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Chapter 32 - Who Are You?

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 10th August 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Dumbledore's Office
Time: Morning

"How have you been, Brian?"

"The same as ever given the circumstances. It has been over a century since someone called me by that name." Dumbledore smiled, sitting and gesturing Adam towards the other chair. "Tea?"

"Please. Can I assume the circumstances you spoke of are linked to a certain dark wizard formerly known as Tom Marvolo Riddle?" Adam asked, sitting.

A house elf appeared with a tea set which he set down on Dumbledore's desk.

"Thank you, Dobby."

"It's a pleasure, Professor Dumbledore, Sir."

The elf vanished with a bow and a pop. Dumbledore turned back to Adam.

"Not entirely but you are correct, Tom has risen again and is gathering followers, but that is not the only circumstance, Mr Potter went missing at the beginning of this summer and today has been the first time anyone has seen him.... Added to that there is the fact that someone I last saw over one hundred and thirty years ago appeared at my school and doesn't seem to have aged a day." Dumbledore added poignantly though not angrily as he made and sat back with his tea.

"I do owe you an explanation." Adam agreed as the last lump of sugar dropped itself into his tea before the liquid began to stir itself.

"The obvious question is who or perhaps what are you?"

Adam turned his head to the balcony above. There was the noise of books shuffling against each other before a book flew over the balcony towards them and landed very gently on the desk in front of Dumbledore. The title flashed:

The Guardian Of Light: Myth & Legend

Dumbledore looked up quickly, the shock evident on his face. It was very rare for the Headmaster to be shocked and even when he was he never showed it as much as his face did at this moment.

"You're The Guardian? I thought you were a myth."

"That was the idea, old friend." he took a sip of tea. "When that book was written, I had just saved the author's life. I try never to explain who I am to the people that I rescue; I usually just tell them that I am 'Just a Friend' or some other such statement which is equally as un-descriptive....if I say anything at all. The author was cleverer than most. He researched for years finding out about others who had encountered me, piecing together all the peaces of written evidence until he finally had enough evidence to prove his theory....that I was real."

Dumbledore observed that Adam was obviously pleased at the lengths the man had gone to in order to prove his point.

"So he wrote that book, as he was an innocent and very determined. I didn't want to spoil all his hard work. That book was very popular when it came out. But after he died, I worked a small piece of magic that slowly manipulated the words and phrasing so that the entire theory sounded a lot less plausible. Over time the books were lost and buried deep in the back of libraries, the magic slowly erasing them from existence, until only a few remained in the hands of those who had met me or already knew of my existence."

He paused to take another sip of tea.

"Luckily, like in this case, the magic was clever enough to make the book so indecisive that no one really believed its contents. Originally that book proved beyond a doubt that I existed. It now gives a balanced and slightly surreal argument as to whether I exist or not."

He waved his free hand over the book and it glowed for a second. The book got slightly thicker and the cover design changed slightly.

"That is now exactly as the original was, no tricks, no magic, nothing. Other than that copy, there is really no other that proves my existence." he paused to think and refill his cup. "Well, that's not technically true. There is one book, but I don't have it in my possession any more." Dumbledore noticed that the last line was said with a certain amount of concern.

"That book will answer most of your questions. Are there any others?" he asked and refilled his cup.

"Yes. Who is the young lady and how did you come to be here?"

"Those questions can be answered when everyone is gathered. Otherwise I will have to repeat myself, which is something I prefer not to do. I would suggest that we all meet, including Harry and his friends, after lunch and I'll bet you a galleon that Miss Granger has read about me and her first words will be 'I've heard about him'."

Dumbledore chuckled. "No bet....How do you know about Harry's friends?"

Adam smiled. "You know better than to ask questions like that old friend."

Dumbledore returned the smile and nodded, Adam always had a knack of knowing things without being told them.

"After lunch then."

"I do have one question if I may?" asked Adam "Why did Harry disappear?"

Dumbledore's expression darkened somewhat.

"We do not know, he has been staying with his Aunt and Uncle since his parent's death...."

"The Dursley's!" exclaimed Adam "Brian, how could you, surely you could have found a better home for him than that, they despise magic, Lily showed me so herself, why on Earth did you not send him to Sirius to look after?"

"Sirius was imprisoned in Azkaban." the Headmaster answered quietly.

"He was what?" exclaimed Adam jumping to his feet. "In the name of the God's, what for?"

"For the murder of Peter Pettigrew and a street full of Muggles, we now know that Peter was in fact the murderer, it turned out that he had been made the Potter's secret keeper when Voldemort went after them, even I did not know, three years ago he escaped and came to Hogwarts, he found Peter disguised as the youngest Mr Weasley's pet rat, Remus Lupin, Harry and his friends captured him but unfortunately due to the full moon Remus transformed and distracted them long enough for him to escape."

"I see." nodded Adam slowly, by this time he had taken returned to his seat.

"The year before last Voldemort arose again, Harry witnessed it as well as seeing a friend die at Peter's hands and last year Sirius died at the Ministry. Harry blames himself for both deaths; he took Sirius's death very hard as did Remus and Nymphadora Tonks."

"His cousin."

"Yes, she hasn't been herself since, this summer Harry disappeared we have tried sending owls to find him but they have all come back to no avail, we have contacted everyone we know but everywhere we looked proved useless, we still do not know why he left or where he is living, I can only hope that we can convince him to stay."

"I think I have a rough idea as to why he left," said Adam "Lily spoke very poorly of her sister and his husband, the last time they went to see them they were almost literally thrown out, I must say that I think sending him there was one of the worst decisions you have ever made."

Adam paused for a breath.

"Until lunch." he finished before heading to the door.

Dumbledore was slightly worried. He knew Adam and he was nothing if not a good man. But why would he conceal information from him and how did he know about Harry's friends and Tonks? Sirius might have mentioned her when they met he supposed but Harry's friends. He was also curious to know exactly why he thought that sending Harry to the Dursley's was such a bad idea.

Adam and Dumbledore had been the best of friends when Dumbledore had finished his Hogwarts schooling. He trusted him, but he could not shake this feeling that there was something bigger going on.

What he knew of The Guardian was just myth and legend. He would have to read the book soon.

On his way to the door Adam stopped and tensed up. He closed his eyes in concentration. He seemed to be trying to identify something he was sensing.

Dumbledore stood, expecting trouble.

Adam turned his head sharply. "Harry!"

He launched himself out the door, Dumbledore no more than a second behind him.
________________________________________________________________________

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 10th August 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - The Lake
Time: Morning

Buffy and Harry were sitting down relaxing by the lake.

"So who exactly are you?" Harry asked as he idly threw pebbles into the water. He had just finished showing Buffy the Great Hall and what other major areas of the school. They were taking a break before continuing around the grounds.

"I'm not sure anymore. I'm not really sure exactly where I am still." Buffy said.

"You're at Hogwarts." he replied, repeating what had already been said.

She turned to him with a patronizing look before starting to smile causing them both to laugh.

"Yes I know that," she continued. "I meant where on the Earth, if I am still on my Earth."

"Scotland, in the United Kingdom, couldn't you tell from our lack of accents." Harry commented.

"What do you mean the lack of them?" Buffy asked "You got accents, all proper old fashioned and English, especially that women, what was she, the Deputy Headmistress?"

"It's our language," Harry replied, obviously finding Buffy amusing. "You're the ones that change the pronunciations of things and change words etc. Oh and yes I know you are American. I could tell from YOUR accent."

Buffy gave him a small scowl, which made him laugh. Buffy liked this kid, if you could call him a kid. She was only a couple of years older than him.

"So what was all that stuff about this summer and what's with the broom, you can't be telling me that you seriously ride brooms."

"We do ride brooms, and I am actually a pretty good flier, I'm on our house sports team."

"You're kidding me." She replied with a lopsided smile "You really ride those things." she said pointing to his disguised broom.

Harry put his hand over the broom.

"Up." The broom jumped up a foot before Harry took it and placed it back on the ground.

"Cool." Buffy smiled "What about the summer thing?"

"That's a bit hard to explain, basically there is a war going on, the enemy is a evil wizard called Voldemort who everyone is so afraid of that they can not even say his name, I am his arch enemy as I accidentally defeated him when I was a year old which ended his first reign of terror, now he is back and he is after me, I have been living with my aunt and uncle since then but they despise magic, as a result I have spent all my childhood as basically their servant, this summer some friends of mine got me out and are keeping me safe, I won't tell you other reasons why but lets just say that this summer was by far the worst I had spent with my relatives, as a result I have lost faith in the Headmaster who is supposed to be defending me and as such I have remained hidden, or at least I did until I got the vision of the portal."

Buffy nodded her understanding.

"So wh...."

Arry, Arry are you alright!

"Wait a second." asked Harry.

"What?" Buffy answered confused.

"My current guardians are trying to contact me."

It's ok Fleur, I'm fine.

Oh thank Merlin, we though Dumbledore would have stunned you on site to stop you escaping.

He tried but I brought my broom and dodged.

Why did you go back? Madam Maxime set you left in such a rush that she didn't find out.

I had a vision of a portal, there were two people in it and we had to get them out, they are now both safe and I am currently sitting beside one next to the lake.

Who are they?

I don't know yet I haven't actually asked but I just know that they do not mean us any harm, do not worry I still have the portkey and I will return soon.

Be careful my love.

He felt Fleur withdraw from his mind and turned back to Buffy to see her looking him in a very odd way.

"Sorry about that, you were saying?"

"What was that all about?" she asked confused.

"I was communicating telepathically with one of my guardians, but I must ask you not to tell anyone that I can do that, it's a secret."

She nodded slowly.

"That's kind of creepy."

He snorted elegantly.

"Yeah, I suppose it is a bit."

"So what exactly do they teach here anyway?"

"Transfigurations, Potions, Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts are the main subjects," answered a female voice from behind them.
________________________________________________________________________

Ron and Hermione where walking over the grounds towards where they could see Harry and one of their quests.

"I can not believe that Dumbledore is taking this so calmly, I expected him to stun Harry as soon as he arrived just to keep him 'safe'."

"I think the portal is more important at the moment Ron, they are very rare and normally don't open by accident." Hermione commented, deep in thought.

"Oh no, this means more research doesn't it," groaned Ron "Can't we just give this one a miss. It's not like more portals are just going to open."

"Oh like the one in the Great Hall didn't just open." she said, scowling at Ron out of the corner of her eye.

"Point taken." he grumbled back, seeing her stop dead at his words, it was something knew he was trying, he knew that if he always disagreed with her he would never get her to be his girlfriend.

She looked at him for a second wondering if she had really hears him accept defeat before dismissing it and continuing on, not saying a word.

They were now only ten meters from the pair.

On closer inspection and now that she was not crawling over his lap, Ron could see that this woman was fairly attractive, maybe a couple of years older than them, with blond hair, pretty eyes and a nice face.

"Wow, she's pretty."

Hermione stiffened and increased her pace.

Shit, I didn't say that out loud did I?
________________________________________________________________________

"Transfigurations, Potions, Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts are the main ones," a female voice from behind them answered.

Looking around, Buffy saw a girl taller than she was (though that wasn't really unusual) with a long brown mane of hair, and the red headed boy who was slightly shorter than Adam that she had been sitting on earlier, his hair was almost as bright as Willow's, they could have been relatives.

"Harry." smiled the girl before dropping down beside him and giving him a hug "We have been so worried."

"I'm fine Hermione, honestly." he smiled leaning back and smiling at the girl.

Clearing her throat slightly, Harry's attention turned back to Buffy.

"Sorry, I'm forgetting my manners, Buffy Summers, may I re-introduce Mr Ronald Weasley who you have of course already met, one of the famous Weasley clan identifiable by their distinctive hair." the boy gave a proud lopsided grin and shook her hand. He reminded her of Xander. "And Hermione Granger, the brightest student Hogwarts has ever seen."

Ron looked very pleased with Harry's comments and Hermione's face turned the colour of Ron's hair, which Buffy found highly amusing. She reminded her of Willow when she was younger. They were like carbon copies of the Scoobies.

"You two go here as well?" Buffy asked as they sat down beside them.

"Of course. How else would I have survived the last five years at this school?" Harry added with a chuckle, but he had a serious tone to his voice, which did not go unnoticed.

"Explainey?" Buffy asked, noticing his tone.

"Well, let's just say that I would be dead by now if it wasn't for these tw....actually why are you two here anyway?"

"Dumbledore brought us here, he said because it was safer and because G....," Ron tried "Because G...., because the other place we go to in summer is currently unused."

"What was all that grring about?" asked Buffy confused.

"Ron just tried to break a charm that it is not possible for him to break by revealing the location of the house that we stayed at last summer." explained Hermione.

"Oh." nodded Buffy, not quite sure if she understood what had just been said.

"You do know the real reason you are here don't you?" asked Harry turning to Hermione knowing that she would know the answer.

"Because if you send any letters he will be able to intercept Hedwig, yes we had thought of that." she nodded.

"Just as well I didn't try t...."

"Shhh!" whispered Buffy, stopping Harry in mid sentence, angling her head, as if trying to hear something; she turned in the direction of the forest.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Someone's coming." she replied taking a few steps towards the forest.

"Run. Get help. Get Buffy to safety." said Harry drawing his wand, coming to stand in front of the blond.

"We are not leaving you." Hermione said, drawing her own and stepping to his side.

"And don't try to get rid of me, mister," Buffy said before Harry got the chance to argue. "I can take care of myself."

"Will one of you PLEASE go and get help," he pleaded.

Hermione and Ron exchanged looks before Hermione mouthed, "Be careful." turned and ran towards the castle.

"Buffy, you go too. Even if you can fight, these are wizards coming not Muggles, which means they will be using magic. You don't stand a chance," Harry said, attempting to convince her again.

Buffy very determinedly stepped up to the side of Harry that Hermione had just vacated as Ron moved up on the other.

"I'm staying. This is my resolve face, so don't try to push me around when I'm wearing it." she countered before turning and looking around for a weapon, unusually she didn't have a stake on her.

"You're not going to win mate." Smiled Ron.

Turning back to the forest Harry saw at least twenty cloaked figures walk out from between the trees. They were all dressed in black with white masks covering their faces.

"Geez, Phantom of the Opera much." taunted Buffy as they surrounded the trio on the sides that weren't water.

"Time to die Slayer." a familiar voice emanated from behind one of the masks.

"Not before you do Malfoy." Ron sneered back.

An evil laugh rippled through the masked figures.

"I would have to agree with that." Harry commented flatly.

Ron was trying to understand how he could remain that calm facing off with Malfoy, Buffy on the other hand understood that he was attempting to control the situation until Hermione could return, but even she could not understand but how Harry could remain THAT calm against these odds.

"Potter, look around you. If you leave now, we will not harm you."

"On the contrary, if you leave now we will not harm you and why do I somehow not trust you, Malfoy?" asked Harry.

"I give you my word," Malfoy said, straightening and switching back to his Lord of the Manor voice, while his companions laughed at Harry's comment

"And why would we trust the word of one of Tom's lap dogs?" Ron spat back.

Harry inwardly groaned.

Well done Ron. Bang goes that plan. Remind me to hit you if you get us killed.

Lucius shot a curse at them which Harry dodged (thank God for this summers training.)

Harry smiled. "You will have to be faster than that, Malfoy."

"ATTACK," Lucius roared.

Before the first curse had even been fired there was an enormous splash as a tentacle shot out of the lake and swiped at the Death Eaters, knocking at least a half dozen to the ground and leaving several unconscious. Another massive appendage shot out and collided with the Death Eaters on the other side of the trio, knocking another half dozen Death Eaters to the floor, including Malfoy.

The trio jumped into action (despite Buffy's shock at seeing a giant tentacle launch itself out of a fresh water lake).

The boys immediately moved to either side of Buffy, keeping her between them so they could block incoming curses. Lucius, having got to his feet, shot a killing curse at Harry; it missed, sailing off over the grounds in the direction of the school.

Killing Curses were sent their way, but all were dodged and countered with various hexes and jinxes. The boys were determined not to let Buffy get hit.

Not liking her confined state, Buffy vaulted over Harry, who was more than a little surprised at seeing her appear in front of him, and started punching and kicking the living daylights out of the Death Eaters who also hadn't expected this and they were now rapidly trying to back out of the way, leaving them open to attack by the boys.

Unfortunately, Harry and Ron didn't have time to worry about how on Earth Buffy had managed to send the enemy flying, as the Death Eaters were now getting a little annoyed at their lack of progress and were giving them everything they'd got, luckily these Death Eaters, not including Malfoy, were clearly amateurs allowing the trio to hold their own until Ron caught a curse in the arm and sent him to the floor unconscious.
________________________________________________________________________

Adam was running as fast as he could through the corridors of Hogwarts, for some reason he couldn't go as fast as usually could and he didn't seem to have his normal level of power to draw upon.

He reached the 1st floor just as Hermione arrived looking very out of breath.

"Where?" Adam demanded as he approached, Dumbledore twenty meters behind him

"Who....are....Doesn't....matter....Harry....Death....Eaters....Forest," she gasped as she turned and attempted to run back, only to collapse on the floor. Adam saw a mark on her side; the skin was cracking and turning black. It was spreading up her side, there was no way she could keep going with a wound like that.

If it wasn't treated soon, she would die.

Dumbledore turned the corner as Adam scooped Hermione up in his arms and continued running. Having made up the gap between them Dumbledore was now no more than five meters behind him. Dumbledore was starting to panic. If Miss Granger had come back without the others the attack must have started as or just after she left. That must have been several minutes ago how long could the others hold out?
________________________________________________________________________

After Ron had been hit, the battle had taken a turn for the worst. Buffy and Harry had been manoeuvred away from the lake so the Squid could no longer assist. Added to that, they had been separated; Buffy was over twenty meters away from Harry and constantly dodging curses, giving her no time in between to attack.

Harry was faced off against Lucius and three other Death Eaters who luckily weren't all that good or they would have broken through his shields by now, he too could not get close enough to attack them hand to hand. He had tried making his way back to Ron so he could revive him, but he couldn't get the Death Eaters to cooperate.

Unfortunately the Death Eaters had finally discovered that working together they could collapse his shield. The spells collided at the same time, destroying his shield with a bang due to all the magic colliding at once sending Harry and the Death Eaters flying.

Harry quickly regained his feet and aimed his wand.

WAND

He looked around frantically. His wand was lying over ten meters away.

It must have been knocked out of his hand by the blast.

Lucius, who now had his back to the school, got to his feet and turned on Harry.

"It ends Potter," he spat, raising his wand, his eyes full of venom now that he had removed his mask and hood.

A screech tore across the sky as bird dived out of the sky

Malfoy turned to the noise only to have the bird fly into his face, talons extended.

The bird tore at his face causing Malfoy to scream in pain until he managed to batter the thing away, leaving blood streaming down his face.

Harry watched as the bird banked around and in one smooth movement, picked up his wand and threw it into his waiting hand before heading towards the castle.

Turning back to finish it, Harry discovered Lucius's wand at his throat.

He was sporting a huge gash straight through his left eye or what the remained of his eye anyway.

"There's no one here to save you now Potter, not even that ruddy bird," Lucius growled, glaring viciously out of his remaining eye socket.

Something large and grey flew through the air, colliding with the back of Lucius's head.

Harry watched as he wobbled for a moment before falling to the ground unconscious.

Harry looked past the place where Malfoy had been. Buffy was standing about ten meters away holding her hand up, ready to throw the other object held within it.

"A stone?" Harry said, almost laughing. "They were using Unforgivable Curses and you threw a stone."

"Hey, don't knock it mister. I just saved your life." Buffy said with a certain amount of annoyance.

Harry thought about it for a moment and gave an agreeing nod.

"Thank you," he said before walking towards her. As he approached she seemed to slump before passing out and falling to the ground. He noticed a huge gash on her side. He needed to get her to the hospital wing quickly.

He heard footsteps approaching behind him and he spun around, raising his wand, only to find Dumbledore running up to them.

"Harry....are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but Buffy's not. Get her to the Hospital Wing while I go and revive Ron....and get someone to tie up these Death Eaters."

Dumbledore looked around.

"There seems to be a slight problem there, Harry."

Harry turned to look. There was not a single body of a Death Eater or black cloak anywhere in site, not even a single drop of blood.

"But....I saw.... There were," he stuttered.

"I know, Harry. I saw them too."


AUTHOR NOTE: Merry Christmas everyone