April 1990

"Harry, I must admit… I am becoming quite worried."

Harry blinked and looked up from his book to see Albus sitting across from him once more. He hadn't even realized the man was here.

"I'm sorry Albus, what did you say?" Harry asked as his eyes flickered back to the book he was reading.

"I said, I was becoming quite worried about you. Recently you seem to have become obsessed with the topic of multi world theories. I must ask, what has you so focused on this in particular?" Albus asked him. Harry blinked at him; it was strange but his head felt rather fuzzy. He was quite sure he wasn't thinking straight at the momentbut…

"It's so hard Albus. It feels like every step forward is two steps back. Why is it so hard to figure out? Every time I think I understand something, I run into a new problem that can take weeks to get past. It's all about power, it has to be about the power, right? I mean to make a bridge across worlds would mean basically making a hole in ours and in theirs and stepping through it without dying." Harry kept talking not even really sure why anymore, just that he couldn't seem to stop himself.

"What do you mean Harry?"

"Look Albus, it's all here. Every incident and talking point that I could find in this library, I mapped them all out. Almost all of them happened by accident. The doorway always seems to open by accident. But there are no accidents, right? There's simply things that we know why happened and things we don't know why happened." Harry continued as he picked several papers he had been writing on and threw them into the man's lap before going over to another paper that had a sketch on it.

"It doesn't make sense, there has to be holes somewhere, places of magical outburst that ripped open holes that never quite closed right? Yet, the High races found a way to do it. The Fae is understandable but the Elves and Dwarves? No, there must be an equation that I am missing. I have searched every arithmancy book in this place and no matter what, not a single one has anything about it!" Harry grolwed as he gripped his hair so hard, he idly wondered if he would pull it out.

"Harry what are you saying, you're not making any sense."

"Sense? You want sense, none of this makes any sense Albus. Don't you see, we have all the pieces yet we still haven't gotten it. No one has in thousands of years but the answer is out there and I need to find it and I need to find it now! Goddamnit I NEED TO FIND IT NOW!" Harry hadn't even noticed he had started screaming, all he knew was that he was looking down at his paper and he couldn't even be sure if what was written on it made sense or if was just random jumbles, he had put onto it. Then his whole world went black.

Harry didn't know what happened when he next opened his eyes, all he knew was that his head felt clearer than it had in a long time and that he was somewhere that he did not recognize. He blinked as he looked around and tried to get his bearings. He was in some sort of large room that looked to be inside of a stone structure. All along the walls were beds that had curtains placed between them. Perhaps some sort of hospital?

"Don't you even think about getting up." A voice snapped causing him no small amount of fright. His eyes jumped to an older woman in an old-fashioned nurse's outfit glaring as she rapidly approached him. As she reached him, she pulled out a wand and started casting spells. He felt the magic touch him but it didn't seem harmful so he tried not to panic.

"Where am I?" He finally asked as she continued to cast.

"You're in the infirmary wing at Hogwarts. Headmaster Dumbledore brought you here two days ago. You were suffering from extreme exhaustion and some malnourishment showing you hadn't been eating for several days." She said with a look of annoyance as she said it. Harry just blinked at the response. He knew what Hogwarts was but everything else was a surprise to him. Two days? Ciri was probably worried about him. Even more so than she had been recently.

"I see… When can I leave?" He asked.

"When Headmaster Dumbledore says you can. He has already been informed you have woken up. Now, you just continue to lay there and sit still young man." The nurse told him before walking away. Harry watched her leave before sighing and letting his head drop to the pillow. He waited a while before he saw Dumbledore come into the room.

He leaned up and moved himself into a sitting position with a back against his headboard. As Dumbledore sat down next to him, Harry couldn't help but feel sad at seeing the disappointed look on the man's face.

"Harry… How are you feeling?"

"Better… A lot better. What happened? My head was kind of fuzzy it feels like…"

'I was hoping you could tell me. You seemed to have become obsessed with what we spoke about on multi world theories. I had noticed you had been acting strangely for a few months but when I arrived it was like you were an entirely different person. It looked like you barely recognized me and you were going on and on without making any sense. I am afraid, I was forced to stun you and immediately brought you here. You were given dreamless sleep to make sure you stayed under enough to recuperate." Dumbledore told him. Harry wilted at that. He hadn't meant to cause such problems with his research. He had perhaps gone a little too far though.

"I'm sorry… I hadn't meant for it to get that far…" Harry tried.

"Harry… You know, I think you're quite an intelligent young man. So, I want to believe you didn't just foolishly almost exhaust yourself to death just because you randomly became obsessed with an obscure magical set of theories. Please explain to me why this was so important to you. If you can't give me a good enough reason, I may not deem it safe for you to live on your own anymore." Dumbledore told him seriously. Harry felt some nervous energy invade his entire body at those words.

"No… I… I promise, this won't happen again. I just… lost control this once. I realize now the danger of doing so and I'll make sure I don't go that far again." Harry tried to say. Dumbledore looked at him sternly for a moment in silence.

"I want you to make me understand Harry. I can tell you haven't told me something. Please explain to me why this happened." Dumbledore finally said. Harry felt conflicted at that. Just thinking about talking about Ciri made him feel… uncomfortable. He knew it was wrong to feel that way but Ciri had always been just his. A little secret that no one else knew about.

Then again, he knew Dumbledore to be an extremely wise wizard. He was likely one of the wisest on the planet if Minerva was to be believed. If he revealed the truth about Ciri to him, the man might be able to help him. He wasn't even sure how far he had gotten in the last 6 months at finding a solution, especially with how there were so many spots in his memory from when he had been too tired to think straight. Did he not owe it to Ciri to try everything possible to get to her?

"Okay… I am going to tell you something, and it might sound impossible but I just want you to know I am telling the truth." Harry started as he looked at Dumbledore to try and gauge his reaction. The man sat a little straighter at his words before leaning forward.

"I shall endeavor to keep an open mind with whatever you tell me." Dumbledore assured. Harry hesitantly nodded at that before taking a deep breath and beginning.

"I… Have this friend that I haven't ever told you about… or anyone else, I guess." Harry began. Immediately, Dumbledore's expression seemed to turn to stone but he said nothing waiting for Harry to continue.

"We… The thing is… This friend, well… They live in a different world from ours." Harry finally said. Dumbledore tilted his head slightly at that.

"Can you elaborate? How do you know this… person, is from a different world?"

"Well, at first I wasn't. We actually could only meet in our dreams. Our first meetings were sporadic but we found out if we fell asleep near the same time, our consciouses would seem to connect when we slept." Harry said to him.

"This friend… Did they have anything to do with you learning how to perform magic?" Dumbledore questioned. Harry blinked at the man. If he didn't know any better, he would almost say he looked suspicious.

"Well, yes actually. That's how I confirmed that they were actually real. They told me that magic was quite common in their own world and seemed to believe that all worlds that had living beings on it should have magic of some sort. It was then that they gave me a meditation technique to help me reach out to my magic and start to use it." Harry continued.

"This person… If you don't mind, would you describe him to me?" Dumbledore said seriously. Harry thought the question a little odd but nodded nonetheless.

"Well, first off, they're a girl, not a boy. Secondly…"

"Wait, your friend is a female?" Dumbledore interrupted.

"Yes… Her name is Ciri." Harry told him looking at the man in bewilderment. At this, Dumbledore stopped looking so serious and instead looked somewhat perplexed. He seemed to get lost in thought.

"…Do you still wish for me to describe her?" Harry finally asked. Dumbledore's eyes seemed to refocus on him as if he was jogged out of a thought or memory.

"Apologies, yes. Please continue Harry."

"Right. Well, Ciri is a girl that's around my age. She has pale skin and green eyes that are a different shade than my own. She also has hair that almost looks white in color. It used to be slightly blonder in appearance but it's becoming lighter and lighter. Soon it'll be completely white I think." Harry described.

"I see… What about her personality?"

"Hmm. I think she is what people would call a tomboy? She's a princess… or was one but she always liked the simpler things and to play rough. She's always wanted to learn how to fight too. Remember I told you how I took sword lessons? Well, she is why. After she gave me tips on magic, she asked if I could learn and then teach her sword fighting. She couldn't learn it herself at the time because her grandmother was against it." Harry explained. Dumbledore seemed to lean back in his chair more and more with every word. His face looked completely confused for a moment before schooling itself.

"Hmm. She sounds like an interesting young girl… So, you meet this girl every night in your dreams?"

"Well, unless something gets in the way of us not falling asleep at nearly the same time but usually."

"And what do you usually do together?"

"It depends, I guess. Sometimes, we talk about our days and what we did. Sometimes, we practice with me helping her learn sword fighting and her helping me practice or theorize on magic. Sometimes we just sit together in silence. I usually cast illusions in our dream space because if I don't it looks like an empty pitch-black room" Harry told him. Dumbledore looked like he was deep in thought once more.

"Hmm. In truth, I have never heard of such a thing before. And you're sure she is actually from a different world?"

"As positive as I can be without actually going to it. When we first met, we discovered our worlds have very different geography and many different names for countries and such. Her world is also still in the Medieval period. I think it's 1260 something for them." Harry revealed.

"Most interesting. Most interesting indeed. And this girl… she's the reason you were working yourself so hard? Because you wish to meet her in person?" Dumbledore asked carefully. Harry wilted at the question.

"No… Well, not exactly… I told you, Ciri is a princess. Well, when she was really young, her mother and father died out at sea. So, ever since, she had been living with her grandmother and grandfather who were the King and Queen of her kingdom, Cintra. Around six months ago, though, Cintra was invaded by another kingdom and her grandmother and grandfather were killed. Ciri was almost captured and only made it away from the city by luck. I didn't see her for almost a month because her sleep was sporadic as she tried to get to safety. When I did see her… she looked terrible. She looked… she looked like she was broken." Harry revealed feeling a hatred boil up inside of him at the memory.

"I'm… I am sorry to hear that."

"I remember that she said almost nothing that night, I just held her. She cried into me before going silent. She… she was in so much pain. Her entire world had been flipped upside down and all I could do was hold her as tight as I could. I felt so helpless in that moment. I promised her that I would find a way to bridge the gap between our worlds and that one day I would come for her."

"Harry…"

"I know it wasn't smart and that no one has ever been known to do such a thing before but what choice did I have? My friend… My best friend was suffering beyond anything I could imagine and I couldn't do ANYTHING about it. I just sat there helplessly as she cried, Albus… All I could think was that I needed this to work. I needed to find some way to reach her and I needed to do it as fast as possible."

"Harry…"

"But I couldn't do it! I've been working six months using every bit of strength I have. I crammed so much knowledge in my head, I can't even remember it all and for what? Nothing! That's what! This was the one thing that was actually important, the one thing that I COULDN'T afford to fail at and… and… I couldn't even get close! I failed Albus, I tried everything I could think of, looked up absolutely everything I could and I failed! I mean it's not like I wanted to cure cancer or stop people from dying I just wanted to help my friend, my best friend, my ONLY friend and…"

He didn't know when it happened but he suddenly realized his whole body was shaking and he couldn't seem to stop it. His entire face felt hot and wet and his vision seemed blurry. His hands were balled into fist so tightly that he was pretty sure he saw some bright red falling from them through his blurry vision. His throat was so choked up that he couldn't even continue talking.

All that was left for him was to weep. Weep at how he had failed Ciri despite the promise he had made to her. Weep at how so much work and research had yielded nothing to him that brought him a step closer to getting to her. Weep with anger and frustration at how much of a failure he was. All he could do was cry and he hated himself for that.

He didn't know how long he sat in that position just crying but he did notice it when something was laid gently on his head. He looked up and barely saw through his blurred vision that Dumbledore had moved closer and laid a gentle hand on his head. It was strange to think but it actually felt nice, almost comforting in a way. Not as nice as when Ciri would run her hand through his hair but still.

He almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation as he raised his bed comforter up and used it to wipe off his eyes and dry the rest of his face. He did notice his hands still had blood on them and they seemed to stain the sheets which he did feel a little bad about it. Without him noticing, Dumbledore had removed his wand and waved it over Harry's hands. In a moment, the nail wounds from where he dug them into his palm receded and the skin seemed to almost stitched itself back together.

"Thank you…" Harry said as he finally managed to regain his voice.

"You are most welcome… Do you feel any better now?" Dumbledore asked gently. Harry did manage a raspy chuckle at that.

"I don't know if 'better' is the word I would use but different."

"That is a start, I suppose. You know Harry, I have lived an incredibly long time, and during that time I too have lost many, many friends along the way. Some to wars, some to illness and accidents, and some simply to age. I can't tell you how many times I would blame myself for a death or an unfortunate accident of a friend. People say I am one of the most powerful wizards alive and while they may not be wrong necessarily, all that power means nothing if I can't even use it to do what matters most… I have found that no matter how many times people tell you that 'it's not your fault', when you take on a responsibility or make a promise, there's no simply banishing away the feelings associated with it when you cannot live up it. But I can assure you, that those who care will not hold it against you should you fail. Those who truly care will be the ones who understand it is not only in the result that worth is found but, in the effort, as well. Does young Ciri know of how hard you have been pushing yourself for her sake?"

"No… I told her I would find a way and I would sometimes give her progress updates but she began to worry about the condition I would come to our shared place in. I tried to drop the subject and simply tell her I had other things going on. I… Can't… won't worry her with this. She… she has had enough on her plate recently and I don't want her to start worrying for me too." Harry admitted softly.

"It sounds like you already know what her response would be to your recent actions then…"

"She'd be furious. She'd probably punch my nose so hard it would break if it could there." Harry said with a hearty chuckle finally regaining some actual warmth.

"Then it sounds like she would appreciate the effort but would likely prefer her friend not to tear himself to pieces for her."

"I know she would… It's just… so hard."

"I know it is Harry, I know. I am not saying you should give up on your endeavor but you need to pace yourself. If you drive yourself into an early grave with this then all your work would truly be for nothing."

"I… I understand." Harry said back. And he did. He didn't like it but he certainly understood it. He would need to scale back his research to a more normal level, even if the thought of such made him upset.

"I am glad. And I am glad you decided to trust me with this, even if it was under such strenuous circumstances." Dumbledore told him back with a smile.

"So… You believe me then?"

"Well, I will admit it does seem farfetched but… I trust your judgment and if you say you believe it to be real then I will continue under the assumption that you are right."

"Thank you… I… I appreciate it." Harry told him with a grateful smile.

"Well then. I suppose, since we have some time, we can speak on what you were researching." Dumbledore said lightly. Harry immediately perked up at that. Had the man found something? Dumbledore indeed reached into his robes and pulled out several papers that Harry vaguely recognized.

"Yesterday, I gathered up everything you had been pouring over in the library. These are the papers I had found you had written on yourself. I also took a look through several of the books during my free time as well, even recognized several. You were quite thorough in finding references to separate worlds. I am impressed you were able to manage to do so while in such a… unstable state." Dumbledore commented as he handed Harry the papers.

Harry took the papers and looked through them. Most of them, he didn't even remember writing. Some did actually look like they had real notes and even some equations on them though. Other papers looked like they were a mix of something that had started with making sense before devolving into absolute nonsense. One paper just had the number seven scribbled on it hundreds of times covering almost every square inch of paper save for the bottom where it looked like he scribbled 'is it seven plus seven or seven times seven?'. He just blinked at that before sliding it away in embarrassment.

"Well… I suppose I will simply have to start over from scratch." Harry said dejectedly at looking at the papers. He could try and savage some of this and see if he had been on to anything but he didn't have much hope.

"Well… not necessarily." Dumbledore said suggestively. Harry looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I noticed you mentioned something in several of your notes and theories that you seemed to keep coming back to. At first I was under the impression that you simply were having some sort of memory lapse but then I read through one of the books you had pulled out. It was an old diary by one of your ancestors, a man by the name of Julius Potter. He lived in the 1400's, I believe. Does that ring any bells?" Dumbledore questioned. As a matter of fact, it did. If his spotty memory was correct, he had continuously returned to that book and more than that, had come back to a particular passage.

"I think so. Something he mentioned offhandedly about… A veela conclave?"

"Quite right. One thing I noticed about the man Julius Potter was that he wasn't very good about writing a diary. His updates seem sporadic and his details leave much to be desired but one thing I believe you and I both noticed was the strangeness of a particular passage. To rejog your memory, Julius was trying to craft a powerful spell to be used in war. One that could destroy entire armies if performed correctly. Unfortunately for him, yet perhaps fortunately for the rest of the world, it did not work and he said that instead, it transported him to what he believed was some sort of strange veela conclave."

"Yes, I remember that. He said the woman were strange because they seemed to be painted red but they had a similar allure to veela which is why he believed them to be such. He thought they must've been in the middle of sort of strange ceremony…"

"Correct again. Yes, that is what the man seemed to think. And I cannot blame him for this. Veela were much less understood back then and many of the things they did, including some of their rituals were often thought of as strange. However, looking back at the passage with a more modern perspective…"

"Veela do not have any known ritual where they paint themselves up red. None of their rituals are even close to similar to that." Harry finished. Flashes of thoughts he must have once had at some point suddenly assaulted his brain from sometime in the previous six months. He remembered having to look up what a Veela was and then looked up what was known about them after that.

"A conclusion I also came too. My next conclusion was the one I believe you reached as well which caused you to spiral."

"Julius didn't transport himself to a Veela conclave. He accidently transported himself to a different world and met the people that resided there."

"Indeed. A most curious finding and yet it makes sense why it was unknown till this point. Julius makes mention that he discarded the spell after using it to return to his home. By coincidence or perhaps the spell always sends its sender to its original space, I have no idea. Either way, the spell was lost and Julius would die twenty-six years later from the dragon pox, almost completely unremarkably. Either way, you seemed to work under the assumption that your findings would lead to some sort of powerful spell that could help you go to a different world. That is why you spoke of massive energy requirements and nothing seemingly making any sense." Dumbledore finished. Harry nodded at that though his memory of what Dumbledore was talking about was still very spotty. He would simply take the man's word for it.

"Well… What do you think? I was pretty off my rocker I believe. Do you think my theory was right?"

"I believe it has promise and is worth looking into. I do believe that you have still a long way to go though, Harry. Spell creation on what you're talking about is more than just shaping magic and using your imagination. It will require advanced knowledge in arithmancy as well as an intricate knowledge of how magic reacts with itself. It may take you years, maybe longer. Do you understand?"

"I do. And I am ready to put in the work. I promise I won't go overboard this time." Harry told him.

"Considering how seriously I now know you take promises, I will have no choice but to believe you…"

"Thank you Albus."

"Hmm… Oh, I almost forgot. Dear Minerva would like me to inform you that you are grounded."

"What?"

"And you will have no access to the Potter Library for a minimum of two weeks."

"WHAT!"

Harry opened his eyes and saw two similar ones staring right back at him.

"Hello… Is there a reason you are standing over me?"

"You look different… You look much better than when I last saw you." Ciri said almost accusingly. Harry looked her over for a moment as she said it.

"I could say the same about you… Did something good happen to you? Did something good happen with the family you've been staying with?" Harry asked. At his question, Ciri suddenly beamed at him. Harry had not seen her do that since before she had told him about the death of her grandparents. It was so shocking that he didn't even hear what she said. It took him a moment to realize she was looking at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" He asked politely. She rolled her eyes but complied.

"I said… Geralt came for me!" She almost yelled. Harry looked at her owlishly. He knew who Geralt was. He was the Witcher that Ciri was supposed to go live with due to some strange thing called the Law of Surprise in her world. Ciri had spoken of Geralt ever since they had met two years ago. She couldn't wait to go with him one day.

"Congratulations, Ciri. I am happy to hear that. How does he seem? Do you think you will get along?" Harry asked. Ciri nodded.

"He's very nice. He tries to act all calm and collected even when he's uncomfortable with things. He also clearly has no idea how to raise a child which is amusing to watch. But he's really nice too. I said I was hungry at one point and he didn't look upset or anything, he just got off his horse and caught us several rabbits. He then skinned and cooked them right there! It was amazing! He was so good at it. We then continued on the road after that. He taught me how to make a campfire tonight. I got it in like two tries. He said I did a good job." Ciri continued babbling on about the man and her first full day with him on the road.

Harry couldn't help but find it amusing that she already seemed to idolize him. He knew it was likely coming but still, seeing her this animated about something… It brought back better times in his mind. When Ciri had not been so subdued and unhappy as she had been these last few months. He was truly glad for his friend.

"… He even said he would teach me how to sword fight when we got to Kaer Morhen. I showed him some of the stances I already knew and he said he was impressed! Can you believe that? Those were stances you taught me and he thought they were impressive… Sorry, I'm babbling on aren't I. You look a lot better. Did something good happen with you as well. I was worried when I hadn't seen you." She told him looking at him with concern.

"I… did something dumb and was pushing myself too hard on a project of mine. I kind of snapped and went a little crazy so my guardian knocked me out and took me to an infirmary to heal up. They left me asleep for a while because of how exhausted they found me." Harry admitted knowing that lying would just make his punishment worse.

"Don't tell me this is because of that promise you made?" Ciri growled at him. It was almost ridiculous how intimidating a young girl could look before him.

"Ah well, I mean, not exactly…" He couldn't finish his thought though as he felt a hand smash against the top of his head repeatedly. Getting hurt in this shared dream land was much harder than in the outside world, but it was still possible, as Ciri was now proving.

"Ow! Ciri… wait… stop! I'm sorry… Wait, not the face…"

Despite his pleas for mercy, she was undeterred from extracting her pound of flesh from him as she continued to wail on him.

"What did I tell you about that?" she demanded

"Not to go to far."

"And what did you do?" She asked rhetorically. He looked down.

"I went too far." He mumbled back. She finally stopped hitting him but she did continue to glare to make her displeasure known.

"I'm sorry…" He tried to tell her though her glare did not change.

"Would it help if I said I wouldn't do it again?"

"For some reason, I don't believe you. Look, Harry… I don't want you to think I don't appreciate what you're trying to do, especially because it is for me but… If you got yourself killed doing this because you weren't careful, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. You understand that, right?" She said, her tone changing into a much softer one. Harry now felt even worse for worrying her.

"I do. I'm sorry, I just wanted to help so bad. You seemed so upset and… I just felt like I couldn't do anything to help you… I was just angry with myself. I'm sorry I let that get to me." Harry told her honestly. She sighed before reaching around his neck and forcefully pulling him into a hug.

"You're a good person Harry. Never change, do you hear me? Just don't be an idiot about it and I won't have to punish you for it." Ciri said to him. Harry just nodded his head knowing she'd be able to feel it. He felt her pat his back reassuringly.

"Good. Now, what else did you want to do today?"