*~*~*~* 

Harry Potter and the Wastelands of Time

Chapter 16 – Till Memory Now, I Can’t Recall

Part Seven – The Gunslinger

You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,Know when to walk away and know when to run.You never count your money, when you’re sittin’ at the table.There’ll be time enough for countin’, when the dealin’s done…

~~Kenny Rogers

“Tonks,” I said, almost dropping my wand in surprise. “Um… hi there.”

“Harry,” she hissed, her glare and her wand directed right at my eyes. “It is you! Merlin, what in the world have you been up to? Do you know how many people are after your head?”

I grinned and began to laugh. “It’s damn good to see you,” I said, lowering my wand and kneeling down in front of Fleur, amongst the dry leaves. She had fallen okay, and was just simply stunned. I brushed her tussled hair back out of her face with care. “Little trigger-happy with the stunning spells, aren’t you?”

“Well, I was aiming for you,” Tonks said. “You just lit up the countryside for miles around with those portkeys!”

“That how you found me?” I asked with a nod. “Of course it is. You followed the note I gave you back on Privet Drive, didn’t you?” A little early, but then everything was changing. “You’re a little early…”

“This…” Tonks said, reaching into a pocket of her robes, her wand still trained between my eyes. She had slowly covered the distance between us, standing now only six feet away. “You really wanted me to find you?” She threw a scrunched up piece of parchment at me.

“’Potete trovarli con Janus antico, sotto i eaves di Latium perso’,” I read aloud from the note. “You can find me with Janus old, under the eaves of Latium lost… Heh, it’s been a long week since I wrote that…”

“Aye, it has,” Tonks said. “Anything you want to tell me, Harry? Anything you want to own up to? Murdering a French President, perhaps? Kidnapping Fleur Delacour? Dumbledore has the whole damn Order scouring Britain, France and the U.S. for you!”

I met Tonks’ eyes and tried to reassure her with my own, to ease her confusion. Her wand didn’t budge an inch. “It really is good to see you.” I sighed. “Okay, let’s have it out then, are you here as an Auror for the Ministry or as a member of the Order?”

Tonks pursed her lips and her eyes flared from blue to green. “Depends,” she finally said. “Did you kill Thomas Laurent?”

“No.”

“Did you kidnap Fleur Delacour?”

“No.”

“Did you set a Death Eater on fire in Diagon Alley?”

“No—wait, yes, yes, I did. Heh, forgotten about that.”

Tonks took a few tentative steps closer, kneeling down close until her wand almost touched the bridge of my nose. I did nothing to stop her, nothing to cause her alarm. The wind whistled breathlessly through the trees, the sun slowly setting beyond distant, invisible hills.

“What’s happened to you, Harry?”

Down to my right, Fleur was fresh rainfall and strawberries amongst the crunchy leaves… up to my left, Nymphadora Tonks was green apples and white roses below the trees – two conflicting scents of two very different women. It made me shudder, in a good way, where they clashed.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” I said, and the hell of it was that I was telling the truth. Death Eaters, danger, demons – even if they were new demons – were all part of my trade. Yes, sir, damn it all.

Tonks slowly lowered her wand from my face, and I did let out a slow breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. She kept lowering her wand away from me and towards Fleur. “Ennervate!” 

Fleur sat up fast with a gasp, her hand darting towards her wand and her hair flying wild about her shoulders, tussled with crushed dead leaves. “Wh—?”

I placed a firm hand on her wand arm, calmly keeping the peace. “Fleur, it’s okay, you were stunned. It was an accident.”

“’Arry… merde, who stunned—?” Her eyes fell on Tonks and Fleur regained some of her icy composure, rising to her feet and somehow making the crushed leaves sticking to her clothes into an accessory. “Bonjour…”

“Hi,” Tonks said. “I take it you’re with Harry of your own free will, Fleur? He hasn’t kidnapped you?”

I glanced at Tonks sideways. “Don’t trust me, huh?”

Fleur waved the accusations away. “Ridiculous. Of course I choose to be here with ‘Arry.”

“I only ask because someone should’ve talked some sense into him by now.” Tonks stepped in front of Fleur, kind of pushing me out of the conversation entirely. “You must know what he’s being accused of.”

“Oui, yes, I do, and I also know he did not do it. He ‘as been with me ze whole time.”

That felt nice. Score one for the good feelings.

Tonks didn’t seem to like that. “You’re of age, Fleur, you should be responsible enough to know he needs to be brought in. Running makes him look guilty!”

Fleur’s temper flared. “Oh, you theenk you know best, Mademoiselle Tonks, hmm? Of zis matter, you know very, very leetle.” Her accent was coming through thick and strong.

“Ladies, please,” I grinned, “there’s enough of me to go around.” Twin icy glares made me shut my mouth. “I’ll just… go check on the trunks.”

The trunks were fine.

Fleur and Tonks bickered away in the background, arguing back and forth over where I should be and what I should be doing. I sat down on one of the loose chests and took a few deep breaths. I had to admire Fleur for saying nothing of Atlantis, or of Chronos and what we’ve been up to. And I had to admire Tonks for trusting me more than she really should. If I was her, I’d have made sure the stunner didn’t miss a second time.

Some time passed, as relative as ever, and I watched the sun sink below the trees, relishing the cool breeze that kissed away the sweat on my forehead. It seemed to soothe the otherwise furious pain just beneath, burrowing into my skull. I had a flash of memory, of burning this forest to the ground many years ago – lifetimes ago – to flush out a pack of Death Eaters. Everything to fire, in the end, and then to dust.

“Harry, what on earth are you doing?”

Tonks. She had snuck up on me, lost in thought. I sensed Fleur standing not too far away, both of them spent in their somewhat useless argument.

I linked my hands behind my neck and gazed up at the sky through the trees. The sun was fading fast, giving way to azure twilight and the first stars of the evening. “Fleur and I are going to capture some starlight tonight, Tonks. You’re welcome to come along if—”

“Oh I’m not letting you out of my sight, Harry Potter.”

“Well…” I turned and met her eyes. “Lucky me.”

*~*~*~*

And then we were three…

*~*~*~*

“So what’s your plan, Harry?” Tonks asked. “Keep running? Was it not enough to have You Know Who after you, you had to get the French riled up, too? That’s not to mention the noise the Italians will make if they find you entered Italy via illegal portkey. Merlin, you’re in so much trouble!”

I chuckled. “The goblins are pissed at me, too, aren’t they, Fleur. I got time demons, Shambling Bone-Men, Tweedledum and Tweedledee out to cut my head off, and I’m also double-crossing Miguel Blue on the side. That’s a bad guy for every day of the week, really…”

Tonks missed a step through the woods and I put my arm out to steady her. We’d kept our wands dark to avoid unwanted attention. I suppose those portkeys hadn’t been too subtle, but time was of the essence, and I was afraid if I used the Time-Turner my brain would explode, so that left few options. I’ll have to use it eventually, I suppose…

“Miguel Blue?” Her voice was near-breathless. “The Miguel Blue. Harry, you spend most of the year cooped up in a castle in remote Scotland, how do you even know that name?”

Questions lead to questions, never to final answers, unless the final answer is death. It is for all save me – and Voldemort so long as his horcruxes remained intact. “I know people who know people, Tonks.”

Fleur had been silent for most of our trek, sticking close by on my left. She was absently levitating the dozen or so shrunken trunks through the trees. Her presence was overwhelming, to say the least. I felt like she was protecting me, should Tonks try and whisk me away back to England. Now she spoke… “Who is Miguel Blue?”

Tonks threw up her hands. “Keeping secrets, Harry?” she asked sarcastically.

Secrets? Just a few, darlin’, just a few. “He’s pretty much lord of all crime in the Northern Hemisphere,” I said to Fleur. “In both the Magical and Muggle worlds.”

“Oh.” Fleur seemed to take that in her stride, bless her. The shock that came with being around me was wearing off on her.

Tonks was still absurdly out of her depth, believing well and truly that I’d either lost my mind or that I’d put sanity on hold for the time being. She’d come round. “Where exactly are we going?” she asked, trying to peer ahead through the darkness and the settled mist curling through the trees.

“Glad you asked,” I said. I’d been preparing for this. “We’re currently in the Latium Preapennines, several miles up and to the right of the Tiber River which flows on down to the west coast of Italy. We’re on the border of two groups of volcanic mountains – the Cimini and Sabatini – heading towards the crater of the Sabatini, which is home to the lake, Bracciano.” I paused to breathe. “There’s a Muggle town on that lake, and a medieval castle, but it’s the many empty villas along the lake we’re interested in. They’ll be our home for the next week as I prepare.”

Tonks was shaking her head. “Prepare for what?” she asked, clearly dreading the answer.

I glanced at Fleur and we shared a smile, a smile that spoke of the last few days and the hardships that had sealed our friendship, despite the many omissions I’d had to make about the truth and depth of my knowledge and power. A smile that spoke of truths to be shared.

“Why, for Atlantis,” she said to Tonks.

And it was good to have her fall silent for a few minutes as we ascended through the thinning trees, the night still young and the days ahead drastically becoming too few…

Before long we escaped the forest, three silent figures moving through a silent night, atop a ridge that descended into darkness spotted with the bright lights of the Muggle town. Lake Bracciano was a dark expanse of flat water, reflecting the millions of stars overhead with near-perfect clarity. This place made the world seem big, huge, when really it was very, very small, and ultimately doomed.

“Not this time,” I whispered. “This time is my time.” If either of my two companions heard me they said nothing.

We descended from the ridge into the volcanic crater – the three of us and four silent stacks of supplies trailing in our wake.

Tonks could be silent no longer. “Why did you give me that note, Harry?” she asked. “Why did you want me to find you?”

“Oui, why, ‘Arry?” Fleur asked. I think Fleur preferred it when it was just us.

Did I? No… I cared for them both. My memories were split with years spent with either woman, with both women. I cared for them both.

“I wanted you along for the ride,” I said, keeping a firm footing on the grassy embankment. “And I’m hoping you’ll help me take down a few Death Eaters, and stop Voldemort from gaining more power.”

That brought her up short. “What do you mean? You can’t honestly be serious about Atlantis – it’s a myth, Harry, a fairytale.”

Here we go again… Fleur had come to trust me on this, and I knew in a day or two Tonks would as well, but it rankled having to start from the beginning again and again.

“Alright,” I said. “But I’ll prove it to you before the week’s out – if you stick around, that is.” She would. “And if you don’t bring Dumbledore and the Order down on us for the next few days…”

“I’m sorely tempted, Harry,” she said, and in the darkness I watched her hair shimmer from brazened purple to bubblegum pink, and back again – a sign that she was frustrated, angry. “It’s too dangerous right now for you to be on your own like this…”

“You only found me because I told you where I was going to be,” I pointed out. “And I can fend for myself, for the most part. Only been stabbed once this week… and burnt a few times. Anyways, don’t you feel that marvellous sense of adventure in the air? The game is afoot, you know.”

Tonks came to stand next to me, close enough to rest a hand on my shoulder. “You sound all kinds of crazy, Harry.”

“Oui, I agree,” Fleur said. Her beauty was softly glowing in the pale moonlight from on high. She was grinning. “But he iz ze right kind of crazy, Mademoiselle Tonks.”

“Why are you, of all people, going along with this?” Tonks asked, spinning to face Fleur. She was shorter than the French witch, but both women could stare down a freight train as if they were a hundred feet high.

Ooh… strong women, they gave me the shivers.

“Because I believe, as ‘Arry does, zat what we are doing will aid in ze war against the Dark Lord. I was attacked earlier zis week, in your Diagon Alley, ‘Arry saved me. I owe him some measure of trust for zat alone, and for ze many other things he ‘as done for me zis week.”

I very nearly blushed at that. Fleur was making me out to be some sort of hero.

“Give me until tomorrow lunch time,” I said to Tonks, running a hand back through my hair. “I’ll show you both something that will prove my whole ‘Voldemort is seeking the power of Atlantis’ nonsense. Something pretty cool, actually.” I grinned. “But no messaging Dumbledore before then – agreed?”

Tonks hesitated – torn between loyalty to the Order, to the Ministry, and wanting to stop me from taking off and leaving her behind. She couldn’t know I wouldn’t do that, but if push came to shove I would have to avoid Dumbledore and all the rest. I simply couldn’t juggle goblins, and Aurors, hit-wizards and assassins, not to mention my new demon stalkers, and still stop Voldemort from making his fucking stupid play on the Old World.

Damn it all.

“You have to promise me,” Tonks said. “That you won’t go running off, Harry Potter. You’re in enough trouble as it is. I don’t want to face Dumbledore if I lose you again on my watch. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” I said, tilting my head to regard both Tonks and Fleur, standing side by side, in the darkness. “Definitely agreed.”

“Right then,” Tonks said. “Now where’s this villa we’re following you blindly to? Can we Apparate from here? I’ll side-along you if you point me in the right direction.”

“Oui, eet iz getting late, ‘Arry, and you promised me starlight tonight.”

“That I did. It’s not far now, we’re nearly to the edge of the lake. Five minutes.” I’d done this before – usually on my own – and I knew which villas would be empty, which were the most isolated. It felt like cheating, somehow, having all this foreknowledge. I suppose it was cheating… I wonder how long before Fleur or Tonks, mostly Fleur, called me on all my bullshit. “Not long now…” I said. “Oh, and I can Apparate, Tonks, surprise! But thanks for the offer…”

Tonks just scoffed, and I may have caught her smiling in the faint light of the moon. No doubt she was wondering just what other laws I’d broken in the past week. Honestly, I couldn’t remember half the shit I’d done.

My head hurt too much to think too hard, and all my godforsaken, ill-gotten, memories had yet to sort themselves into anything resembling an ordered linear fashion. I knew what time it was, I always knew that, but the days all seemed to be rolling into one… the fights and the struggles.

I was tired. Tired of the fire and the dust.

At least Tonks was here now. Nymphadora Tonks. One memory that didn’t burn away was that of having sex with her in the ruins of Hogwarts… I wanted that again. Without the ruins, and with Fleur, as well.

I wanted a lot of things.

I wanted Voldemort dead and dead for good.

I wanted my headache to stop, for the pain to go away.

I wanted to rest.

I wanted it all to stop.

There was a time and a place for all that was happening, and for me that time belonged to the past. It was over – I’d lost, the world descended into chaos – and yet here I was, back to the start. The Dream all over again, as lucid as reality, as imaginary as time.

I wanted all my enemies annihilated beyond this word, their bodies broken and their will shattered. I wanted blood, and violence, and vengeful justice. I deserved these things, after all that had been sacrificed. After all that I’d sacrificed.

Well, and damn it all.

I guess even the fire and the dust have their place…

The shore of the lake was strewn with pebbles and fertile volcanic soil. We were still submerged in darkness, three figures darting across the night, yet there were dogs barking in the distance, across the lake in the Muggle town, and lights were on over there and up in the impressive medieval castle, along the fortifications and amongst the many windows.

We passed several villas, yet they were all a little too close for comfort. I remembered one in particular that was empty, along the upcoming bend in the lake, and recalled that there was nothing beyond it save the steady rise out of the crater and into the Cimini Mountains.

Perfect.

The marble bricks of the villa seemed to glow as pale as limestone and chalk in the moonlight, as Tonks and Fleur followed me up a set of worn steps to the heavy wooden door. A simple unlocking charm granted us entry and I stepped in as if I owned the place – which for the next week I did.

I slung my tattered briefcase down by the door and hit the light switch. Nothing happened. Of course the power wasn’t on. A fine layer of dust and stale air greeted us on the long hallway, adorned with brass fittings and motionless paintings. No one had been here in a while.

“Right then,” I said. With just a thought I lit the end of my wand. The bright light was hard to look at for a few moments after spending the best part of an hour in darkness. “We should get settled in, ladies. That looks like the kitchen down there… we’ll have to get some food from the town in the morning.” My stomach grumbled. “Some beer and whiskey, too.”

“You’re too young for that,” Tonks said, her own wand held before her as she swept into the living room, nearly tripping over the loose corner of a plush rug. “We’ve no right to be here, Harry,” she called over her shoulder. “But since we’ve no better option and you won’t listen to reason, I’ll check the perimeter and lay a few Muggle repelling charm—”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” I said. “Those spells are too easy to recognise. I’ve got something better that’ll do the same job.”

“What?”

“Magical, mystical ancient runes and ward platforms. It’ll take me a few hours, but then, we’ve got a few hours, so sit tight. Help us unpack these dragon’s fire crystals to get some light and heat in here.”

Tonks was leaning against a sofa under a clear tarp in the living room. She was watching me with a scrutiny I found oddly pleasing. “Dragon’s fire, Harry, really?”

“They’re in… Fleur, which trunk are they in?”

“Zis one,” Fleur said, levitating one of the four stacks she had placed just inside the door over into the living room. “Second from ze top.”

“Alright then, you two do that and I’ll start sketching some ward runes.”

I enjoyed making ward runes. Almost as much as I enjoyed using destructive runes, like Az-reth yesterday against Chronos. There’s something satisfying about crafting a glyph of just the right depth and clarity that it takes on a life of its own, fuelled by some unknown tap driven into the source of all magic.

It was relaxing, I suppose, and required so much concentration that I didn’t focus too much on other things, like memories of the harm I’ve done, deaths I’ve died, and of days to come. Those memories left me feeling too maudlin and reflective – vulnerable. I had to be as hard as steel, as diamond, harder even.

Or else game over.

The smooth sculpted marble the two-storey villa was constructed out of would serve as a perfect conduit for the runes, and I decided (as I have before) to carve them into the house itself, outside. It was easy work, under the heavens, as I had done this many times, in many different places, across many different lives.

I didn’t really even have to think about it. My wand tip was burning with that same thin needle of fire I’d used to carve runes yesterday, cutting the stone like butter in swift curves and sharp, cruel lines.

“Na’nife,” I whispered the names of the runes. “For protection against dark intent.”

It was almost too easy.

“Grén’yil.” A rune to repel those without the spark of magic. A much more powerful charm than what Tonks had been planning on.

I made the villa stronger, sturdier, with a reinforcement rune – Dre’am’an – and on the four corners of the property, including the front stretching down to the lake, I drew special runes of shielding – there would need to be a fifth in the centre of the house to create a magical shield similar to Protego, invisible until struck by spellfire.

One hour faded into another and I circled the property several times, twice with Tonks and once with Fleur, coming out to check on me. They watched silently as I melted runes into the marble and stone. None of them were glowing, but in the pale light they did shine as brightly as tarnished silver. Once I activated the lot of them they would glow, fading from electric blue to bruised purple. I’d tried to place them in inconspicuous places for just that reason.

“And… Ul’renon’ix,” I said with some satisfaction, placing the last exterior rune – designed to, as a last resort, detonate and wipe out the villa in a cloud of hellish green and black fire. I couldn’t recall ever having to activate the self-destruct, but better safe than sorry, as they say. Heh.

Back in the house I placed the single interior rune at the top of the stairs and watched as a dome shield, shining faintly blue, extended outwards around the property down to the edge of the lake. It lit up the night for only a few seconds, and then became invisible – a single barrier of protection.

Activating all the runes around the property was a simple enough procedure. The runes were linked to my wand, to my magic, and I uttered their names one by one, as if casting a spell, and one by one I felt the protections come online. Each one drained me of a little energy, until I was washed with fatigue and wanting to go to bed.

That was one of the drawbacks of using old runes like these – they took the caster’s strength, and sometimes even blood.

We were safe as could be, except there was still one job to do this night. And at least this time it should be a little safer, a little easier to do, seeing as how I was sober.

Fleur and Tonks were in the front room, speaking quietly in the warm light emanating from a dragon’s fire crystal, shaped like an icicle with a flat base and dull point. They’d removed the cover from one of the sofas, but all the other furniture and the Muggle appliances remained untouched.

“All done,” I said. “Not quite as warded up as Hogwarts, but good enough.”

“Yeah we felt them, Harry,” Tonks said as Fleur nodded. “I can only guess at what half of them do. Anything we should watch out for?”

“Yeah on the back of the house,” I waved in the general direction, “near the water heater is a rune glowing green and black. Green and black, okay, don’t touch it.”

Tonks nodded. “Why?”

“You’ll explode us all,” I said. “Now, hows about we catch some starlight so we can get off to bed, hmm?” I glanced around the room. There was a fancy china cabinet on one of the walls, and within I could see three or four glass flower vases – that’d do. “Grab one of these each,” I said, charming the lock on the cabinet open and taking two of the four. “And follow me…”

Outside it was getting on for midnight, the moon was high in the sky and surrounded by a trillion million stars, bursts of galactic cloud clearly visible in the background of the dark curtain overhead. There were no clouds, nothing to impede the travel of the distant lights… A perfect night for what we had to do.

The low wall of marble-limestone at the top of the stairs and before the door was where I placed my two vases. Fleur and Tonks did the same and with a quick “Aquamenti!” I filled each vase about a quarter full with clear water, to catch the light and keep it fluid and cool – so I didn’t explode us all.

A lot of the stuff in my life had the potential to explode.

“Okay, this’ll take about half an hour,” I said. “Sil-othrinum!” A bead of super-heated blue light formed that useful cutting needle at my wand tip.

“What will?”

“Few more runes,” I said. “These vases need to be reinforced and turned into vessels to catch the starlight.” I worked as I talked, carving tiny runes from my memory. I worked faster than I had the other night, when my mind had been in a hazy mess of Fleur in a black dress and several double shots of bourbon.

“You actually mean starlight?” Tonks asked.

“Oui, he does,” Fleur said. She had alighted softly onto the edge of the wall, dangling her legs over the edge, and staring out at the dark lake. “Atlantis is here, isn’t eet, ‘Arry?” she whispered.

I almost slipped carving a rune that would’ve melted a hole nearly a mile deep through solid rock if I had. “What makes you say that?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

“Zis place feels old,” Fleur replied. “Very old.”

“Aye,” I said. “We’re under the eaves of Latium lost… Magic was born in these hills. The first wands and staffs were crafted here, the first spells were written here, cast here… I’ve always thought it feels nice,” I finished softly. “Like coming home.”

“You’ve been here before?” Tonks asked, leaning against the wall on my right, a single eyebrow raised. “Here I was thinking you’d never been out of the U.K.”

“I get around.” The vessels were nearly there. I had purposely left the last rune off each vase in order to make sure they started collecting all at once. It would be more impressive that way. “There’s a lot you guys don’t know about me. Heh.”

“Zat I do not doubt,” Fleur said dryly.

The runes had cooled and now appeared as if they were crystallised within the thickness of the glass vases. I added the last glyph, a small activation and regulation lesser rune, and the glass became unnaturally clear – crystal clear.

“There we go. This is an old process, too, one that no one else can do but me.”  It started slowly, small sparks of light appearing in the water at the bottom of each vase. “I could make a killing marketing this stuff… unfortunately it’s pretty unstable.”

“What’s that sound?” Tonks asked, her voice barely a whisper.

“That’s the stars,” I said. “The stars singing.” It was like the chiming of a bell, almost below hearing, like pipes or soft piano keys stolen on the wind. Pure silver light burst to life in tiny, tiny sparks in the water, dancing and swirling.

“You do not disappoint, ‘Arry,” Fleur said, and linked her hand in mine with a soft smile. “I can see ze misty trail up to the sky.”

A wisp of white smoke, silvery-white, drifted down from on high and flowed into the vases, brining with it those tiny silver dots of energy. Sparks that brightened and dimmed on the whim of passing time.

Holding Fleur’s hand my pulse rate jumped, but I remained calm, enjoying her presence and her closeness. I returned her smile with weary eyes, wanting to tell her so much, both her and Tonks, about the years I’d lived and the time we’d spent together. There were no words for that.

It was mostly a horror story anyway…

*~*~*~*

On the whim of passing time.

As do we all.

*~*~*~*

I awoke without there being any fuss during the night, demonic or otherwise. The ward platform lay undisturbed, and the dusty villa was silent as spears of the day’s first light cut in through the windows. I yawned and rolled over on the sofa, wanting a painkiller for my headache and three or four days more rest…

But there was no rest for the wicked, as the saying goes.

Turns out the fancy Italian villa only had two beds. Might’ve been my subconscious hoping for the best when I’d chosen this place. We’d called it a night just after one, the starlight vases doing their work, and discovered the old mahogany bed frames upstairs. A bit of magic had cleaned them right up, fluffed the pillows – at least Fleur had given me one of those for the night.

She’d taken the master bedroom, with the queen-sized bed. I’d innocently suggested that there was more than enough room for two in there, to which I’d received an enigmatic smile, a kiss on the cheek, and a brief ‘Goodnight, ‘Arry,’ before the door was closed in my face.

Tonks had wanted to stay up on watch, to make sure I didn’t abscond into the night, but in the end tiredness won out. She had been searching for me for nearly three days, with little rest. That was partly my fault, I suppose, disappearing on her watch at Privet Drive. Okay, entirely my fault.

No matter.

The morning air was brisk and a touch chilly outside. The four vases of starlight were full to the three-quarter mark, glowing ever so faintly. At night they would blaze as bright as, well, as the stars. I had several litres of the stuff now, but it mightn’t be enough. More to make tonight then.

I melted and fused the vases shut, firing the glass and containing the magical ingredient. I made sure to cast a few extra reinforcement charms on the damn things. If one of the vases cracked at night, with enough force to shatter, it’d blow a sizeable chunk out of the crater we were in, a fireball as hot as the sun would sweep through the town across the way, and probably boil all the water in the lake.

“Good morning, Harry.”

“Hey, Tonks,” I said, carrying the vases inside one by one and placing them into one of the empty trunks. I added a few cushioning charms just to be on the safe side. “Cool hair.”

“Thanks,” she said, stifling a yawn. Dressed in a shirt and jeans, no Auror robes this morning – I took that as a good sign – Tonks stepped lightly down the stairs, being careful not to trip over the mounds of trunks at their base. Her hair was short and spiky, electric green and getting longer. “Yours is all scruffy lookin’. What’s for breakfast?”

“I’ve prepared French toast and fluffy pancakes with traditional maple syrup and a platter of fresh fruit.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“You always this funny?”

I took a bow, sensing the sarcasm. “I try to keep my witty banter fresh for when I cross wands with Voldemort. He’s got his whole ‘evil cloud of disbelief’ at my arrogance going on and is all like ‘Potter, how dare you defy me!’’ and I’ll respond with something snappy like ‘Didn’t have anything better to do, Tommy-boy’ and that’ll enrage him so much that he’ll reveal his evil plan and I can save the day.’

Tonks snorted laughter. “How can you be so blasé about that? He really does want you dead. The most powerful dark wizard ever and he’s after you… it scares me just thinking about it.”

I shrugged. “You’d be surprised what you can get used to…”

“Is that really why you’re doing all of this? Whatever all of this is?” Tonks asked. “You’re fighting him, fighting… Voldemort?”

“Yes,” I said. “Simply yes. If for no other reason than he’s taken far too much from me. Call it justice, personal vengeance… my parents, Cedric Diggory, and Sirius just to name a few. Forget all this crap you read about me being some supposed ‘Chosen One’, if actively fighting makes me some sort of prophesised hero, then so be it, more power to me – it still doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to cut off Voldemort’s fucking head.” I paused. “Sometimes… some people… well, they just need killing.”

Tonks’ hair had faded at the mention of Sirius to a simple brunette ponytail, and her eyes were oddly normal looking. She was still beautiful as normal, but I hated seeing her sad.

“You’ve grown up a lot since the Department of Mysteries,” she said, tucking a loose strand of hair back behind her ear. “I miss him, too, you know.”

I nodded. In my mind, despite all the fiery years, Sirius Black still remained the closest thing I’d ever had to a father. His death had been so unfair… and the only justice it could see would have to be of my own making. “Of course I know. Stick around, Tonks, and you may get a shot at Bellatrix Lestrange for what she did.”

Tonks sighed and let a moment pass. “Well, it’s too early in the day for talk like this, and you still have to show me why I shouldn’t drag you back by your ear to Dumbledore and have this whole mess sorted out.”

“Heh, by lunch time, I promise.” My stomach grumbled. We’d skipped dinner last night, and there was a town full of fine Italian breakfast just across the lake. I was thinking pizza bread with a whole lot of garlic, and a flagon of apple juice. “Do you want to come and get breakfast with me?”

Tonks shrugged. “I prefer a shower first thing, but the water isn’t working upstairs, I was going to go see if I could switch it on, actually.”

“Fine, anything in particular you want bringing back?” I picked up my briefcase and shrugged on my suit jacket from a supply trunk. I had a fair amount of Italian currency in the briefcase – always planning ahead, from Day One.

“Food – lots of it – and maple syrup, you liar.” Tonks hesitated. “I can trust you’re coming back, can’t I?”

I chuckled. “Here, you can hang onto this for me.” I unbuttoned my collar and slipped the Time-Turner from around my neck, tossing it over to Tonks. “You know what that is?”

“Merlin, Harry, this is a restricted device—”

“Yeah, you know what that is. I’ll be back for it in half an hour, forty minutes tops, okay. No time-travelling while I’m gone, only I can do that.” I laughed on my way out the door, thinking that a fine joke.

I was funny, damn it.

The town across the lake, Bracciano, was just waking up as I Apparated to its outer limits and strolled in amongst the narrow roads and cobblestone streets. There was little traffic, as there were no roads in or out of the town – it was serviced by a single railway line that descended off down the Tiber all the way to Rome, about an hour away.

The markets along the high street were already set up and doing a brisk trade, even at this early hour, and I perused the fresh food and cold meats, the dew-soaked fruits and the vegetables so fat and healthy that they looked strange. Food grew simply better in the fertile soil of Latium, helped along by more than a little magic flowing in the veins of the land here.

I didn’t bother bartering the prices, as I had cash to burn in this last week amongst the world of the living. In nine days, if all went to plan, then I’d be forcing a gate through to the realm that held Atlantis… there’d be no need for money there, none at all.

The Muggle townsfolk were helpful and friendly, suffering my English-tainted Italian with good humour and identifying me as a tourist, which I suppose I kind of was. I wasn’t worried about being recognised, as that had never happened before, but I still kept my head down, smiling at the pretty girls as I filled a produce box with fresh food.

I spent about half an hour in that friendly atmosphere, soaking up the good vibes, and even managed to pick up a bottle of aspirin for the pain I was in, and a pack of fine Italian cigars – I had to flash some fake ID, my passport – for later.

With a box full of food for both breakfast and lunch slung over my shoulder, I ducked down a side alley and Apparated back across the lake to just outside of the ward platform around the villa. I hadn’t had the time or the energy to program the wards to recognise any particular magical signature – I would after breakfast – and didn’t want the damn things to unleash my own fury against me.

Inside, Fleur and Tonks were busy in the kitchen, dusting down bench tops and clearing protective covers off the appliances.

“Good morning,” I said to Fleur.

The two of them had towel-dried hair and smelt fresh out of the shower. Soapy and clean. I had a brief image of Fleur and Tonks sharing a shower, a thought that made me very happy. Very, very happy. I wanted to stay with that thought, see where it went, somewhere nice and warm, I’d say—

“Bonjour, ‘Arry,” Fleur replied. “How are you today?”

My head was killing me, my stitches were itching like mad, and I was still pretty damn tired. “All good – just got breakfast here.” I sat the produce box down on the green marble counter. “See you got the water working.”

“Yep,” Tonks said. “Just flicked the switch to ‘on’ and stood back. I didn’t want to turn on the power, in case it interfered with your ward setup.”

“Good thinking,” I said. “The power’s not connected anyway. No one’s been here in awhile.”

Tonks nodded, her eyes curious. She wanted to know how I knew that. “There’s a coffee plunger here, please tell me you—”

I tossed a bag of roasted beans across the bench. “Here you go. There’s fresh milk, too.” God help me if I’d forgotten the coffee.

“Maple syrup?”

“Of course.” Never one to disappoint, that’s me. “We’re gonna have to put this food on ice to keep it healthy. One of the trunks will do.”

A steady silence descended over the kitchen. I sensed unspoken questions, unspoken concerns. The dust dancing in the early sunlight distracted me—

“’Arry, I need to talk to you,” Fleur said at the same moment as Tonks said, “We need to talk, Harry.”

I nodded, expecting as much. “After breakfast.” I offered them both a smile that was supposed to be reassuring. “Few things that can’t wait till after breakfast. Now, somehow we have to jerry-rig that stove to light without electricity, otherwise the maple syrup is all for naught…”

Breakfast took the best part of an hour that morning. Yet it was an hour I had to spare, so to speak. Right now the quest to Atlantis was waiting for certain pieces to fall into place. Jason Arnair had to fly-in from the United States, the gateway had to be prepared, and supplies gathered… Plenty of time that would all come down to the last minute, as it always did. I was praying for no demonic interference, but that felt like too much to hope for.

After breakfast I showered and slipped on one of my clean fancy suits. I like to cut an impressive figure, mixed with a healthy application of blessed madness, as it kept my enemies guessing. I looked rough in the bathroom mirror, bags under my eyes and my scruffy hair hanging somewhat lank and lacklustre. No matter.

I wasn’t here to look pretty.

Fleur caught me heading down the carpeted stairs back towards the kitchen. She had been waiting for me, to talk, to beat Tonks to the punch, no doubt.

“You look older in those suits,” she said. “You can make me smile. Don’t you ever change, ‘Arry.”

“Too stubborn for change,” I replied. I stood a few stairs above her, looking down at the top of her platinum-blonde hair and into those perfect discerning eyes. I took a seat on the stairs and patted the space next to me, inviting Fleur to do the same. “What did you want to talk about?”

The French witch took a seat and took a deep breath. “I want to go to Rome at some point today. Eet iz just down the river, non? I need to owl my family, my father, and let them know I ‘ave not been kidnapped by a crazed assassin.” It was said in jest, but her tone belied the worry she felt.

“Sure,” I said. No problem there. I’d been expecting as much, actually. In the past, the other pasts I’d lived, there had been none of this president-assassination crap, but Fleur had absconded with me more than once. Better her family not worry, although with the escalated circumstances this time an owl may only serve to agitate them further… “We can go together tonight, if that’s okay. You’re more than welcome to go now, even, but I’d rather be with you in case... well, just in case.”

Fleur thought about that. “Chronos,” she said, and surprisingly took my hand once more, there on the stairs, placing it between both of hers. “His promise to kill me.”

“There’s something we have to do here today, for Tonks, so she doesn’t feel obliged to run to Albus Dumbledore. That’ll create more problems than I can deal with.” My hand felt good between Fleur’s. It felt soft, reassuring I think both to myself and to her. “People will die if that happens, they just will. So is it okay if we hold off on Rome until this evening?”

“Of course. Whatever you think iz best, ‘Arry, as more so everyday I ‘ave to trust zat you know what you are doing.”

I laughed. “I do know what I’m doing. We have to go to Rome, anyway, for supplies and such, might as well do as much as we can in one trip. Have you ever been to the Via Magicka?” I knew she had, years ago.

“Oui. Some years ago now.” She squeezed my hand. “That will be perfect. Thank you, ‘Arry.”

“No, no… thank you, Fleur,” I said, and meant it completely with what little soul I had. “This whole mess wouldn’t be half as much fun if I didn’t have you along with me.”

She giggled. “What girl could say no to a real ‘Arry Potter adventure, hmm?”

“Oh, be careful what you wish for…” I laughed softly. Because lots of people are going to die.

We remained seated on the stairs like that for a few more minutes, chatting idly about mostly nothing and neither Fleur or myself making any move to release our linked hands. That close contact… it felt like friendship, a friendship hastily bonded near-unbreakable by the trials of the last week, but there was a spark of something more. Of course there was.

There always had been, time after time after time… after time.

It was 09:57 and thirty-eight seconds.

“Can I have a word, Harry?” Tonks said, appearing at the foot of the stairs. “In the living room?”

Fleur let go of my hand and tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear with a soft, even sad, smile. “Off you go, hero.”

I took the stairs two at a time and dodged the trunks at the bottom, heading into the front room. The dragon’s fire crystals stood lifeless on the coffee table from the previous evening, and I joined Tonks on the uncovered sofa, knowing full well what conversation was coming.

“You want to go to Dumbledore,” I said, before she could say a word. I didn’t say it with any heat or any real inflection at all.

Tonks blinked, her eyes flowing from brown to blue. “You’ve put me in a difficult position, Harry,” she said.

I had a flash of memory, of that moment at the end of the world, in the ruins of Hogwarts. Pulling my mind out of the gutter, I said, “Yes, I know.”

“Despite whatever you want to show me today – proof of Atlantis or otherwise – you really shouldn’t be running around like this, not with everything that’s happened, is happening.” Tonks took a breath. “We have no idea where You Know Who is—”

“Voldemort,” I said. “Say Voldemort. And he’s already reached Atlantis, that’s why Death Eater activity has been pretty much nada these last two weeks.”

“What? How do you even know that?” Tonks didn’t believe me.

I tapped my infamous scar. “He and I are connected, would you believe. I see his mind… he sees mine.” Well, not exactly true – not yet. That was to come, and it would hurt like all hell.

Tonks paled. “Are you serious? Does Dumbledore know? That can’t be good magic, Harry.”

“No it’s not – it’s what happens when you get hit with a Killing Curse and bitch-slapped with a horcrux all at once, mixed in with some touchy-feely crap about a mother’s sacrifice.” I’d lost her on that, of course I had. “Dumbledore could explain it better. Long story short Voldemort and I sometimes end up sharing a mind.”

“That’s… that’s awful.” She shuddered, her hair changing to an involuntary shade of spiky snow-white. “How do you know he’s not putting thoughts in your head? Like this nonsense about Atlantis – a bedtime story, Harry.”

“He’s not doing that.” Yet.

“But—”

“I won’t let him do that, Tonks. It works both ways, and I’m more aware of the connection than he is.”

The metamorphmagus next to me pursed her lips in thought. I tilted my head and thought about kissing her, about the days to come and the choices to be made. What did I have to lose? A whole lot, all things considered.

“I still really think we should go to Dumbledore, Harry, and I mean today – right now.”

I waved that away. “Dumbledore is not infallible,” I said. “In fact he’s dying, Tonks, he won’t see out the school year.” I felt a pang at that, of regret. For all I could do, the leagues I could travel through time and the worlds I could unlock… there was no cure for that dark curse caught in the old man’s frail hand. “Score one for fucking Voldemort.”

My words, of course, threw Tonks further off balance. Which was what I was trying to do – to keep her confused enough about what choice to make that she’d give me time to show her that the secret world exists, that the gateway to Atlantis rested not far from the front door of this house.

“What’s a-a horcrux?” she asked, somewhat faintly. “You said that—”

“Yeah… It’s a piece of a torn soul, created through an act of murder and dark ritual. It’s a way of cheating death, Tonks, and I can’t say more than that until you’re on my side.” I crossed my arms and met her eyes. “I want you to come with me, to Atlantis, like I said last night.”

“Why do you want that?” she asked, trying very hard to absorb and understand everything I was throwing at her.

“A skilled Auror watching my back?” I said. “Why wouldn’t I want that?”

“So you want me to abandon both the Ministry and the Order to go on some impossible quest for the lost city of Atlantis?” She laughed. “Do you know how insane that sounds?”

“Beautifully so,” I agreed. “And yeah, that’s basically what I want, but try and think of it as keeping an eye on me for the Order – that’s part of the job, isn’t it?”

“Oh you’re not getting out of my sight, Harry, Time-Turner or no Time-Turner.” From within the pocket of her jeans Tonks retrieved and returned to me the sparkling silvery hourglass.

I slipped the chain back over my head and under my shirt. “Thanks.” It felt good to have the device back, even though using it was surely killing me. I didn’t feel complete without the damn thing. Time-travel could be addicting, as addicting as booze and cigarettes.

“You’re asking a lot of me, Harry.”

“I know.” I nodded. “And I know you kind of just received the really abridged version of events, most of it probably not making much sense. If, after what I have to show you today, you decide to come with me, I promise we’ll sit down – you, me, and Fleur – and I’ll explain everything as best I can.”

Tonks nodded. “What’s Fleur Delacour got to do with all of this, by the way?”

I shrugged. She had everything to do with this, to do with me, as do you, Tonks. “Death Eaters tried to kill her in Diagon Alley, and there’s… another man, who wants to kill her, as well. I intend to stop that from happening. Violently.” Chronos could be hurt, he could bleed, therefore he could die. “Also, she wants to see Atlantis, too. If you can’t trust me at the moment then you can trust her, okay.”

“We’ll see about trust after lunch,” Tonks said. “That’s your deadline, Harry Potter.”

I grinned. “That’s okay, I’m good at working to a timeframe.”

*~*~*~*

You don’t fuck around with the infinite.

I can’t remember who told me that.

*~*~*~*

A little before eleven that morning, I led Fleur and Tonks down to the edge of the lake, picking up a few pebbles off the grassy shoreline, and skimming them across the calm, gently lapping surface.

“So we have to go for a swim,” I said. “Right down to the bottom of the lake and into a secret cave.”

“Are you serious?” Tonks asked. “Merlin, you are serious.”

“Afraid so.”

“Zis seems very familiar,” Fleur said with a small smile. “Iz zere a dragon to fight also, ‘Arry?”

“Nope. Not yet.” I placed my wand against my temple and cast the Bubble-Head charm, enclosing my head within a bubble of breathable air. ‘No kidding, we’re going in the lake.”

Fleur hesitated only a moment before performing the same charm. Tonks didn’t make a move. “How are you doing magic without getting called up on it, Harry?” she asked.

I held up my index finger, the shiny golden band of the Atlantean ring, the Ring of Concealment, caught the sun. “Magic ring that I got off the goblins – it’s from Atlantis, you know.”

“Of course it is.” Tonks sighed and then shrugged, casting her own Bubble-Head charm. “This better not be some poor joke.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not.”

I shrugged out of my suit jacket, wand in hand, and waded into the shallows. The water was cool but not cold – and it was clean, very clean and fresh. That was Latium. Back on the shore both Tonks and Fleur were removing their shoes and unnecessary clothing.

“Keep the shoes,” I said. “It’ll be rocky where we’re going.”

I think, after all the years, there must be something in my voice that lets those that want to believe me, to believe in me, trust me just far enough to do as I ask. This whole situation must have seemed insane to Tonks, and even still to Fleur, who was taking a lot on faith, and yet they joined me in the shallows regardless…

Ready to swim down into dark, unknown depths, chasing a fairytale.

This swimming adventure would be necessary only once to access the Gates of Atlantis. I had memories of struggling and dying trying to find this entrance under the lake, here in the volcanic crater of the Sebanti Mountains, in ancient Latium. The man who had left the map to Atlantis all those millennia ago… Janus himself… he’d hidden the clues well, too well.

I’d died more than once following them.

But no more. Atlantis was mine, this time was mine. I’d not be thwarted again.

“Okay,” I said. “You’ll have to follow me down and stay close. If we get separated just head for the surface. We’ll be swimming down about eighty feet, and heading into an underwater cavern. It’ll be dark, so wands at the ready with a little bit of light.”

“How do you know about this, Harry?” Tonks asked.

“This is straight out of a manuscript that Dumbledore helped me retrieve in Rome a few days ago.” Well, kind of, I’d ditched him at the heart of the Magnus Fontis and portkeyed on over into Mt. Everest. “There’s a cavern down here that leads back under the crater and up into that peak behind us. In there we should find a cathedral-like hall, filled with sparkling waterfalls and deep drops into a dark abyss… oh, and a monolithic structure of magical origin that’s the oldest man-made object on the planet.”

Tonks held my gaze. “You really believe this, don’t you?”

Fleur giggled. “Oui, he does, and I would not bet against him, Mademoiselle Tonks.”

Fleur’s support felt warm and fuzzy.

“Follow me.”

I dived into the deep end, wand clutched tight before me, completely submerged and heading down into the inky depths. I trusted my memories to guide me, even as I called forth light from my wand to help show the way.

I hadn’t been lying when I said I knew the way from the knowledge contained in the Voynich Manuscript. It was, and had only ever been, the one document that contained the information that Janus, the last Atlantean to survive the end of the Old World, had left for those that followed. I needed Jason Arnair, his amazing mind, to translate the rest, even though I’ve read it before, as it changes.

I can’t really explain it better than that. The manuscript, written near on ten millennia ago, changes. The only constant is this underwater entrance to the Gates… after that, it’s up to time. And since time is never set, since there is no such thing as certain, the manuscript – linked inexorably to Atlantis, which was where Time was born – is in a state of constant flux.

It doesn’t make much sense to me. I only knew to follow my nose and hope for the best.

Memory served without much concern down to the bottom of the lake, and I forced myself through the water with care, swimming through and over crags in the break of the lakebed. I kept a lookout over my shoulder for Tonks and Fleur, the two beams of light from their wands reassuring in the otherwise dark and wet world.

The cavern had been made to look like a natural rock formation, and unless you knew what you were looking for you’d never see it against the rocky and reedy lake floor. Yet there was one tell, and as I swam down even deeper into a wide crevasse, tiny glittering runes – powerless, dead – yet unfaded were carved into the rock.

A dark and ominous tract opened up before me, crusted with centuries of silt and sand, about as inviting as the maw of some long forgotten oceanic beast.

Fleur and Tonks joined me at the entrance to the cavern, their faces slightly askew through the Bubble-Head charms. Yet I could see what they were thinking, and yes, I was serious.

I fired a few cutting hexes and severing charms to clear away the chaff and lake weeds that were blocking the way. A school of startled fish darted past us, probably somewhat blinded by our wand light.

“In we go,” I said, heard by no one but myself. I swam into the true darkness in one of the lost, forgotten, deep places of the world. I didn’t even hesitate.

As I’ve said more than once, I knew Fleur and Tonks would follow me, because they always do. Despite the protests, despite the often times where what I suggest seems so ridiculous, they follow me. It tears at my heart and preys on my mind, the power I can wield…

I can inspire such terrible loyalty.

And I was afraid – not for myself – but for the damage I could do, the harm I could cause.

I was afraid.

Yet I didn’t hesitate to swim into that dark and narrow cave, that unknown abyss on the bottom of some foreign lake, working only on scattered and broken memories of the men before me who had tried and failed, who had burned in the fires at the end of all things good.

Perhaps they were right, when I saw it on their faces, perhaps I was insane. But then… I had some fucking right to be. Doing what I do, my ‘job’, I reckon crazy’s how I stay alive long enough to take down as many of the power-hungry bastards as I can.

So what was I really afraid of? Did it even matter?

No, no it didn’t. All that mattered was the war. Oh well.

Either way, Fleur had held my hand today.

*~*~*~*