Chapter 13
Chapter 12
“Honestly Albus you shouldn’t be moving around so much given your condition,” Molly fussed while the Order convened in the dining room of Grimmauld Place.
Sirius who had been sitting quietly at the table just raised a brow when the Headmaster replied with “Worry not Molly, Severus’s attack left no lasting damage,”
“You could say the whole thing was just quakers,” Black smirked before sipping his tea while the Headmaster shot him a look.
“It seems we are a few members short tonight,” Kingsley observed the empty seats that Minerva and Remus usually took.
Dumbledore folded his hands on the dining table and sadly stated, "Both Minerva and Remus have told me that they will be unable to attend for the foreseeable future as they have other business to take care of at the moment. But we mustn’t dwell on that right now, we must recover Mr. Potter as he is the only person who can defeat Voldemort at this moment,”
“Albus I have a question,” Moody interrupted.
“Yes, Alastor?” Albus frowned but motioned for his long-time friend to go ahead with his question.
“You claim that Snape betrayed us and absconded with Mr. Potter, attacking you in the process however, there has been no movement from the Deatheaters and their Master, especially if Mr. Potter was in their hands.”
“It’s only been a day Alastor,” Albus answered.
“The poor dear. In the clutches of that megalomaniac,” Molly looked aghast.
“I told you before Albus, once a Deatheater, always a Deatheater,” Sirius hissed.
“I also have a question, Albus,” Tonks spoke up after rolling her eyes at her cousin.
“Yes Nymphadora?” the Headmaster turned towards her.
“You claim that this Mr. Potter was from another reality. Why would he even help us?” she asked.
“Well, the prophecy states…” the Headmaster began but surprisingly Tonks cut him off.
“The prophecy pertains to our Mr. Potter. You know, the one we mourned for.” She stated with a frown. “How can we even assume this Mr. Potter even fits the criteria? What if he already defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in his reality? If his prophecy was fulfilled would the same one even apply in another reality? And for that matter why would he even help us? He doesn’t know us,”
“Of course he does Nymphadora,” Albus stated as he furiously thought of how to gain control of the room again as he had seen several heads nodding with the young Auror’s assumptions.
“He may know versions of us but not us Albus,” Molly whispered while she looked at the table. “Ginny was quite distraught after meeting him. Said he was cold towards her and declined her attempts for them to grow closer.”
“Wait Molly, Ginny met this Harry?” Arthur questioned with a frown. “Why wasn’t I told about this?”
“You were at work when Albus came by to talk about them meeting, dear,” Molly answered.
“Please don’t worry,” Albus assured. “I’m sure Mr. Potter will come around especially once we rescue him. Mr. Potter is a good lad who obviously doesn’t wish for Voldemort to win so he will do his duty in the end. But we are getting a bit off-topic. Today’s meeting is to have you all keep your eyes out for Mr. Potter and Professor Snape.”
Outside the door to the dining room, none of the Order members were the wiser that an extendable ear was listening to everything. Hermoine, Ron, Ginny, and the Twins were clustered around the staircase balustrade trying to hear what the adults were saying.
“Man this is wild,” Fred muttered. “So there really is a Harry from another reality here. I thought Ginny was just pulling our leg,”
“I told you I wasn’t,” Ginny hissed. “He was cold, distant, and looked quite a bit older. Nothing like our Harry,”
“Ron, are you alright?” Hermoine asked upon seeing Ron clutch the banister tightly.
“No, I’m not alright Hermoine!” Ron growled. “How can you be?! We attended Harry’s funeral not even that long ago and now they’ve all just forgotten him and replaced him with… with this imposter!”
“Ron, he’s also Harry,” Hermoine tried to reason.
“But he’s not our Harry,” Ron retorted. “We’re never going to see OUR Harry again!” and with that the redhead left their little cluster and marched into one of the rooms, slamming the door.
“Hermoine, Ron’s right. Our Harry is gone.” Ginny stated sadly.
“But the Headmaster said…”
“Well the Headmaster is wrong,” Ginny tersely muttered. “Even that Harry said he wasn’t our Harry and never would be. I had the same hope you have Hermoine but upon meeting him it was shattered. The Headmaster lied. That Harry wasn’t even fond of me anymore,”
“I just… aah,” Hermoine uttered and then fled to her own room.
“Gin, you shouldn’t have…”
“Sprung that on Hermoine like that…” Fred and George spoke.
“Yeah sis, she took Harry’s death pretty hard.”
“I think she was really hoping that this Harry was like ours,”
“She grieved so much Gin,”
“You didn’t hear her cry at night,”
“But now what?” Ginny questioned. “This other Harry’s been kidnapped. You heard the Headmaster,”
“Well Gred…”
“Yes, Forge…”
“I think there is only one way to find out,”
“Why are you two smirking like that?” Ginny questioned while taking a step back from her brothers.
Meanwhile, back in the present Snape sat in the waiting room alone with a carved wooden box in front of him. The magic around said box made the hairs on the back of his neck stand at attention. When the doors to the waiting room opened the Potions Master turned to see Harry and King Ragnuk enter.
“Is the ritual already over?” Snape questioned.
“Well… about that,” Harry sheepishly said. “We couldn’t actually do the ritual,”
“It was an oversight on my part,” Ragnuk commented. “I had not thought that there was another heir with more claim to the Peverel title than Mr. Potter here. It only came to light during the more detailed genealogy check before the ritual.”
“Who?” The potion Master questioned.
“Good old Moldyshorts,” Harry huffed. “Turns out he’s the descendant from Cadmus Peverel, you know, the second brother,”
“And as a descendant of the second brother he has more claim over the Peverel Lordship than Mr. Potter who is descended from the third brother.”
“Professor… I know I’m asking a lot…”
“No Potter…” Snape growled. “I would sooner snog a puffskein than do what you are about to suggest,”
“You haven’t even heard me out yet!” Harry retorted.
“Mr. Potter, I wasn’t born yesterday.”