Chapter - 6 : Wrath Part - 6

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"There was a prophecy, you see, made before even her birth. It was locked away, deep below the building. Very few even knew it existed. Voldemort found out and these good people here fought him over it."

"We won," he said, but he did it with a grimace. "Unfortunately he had a backup plan. Sybill Trelawney, the Seer who made the prophecy was kidnapped while we were all engaging his Death Eaters. Thus, while it had been a secret, Voldemort now knows the prophecy. Worse, he leaked it to the press, so now everybody knows the prophecy."

Harry stared at him, open mouthed. It was surreal to hear all the pain and misery that was his life – or Iris Potter's life – summarised so succinctly and even more surreal to then have him recite facts that were wrong. That wasn't how it happened. He felt like he was dreaming and any time now the Bloody Baron would float through the wall carrying a vat of raspberry jam and start a food-fight, or something equally ridiculous.

"That is a fantastical story," he heard himself say, disbelief that this was actually happening colouring his voice, "but where do I fit in? Why am I here?" Oh, the irony.

"That little history lesson was important, because the public is clamouring for Miss Potter to resolve the situation, whereas she simply isn't ready. She is only fifteen years old. People, however, don't care. So we, the Order of the Phoenix, sought to help her."

Perhaps Dumbledore could sense his impatience, because he started talking quicker. "We recently got access to a large library with numerous never-before seen texts. One of those detailed a ritual to call for aid. After a long debate we decided to enact it. It brought us you."

Harry blinked. He opened his mouth but closed it again when he didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry, what?"

"A ritual transported you to Hogwarts. Judging by the fact that you knew me, but I don't know you and more importantly that you knew Poppy Pomfrey, who doesn't know you, the world you come from is similar to ours."

Harry's mouth hung open. "The world I come from?"

"Ah. When I used the world transported I was perhaps a tad unspecific." Dumbledore removed the glasses from his nose and absently cleaned them on his robe before putting them back on. "A dimensional rift was opened between your world and ours and the magic brought you here."

Harry's head was swimming. Dimensions? That stuff wasn't real, was it?

"Tell me, on your world, do you have a Voldemort also?"

In a daze, he shook his head. "No. I mean, we had one, but he's dead now?"

That bit of news was well received, judging by the muted cheers and excited whispering.

Dumbledore leaned forward and his eyes captured Harry's, leaving him unable to look away. "Can you tell us how?"

"Er, sure. But our worlds are different. Some of that stuff never happened back home, and we don't have a Girl-Who-Lived."

A glimpse of dismay crossed Dumbledore's face, to be replaced by steely determination. "Tell us what you can."

Harry took a deep breath. Merlin, this was surreal. Still, if he could help these people... prevent all those deaths...

"All right, it's quite a long story. How long do I have, anyway?"

Dumbledore dismissed his question with the wave of a hand. "These meetings usually last only half an hour more at most, but I'm quite sure everyone is anxious to hear anything you can tell us. Take all the time you need."

Harry chuckled. "Good to know, but that isn't what I meant. How long am I staying here? This ritual you did, how long does it last? When will it send me home?"

Nobody answered and more worryingly, people didn't meet his eyes.

"Ah, you seem to be under the mistaken impression that you'll be automatically returned after a certain timespan has elapsed," Dumbledore said cheerfully, not looking at all concerned. "You don't have to worry."

Harry felt something unclench in his chest. "Oh, so you'll have to do a separate ritual to get me home then? All right."

For a moment he thought on where he should begin his story. He didn't want it known that he was the Boy-Who-Lived and especially not the fame that came with it. Maybe he could tell it like he was a bystander? Like it had happened to someone else?

Absently his eyes flitted over the familiar faces in the room before they stilled on Mrs. Weasley who looked just like he remembered, except for the tears in her eyes.

"Mrs. Weasley," he said softly, "Molly." She almost jumped out of her seat. "Why are you crying?"

She looked at him like a deer caught in the headlights but didn't answer and Harry felt his gut tighten. Something was wrong. Very few things could make the woman look like that. Was it something he said? Voldemort's demise should be cause for celebration, right? Unless...

He narrowed his eyes. "This ritual to get me home," he said softly and watched the woman flinch. "Is there something wrong with it?"

She shook her head, but didn't meet his eyes.

"Have you looked it over."

A single head shake.

His eyes narrowed further. "Has anyone looked it over?"

No response.

He glared at Dumbledore. "Tell me about the ritual to get me home."

The old man sighed. "Dimensional travel is a rare phenomenon because it is unnatural and imprecise. It has only been successfully attempted a few times in recorded history. In every case an unfocused summoning occurred, blanketing all realities and converging on the ritual site. Unfortunately, the reverse, namely banishing, disperses from the point of the ritual site without focus as one would expect."

Harry tried to wrap his head around that, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. Moreover, he was sure Dumbledore did that on purpose. "Say that again," he growled. "In English this time."

It was Remus who answered. "The summoning brought someone from some world here. Similarly, there exists a ritual to banish you to some world. There is, however, no way to specify what world that should be."

"I'd have to rely on luck?" he asked angrily, jumping to his feet. "How many worlds are there?"

This time Remus too dropped his eyes. "Too many to count," he said softly. "Theoretically an infinite number."

Harry goggled at that. "To get home, I'd have to do that ritual again and again, without any real chance of it working?"

Dumbledore winced and Harry's head shot around to immediately focus on him.

"What else?" he growled.

The man took a deep breath and with forced calm met his eyes. "Judging by the state you arrived in, it is likely that you would not survive another trip, let alone more than one."

Harry staggered back until his knees hit the bench and he collapsed onto it.

"I can never go home?"

Nobody answered.

If you're eager to delve deeper into the story, consider joining my Patreon for exclusive content and early access to new chapters

30+Advanced Chapters there.

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

patreon.com/Kun_Blig

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