Chapter 1
Harry Potter, the Lone Traveler, felt some satisfaction as he watched the Omega Destroyer with the Earth President escape from those pursuing.
He was much more cheerful than he had been. His travels with Aphrael had been quite fun but in a way he was happy to get back to being sent on by his bosses rather than picking his own destinations. And so he looked forward to his next assignment with anticipation.
Little Harry Potter lay within his cupboard crying. As he screwed his eyes shut he prayed fervently for someone to come and take him away from this horrible life that he was living.
His Aunt and Uncle were monsters and their whale of a son was quite happy to mimic them.
The boy had been looking forward to going to school, thinking that he could finally make friends but Dudley would "roughhouse" with anyone he approached. Dudley also explained to all the other kids that he was a freak and would pass his freakishness on to them if they played with him.
It should be noted that Harry was six and what a grownup could laugh off was far more devastating to his sense of self. It should also be noted that the life he lived was not one which any child should endure.
As his eyes were screwed tightly shut and his arm was over his eyes the new light was unseen. And so it was a little bit of a shock when he heard a voice say, "Hello, little man. What seems to be the problem?"
His eyes opened in astonishment to find a man hunched over in his cupboard looking at him with a friendly expression – or so he assumed. It was a look that he was not used to.
"How …how … how did you get in my cupboard?" he asked with a bit of fear.
The man smiled and said, "That, my young friend, is a very long story. Eventually, I will explain. But I will say that you seem to have brought me. What is it that you were wishing for?"
Although he was scared to talk, the nice man seemed to actually want to listen. And so, he explained everything he had been thinking and feeling. When asked, he told the man about the life he lived and the horrible things that his aunt, uncle, and cousin did and said.
The man seemed sad to hear his story, but he didn't think the man was upset with him. When he was done, the man thanked him for telling him the story.
"I cannot promise to fix everything. But I will do what I can to make things better. Can you keep a secret?" the man asked.
He thought about it for a long moment and then nodded.
The man held his finger to his lip and said, "Shhhhhh!" He then pulled a stick out and waved it. Suddenly, his cupboard was HUGE! It wasn't as big as the school's lunch room. As a matter of fact, it probably was only a little bigger than Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's room. But for a small child, it was HUGE!
"How did you do that?" he asked in wonder.
The man grinned. "Magic."
Harry was nervous. "Aunt Petunia will be mad."
The man shook his head. "No. She won't even notice. I made certain. As far as your relatives know, it's a small, cramped space. Don't tell them any different." The man pointed his stick and his bed changed into one that was like Dudley's – only newer. (Dudley's had a big dip in the middle where he slept cause he was so big.)
His sheets changed into something like what his Aunt and Uncle had, only it wasn't so ugly. His blanket had pictures of little birds on it. And they were moving!
"Uncle Vernon always yells that there is no such thing as magic."
The man snorted. "Are you going to believe the Walrus or your own eyes?"
He giggled at that – when he had seen a picture of a Walrus in school he had thought it looked like Uncle Vernon. He then asked shyly, "Can I see more magic?"
The man smiled. "Not now. Soon. I don't know how long it will be, but I will be doing something to make your life a bit better. First, I have to learn a few things. Magic is fun and makes things easier, but truly fixing things takes really understanding things first. So before I can make any decisions, I have to see what else is happening and what might happen if I act. I'd rather not be like Dudley, trying to fix the right now problem and ignoring the future."
Harry scrunched his nose. He wouldn't want to be like Dudley either. So he nodded to show he understood.
"Remember now, my visit is a secret. Magic is a secret. And you have to act like things are the way they were yesterday or they might become worse. Okay?" Harry nodded and the man said, "Close your eyes and go to sleep. I promise I will be back."
And though he was scared that the nice man was lying, he hoped in his heart that the man was telling the truth. And so he closed his eyes. And although he listened for the man to open the door and leave, all he actually heard was a snatch of the most beautiful music he had ever heard. It caused him to lose his concentration and he forgot to pay attention …
The Traveler looked at the little boy he had just sung to sleep. He seemed to be living with some of the harsher versions of the Dursleys. Rarely were the Dursley's angels, but they were not often physically abusive unless they were cursed …
Harry cursed under his breath. Being quiet, he wordlessly cast the unlocking spell and got himself out of the small cupboard. He then proceeded to check on the active magic in the area. Lo and behold: There were quite a few curses active.
Curses were, by their nature, hard to see unless one knew what to look for. As Aphrael had once explained, blessings tended to ring out causing those who could perceive such things to be able to see and hear the magic. Curses were the type of magic that burrowed into a person or place and hid themselves, leaving their results as easily found but not the actual spells.
He had an advantage being a God. But certain curses could even cause Divine beings to not see them.
It took a fair amount of time for him to find and locate every spell and curse which was on the Dursleys, little Harry, and the area of Number 4 Privet Drive. It took a bit of power to dispel them – and then create a spell which acted as an echo which should be visible if one tied in the correct monitors. Whomever had set the curses (likely Dumbledore) would see the monitors showing no change.
He truly didn't know what the changes would be, but it was likely that the Dursleys would be better, if only a little.
Now it was time to investigate the Magical world and see what the hell was going on. He could use his divine power, but that wasn't his preferred methods. His time spent with Aphrael was an exploration into what his powers could do but he found using those powers far less satisfying than actually doing the work.
And so he apparated to the nearest place to pick up information: The Leaky Cauldron.
In truth, it wasn't that late yet. And there were a few witches and wizards that were still drinking. This suited him fine. He cast a glamour spell on himself and turned his clothes into a set of non-descript robes. He made his way inside. "Good evening. You have any rooms available?" he asked the barman.
"Yes, of course," Tom answered cheerfully. "How long are you staying?"
Harry considered that. "A day or two – till I can check on a few things. I've been out of the country for a few years – too many attacks and I didn't have the resources to protect myself. I had heard the troubles ended but I didn't get enough details and I didn't want to take a chance. If's been long enough now so I'm investigating to see if I want to come back."
Tom smiled expansively. "Well, things have been quiet since you-know-who was defeated. I think you'll find that things are going pretty well."
Harry looked dubious but interested. "After you rent me the room, you mind me coming back and having a couple of ales while you tell me what's been happening these past eight years?"
Tom nodded cheerfully. "I'm happy to help. I can give you room 8." Tom quoted the price – about what Harry had expected.
He paid the man and took the key. "I assume the rooms have numbers on them." Tom nodded. "I'll go on up later. Give me an ale." Harry sat down and put a few sickles on the bar.
Tom brought back an ale and took three of the sickles.
Harry nodded in thanks and took a long swig and then sighed appreciatively. He commented to Tom, "They don't have good ale in the Colonies. It's too thin there."
Tom nodded in agreement. "Good old English ale is much better. So, when did you leave?"
Harry appeared to consider. "Back about mid-1979. You-Know-Who's bully boys were getting right vicious. And then there were the innocents which started being controlled – you didn't know if your best mate was going to cut you down. At that point, I got out."
Tom nodded. "I can understand that. It was a dark time. I can think of a few families that ended up gone because of the Death Eaters. And You-Know-Who was taking out the most powerful of those who were opposing him. I remember quite a few Aurors who ended up dead."
"Right," Harry nodded. "How did he get stopped anyway? There was rumour of some boy or something."
Tom grinned in almost religious ecstasy. "The Boy-Who-Lived. Alexander Potter."
Harry almost groaned but managed to keep his face looking interested. "Oh? Tell me what happened?"
What followed was the almost cliché explanation that was typical in these universes. Harry knew that his mother and father were good people, but he was really tired of running into versions that bought into the fame of a powerful son. And the number of times he ran into "Wrong-Boy-Who-Lived" universes was quite annoying.
He knew, as a divine being, that it was actually not the majority of universes that this occurred. Most universes where there was a twin, people got it right and while the true Boy-Who-Lived was often somewhat spoiled, they usually ended up as good people.
It was unfortunately true that his purview just happened to be cleaning up the bad ones. And so he tended to run into them more often than anyone else.
Listening to Tom, and then the other magicals when they noticed the conversation and heard what was being discussed, Harry decided that this particular universe was worse than most. The parents were arrogant and self-serving and they were teaching the boy to be the same.
No one mentioned the Potter boy having a twin. Harry would have to find out if Dumbledore played a roll or who was pulling what strings.
He was about to head off to bed when he saw another man come into the bar. Well, man would be a bit inaccurate. "Tom? Give me another ale and a gillywater for my friend."
Tom looked at where Harry was looking and then nodded. By the time he got back, his guest sat down.
"Hello, Harry," he said as he accepted the gillywater. The two watched Tom take the sickles for their orders and go off to serve other patrons.
"Hello, Boss. Fancy seeing you here," Harry said with some humour.
"Oh," God said to him after taking a sip, "you know how it is. I get around."
Harry chuckled. "Is there something or are you just saying hello?"
God smirked a little. "First, I want to say how much I enjoyed watching you and Aprhael. I had always thought you could use a vacation."
Harry laughed. "That was fun. And pranking the cosmos was quite enjoyable."
"Aphreal has always been precocious." God's face took on a more serious look. "I also have a suggestion."
Harry nodded and sighed internally, knowing his boss could sense that. "Oh?"
God smirked at the internal thoughts of his adopted son. "Yes. You might want to consider letting this world reap what it has sown."
Harry's eyes widened. "Um. Wow." He thought for a moment. "I have, in the past, let them deal with the problem. Disliking Tom, I usually give them a way to get themselves out, but I have left him to his devices."
God nodded. "I know. But I want you to do something different this time."
Harry was all ears. "Go on."
God took a sip and said calmly, "I want you to transfer rather than dissipate the sliver in Harry – and leave it in Privet Drive. I don't want you to leave a roadmap for Tom to be destroyed." God looked at him and said, "Tom has to win here."
Harry was truly taken aback. "You want me to actually let it go … and actually make it easier for him to win." He paused for a moment. "That is a new one." He took a drink of his ale and asked, "Can you tell me why?"
God said, "Eventually. Go ahead and go for the most extreme solution you were contemplating. As a matter of fact, add a couple of extras – I think you can figure out two that you might want to add. But I definitely think you should go extreme."
Harry sighed. "Okay. I understand too much about your role to question why at the moment. But I will definitely be looking forward to get that eventual explanation."
God nodded. He drank the last of his drink in a long pull and set down the cup as he stood up. "I'll leave you to it. I'll see you around, Harry." God turned and walked away, his lazy wave given just as he walked out. Harry sighed and drained his ale before going up to his bed.
Harry truly didn't need to sleep, per se, but it helped him to reorder his thoughts when he was in the midst of a new situation. When he awoke the next day, he decided to check out a few people. His boss had suggested that there were a couple more beyond Harry that he could add and he was going to check in on a few possibilities.
One he found rather quickly. His second charge was living a different life than they should be living. The third one was much harder to locate, but he followed his instincts. It was a surprise when he finally arrived at the location he needed to be. It took some fast talking but eventually he got agreement.
He had a wry smile as he concentrated on locating the destination he needed to find. Finally, he closed his eyes and sent out his probe. It took a little effort but he found the place he needed to go. Using his ability as a traveler, he disappeared from the place he was and arrived in the place he needed to be.
He opened his eyes and nodded in satisfaction. This was the place. He sent a mental "knock" toward the ward to alert the inhabitants that there was a visitor. He was soon invited in to ask the inhabitants to change their lives at his request.
Little Harry was much more cheerful than he would have been otherwise. His relatives, while still horrible, at least hadn't hit him at all today. As a matter of fact, they had almost ignored him. And while that usually meant he was locked away, this time he actually was allowed to go out to the park.
He was contemplating the possibilities when he saw a car pull up. It was a nice car – much nicer than those normally seen in this area. The people that lived around this area were snobbish but weren't actually rich. This car was actually a rich person's car.
His eyes widened as the man who had come to his room last night got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. He opened the door and stepped back.
A girl around his own age stepped out of the car. She was clutching a stuffed animal to her chest. As the man led her over to where he was near the swings, he noticed that the girl seemed really nervous.
She wasn't one of the snobbish girls that he saw at school, but she seemed really serious and somewhat sad. They stopped a few feet away. "Hello, Harry. How have you been today?"
He answered, "It's better. The Dursleys ignored me."
"Well, that's good, right? Anyway, I want you to meet a friend. This is Hermione. Like you she lost her parents. And even though she wasn't living with mean relatives, she was living in an orphanage. It took me a little work, but I believe I have found new homes for the both of you. What do you think about that?"
Harry perked up. "Really? I won't have to live with the Dursleys anymore?"
The man smiled. "That's right." He pulled out a set of papers. "We're going to go over to Number 4 and get the Dursleys to sign these papers to make it all legal – Hermione's are in the car – but I thought that you two might want to get to know each other since you're going to be living close together soon."
Harry thought about that. He decided that even if she was a girl, any friend was better than no friend. "Hello, Hermione. I'm Harry. Would you like to play swings with me?"
The girl looked surprised for a moment. "Really? Even though I'm a girl and an orphan?" Harry noticed she sounded just like him: Scared that no one would ever like her.
He smiled hopefully. "I'm an orphan too. And even if you're a girl we can still be friends."
Hermione looked almost hopeful at that. "I'd like a friend." She moved closer and held out her stuffed animal. "This is Mr. Wilburforce, my stuffed otter."
He looked at the animal. "That is so nice. I wish I had a stuffed animal. Can I hold Mr. Wilburforce?"
She appeared to think about it and then pushed the animal closer. Harry accepted it gingerly and hugged it the same way that she had been hugging it. Amazingly, he felt much better. "This is really nice." He let the stuffed animal away from his body and presented it back to Hermione. "You take good care of him. I wouldn't want to hurt him."
She gave a little shaky smile as she accepted it back. "Thank you." She looked at the swings and then back to Harry. "Would you push me?"
Although it was tentative at first, the two young children soon were enjoying their time together. Both children were very careful about ensuring Mr. Wilburforce was placed out of harms way.
Marek smiled as he watched. He then waited until the two children were lying near each other on the grass after having run around a bit.
Seizing the moment, he wandlessly cast a powerful sleep spell and then notice-me-not and Muggle-repelling charms. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the item he had taken the time to locate: Ravenclaw's scrying glass. It wasn't an item that would have survived until the present but the Traveler had traveled back to retrieve it.
And although he was a bit anxious about leaving the piece of soul in existence, he did as he was asked and transferred the piece from Harry's forehead to the item.
It now felt a bit foul.
He could have used any random item. But in his mind it was better to leave things consistent. Tom used Founders' items and he left it in a Founders' item. His boss wanted Tom to win here – which was actually upsetting. But as a god himself he knew that there were reasons why it might be a better result.
After letting the two nap for a moment, he got them up and got them into the car.
Stopping back at Privet Drive, it took almost no effort to convince Petunia to give up custody to Mark Illums. (He thought Maarek Ilumian was a bit too odd for most muggles to believe.) He ensured Petunia had a copy of the paperwork for when Dumbledore came looking. There was absolutely no magical residue – it was a completely Muggle document.
He did use his ability to hide his activities from Petunia to return the cupboard to the way it was and the cache the scrying glass at the back of the cupboard. He extended his power to tie the monitor that had been on Harry to the item. Dumbledore may or may not find it – that was no concern of his.
Little Harry felt a bit of both relief and sadness when he left Number 4 for the last time: Relief that he would no longer be subject to their abuse, and sadness because Petunia seemed to have no concern as to where he was going – her only emotion was satisfaction that he would no longer be there.
Harry and Hermione, in the back seat, finally asked about the cage on the passenger seat.
He chuckled. "That, children, is a snowy owl and her eggs." He looked back at the children. "Both of you, now, have seen me do magic." Harry and Hermione were startled; each had thought it a secret from each other. "There is actually a whole magical world with its own government, rules, laws, customs, and even races. Wizards and Witches use owls to send letters. This beauty's children will be post owls. As a matter of fact, one of them might belong to one or both of you when you get older." The two looked much closer at the bird, who looked right back. Both seemed rather excited at the idea.
"Now, we are going to drive a bit. When we are away from prying eyes, you are going to see something totally cool."
It took a little to get far enough from the city to be in an area where no one could see. But when they got their, the Traveler said, "Okay, children. Watch this."
Both were amazed when the area in front of the car changed to a different scene as though they were going to drive into another world.
At the moment of transition, in a far off castle in one world, two names disappeared from a book as though they had never been.
In another castle in another world, the lines that had been crossed through two names disappeared. The names were shown as though they had never been removed.
When they were through, both looked back to see the portal wink out.
He looked back. "You are in a new world. I am not a typical Wizard. They can't do that. However, due to necessity, I have done this. The people you will be living with are in this world – and I think you will quite like them."
The children were wide-eyed as the car pulled into a long drive and they approached a large manor house. The drive, in fact, seemed like it was built for a carriage and not a car. At a certain point, Mark (what they had been told to call him) stopped the car and picked up the cage with the owl. He went to one of the trees and carefully levitated the nest out of the cage. The man seemed to talk to the bird and the bird seemed to listen. They watched as the nest was levitated into a nook of the tree.
He walked back. "Okay. She likes the new place. She will bring her owlets to the Manor House when they are old enough."
The two children looked at each other with wide eyes. Mark could talk to birds!
They reached the door and Mark went and opened the door for them. They nervously followed as the man went and knocked.
The door opened and the children were shocked when a small creature as tall as them answered. "Yes?"
"Hello, Tilly. I am back. And I have the children with me."
The small creature looked past Mark and right at them. The creature gasped. "It's the young master! Tilly cannot believe!"
Harry was nervous and asked, "What's that?" Hermione looked just as nervous and just as interested.
"This, children, is Tilly the house elf. Magical homes, especially wealthy ones, have house elves as servants. They get a place to live and magic and the humans get excellent service. The two couples that will be taking you in are inside and are expecting us." He turned to Tilly. "Can we come in?"
Tilly nodded enthusiastically. "Tilly welcomes you! Tilly will inform the Master and Mistress that you has arrived!" He looked at the children. "Does they wants anything to drink?"
Mark smiled. "Milk, maybe. I'm going to talk to the adults and then we'll bring them in. Okay?"
Tilly nodded and led the children to a sitting room. The house elf snapped her fingers and they were shocked to see glasses of milk now on the small table.
Tilly then popped out.