FicWad

The water slowly dripped off of his chin and pooled in the sink before gravity pulled it all down. It swirled around the drain and then slipped under into the drain. Where the water went from there was anyone’s guess, but he didn’t care at the moment. The faucet turned slowly under his trembling fingers as he moved some water onto his face and splashed it with the cold liquid. This made more of it run down his chin and along his neck, snaking under his robes and along his chest. He ignored the cold feeling as it soaked through his robe and his undershirt.
Staring at the hard lines around his eyes and the jagged scar on his forehead he wanted to scream. He wanted to scream and curse, to beat the mirror with his fists and destroy it. He wanted to get away from everything that was around him. He wanted to run away and never come back, but he couldn’t, he just couldn’t do that and it wasn’t even his fault this time that he couldn’t. He couldn’t run because someone wanted him dead, and everyone around him didn’t care. All they saw was the fame, the glory; they didn’t see the danger, the possibility of death.
He shook his head again, tossing his black hair around the scar a little as he ran his fingers through the unruly locks. He didn’t try and smooth it down at all; he knew that it would be useless. No, his entire visage was completely useless, from his baggy oversized clothes to his unruly hair. He didn’t have anything of himself and that hurt him deep down; even more than the betrayal of his supposed friends. Everything about him, his life and even what he owned, was a pathetic attempt at normalcy. He knew that it was all useless dribble.
Rising up his fist he slammed it hard against the attached mirror in front of him, leaning heavily on it as he started to sob. The mirror quivered as the image struck back against him, the fist connecting where he left it as he leaned forward. Large fat tears pooled at the edge of his eyes as he wiped them away hurriedly. Years of emotional control under the Dursleys meant that he would never cry in public, never make any noise or show any evidence that he had been hurt. It was a skill that he had used in many times past and that was just one thing that he had to hide. He had to hide everything that he was and now he didn’t even have his friends to confide in.
He raised his fist up again and pounded hard against the mirror causing it to quake once more, but the image wavered a little more. The figure in the mirror moved, raising it’s head and staring at the boy still before it with his head bowed. The figure looked to be studying the boy before it before slowly the mirror rippled and a hand moved outwards grasping the boy by the wrist.
His head jerked up as he felt the tension against his wrist and saw a hand coming through the rippling mirror. His eyes widened as he saw that his own reflection was reaching through the mirror and holding him tight against it. Try as he might nothing moved, he struggled and pulled against the hand, but it held him firm. He thought about calling out, maybe if he made enough noise then his roommates might hear him. He struggled against the hand as he tried to reach his wand nearby.
The hand in the mirror held him firm and then started to pull him towards it. The hand slowly sank back down into the mirror and his fingers started to touch the surface. It was cool to the touch and felt like water as it slowly encompassed some of his fingers as it sank even deeper. He moved his other hand up as he gripped his own arm and struggled to pull it back out of the mirror. Propping his trainers up onto the side of the wall he pulled even harder, using the leverage, but it wasn’t working and slowly his arm was starting to sink back into the mirror inch by inch.

“Help, Seamus, Dean!” He screamed out into the empty bathroom. His voice echoed off the tiled flooring and the slow dripping of the faucet before him. Somewhere far away he could hear the soft echo of his voice coming back, but he couldn’t hear anyone coming to his aid.

His foot started to slip against the wall that he had braced them against, the water soaking through the trainers that he wore, and it slowly started to slide downward. He started to pull harder on his arm with body hands and working his way towards the edge of the mirror and away from it. He seemed to be getting some leeway when his foot finally slipped away and gave way. He screamed as his arm and then the rest of him was forcefully pulled through the mirror and he shut his eyes as the cold washed over his head and the rest of his body.
In the next instant he felt as though he had fallen through a pool of water and landed hard against a surface of some kind. He was flat on his back and felt small tingling sensation creeping all over his body slowly from his arm and then down the rest of him. The tension on his arm was gone and he felt like he was breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon without any training. Slowly he reached up and ran a hand through his hair, as if expecting it to be wet from what he had moved through.

“Come on, boyo, we don’t have all day.” The voice was gruff and reminded him a little of Professor Moody. It was coming from somewhere to his left, but he hadn’t bothered to open his eyes just yet. “We’ve been waiting for you and the others are starting to get impatient.”

Harry groaned as he slowly sat up and put a hand to his head. Opening his eyes one at a time he found that he could see without the aid of his glasses; as they had fallen off and were presumably back on the floor of the bathroom. He looked around but the entire area around him looked like a black void with a small grey tint to it that fluttered here and there as if it were alive. The greys would intermingle with the black and then streak downward towards his left. He tracked one strand with his eye until he jerked a little staring up into the face of the man standing next to him.
The man next to him was more heavily scarred than the feared ex-Auror that was teaching Defense at Hogwarts. He didn’t have a long staff that he used as a cane like the Auror and seemed to have both of his legs intact, but the large electric blue eye was in place and augmented what Harry could see was a natural emerald green one of the natural sort. The man had long black hair that was frizzed out slightly at all angles and falling out in others were his scars disappeared into his hairline. He couldn’t have been older than thirty, but the scars made him look much older. The most prominent feature of the man before him though was the large black lightning bolt scar just above his left eye.

“Good to see your awake now.” The man leaned down and offered a gnarled hand to the teenager on the ground. Without a thought the boy took the hand and was hauled to his feet and patted on the shoulder. “Come now, the others are waiting.”
Without waiting for a response the grizzled looking man stalked off away from Harry and into the blackness that surrounded them. It was then that a small shaft of light seemed to light up a small area of space about fifteen yards from where they were standing. In the small area of light were several metal folding chairs that held other people. The chairs didn’t look all that comfortable, but the people in them were all smiling and chatting merrily with one another, except for one that had his back rigidly straight and was looking at the others with such disdain that the hate could be felt in the air.

“Look, all I’m saying is that if we have to do this so many times then why we can’t there be more comfortable places to sit.” One of the men was saying as he ran a hand through the messy black hair on his head and groaned. “I mean, every time we do this I feel like we’re in some sort of intervention.”

The one that was sitting straight up scoffed at the idea. His black hair was slicked back and held in a clasp at the base of his neck. He was sickly pale, but still had a lively look about him. “I suppose in some way it is, an intervention on life. I do have to say that if I were still at my power I would obliterate the entire lot of you.” His voice was high and cold and made Harry shiver involuntarily for some reason.

Another male this time dressed in garish robes that would only suit Lockhart laid a finger along his nose and started to laugh gaily. “Come now, old chap, that would be suicide, would it not?”

Another chuckled. He was seated on the other side of the first one that had spoken and was dressed in similar red robes. The difference was that this one looked emaciated and sick, but his eyes still shone bright green just as the others. “You can’t tell me that you didn’t try similarly when you were first called.”

All eyes turned to the stiff backed young man that scoffed a little and then put on a small vicious looking smile. The smile caused the others in the circle to laugh uproariously and even the young man gave a small chuckle. “Fine, but at least I had the forethought to bring my wand with me.”

“Not like it made a lick of difference around here.” The old gruff man that had escorted Harry from where he had landed had come into the circle and took up one of the two unoccupied chairs on the near side of the circle to where they had come in.

Harry stood there a moment at the outside of the circle and looked at each of the people seated there. It was odd, but he felt a connection with each of them, but he didn’t see anything that would indicate something of the sort. The first one that had spoken smiled lightly to him was wearing red robes that he knew that the Auror Corps wore; his hair was wild and unruly and he looked what Harry thought he might look like in a few years. Seated next to him was another in red robes, but these were different. The MOM symbol on the robes was a pair of crossed swords instead of wands and the Latin beneath it was different.
The young man seated directly across from him looked to be a few years older than he was now, but not by much. He was the one with the slicked back hair and regarded the others coldly, but with a small smile on his lips. He wore expensive silk robes that seemed to flow around his body even as he sat stiff backed. The man seated next to him was a complete opposite to this prim and proper model and was lounging in the chair with his legs stretched out and wore garish purple robes with a large crest of some kind on his left breast. The most shocking of this man’s features was that he had large white sparkly teeth, nicely styled hair, and no scar on his forehead.


“Come now, lad, don’t keep us all waiting.” The garishly dressed man waved enthusiastically nearly striking the two on either side of him. The stiff backed man glared at the other’s back to no effect. “We’re all compatriots around here.”

Harry slowly slid down into the chair that was obviously meant for him and looked around the circle once more. “I’m sorry, but what is this?”

The man two seats to his right thumped his fist on his thigh and yelled in triumph. “Ha, I told you, pay up.” He held his hand to his left to the emaciated wizard to Harry’s immediate right.

The man grumbled before pulling a funny pentagon shaped coin from his pocket and shoving it into the hand of the other. “Fine, not like it’s worth anything anymore.”

The man shrugged and pocketed it after he bit down hard on the end. “It’s the only real bit of fun we get to have around these parts and you know that you enjoy it.” The smile on the emaciated wizard showed that indeed he seemed to enjoy whatever it was.

The grizzled man next to Harry cleared his throat and gained the attention of the others. “Now that the festivities are done with.” He glared with the large electric blue eye at the two that were betting, but the one that had won simply stuck out his tongue at him. “I think that introductions are in order.”

“I don’t see the point, old bean.” The garish wizard said as he leaned forward. “I mean to say that we’re just going to say the same thing, are we not?”

The stiff wizard next to him sniffed the air as if something flatulent related had gone off somewhere nearby. “Absolutely not, I dissolved myself of that name years ago.”

The grizzled man to Harry’s left groaned and shook his head. “Fine, I’ll go first then.” He turned both of his eyes, natural and supernatural, towards Harry and stared into his eyes. “Master Auror third class Harry Potter.”

The garish wizard waved enthusiastically. “Harry Potter be me, four hundred thirty-seventh Minister of Magic and winner of Witch Weekly’s most Charming Smile award ten years in a row now.” He crossed his legs at the knee and leaned against them.

The stiff backed man sniffed the air again and groaned. “Fine, Harry Potter.” He mumbled something, but spoke up a little more after a moment. “Lord Viper to my enemies and my followers alike.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked to his left to the next man in line.

The man next smiled brightly and leaned forward a little. “Auror Potter here as well, although not as high up as our esteemed leader here.” He indicated the grizzled man to Harry’s left and the others gave a small snort of interest.

The emaciated man gave a small smile and flipped what he could of his hair over his shoulder. The attempt failed a little as the scars were more visible near the hair line. “If you couldn’t already guess, I’m Harry Potter as well, Azkaban warden and former prisoner for several years.”

“Azkaban? As in the feared wizarding prison.” Harry asked with a small squeak to his voice. When the man nodded sadly he reached out and touched the man’s arm. “I hate to ask…”

Viper snorted a little on the other side of the circle from the pair. “Please, he didn’t do anything that deserved him to be put there. Had I been alive at the time I would have railed at the injustice of it all.”

Azkaban Harry gave a small chuckle and then started to cough violently. After a moment he seemed to collect himself and was able to speak again. “As I remember it right, you’re the one that razed Azkaban to the ground.” Viper smiled from across the circle and nodded forcefully. “You did your best then to the rest of us.”

Harry looked around at all the faces around him before slumping back into the chair. “I think I need a drink. I’ve finally lost it.”

The Master Auror to his left thumped him hard on the back. “That’s the spirit lad; we can all use a good stiff one.”

“We are, good stiff one’s by now.” The other Auror piped up to the groans of the others. “Fine, one of these days that’s going to be funny.”

Harry gave a small chuckle even as he looked around the circle. “All right, so you’re all me. So either I’m dreaming or I’ve finally lost my mind.”

Several faces turned towards Viper who groaned and shook his head. “It’s certainly not me or any other dark wizard. Perhaps if James here could explain a few things.” He waved his hand at the man seated to his left, the one that seemed to be the closest to Harry himself.

“James? That was my dad’s name, wasn’t it?” Harry asked as he perked up a little and looked to the young Auror in the circle.

The man smiled and nodded. “For simplicity’s sake, and so that you can figure out who’s speaking we usually go by middle names or other monikers while here.” He smiled and placed a hand over his chest. “I’m James as that’s my middle name.” He indicated the stiff man to his right and smiled. “That’s Viper. Seated next to him is Charles after his middle name. You’ve already met the Master Auror here.” Seeing the look he shrugged. “He wouldn’t let any of us call him differently so that’s what he is. Seated to my right is Harold.”

Harold smiled and offered a wrinkly hand that Harry took and shook a little carefully. “Don’t worry about me, young man, I’m already dead.”

Harry stared around the circle as the other’s nodded as well. Charles seemed to be bouncing in his seat as he spoke. “You see young Harry, each of us are you from a different time line.”

The Master Auror nodded and took up the explanation much to the consternation of Charles, whom crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head away from the discussion. “Ya see, lad. Each choice you make has different outcomes based on what you do. In that way each choice creates a new world where each outcome came to be.” Still seeing that Harry was confused he put his hand against his own chest. “Take me for example. After nearly dying at the Dursleys I decided never to even try at anything anymore.”

“But…” Harry started and then a small light came into his eyes. “The coin?”

The Master Auror nodded and smiled a little. “One flip of a coin, for me it landed heads. For you it landed tails and thus we have all that you see here.” He waved his hands at the others that were smiling brightly, except Viper who scowled a little.

Harry nodded as he thought it through. “All right, that explains what you all are, but why are we all here?”

James smiled and nodded as he was slowly leaning forward in the chair and leaning on his elbows a little. “Harry, after the incident with Quirrel at the end of your first year, did you ask Dumbledore why it was that Voldemort was so interested in you?” Harry nodded, satisfied that no one seemed to flinch at the name, not even Charles.

“Yeah, he said that I wasn’t ready to know just yet.” Harry asked as he waved his hand around. “I mean, honestly I had almost died and he told me that I wasn’t ready.” He looked up suddenly and then shrank back in on himself. “Sorry.”

Harold patted Harry’s arm a little and smiled. “No sense in being nice to yourself here.” He smiled towards Viper. “Then again, I guess being nice isn’t in the nature of all of us.”

Viper scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “Please, I nearly beat the old man to death when he tried that same ‘you’re too young to know anything of importance even if it saves your life.’” He had said the last bit in a sagely and a good imitation of the aged Headmaster that had the others laughing, even Harry.

Harry wiped away some of the tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes. “Wait, how did you guys all know about that?”

Charles took up the explanation. “Harry, there are certain points in time that are fixed. No matter how many different choices you might make, these points always occur, maybe just not in the same way.”

Harry nodded a little at the explanation. “So you’ve all faced Voldemort in first year as well.” At the nod from the others he sighed a little and relaxed against the chair a little more. “I guess I’m not all that special after all.”

The Master Auror next to him gave a creepy looking smile. “Oh, don’t worry boyo, you’re a very special person. You think everyone goes through this.” He waved his hand around the swirling mass of black and grey color around them and then back to the circle that they were currently enjoying. “Believe me; this is rather unique even for wizards.”

James smiled and nodded as he took up the explanation back where he had left off. “Getting back to what we were saying, each of us dealt with certain situations differently and thus you have the multitude of Harry Potters scattered around the many universes.” He waved his hand around the circle. “This is only a small sampling of those that we could gather together for your little initiation.”

“Initiation?” Harry asked meekly, his voice cracking slightly.

Harold laughed and shook his head. “I seem to remember young James’ first coming to us the same scared kid.” The man next to him did the mature thing and stuck his tongue out at his fellow. “Harry, you have to understand that each of us was given this same choice.”

Charles nodded, but it was Viper that spoke. “Whether you know it or not, you are a very special individual. We all learned it at different points in our lives, but we’ll be telling you a little early than we were all told. We’re going to try and help you to understand the decisions that we all made and how to avoid the traps that we fell into.”

“You see Harry.” Charles was speaking now as he leaned in a little closer. “Fate seems to have taken a rather keen liking to us Potter men so each time a version of Harry Potter comes to a turning point in their lives they are called here and explained what is going on and then you have a choice to make.”

“Indeed.” Harold spoke as he folded his hands in his lap. “Each of us chose to embrace the power and knowledge that we’re gifted with while we’re here.”

“If it was that easy to do then I’m guessing that there is some drawback to all of this, otherwise others would figure out how to do it.” Harry spoke and the others smiled broadly.

“Sharp as a tack this one. I tell you it took the others to fully grasp the concept.” Charles crowed as Viper shook his head next to him.

“What our flamboyant Minister is saying, Harry, is that you caught on much quicker than the rest of us.” Viper spoke as he put a hand on his chest. “For my own part I was so obsessed with anything that could help me in my aims that I agreed almost immediately without thinking of the consequences.”

James snickered a little. “And to think you’re the Slytherin of our little group.” Viper glared at him and then stuck out his tongue to the laughter of the group.

The Master Auror recovered faster than the others. “Each of us is here to teach you something different as well as explain a few things about the choices that you make in the future. We can’t change what you already did and frankly we wouldn’t want to try.” He shook his head a little. “None of us is going to have an exact copy of your life.” He waved his hand to James and smiled. “James over there is the closest that we could find, but even he decided on different things in the past and different things in the future. You can’t follow us precisely, but we can get you using that noggin of your’s.”

Harry nodded as he thought over everything that he had already heard. “You’re going to give me the tools to fight Voldemort then.” The others smiled and nodded as he sighed. “What’s the consequence of this then?”

Harold sighed and shook his head. “The problem is that there have to be teachers, and that means that when you die….and you will eventually…your soul will never move onto the next great adventure.”

James sighed and nodded as he leaned back in the chair a little. “When you decide to take on the power that we can give you, you agree to letting us call upon you at any point in time to train those Harry Potters that come after you.”

Harry sighed a little and put his head in his hands. After a moment he looked up at the expectant looks of the others. “Theoretically what if I don’t take you up on the offer.”

James nodded and smiled a little. “If you don’t then we’ll send you back the microsecond that you were taken with no memory of any of this and you will be allowed to live out the rest of your life normally. When you die you’ll join the others that have died before you.”

Small tears formed at the corner of his eyes for a moment. “I’ll never be able to see my parents?”

Harold lightly touched the young man’s shoulder and shook his head. “We didn’t say that. Your soul will never fully cross over, but you will be able to interact with some of those that have passed on. I’ve had rather nice conversations with Dumbledore even after he passed. What it means is that you will never be fully with them because they are on another plane than you.”

Harry sighed as he thought everything over. “I’ll do it.” As he spoke a ghostly glow encompassed his body and then vanished. He looked around a little confused, but the others looked happy by his decision. “What just happened?”

“The magic has taken hold and now we will be able to train you properly.” The Master Auror clapped his hands together.

“How are we going to go about training? I mean, I’m sure that before too long I’m going to be missed and I don’t fancy spending years in….wherever we are.” He looked around the empty space as he waved his hands around a little.

Charles shook his head a little. “The training is more or less us taking you through a series of our memories to examine how we did things and where you can improve on different things. I think the first thing we should do is give you a little bit of fashion sense, because honey the beggar look has got to go.” Viper smacked him on the back of the head for this, but then tried to look innocent even though it was clear that he was the only one that could have done it.

Viper smiled a little. “I think that the first thing that we should do is to let you know why you’re here.”

James scowled a little. “That’s so unfair; I didn’t get to know until the end of my fifth year.”

“And I only found out after I was elected.” Charles said as he smiled and bounced in his seat like a happy child. “Would we breaking any kind of rules to let him know about it?”

Harold was the one that shrugged his shoulders. “Not that I know of. I’m not even sure if there are rules, per se.”

Charles smiled and started speaking. “You see Harry, once every generation a champion is chosen by the powers that be to fight against the evil, the demons and the vampires.” Viper smacked him in the back of the head again. “Aww…come on, that’s the greatest opening ever.”

Harold shook his head a little as he spoke slowly. “Harry, before you were born there was a prophecy made. Interestingly enough you’ve heard the only other prophecy that the woman has ever made in her entire life.”

Harry shook his head a little. “I guess that makes sense considering what Dumbledore said afterwards about it being the second true prophecy she’s ever given.”

The Master Auror moved his electric blue eye over the young teen for a moment. “You’re taking this a lot easier than the others.”

Harry shrugged a little. “I just found out that I have to compete in a tournament that has killed more people in the past than actually winning it, my friends aren’t talking to me, and for all I know this is a delusional dream after I slammed my head against the sink while falling.” He shrugged again. “Either way I figure I’m just going to take what I can get and move on when I do wake up.”

Charles got a horrified look on his face. “What if none of this is real? What if we’re just the figment of some delusional mind?”

Harold shrugged and smiled. “Would we ever know?”

Viper shook his head a little. “We’re getting off topic here. The point of all of this, Harry is that the prophecy that fraud made is what brought us all together.”

In a haunting voice all of the others spoke at the same time. `The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies …’ (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Chapter thirty-seven)

Harry shook himself a little to get the slight chill that had crept up his back when they had all spoken at the same time. “I guess that means that I have to kill him or he kills me. Although….” He paused in thought tapping his chin.

James smiled a little and nodded. “It does mean you, Harry if that’s what you’re thinking. Think about the thing line by line.”

“Born in the seventh month.” Viper recited

“Parents who have thrice defied him.” Charles Continued.

“Marked as his equal.” The Master Auror said, tapping his own lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Harry sighed and nodded. “Yes, I see that now, but why is the line repeated twice?”

Harold smiled and nodded. “Sharp as a tack, I agree. We’ve gone over this prophecy so many times with one another that we sometimes miss things, but the last line is rather bothersome. Alone we don’t seem to have much of a chance against Voldemort.”

“But with the power from the group of us.” James shrugged. “It’s possible that not only is the power the rest of us, but it’s repeated to show that you’ll need at least another version of yourself to teach you. Although Trelawney seems to like repeating herself.”

The Master Auror nodded jerkily. “Aye, no one for sure, although someone knows who trained the first of us, or gave that first choice, but it must have been someone and only one person. That would mean that we’ve all been trained at some point in time.”

Harry nodded a little and then looked around the circle. “So you all defeated your own Voldemorts?”

James nodded as well as Harold and Charles while Viper scowled slightly. “I didn’t so much beat him, but take his place. Officially I am listed as Voldemort the Second, although I never did enjoy that name.”

Harold smiled as he got a far off look in his eyes. “I didn’t vanquish him until much later in my life owing to an interesting set of circumstances. I’ll show you if you are willing to begin your training with me.” Harry nodded and Harold held out his hand. “Take my hand, don’t worry you can’t hurt me.” When Harry took the old withered hand his world slowly revolved and tilted and then went slowly black.

XoXo

Light seemed to flare suddenly all around Harry at once and his guide as it slowly started to resolve a little around his head. Before long the images around him slowly started to resolve into solid figures and walls around him. There was an odd clarity to the image as it solidified, as if Harry was really standing in the long dirty stone hallway that seemed to end in shadows on either end of his ability to see. There was some light coming from the flickering torches on the wall, and yet the entire scene was backlit with an eerie golden light; the entire thing reminded Harry of the memory that he had seen from when Tom Riddle had gotten Hagrid in trouble.

Harold had appeared standing next to him with a little flutter of his robes as he put his hands clasped before him. “Now then, Harry, there are a few things that you’re going to have to understand before we all get started with the memories that we have to show you.” At a nod from the boy, Harold continued. “I’m sure that the others will tell you this they, however, you should remember that the people that you see are not the people that you know.”

Harry nodded for a moment and then shook his head a little. “I’m not sure that I really understand that part.”

Harold nodded a little and looked up and down the stone hallway. “We have a little bit of time so I suppose I should explain a little more. My point is that anything the people that you might know doing in our memories are not those people that you know. My Ron is not your Ron and no matter what you see they will not react the same.”

Harry nodded a little as he seemed to be getting more and more of it as he went along. “All right, I guess I can understand that, but if it’s not to show me how people are going to react then what’s the real point in all of this?”

Harold nodded a little more. “James’ memories will be the closest to your own timeline as we’ve already said, but even his will be a little different. The real point in all of this is to teach you things about yourself as well as teach you a few things about spells and physical exercise. Nothing that you do in here will carry over into the physical world, but the knowledge will carry over and that’s what’s important.”

Harry nodded and then looked up when he heard the shuffling sound of footsteps coming up along the hallway towards them. “I guess I can understand that, and I’ll pay attention as much as I can.” He craned his neck a little to look into the darkness that was barely being pushed back from the flickering torches. “What’s that sound?”

Harold smiled and nodded. “Ah, here I come. For the moment just watch and I’ll answer any questions that you might have a little later.”
Harry nodded as three figures came out of the darkness that existed at the end of the hallway slowly resolving into nearly solid figures. There were two figures on the outside carrying a third between them; the two on the outside were wearing long black cloaks with their hoods up while the figure between them was wearing filthy looking black and grey striped robes. The three came level with the other two and then shuffled off towards the other end of the hallway slowly dissolving back towards the darkness. Harold and Harry hurried after the trio to try and keep up with them.
The five people, three mere memories and two completely corporeal people, moved quickly down the hallways and through the rest of the prison. They passed several prison cells with the prisoners calling out in various languages; some of them were intelligible, but most of them were completely gibberish. The three figures before them took no notice of any of this and simply pushed through going down stairwells and through more and more of the maze of hallways that didn’t seem to ever end. Harry was starting to wonder if he could get physical fatigue from running around inside of a memory from the miles and miles of stone corridors that they had moved through, when they finally reached a lone dock.
The dock was starting to fall into the water below it as the waves based against the pylons that were holding the dock together. The old wood seemed to creek and move under the figures as they moved from the rocky outcropping at the edge of the water out towards the lone boat that was rocking seriously against the waves of the sea that based against the small slip that bobbed up and down in the water. Hurriedly the two figures lowered the third between them into the boat and then got on either side of the person. Harry could see now that the person in the stripped robes was manacled at the wrists and the ankles and keeping his head lowered and not looking anywhere.
Harry paused at the end of the long dock as the boat started to move away from the end of it out towards the stormy sea beyond. He looked around for a moment as if there was a way to follow the boat out, but there was nothing that he could see. He turned back to Harold to see him jumping off the dock and into the water. Instead of sinking into the water like he would expect, Harry watched as Harold simply landed with a slight shudder on the top of the water and moving around the waves as they crashed against his legs. He motioned to Harry to do the same and slowly Harry jumped down to land on the oddly solid water. Together the pair of them set off walking in the direction that the boat had disappeared into.
After a few minutes of walking the two black haired people came upon the shore and the boat that was slowly starting to bump into the sandy edge of the shore. The water this far out was much more solid and seemed to only push the boat towards the beach with a slow and gentle pushing and nothing like the violent movements of the boat when it had been docked at the rocky island. There were other people gathered on the sandy beach, but they all seemed to be riveted on the figures that were slowly climbing out of the boat. The two black robed people once more supported the third between them as they lifted his prone body out of the boat and then unceremoniously dumped him out onto the ground to be sprawled at the feet of a reptilian looking man in a long flowing black robe.

“Ah, now that the last of our guests have arrived, we can begin the small party here. To the beginning of the end.” Lord Voldemort laughed as he raised his wand and swept it around the small gathered people in the area that forced them down onto their knees. Now that they were closer, Harry could see a few familiar faces in the crowd gathered before the Dark Lord.
Voldemort was standing close to the water’s edge with the two people in black robes from the boat on either side of him now kneeling and seeming to wait for orders. Behind him were arranged a dozen more figures in black robes that had wands trained on the small six or seven people that were before Voldemort in the sand. It was the people in the sand that Harry turned his eyes to, he could see several faces that he knew including Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore as well as a stringy haired blonde girl about a year younger than him and a tall bald black man wearing tattered red robes of an Auror. In fact the clothes on all of the prisoners were in tatters and their bodies covered in dirt and dried blood.

“I thought that all those that contributed to my victory should at least be present to see the end of their world.” Voldemort’s high cruel laugh echoed around the small area, being carried on the winds away from the sandy beach.

“I suppose that is why you have freed Harold from Azkaban, Tom.” Dumbledore still spoke with great authority and poise even if he was kneeling in the sand with his robes torn and scattered about his waist. “This is why you’ve brought all of us together, to gloat over your temptations of our last savior.”

Voldemort laughed even harder at this, he almost seemed to clutch at his sides as he waved his wand. The waving of the wand forced the battered and abused body of Harold Potter to fall forward into the sand and then be dragged to the feet of the Dark Lord. “My temptations of the boy, my dear Albus, you still don’t see the light, do you?” He laughed even more at the slight pun that he had created by accident.

Ron seemed to be shaking his head and when he spoke his voice was filled with confidence and strength. “Harold was innocent the entire time. There was never any evidence against him and when the wand signature was checked it was close to his, but not exact. It’s how you did it, didn’t you?” He faced Voldemort defiantly with his head held high.

Voldemort seemed to appraise the young redhead before him and moved slowly and gliding forward towards him. Ron didn’t flinch as the skeletal hand came out and ran a finger along his jaw and then drew back a little. “You would have done well in my court. I give you all this last chance to join me.”

Ron shook his head a little more and spoke with even more conviction than before. “Harold never joined you. You’re the one that killed Justin when you came back. I’ve been over the graveyard myself, I know that the evidence is there and I’ve been able to collect it all these past five years.”

Dumbledore shook his head sorrowfully as he hung his head. “I have told you time and again these past five years, Ronald that you are wrong. The best minds have all been over that scene and could only come up with Harold as the culprit.”

Voldemort laughed as he moved back to stand by the black haired young man, gripping his hair and pulling him upwards as he spoke. “This broken down man, Albus, please. I was the one that killed the boy, I was the one that did everything and yet you all are too stupid to notice.” At the shocked looks from those arrayed before him he continued. “I am the greatest wizard to have ever lived, to have defied death and to brought about the changes needed in the wizarding world. I alone will bring about the changes needed, to push the wizarding world back into the rightful spot where it should be.” As he spoke he had moved in front of the fallen form of Harold Potter and was spreading his arms wide. “My people will rise up out of the darkness and retake the world from the mudbloods and the muggles. We will-“

He was interrupted by a snort and then a voice coming in clear from behind him. “Can it Riddle, you’re monologuing.” Harold had pushed himself up to a slightly kneeling position and sneered at the back of the Dark Lord. “It’s amazing how cliché villains get when they think that they’ve already won.”

Voldemort spun around and stared at the young man kneeling on the ground before laughing. “Potter, what do you expect to do from there? You have no wand, no strength to even stand.” He raised his wand and sneered. “Avada Kedavra” He intoned easily and watched the sickly green light splash across the young man’s chest making him fall to the side.

“No!” Ron called out and moved towards his friend, but a figure in a black robe had grabbed him around the neck. The figure struggled with the redhead before pulling him backwards and throwing him roughly on the ground with a wand pointed at the base of his neck.

“You should watch yourself, young Weasley. You could end up like your lover.” He swept his hand back towards the fallen form of Harold back on the sand behind him. “You will all join your loved one’s in death as well as your dear Harold. You’re going to be the first in a long line of executions that will cleanse this world. I will be the final authority to-“

He was interrupted again by a groaning from behind him and all eyes turned to the figure that was starting to move on the ground. Harold had pulled himself up to a sitting position once more as he moaned and put his hand to his chest. “Crap that hurt.” He groaned and rolled his neck hearing it pop a few times. “Your curses really pack a whallop, Tom. I have to saw that was rather annoying.”

“Potter, you shouldn’t be alive.” Voldemort sneered as he paced back and forward for a moment before he raised his wand again. “Diffindo” The cutting curse sliced through Harold’s head making it roll off of his head and down his shoulder before it landed with a thump on the sand. From behind him there was the sound of several people throwing up before the body slumped sideways to join the head. “Now that the annoying interruption has been taken care of…”

Once again there was a disturbance behind him and the Death Eaters arranged behind him seemed to gasp and pull away. The entire group that was gathered stared in shock as the headless body of Harold Potter slowly sat up and started to reach outwards. “Oi, over here you moron.” The voice had come from the severed head of the boy, the mouth moving and the chin moving it a little closer towards the body.

“This…this is impossible.” Albus Dumbledore spoke softly as he stared at the goings on.

Ron smiled a little. “That’s Harold, Headmaster, you seem to forget that he does the impossible.”

Voldemort shook his head a little as the body of his foe had finally found his head and was raising it up towards the neck. When the head was on the correct way around, after three tries, there was a flash of green light and it seemed like it had zipped itself up so that there was once again a solid neck below the head. Harold checked the tilt of his neck and moved it a little as it popped and moved with the muscles; satisfied he smiled and gave a small salute.

“Got anymore, Tom? You’ve hit me with your two most powerful killing machines. I suppose next is going to be the collective might of the Death Eaters all firing killing curses at me at the same time?” Harold laughed as he slowly pulled himself up to a standing position, the manacles on his wrist and ankles still weighing him down quite a bit as he rolled his head a few times eliciting more pops from his spine.

“Potter, how are you doing this? I suppose that you have some sort of high hero explanation that would account for your surviving death another two times.” Voldemort twirled his wand between his fingers for a few moments before he started to pace back and forth in front of the two groups standing on opposing sides of the beach. “I have done much to sustain my life in the times of old, and not since the times of Merlin has there been a singular wizard with as much power as I wield.”

Harold waved it off as he groaned and tried to rub his temples a little behind his eyes. “You’re monologuing again, Tom. Why is it that super villains can never just get to the point and move on, they have to go on and on about how great they are?” He shrugged as if he knew he wasn’t going to get an answer to his own questions. “Fine, I have a one word answer for your questions, but you have to allow me to say a few things, just the two of us, no one else is going to hear.” At a nod from the Dark Lord, Harold pulled himself up a little higher. “Horcrux.”

If it were possible, it seemed like Voldemort actually got paler, his chalky white skin shrinking down onto himself as he moved closer to Harold. He raised his wand and placed it under the teenager’s chin, but in a sweeping motion a blue dome formed around the pair. “We’re cut off from the others, both my side and your’s now, so talk.”

Harold shrugged as he tried to move his hands and legs to get a more comfortable position with the heavy manacles still weighing him down. He held them up between the two. “I don’t suppose you can do anything about these before we talk?” At the glare from the other wizard he groaned and shrugged. ‘I had to ask. In any case I know about them because you do.”

Voldemort stopped his pacing for a moment to stare at the teenager in shock before his eyes traveled up towards the scar on his forehead. “Of course, that night we must have been connected much more than I had anticipated.”

Harold nodded and tried to move his left hand up to touch the scar itself. “I’m not sure what you planned on doing that night, but I can guess that you attempted to create another one after the other’s were already hidden away safely.” At the somewhat shocked nod from the Dark Lord, the young man continued. “Whatever you did created another Horcrux within me, a piece of your soul resides within mine.”

Voldemort was shaking his head as he paced back and forth once more, going from one side of the shimmering blue dome back across to the other, his boots leaving prints in the sand as he moved. “That would mean that you’re connected in some way to the other parts that I’ve already created.” Harold nodded a little and let the Dark Lord continue to talk. “As long as there are pieces of me out there, I can’t kill you.”

“And I can’t kill you.” Harold waved his hand around at the beach around them. “I’ve already proven that neither of us can die at the moment.”

Voldemort got a small smirk and then a grin on his face before he started to laugh uproariously. “I am truly immortal then. None can touch me and I will be free to take over the world.”

Harold snorted and waved his hand the best he could. “Sure, but why would you want to?” This gave the other Mage pause as he looked back at the teenager.

“What do you mean, Potter? Do you not desire the power that could be offered to you, to lay waste to those idiots that would stand in your way?”

Harold shrugged a little with the heavy manacles making small chinking sounds as he moved. “Sure, but what then?” At the confused look he continued. “Think abou tit, you’ve worked almost your entire life to conquer not only the wizarding world, but also the muggle, but why?”

“Because we are superior to them, we should be their rulers and we should be their conquerors. No one with such impure blood should be allowed to live.” The man paced back and forth waving his wand around idly as he did so.

“Bit of a hypocrite if you ask me, but I guess that’s just me.” Harold shook his head, smiling gently. “If you think about it though, the whole conquering the world bit makes no real sense.”

“You just have no ambition, Potter. Don’t you want to see you rise above what you are right now, to do something that you are entitled to?”

“See, there’s that phrase again, ‘entitled to.’ Who says that we are entitled to anything just because we were born to certain people? You don’t choose your parents any more than you can choose….I don’t know the weather. Even beyond that, however what would you do once you did kill everyone off, assuming that you could?”

Voldemort had stopped his pacing and faced the teenager with his wand held between his forefinger and his middle, pointed at the young man’s chest. “I am the greatest wizard that mankind has ever known, there is little that I would not be able to do.”

“Nah.” Harold waved his hand in front of him for a moment and then shook his head. “I really thought that would work.” Shrugging again he spoke slowly as if speaking to a child. “You were in Hogwarts during the second World War so you know how that conflict ended for the muggles involved, specifically what happened to Japan at the end.” Seeing that he had the Dark Lord’s attention he continued. “Think about it, Tom. If the muggles would be willing to do that to each other, what would they do to an invading army that was perceived as impervious to their other weapons, and who’s to say that you are?”

Voldemort shook his head as he held his wand aloft. “I will be the conqueror. It is my destiny, it is my birth right.”

Harold sighed and tried to put his face in his hands, but failed because of the manacles. “The point I’m trying to make is that even if you destroyed British magical society you still have quite a ways to go, and do you really believe that the muggles would simply allow you to take over like that? I’m sure at this very moment there are meetings around the globe preparing for the worst. You’ve already seen the muggle response in a few of your failed raids.”

“Those had nothing to do with the muggles. They cannot stand up to the might of magic. I have the magic, I’m the most powerful and therefore I am going to rule the world.” Voldemort’s voice faltered for a bit as if he were thinking it over a little more carefully than he had in the past.

“All right, for the sake of argument, let’s say that you destroy magical Britain. That you kill all the muggle-borns, and the supposed blood traitors and left only the most pure of purebloods left. Do you realize that most of the farming and manufacturing is done by either impoverished purebloods like the Weasleys, or by muggle-born witches and wizards?” Since the Dark Lord didn’t seem to have an answer, Harold continued. “Leaving only the pure of the purebloods would force some to have to actually work for a living and if you left no one but the aristocrats then where would you get all the work to be done?”

“That is what muggles, mudbloods and house elves are for.” Voldemort waved it off.

“Yes, a slave class that would ultimately rise up and revolt against your rule, if the other magicals don’t get to you first.” Harold smiled a little. “Think about it, Tom. What’s the major failing of every dictator in history? They created a slave class that kept the people impoverished to the point where they wanted to take back what they wanted. You would be fighting constantly even after you destroyed magical Britain.”

“The rest of the world will fall into line. I’ll have armies at my disposal to take care of any insurrections. I will rule through fear.”

Harold shook his head again. “And again, you can’t just do that. You’re not learning anything from history, although given how Binns teaches it, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Harold picked up the manacles and started to pace a little as much as he could. “All right, let’s assume for a moment that you go through the entire world, that you conquer everything and create a slave class as much as you could. Then what?”


Voldemort had stopped pacing and was staring at Harold for a long moment before he turned and looked around at the gathered people on the beach. It had been a few minutes since they were talking, but no one seemed to have moved an inch from their previous positions. “Then I will be the absolute ruler of it all, of course, what else would there be?”

Harold shook his head. “Think about it though, Tom. You’ve worked your entire life to get to a single moment, a single goal, but once that’s achieved, what’s next?” He shrugged. “I would imagine that life would be rather dull after that will constant assassination attempts, slave revolts, and simpering politicians to take care of. Not to mention the hassle of running a global empire, not one government in the history of mankind has ever been able to do that, Britain came close, but look what happened to them.”

Voldemort shook his head as he started to pace once more, going from one side of the dome to the other. “I despise those simpering morons. I would set up puppet governments while I run things from behind the scenes.”

Harold nodded thoughtfully staring up at the grey sky that would be threatening rain for a time to come. “Fair enough, but you would still have to deal with the governors of the individual places, and then you have the possibility of insurrection within your own ranks as well. Give someone, like Malfoy for example; too much power and they want more. Who’s to say that they won’t just try and take it for themselves at some point?”

“Then I will destroy them.” Voldemort’s magic flared for a moment as he continued to pace, flames starting to lick at his boots a little as he walked, charring some of the sand into glass where he had been stepping.

“Calm down, big all mighty.” Harold shook his head. “If you do that then you’re not going to have any followers left, or any subjects for the most part. Even if you destroyed all life on the planet, what would you do after that?” Harold took a step forward as much as he possibly could. “Your entire existence is about hatred, about getting back at the muggles that hurt you when you were younger.”

“How could you possibly-“ Voldemort stopped as Harold was tapping the scar on his forehead. “Maybe you do have a point.”

Harold gave a small smile. “Those people are either dead or dying. I’ve seen people from that far back, in nursing homes and on ventilators barely hanging onto life. I’m not asking you to forgive and forget or anything of that nature, but you are correct in the fact that you are superior to them.” He shook his head when the Dark Lord raised his wand. “No, not because of that, but because of the fact that you outlived them; you lived through the abuse to come out on the other side. I wouldn’t call you a better man, but you are still alive and will be for the foreseeable future where they will die in a few months if not years.”

Voldemort paused with his hands clasped behind his back and sneering at the youth before him. “So what are we to do? We two immortals battle until the end of days when the trumpets sound….”

“Or you could surrender.” Harold shrugged and then got a thoughtful look on his face. “Nevermind, although I never thought of you as a religious man, Tom.”

Voldemort gave a small shrug and then waved it off. “That’s besides the point. What are we to do now, Potter? We’re both immortal so long as the other leaves each of us alone. You’re connected to me and I to you, but so long as neither of us destroys the horcruxes then we’ll live indefinitely.”

Harold nodded slowly. “A compromise then; do you accept what I’ve said here today?” At a slow nod from the Dark Lord the teenager continued. “Then you realize that you can never truly take over the world.”

Voldemort grumbled, but slowly nodded. “Yes, although it won’t stop me from trying in other ways.”

Harold smiled. “Do it in a subtle legal manner, get elected. Although there are some that would debate the legality of some elections.” He shrugged again. “My point is that there are easier and much more fun ways of taking over a country, pick somewhere in the middle east to start with and then work your way back this way.”

“Why the middle east?”

“They’re unstable as it is and a radical change in government wouldn’t take a lot of notice around there. If you do it well enough you could even get the blame placed on the muggles in charge around there instead.” Harold shrugged. “In the mean time, I say we blow each other up.”

Voldemort was nodding and then the words caught up to him and he slowed his head down a little. “Blow each other up?”

Harold nodded. “Cast a blasting spell at the ground to create a large crator in the ground. We each supply something of ourselves that will be identifiable; blood would be the best at the moment. Then we get out of here in opposite directions never to meet again.”

Voldemort was slowly nodding as he went back to his pacing going back and forth. “And if I just blast you into infinity?” He leveled his wand at the teenager’s chest.

Harold didn’t even flinch when the wand was leveled at him. “Then everything that I said will come to pass and you’ll live a very lonely existence with nothing to really call your own. You’ll be living one moment to the next worrying about where the possible assassin might be coming from.”
Voldemort raised his wand in such a way that looked on the outside like he was going to vaporize Harold on the spot. A small amount of hesitation on the Dark Lord’s part and then the wand moved incredibly fast; later accounts would only give it accurate once the memory had been slowed down incredibly fast. A loud blast echoed along the beach as the curse slammed into the ground between the two combatants and vaporized much of the surrounding land. The blue dome that had been around the two shimmered once and then exploded violently outwards to knock over all the people still standing on the beach.
As the dust and debris started to clear there was a crater in the middle of the beach with what looked to be blood coating the outer rim of it. Dumbledore stood in shock as the rest of the Order around him seemed to come to their senses and stunned the remaining figures in black robes. Slowly the old man came to the rim of the crater and stared down into it at the carnage that was spread around the ten foot diameter and even down into the five foot hole that had been left from the spell.

“All right, now I really can’t just stay quiet.” Harry said as he threw his hands up in the air. “How can we still be watching a memory if you’re no longer in it?”

Harold laughed and pointed towards the trees about twenty feet away. “Tom and I are both hiding over there. Unusually we both decided to stick around and see the reactions of our various followers. He was a little unimpressed that his supposed loyal followers caved so easily.” Indeed several black robed figures were handing their wands over to the others that were spreading out along the beach.

Dumbledore and Ron were running their wands around the edge of the crater, walking slowly along muttering to each other. Harry was trying to follow along with what they were doing, but was lost quite quickly. “What are they doing?”

Harold got a small smile on his face for a moment. “Ron was always a very intuitive person, very intellectual, probably some of the charm that drew me to him.” He sighed and then continued. “He’s trying out a series of detection charms to figure out if there was anything left, Dumbledore is doing something similar, but with different charms.”

“Neither ever figured out that you two didn’t actually die?” Harry was moving around with the pair still, shouting over the hustle and bustle that was happening around the pair.

Harold waved his hand and the memory seemed to freeze causing the noise level to drop to nothing. “That’s better, and to answer your question…I suspect that Ron figured it out after a few days, but Dumbledore fell into a deep depression after my supposed death.”

Harry nodded slowly as he took in the scene of several adult witches and wizards appearing out of thin air and taking the black robed figures away. When the memory paused a woman with shocking pink hair was just appearing and seemed to be in the middle as half of her body was still missing. “All right, I have a dozen questions to ask, so maybe we should start with why you were in Azkaban to begin with.”

Harold nodded and directed Harry to sit on the rim of the crater. As he did he felt nothing of the dirt beneath him or the smell of copper that was lingering in the air after blood was usually spilled. “At the end of my fourth year, Voldemort returned and killed a student by the name of Justin Flinch-Fletchly. Because our wands are brother’s….share the same cores…everyone thought that it was me.” He waved to where Ron had been standing over the rim and was looking down at the carnage below. “You heard that Ron figured it out on his own based on the evidence at hand, but that was only after years of digging.”

Harry shook his head a little. “The Ministry had all the evidence at their disposal immediately and it took Ron a few years to come to the truth? Why didn’t they give you a trial?”

Harold smiled and shook his head a little. “Think about it, Harry, a teenager is spouting off that the meanest and most deadly criminal in history is back from the dead and going to kill us all. The Ministry didn’t want anyone to disrupt their perfect view of society. They had what they wanted, a scapegoat.”

“So you were thrown into prison for several years because the Ministry didn’t want to acknowledge that Voldemort was back?” Harry shook his head a little and sighed, putting his head in his hands. “And I’m supposed to save these idiots?”

Harold laughed and shook his head a little. “I’ve already shown you one way to do it, although my circumstances were a little different. Yes, I spent four years in prison to do it, but I still did it.”

Harry slowly nodded. “Why do you look like this then and not like that?” He blushed a little and then stammered for a moment.

Harold waved off the stammering teen and smiled. “We look the way we did when we died. Hermione, bless her soul, never could let it down that I might still be alive and spent almost the rest of her life trying to prove it. She even succeeded in kidnapping me once, but I was able to convince her that I wasn’t Harold Potter so she had to let me go. It wasn’t until her great-great-grandson came to my door demanding that I help once again that I had to finally come back.”

Harry put his hand on Harold’s shoulder. The older version of the teen shuddered a little and small tears formed at the edge of his vision. “What happened?”

Harold shook away the tears a little, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “I watched my best friends wither and die, watch them be buried. Most of them eventually moved on, but Ron and Hermione kept the hope alive that I was still out there. Kyle came to me finally and told me that Voldemort was active once again. It seemed like he didn’t want to stay hidden for long. By then I had established myself as warden of Azkaban to keep an eye on the unstable one’s.”

Harry nodded slowly. “I don’t mean to sound callous, but is this going to happen to me?”

Harold got a thoughtful look on his face for a moment and then shook his head. “None of the others that I’ve encountered have had a similar experience. After over four hundred years to think about it, I think that it was the exposure to the Dementors that forced the blending of the two souls that reside in one body.”

“Four hundred years?” Harry asked slowly. “Just how old were you when you died.”

Harold chuckled and shook his head. “You never ask a man his age, don’t you know that.” He smiled and shrugged. “I stopped keeping real track of my age after I got out of prison, but I suppose I was about four hundred and fifty-three when I finally died. I can tell you that it was a lonely existence for much of it. I had lovers, but none of them were as good as Ron.”

Harry made a small face. “That’s another thing, you and Ron?”

Harold laughed and nodded, desolving into a coughing fit that lasted for several minutes. “I’m all right. Yes, me and Ron. We got together at the beginning of my fourth year. It was hard learning that I was to compete in some stupid tournament and he was there when everyone else turned their backs on me. He comforted me at night when I cried and that just….developed.” He shrugged even at Harry’s shocked look.

Harry shook his head a little and stared at the redhead before him across the rim that was frozen with a look of concentration on his face. “I guess we really are different. Ron and I have had our fights and disagreements, but after my name came out of the Goblet.” Harry wiped away the tears that were forming in his eyes with the back of his hand. “Hermione’s the only one that believes me, I wonder if that means that I should be with her.”

Harold shrugged and smiled, clapping the young man on the shoulder. “You never know what the future will hold for you. Remember though that just because someone in our memories acts a certain way doesn’t mean that they will or will not act the same way with you. Now then, any other questions that this memory has brought up for you?”

Harry seemed to concentrate at the frozen sky for a moment before he slowly nodded. “Horcruxes, and am I one?”

Harold blew out a long slow breath that he didn’t know that he was holding. “You might want to talk to James and Viper about that one, but I can tell you what I’ve figured out on my own.” At Harry’s nod the man leaned back on his hands and stared at the sky. “A horcrux is a soul container that’s created when the person making it goes through a ritual to split their soul. My Dumbledore had no idea that Tom had done anything so vile until I asked him about the diary after second year. At the time he didn’t think that it was possible to create more than one, but after we both died he started to look harder into it.”

Harry nodded slowly. “What about me though? Is it one of the immutable facts of all universes that I’m a horcrux.”

Harold smiled and shrugged slowly. “I’m not really sure. There are spells and such to figure it out as well as small clues that you could figure out on your own. I’m sure that James and Master Auror can help you with the detection spells and Viper will explain in depth about the actual creation of one.”

Harry made a face and shook his head. “I don’t want to create one, just to know whether or not something I have is one.”

Harold smiled again. “You have to know the creation process to really understand how to destroy one; he’ll go through both of them with you. For the time being we’re just going through some fun memories of each of the four of us so that you can get a feel for who we were in life.” He seemed to think for a moment. “Make sure to tell Charles not to show you any of his personal conquests though as I’m sure that’s what he’s going to start off with.”

Harry flushed deeply and toed the dirt a little at the rim of the crater. The dirt didn’t move even as he put his weight on it and he sighed a little internally at not being able to do anything in the memory. “I suppose we should be heading back to the others then?”

Harold nodded slowly. “Unless you have any other questions that you wanted to ask me this go around? It can be about the memory or anything else and I’ll answer it the best that I can.”

Harry thought for a moment and then said in a small voice. “The tournament, how did you do?”

Harold laughed which caused him to cough all over again. Patting him on the back he smiled and waved the young teen off. “Thanks, that happens when I get to breathing too heavily.” Getting his breath back he continued. “I ended up dead last. Voldemort’s puppet that had put me in the Goblet of Fire had put the imperious on Justin so that he would get me to the cup before the others and then ended up coming with me. I don’t think that was part of the plan though.”

“So you mean that Justin…” Harry felt himself get a little green around the gills so to speak.

Harold nodded not really looking at Harry’s reaction. “He was to be the Hogwarts Champion instead of me. A good man if I ever met one.” He smiled and turned to Harry putting his hand on the teen’s shoulder. “We’ll make sure that both you and the Hogwarts Champion survive.” All Harry could do was nod as he felt his body starting to twist and there was a large flash of light that nearly blinded him.