way of squaring things up with me," she retorted, apologetically.

"I'm sure you did what you thought was the right thing to do. He-who-must-not-be-named did what he always does, hurt people... You are not responsible for it," remarked Daisy, drowsily and took Jane's hands into her own.

Just as she finished speaking, the potion started to work its magic and Daisy fell asleep.

"You've always had the purest heart... I've done much worse than you could imagine, darling... And I'm sorry for everything I'm about to do," remarked Jane, remorsefully, in response and kissed her forehead before walking out of the room.

A couple of days went by. Voldemort's attack on Daisy and the successful intervention from the Ministry of Magic became an instant talking point inside the castle. News had spread throughout the castle, how Voldemort and the death eaters attacked a little girl, how the Ministry arrived just in time, fought off everyone, managed to save the girl and arrested two of the most wanted death eaters in return.

While the chatter spread at the castle, Harry, Ron and Hermione tried to get back their normalcy. But it was proving to be difficult. Hermione had lost all sense of concentration from her studies, and everything Daisy occupied her mind instead. She couldn't imagine what she'd do if any of her muggle parents got attacked the same way Daisy did. Ron, meanwhile, continued raging about what had happened. The only thing that reduced his rage in the past couple of days was the short letter he had received from Daisy, reassuring him that she was better. And finally, Harry found himself getting sucked into a world of imagination and dread, one where everyone close to him got attacked by Voldemort while he stood rooted to his spot, helpless. Thoughts about the Deathly Hallows swirled around in his head, along with the recently emerged challenge of finding Voldemort's Horcruxes. Fortunately for him, he had his Mystara keeping him company and sane at the same time.

The golden trio found themselves in the library, embroiled in their studies. They had been in their ever since early evening, and it was close to dinner time now.

Ron glanced up at Harry and Hermione. "I'm bored," he exclaimed and closed his textbook loudly.

"Ron," screeched Hermione. "You scared me for a second," she gasped.

"Let's pack up," remarked Harry, glancing at Hermione. "My stomach has been rumbling for a while," he sighed.

Slowly the trio walked out of the library. To their surprise, there was a great sense of commotion and chatter around them, as they walked back to their common room.

"You'd think they would have better things to do," smirked Ron. "How long are they going to continue to talk about the same thing?" he wondered out loud.

Harry, however, felt something at the bottom m his stomach, a weird feeling.

"Something's up," he remarked, intrigued and started rushing a little towards the common room.

The moment the trio reached the common room, they found a big group of students gossiping loudly in the middle of the room.

"Hey," called out Harry. "What's going on?" asked Harry.

"What do you mean?" asked Seamus, surprised.

"Is something going on?" asked Ron, chuckling, assuming Harry was overreacting.

"You don't know?" asked Neville, surprised.

"She's here... Jane Smith... she's here, at Hogwarts," replied Seamus. "Where have you three been for the past hour?" he asked.

"What?" gasped the trio, together.

"What is Jane doing here?" asked Harry, shocked.

"No idea, mate... But she had a big entourage following her," replied Dean.

"I bet they are going to arrest her any time now," remarked Seamus, excitedly.

"What?" wondered Harry, confused and glanced at Hermione and Ron, both of whom shared similar expressions on their face.

Soon, the trio evaded the crowd of students and went to a quieter spot.

"Dumbledore and McGonagall know the truth, there's no way Jane would get arrested with them around," remarked Ron.

"But what is she doing here?" asked Hermione.

"Jane is apparently at Dumbledore's office. Should we go there and find out for ourselves?" asked Harry.

"They are never going to let us near," sighed Ron, disappointed.

The three of them looked at each other hoping for a solution, but none of them could come up with anything.

After a moment, Harry's eyes lit up. "I have my invisibility cloak," he said, in a low whisper.

"There's no way we are all fitting in there," remarked Ron. "We are a bit old for that," he chuckled.

"I'm going to go and find out what's going on," retorted Harry and jogged away.

…

Jane apparated to Hogsmeade, right outside Hog's Head Inn. Jane spent every second ever since she dropped off Daisy to her home contemplating the decision to meet Dumbledore face to face. It was the stupidest offer she could have possibly received. Meeting inside Hogwarts, one of the most well-protected castles in all of the magical world, could prove to be catastrophic. She would effectively be trapped inside if Dumbledore wished for it. It wasn't just that, Jane knew that people around Dumbledore were itching to wipe Jane out of the equation, people that included Gellert Grindelwald disguised as Benjamin White and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. But Jane had a plan, a long and elaborate plan.

From Hog's Head, accompanied by 2 Aurors, Jane walked to Hogwarts. The moment she entered the gates, she found 2 more Aurors, White and McGonagall waiting to escort her to Dumbledore's office. Jane walked inside, surrounded by 6 highly skilled wizards and witches. When she passed by the Great Hall, a group of students saw her and gasped in shock. Soon, the group grew larger and larger, they even started following Jane behind. It took McGonagall's stern words to put a stop to the gathering crowd. Finally, Jane and everyone who accompanied her reached Dumbledore's office. Benjamin White was the only one who entered Dumbledore's office and Jane closely followed him.

"Jane," exclaimed Dumbledore, getting up, a brief smile appearing on his face.

"Professor," greeted Jane, bowing down a little, and smirking.

"Leave us alone, please," remarked Dumbledore.

White stared at Dumbledore, displeased, but after a moment, he left the office.

"You gave me your word, that there won't be any Aurors," scorned Jane, staring at Dumbledore with dead eyes.

"No," said Dumbledore, calmly. "I gave you my word that there won't be any Aurors waiting to arrest you," he replied.

"Always the ulterior motive, right Dumbledore?" retorted Jane, sitting down opposite him.

Dumbledore took his seat and stared at Jane. "How is Daisy doing?" he asked.

"Daisy is... recovering," replied Jane.

"And you?" asked Dumbledore. Jane glared at him and in return, he gave a brief smile.

"Why am I here, Professor?" retorted Jane, looking annoyed.

Dumbledore looked around and then back at Jane. After a few seconds of silence, "I asked you here to talk you out of doing something you will regret," said Dumbledore, calmly.

"What exactly am I doing?" retorted Jane, instantly.

"Your search for the Hallows has left a trail of bodies, Jane," began Dumbledore, sighing. "You are better than this... guilt and sorrow have consumed you, I want to help you out of it," he remarked.

"The Deathly Hallows," exclaimed Jane and smiled widely. "You own a piece of it, don't you?" she asked. But before Dumbledore could respond, Jane continued, "How did you come to possess the Elder Wand, Dumbledore? And don't lie, because I know what all you've done in your life," she snapped.

"If you are looking at examples to follow, I wouldn't recommend my youth," retorted Dumbledore, instantly.

A silence lasted between the pair for a couple of minutes. Jane was glaring around and Dumbledore seemed to be contemplating new words.

"I want you to surrender," said Dumbledore, breaking the silence. The moment he uttered the words, Jane erupted into a burst of laughter.

"Here we go," remarked Jane, laughing.

"You will not be tried for any crimes the Auror office puts on you related to the Chamber of Secrets," remarked Dumbledore, assuringly. "As for your crimes in the hunt for the Hallows, I can help you out of it, get you lesser punishment," he added.

"The same way you did for Mr Grindelwald?" scoffed Jane.

"That was different and you know it. He had already served decades in prison for the crimes he had committed. I'm offering you a chance out of the hole you've dug... I'm offering to hide your crimes, bury them deep where no one will look for them," replied Dumbledore, strongly.

Jane stared at Dumbledore, a little taken aback. "You'd do that for me?" she asked.

Dumbledore nodded in response.

"Why?" she asked. But this time, Dumbledore did not respond.

Another long silence engulfed the Headmaster's office.

…

"Mr Potter," exclaimed White, loudly. White and 4 other Aurors had been standing outside Dumbledore's office ever since Jane had arrived. The moment White exclaimed, everyone standing there, jerked around rattled.

"Sir?" said one of the Aurors, confused.

"I'm talking to Mr Potter here," retorted White and walked a few steps ahead, holding his hand out. To everyone's shock, Harry appeared out of nowhere, the moment White grabbed a hold of him.

"Professor," exclaimed Harry, surprised. "How... did you know?" he asked, stuttering.

"Come on," remarked White and took Harry a few steps away. "What do you think you are doing, Mr Potter?" he asked fiercely once they were out of earshot.

"How did you even know I was there?" retorted Harry.

"You weren't careful enough with your cloak..." replied White with a straight face.

Harry stared at White for a couple of seconds, intrigued. "Why is Jane here? And why is she being treated like a criminal?" he asked.

"Jane... is not as clean as you might have been led to believe. Professor Dumbledore asked her to visit him and that's why she is here. And the Aurors are here to arrest her once she's done," replied White, calmly.

"What? You are not serious, are you?" retorted Harry, shocked. "Professor Dumbledore knows that Jane is innocent. She did not hurt anyone, and she did not open the Chamber of Secrets," argued Harry.

"Mr Potter," began White a little loudly but corrected his tone immediately. "Listen to me... You should go back to your common room," he said. "Jane is extremely dangerous and things could go south very soon. It is not advisable for you to be here," he remarked.

"No, I need to know why Jane is being treated like this... That too, Professor Dumbledore... would never..." protested Harry but got interrupted.

"That is not the crime Jane is in trouble for, Mr Potter... you don't know anything about what all Jane has done in the past few months," interjected White, angrily.

"Like what?" retaliated Harry, instantly and angrily.

"Killing Mr Ollivander, Mr Gregorovitch, Mrs Bagshot, Mr Conte..." began White in response.

"Ollivander?" wondered Harry, confused, interrupting White. "What? Jane killed Ollivander?" he asked. After a moment, realisation hit him. "Didn't You-know-who kill all these people, for the Deathly Hallows?" he asked.

White shook his head. "I don't know who told you that the Dark Lord was after the Hallows, but that is not true. It was Miss Smith behind all the killings, she's the one after the Hallows," replied White.

"But... she'd never..." gasped Harry, stunned.

Right then, the Aurors guarding the Headmaster's office pointed their wands at White and a barrage of stunners made their way towards Harry and White.

White was quick on the draw and shielded Harry. However, White got hit by the stunners and fell backwards, unconscious. Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the Aurors, shocked and speechless.

…

"You know, one night, in his first year here, he told me a tale of the brilliant man who never missed a trick under his roof. He had just discovered from you that you knew who he really was. I wonder how long you had known for, was it just a few months John had been at Hogwarts, or did you know of what would happen for years and years?" asked Jane, gloomily.

Dumbledore looked straight into her eyes. "I don't know what you mean, Jane," he replied, calmly.

"How long have you known about the possibility of time travel?" asked Jane, bluntly. "Or, if I were to put it this way, are John and I the first time travellers you've known of?" she added.

"What makes you ask this?" asked Dumbledore in return. "Do you know of others who have travelled in time other than yourself, John and Lily?" he added, intrigued.

"Professor... don't play games with me," snapped Jane. "I found concrete evidence that we were not the only ones, perhaps not even the first ones," she remarked.

"What did you find?" asked Dumbledore, his tone seemed serious and inquisitive.

"Photos of John and I... as babies," replied Jane. "Photos and portraits of Ron and Daisy..." she added, sombrely.

Dumbledore stayed silent for a couple of minutes, he seemed to be deep in thought.

"You are lying to me," exclaimed Jane, suddenly. "You know everything... you had to have known that time travel was possible, well before John and I appeared in your life. That is the only explanation," she remarked, forcefully. Jane continued hastily, "You let John die... you were supposed to protect Daisy but you let her get hurt. Harry has constantly been under threat and you've done nothing to prevent it," she added, angrily.

Dumbledore looked distraught.

"I found some more things in the box, pictures, articles that had no business of being there... unless... unless someone brought it here, with them, from the future," continued Jane, close to breaking down. "And if... if that were the case... then, then time cannot be changed... everything that happened, happened... there's nothing I could do prevent it," she whimpered.

"Bending the laws of nature has its consequences, Jane... And nature will retaliate," said Dumbledore, finally breaking his silence. "And it won't leave anyone unpunished," he added.

"So, you've known all along?" retorted Jane, disgusted.

Every second Dumbledore remained silent, anger surged inside her.

"You betrayed us..." said Jane, in a low voice as her face went redder.

"You could've saved him from dying..." said Jane, her voice almost whispery.

Almost immediately, Jane got up from her seat, pulled out her wand and pointed it at Dumbledore.

Dumbledore got up slowly from his seat.

"Please," said Dumbledore, weakly. "Jane," he added, in a low voice.

"Avada Kedavra," muttered Jane, a blank expression on her face. A jet of green light escaped her wand and hit Dumbledore straight in the chest and he fell backwards, onto his chair.

…

Jane stood rooted for a couple of seconds, tears trickling down her cheek. After a moment, she dashed to him and pulled out the Elder Wand from the pocket of his robe.

Jane got up and stood facing the entrance. She waved the Elder wand pointing at the door and immediately, she heard a barrage of spells flying all over, outside the office.

She slashed the wand and this time, the door and the walls adjacent to it blew up with a loud bang.

Jane walked a few steps ahead and her eyes fell on 4 wizards lying on the ground unconscious. Right then, she heard a voice and instantly, she had her wand up.

Harry had his wand pointed at Jane. "Jane?" he exclaimed. "What are you doing?" his voice trembled.

Jane flicked her wand at him and he got pushed back with vicious force. Her eyes fell on White who was lying unconscious a few feet away. Instinctively, she pointed her wand at him and sent a couple of stunners aimed at him.

"Jane... why?" came Harry's weak and hurt voice.

Jane stared at him, not an expression on her face apart from the drying tears.

"Procidat Incipio," she muttered and flicked her wand at him.

Jane continued waving her wand at him, gesturing for him to get up and walk ahead.

But to her shock, Harry seemed unaffected.

"Expelliarmus," cried Harry and started running away.

"What?" gasped Jane, confused as she waved her wand and shielded herself. "This is not possible," she said and replaced the Elder wand in her hand with her own.

"Procidat Incipio," repeated Jane and aimed her spell at Harry.

Harry continued running and remained unaffected by Jane's attempted illusion.

Frustrated, Jane sent a few stunners aimed at Harry. However, he was alert and managed to defend himself.

But Harry had made the mistake of showing his back to Jane. Within a few seconds, with a combination of the leg-locker curse, body-bind curse and disarming spell, Jane managed to tumble Harry to the floor.

"Silencio," muttered Jane as she rushed to Harry. Harry tried to yell but no sound came out of him.

Jane waved her wand around, and flicked a couple of times, muttering something under her breath. To Harry's horror, he watched himself being levitated while going invisible at the same time.

"What is Harry doing?" muttered Ron, annoyed.

"What do you think is happening there?" asked Hermione, a little worried.

The pair waited in the common room, it had been quite some time since Harry had scampered away with his invisibility cloak to find out why Jane was there at Hogwarts.

"I'm not waiting here any longer... Let's..." began Ron but his voice drowned in another sound. John's watch that he carried around started buzzing loudly. Fervently, Ron pulled out the watch and saw the needle belonging to Harry pointing to "Mortal Danger".

"Oh no," he exclaimed and got up hastily. "Hermione, something's wrong," he exclaimed. Ron and Hermione dashed away from their common room and off they went to Dumbledore's office. By the time they reached there, a small crowd had started to collect.

Professor White and Professor McGonagall's voices could be heard loud and clear from way outside the office, while some Aurors seemed to have formed a group outside the office.

Just when Ron and Hermione reached the office, they saw White come running outside.

"Have you seen Harry?" asked White, his face red in anger, though there was a hint of panic in his voice.

"Harry? He was here... Why are you looking for Harry? What happened?" asked Ron, hastily.

"Jane... she... she has taken Harry," exclaimed White, his voice almost choking. "Albus is dead," he announced a moment later.

Hmm...

PS - Chapter 105 will be out in a couple of days! Ciao!