Stormseeker: Borrowed Destiny

In the morning, I prepare to leave before breakfast. "Muffliato. Alright, I'm going," I say quietly to Hermione and Neville in the common room. "I might be gone a while. But if I'm not back by tonight, well, assume the worst."

"Oh, Harry, is it really that dangerous?" Hermione asks. "You don't have to go just for my sake--"

I shake my head. "I do really ought to find out what happened there, one way or another. I've just been putting it off."

"But is it really worth risking getting killed over?" Hermione asks.

I chuckle softly. "Given my circumstances?" I say. "Yes. Just try to cover for me if anyone notices I'm missing, and if I don't come back, please tell Dumbledore, alright?"

"I don't want to be left without you," Neville says quietly.

"Believe in yourself, Neville," I say. "You can do anything you put your mind to. I don't want anybody moping over me, ever, understand? I'm immortal, remember? Even if I'm somewhere else, it's not like I'm really dead or anything."

"Alright," Neville says softly. "Good luck."

I restrain the urge to make a face and wonder aloud why people say that to me. "Thanks, Neville," I say. "But I don't believe in luck."

Somebody wished me good luck. Now I know I'm going to die. I head on out of the Gryffindor common room and slip off into a corner out of sight to slip on the invisibility cloak. I wonder how good this cloak really is. I would imagine that only Keolah and probably Sardill would be able to detect me while I'm wearing it.

Under the guise of invisibility, I creep on out of the castle and onto the grounds. I absently wonder if there might be any secret passageways leading into and out of the castle, but that's not really my concern at the moment. Just walking out while invisible is sufficient for the moment. Now to just get far enough away that I'm beyond the castle's anti-teleportation wards. I wonder how far they extend. Not all the way to Hogsmeade, I know that much, but how much of the Forbidden Forest is covered by them? And how big is the forest, really?

I decide that heading to Hogsmeade would be safer and clearer when I'm far enough away than delving into the forest. I'll still be walking for a fair while, though, and I kind of wish I had stopped to eat breakfast first. No help for that now, though.

The sun is well into the sky by the time I make it down to Hogsmeade on foot. That should be far enough. Even though I'm invisible, I still make sure to move to an out of the way alley to attempt this magic. It has been a long time since I've Recalled, but it was designed to be as easy as possible. I look within myself for the beacon of light that marks the Nexus to everyone that has been attuned to it. But I don't find it.

I frown a little, and run through an Occlumency exercise to clear my mind and make sure that I'm calm. I am the eye of the storm. I should be able to see this thing. Nothing has happened to the Nexus since I've been gone, has it? Focus. I must find it. There, there's something. Like little flashes of flickering light in the depths of my soul. That's what I'm looking for, I'm sure. But it's so weak. Before, it was so strong and bright that all I had to do was look for it and grab onto it, and I'd be back in Torn Elkandu. What happened there?

No matter. I will soon find out, I'm sure. I grasp for the feeble, flickering light and try to hold it steady, stabilize it long enough to get the Recall spell off. Come on, bring me through. It's like trying to cling to a frayed, shaking rope. But I'm sure it'll still get me through, even in this condition. I think I'm getting through. I think something is happening. The old, familiar glowing mist is surrounding me...

Pain. Something's wrong. My vision goes dark. What's going on? I blink a few times, and for a moment my vision clears. I see the Nexus, but all the runes are dark. The runes along the obelisks, the streets, everywhere, dark, dead. The only light is from the swirling purple sky overhead, ominous and chaotic.

But then my vision blurs again, and my head is swimming in pain. I try to move, and realize I'm not all there. Caught between two worlds in space, it's a wonder I even got to the Nexus at all. Even as I try to pull myself the rest of the way through, I can feel the malfunctioning Nexus scatter my parts all over the multiverse.

Keolah downplayed the effects of the Nexus being left alone to destabilize. Sure, it won't blow up, but it'll be damned hard to get through safely while it's down. Mercifully, it doesn't take long to fragment me enough to finish me off.

I wake to the sound of my rooster watch crowing, groan softly and rub my eyes. I keep discovering new and fascinating ways to die. That's another one that I don't care to repeat. Ugh.

I get dressed and head down to the common room and slump down at an empty table to do some homework. No sense in making any preparations to go anywhere. I can't go home again.

Hermione and Neville come downstairs from opposite sides almost simultaneously, and come up to sit at my table. "Muffliato," Hermione says. Of course she's picked up that spell already. "So when are you planning to go?"

"I already did," I say. "Sort of."

"What happened?" Hermione asks.

"Torn Elkandu has been abandoned," I say. "The Nexus has destabilized and deactivated. I managed to link up with it, but without it being properly calibrated, it fragmented me all over the multiverse, killing me."

"Ouch," Neville says, wincing. "Now that's some nasty splinching."

"I'm sorry," Hermione says. "I didn't mean for you to get killed for my sake..."

"Don't worry about it," I say, smiling at Hermione. "I had to find out sooner or later, and it's good that I know now." I sigh softly. "I know it'll be a lot harder to go home than that. So I guess I'm trapped in this world until something sends me back to the start again. It's just as well, really. I have a lot to learn, and a lot I want to do here. Still, it would have been nice to have access to the Elkandu's resources."

"It's too bad," Neville says. "I kind of wanted to see what another world looked like."

"Hey, don't worry, there's still a way I can show you," I say. "Dumbledore's got a Pensieve in his office. I'm sure he'll let us use it if I ask him. It won't be the same as actually going there, since it'll just be memories and all, but it's something, right?"

"Oh!" Neville says, brightening. "That would be neat."

"That sounds like it would be a good idea," Hermione says. "Are you sure you want to show us your memories, though?"

I chuckle softly. "Sure, why not? It's not like things were all that interesting before that day, anyway. We can go see Dumbledore about it after breakfast."

During breakfast, we eat at the Slytherin table as usual, underneath the Storm banner. As fun as yesterday's events were, it's good to be eating real food again.

"Hey, Harry," Draco says. "You want to go practice dueling after breakfast?"

I shake my head. "We're heading up to the Headmaster's office to view some of my memories."

"Can I come, too?" Dean asks.

"Even better," Draco says.

"Who's invited?" Blaise asks.

"You're not leaving me behind," Theodore says.

I groan softly and put my face in my palm. "I really ought to not forget to put up privacy charms." I usually don't slip up like this.

"Aw, am I out, then?" Blaise says.

"What about me?" Crabbe asks.

"And me?" Goyle adds.

I sigh. "Alright, tell you what," I say. "Anyone within earshot is welcome to come along if they know Occlumency or is otherwise capable of shielding their mind from intrusion, and is willing to swear a vow of secrecy."

"Aw," Crabbe says.

"Oh well," Goyle says.

"It's not that I don't trust you guys or anything," I say. "But I'm going to be showing some very sensitive things that it would be bad if they were to become widely known. I'm sure you can understand that."

"If you want to learn Occlumency, I can lend you a book and help with it," Hermione offers. "But it'll probably be months if not years to master it."

Hermione winds up letting Blaise borrow her book, and Neville lends his to Dean. That leaves our usual inner circle, plus Theodore, to head up to the Headmaster's office. I hate to leave the others out, but I've already blurted out too many secrets to people who can't protect them as it is. It's a wonder that everyone doesn't know them all already. The more people know something, the harder it is to keep it a secret. Which of them might be the weakest link?

I lead the group up to the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office, and tell it, "Skittles." The way opens up, and we head up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

Dumbledore looks up from his desk, and says, "Is there a problem, children?"

"Headmaster," I say. "May I request permission to use your Pensieve for a bit?"

Dumbledore frowns. "What is it that you intend to show them?"

"The truth," I say.

"Are you certain that this is wise?" Dumbledore says. "I believe we agreed that the fewer people who knew, the better. And yet now you wish to bring in a small crowd of children? Your friend Neville was bad enough, but he was only one boy, and I accepted your trust in him and trained him myself to keep your secrets. But this? What are you playing at, my boy?"

"I can't go home again," I say quietly, looking firmly at Dumbledore. "Everything I cared about there is gone. The only way back is to go forward. The only way to regain what I've lost will lead to me losing everything else I might gain." I sigh, shaking my head. "Anyway, they all agreed that they are capable of protecting their minds and willing to swear to secrecy about whatever they are to see."

Dumbledore sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "If I believed that were sufficient, I would have brought Severus in on it," he says.

"I wouldn't tell Snape everything," I say. "He has too much personal store in it, as do many other adults. But no, these are children. All they have are names and stories."

"Let it be known that I do not like this," Dumbledore says. "But if you believe that you can trust them, then so be it. I will not and cannot control you. But if you are the least bit dissatisfied with their reactions to whatever you are to show them in the Pensieve, then tell me and I will Obliviate them. And if I am dissatisfied, then I will Obliviate them myself."

Everyone agrees with this stipulation and gives their oaths of secrecy on the matter. Then, I step over to the Pensieve and put my wand to my head, and pull out the memories I want to show them. Wishingsdale, Torn Elkandu... At least I'll get to see my home again, as it once was, at least for a little while, even if it's only a memory.

And then we line up to enter the Pensieve, and I plunge inside first, mimicking what Dumbledore did when I saw him use it before. It's a little disorienting at first, and then I find myself there. Home. Wishingsdale. Standing on rolling green hills where fluffy sheep graze, and up on a nearby hill stands the Chelseer manor house, with horse pastures in back. The increase in gravity is comfortingly familiar after the years I've been away.

One by one, my friends appear beside me and peer around at our surroundings.

"What is this place?" Theodore wonders.

"I feel like I've suddenly gained weight," Neville says.

"Gah, the sun is so bright," Draco says.

"Oh, wow," Luna murmurs. "I don't even know what to call half the things I'm seeing. There is so much magic here..."

I chuckle softly, and say, "Welcome to Wishingsdale, on the world of Lezaria. And you're right, the gravity's a bit heavier, and the sun is brighter."

"This is really another planet?" Hermione asks, raising an eyebrow. "Or at least the memory of one."

"Indeed," I say. I point off to the object of the memory, a younger Lexen Chelseer riding a bay mare up the village road toward the manor. "There's me, nine years old." The younger me is a little smaller and lacks the curse scar Dumbledore gave me to imitate Harry Potter, but otherwise it's just like looking into a mirror.

"Harry Potter grew up on another planet?" Theodore says in confusion as we follow along after the younger me.

"Nope," I say. "Lexen Chelseer grew up on another planet. Whoever and whatever the real Harry Potter might have been, I'm not him."

Theodore looks stunned. "And Dumbledore knows about this?"

"He's the one who initially asked me to take Harry Potter's place," I say. I chuckle softly. "I don't think he expected that I'd not do it quietly, though."

"So what happened to the real Harry Potter?" Theodore wonders.

"Fell down the stairs and broke his neck," I say lightly. "I think Dumbledore was just too embarrassed to admit that to the world. Personally, I'm not too interested in saving Dumbledore's reputation. I have my own agenda, which primarily involves learning everything I can, changing the world how I see fit, and living however I choose."

"And the rest of you already knew all this?" Theodore asks, looking to the others.

"Yeah," Draco says. "Although he hasn't told our parents yet."

"And I'm not going to, either," I say. "I think it's best if I don't tell anyone who knew James and Lily Potter. They would probably not react very well." I have to wonder just how angry Snape was at Dumbledore in my last life. He was very amenable to me, but I'm sure he was more than a little irritated at Dumbledore's lies and secrets.

"That's true," Neville says. "I know I probably should be more upset about it. But you're the only Harry Potter I've ever known. And it's not like you're a bad person or anything."

The memory me has finished tending to his mare and putting her out to graze, and is heading back to the manor now. I go to follow the younger Lexen inside, with my friends trailing behind me.

"This is a lovely house," Hermione says, looking around. "It's like a mansion!"

"Like any of the old pureblood manors," Draco says, shrugging.

"The Chelseer family goes back a long way," I say. "Although this house has only been here a little over three hundred years. I wish I could show you the old royal palace in Kedresida, where my ancestors used to live, when there was actually still a monarchy in Kedresida."

"You're descended from actual royalty?" Draco says.

"Over a thousand years back," I say, shrugging. "King Kolubran Seer had seven children, and the Chelseers were descended from the youngest one. Khasadala Seer. Who, according to legend, was a half-dragon." I snort softly. "Don't even ask me how that was supposed to work. I just assume magic was involved somehow, and leave it at that."

We follow the memory of me down the corridor and into the kitchen. There's my mother seated at the table, watching my grandmother with her strange golden eyes. I say, "The one at the table is my mother, Anara. And the one cooking is my grandmother, Keliole."

"Didn't you have any house-elves?" Draco asks.

"There aren't any such things on Lezaria," I say.

"And why do they have such long, pointed ears?" Draco goes on.

"Those are what we call elves," I say.

Keliole pulls out a large, glowing, runed sword, and starts swinging it about wildly over a loaf of bread, a leg of ham, a block of cheese, and head of lettuce. Magically, several sandwiches wind up stacked neatly on the table in moments.

Anara snorts softly. "You know, mother, you really shouldn't use family heirlooms like that," she says. "It's an ancient and powerful magical artifact, not a sandwich maker!"

"Oh, do relax, Annie," Keli says. "It's not like Zarnith exactly minds or anything."

"Yeah," says Hawthorne, standing in the doorway. "He's just a dirty old man inside a sword." My great-grandmother looks upon the scene with her bright green Chelseer eyes, and sweeps aside her flowing green cloak as she enters the kitchen. "But you really should wipe him off better afterward." She takes the sword and proceeds to clean it carefully.

"That's my great-grandmother, Hawthorne," I say.

"They don't look like magical beings to me," Draco says, frowning. "Just humans with pointy ears."

Thelsa comes in next, and says, "Oh, we have sandwiches!" She looks exactly like my mother, except that her eyes are green.

"And that's my aunt, Thelsa," I say. "She and my mother are identical twins. I'm told my mother's eyes used to be green, too, before I was born, but after she got back from the Galaxy Far, Far Away, they had turned golden."

"Dark Side corruption," Hermione says, nodding sagely.

"Someone better go find the girls, or they'll be late for lunch," Keli says.

"We're right here!" says Helga, stepping into the kitchen, followed by Hilda.

"And finally, Helga and Hilda," I say. "Thelsa's twin daughters. My first cousins."

I just have to smile at seeing them all here again, alive and well. I think, one of these lifetimes, I might want to try to obtain a Pensieve of my very own, for my own personal use, whenever I wish to use it.

"I don't know about all this marrying non-humans business," Draco says dubiously.

"That's how Hawthorne's family felt about the marrying non-elves business," I say with a smirk. "And all of the great wizards on Lezaria for the longest time were elves. Humans were looked down upon. There were a small minority of human wizards, while almost all elves had at least some magical ability. It wasn't until Hawthorne's time that wizards of other species were recognized. And part of that had to do with the unexpected discovery that the elves were originally humans who were modified millennia ago with magic."

As they're eating the sandwiches Keli made, the memory Lexen speaks up. "Why don't I ever see any of my male ancestors around here? My father, my grandfather, even my great-grandfather?"

Hawthorne says, "For starters, your great-grandfather is a useless drunk who just so happens to be the most powerful wizard on Lezaria, except for Sardill and I refuse to sleep with Sardill. He probably doesn't even realize that he has another daughter." She sighs. "Silver never did get over losing his wife."

"And your father and grandfather have never strayed too far from their home universes," Keli says. "Although Raistlin was certainly trying some interesting things when I left."

"I don't think Anakin even realized other universes exist," Anara says. "But they had space travel in his universe, so they had quite a bit else to keep themselves occupied with."

"Why didn't you tell them about it?" I ask. "They could have gone through the Nexus and have become great Elkandu."

Anara shrugs. "Personally, I'd rather keep the Elkandu among home-grown wizards, if you know what I mean. If not only Lezarians, then at least people from our own universe. Bringing in outside blood is one thing, but I don't think we should share our secrets that easily."

"So they did visit other universes..." Hermione breathes, eyes wide.

"I see," says the memory Lexen. "Still, I wouldn't mind meeting them someday."

"Don't bother, Lexen," Keli says. "They probably won't even realize you ever existed. We made sure of that before we left."

"When do I get to visit other universes, too?" the young Lexen asks.

"When you're old enough," Hawthorne says. "I'd prefer you to be at least thirteen before you start making trips to known safe universes, and seventeen before actually starting on real explorations, but you'll be sent to Torn Elkandu for magical training before that. But that'll probably be at least another year or two."

"Why do I have to be so old?" says memory Lexen.

"Exploration is a dangerous business, Little Storm," Hawthorne says gently. "I don't want to see you get into trouble before you're ready for it. Your magic hasn't even fully awakened and stabilized yet."

"As I recall, mother," Keli says with a wry grin. "You were gallavanting about the countryside and annoying powerful beings when you were ten."

"Don't encourage him," Hawthorne says with a smirk. "And I was a reckless idiot with delusions of grandeur and no sense of self-preservation. It's a wonder I didn't get myself killed along the way, and the only reason I survived was my natural magic resistance and the help of a very stubborn and patient were-horse."

"Heh, she sounds a lot like you," Draco says lightly.

"I can't wait to go on adventures of my own," memory Lexen says.

The memory fades away, and is replaced by another one. Nighttime on Lezaria. The memory version of me isn't much older here, and is laying out on a hilltop gazing at the sky. Lezaria's two moons hang in the sky, both of them full tonight.

"Two moons?" Neville says, looking up.

"We call the white one Thondorron, and the green one Halladan," I say.

Hawthorne peers intently at the stars. "Those definitely aren't Earth's constellations, either. This sky is very different from what we see in Astronomy class."

After a couple minutes of looking at the sky, this memory disappears as well, and the scene is replaced by Torn Elkandu.

"Oh, this place is definitely not normal," Theodore says, looking at the swirling purple and black sky.

Luna blinks. "And I thought there was a lot of magic on Lezaria," she says. "This place is made of magic. This entire place is pulsing, breathing, it's like it's alive... And what are those little spiders running all over the place?"

"I don't see any spiders," Theodore says dubiously.

I lead them up to the center of the city, and say, "This is the Nexus. The heart of the universe. The connection to all places." I point to the elf woman with silver eyes and auburn hair standing nearby. "This is Keolah Kedaire, Keolah the Seeker, my distant cousin, and the leader of the Elkandu."

"She plays Quidditch?" Theodore asks.

"No," I say with a snort. "It means she can see things that most people can't see. Like Luna here."

The cyan runes on the Nexus flare with brilliant light, and swirling, glowing mist fills the space between the eight obelisks. When it fades away, Sedder and several other of his followers are there, but Sardill is notably absent.

"Sedder?" Keolah says, turning to them in alarm. "What are you doing-- gah!" Tendrils of shadow surround her suddenly and choke at her.

"I've come to repay you for the humiliation you did me in exiling me as you did," Sedder snarls. "You will all die!"

Keolah collapses to the ground. The memory version of me is approaching the Nexus from one of the eight roads leading off.

"What have we here?" Sedder says. "A little Chelseer bratling, unless I miss my guess."

I can't take my eyes off of the memory of myself as the scene plays out again before me. It seems like ages ago, and I was so small and helpless then. I don't feel like I've gone all that far in the years I've been on Wizarding Earth. I have a long way to go before I can hope to match this insane Shadow. Sedder laughs maniacally as he drains the life out of the younger me, and the scene shifts in the blink of an eye to me waking up in my bed in the School of Thought.

"You... died?" Hermione says.

I nod in agreement. "That was my first death."

"Oh, Lexen..." Hermione says.

"I'm sparing you watching them slaughter my family, though," I say. "I don't think that's necessary."

The scene skips ahead to my final decision with Keolah, to travel the multiverse and try to gain the power to stop them. "How about this one?" says the memory Lexen, pointing to an image. "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Soon enough, the memory me steps into the Nexus and leaves Torn Elkandu behind, and the scene shifts to Hogsmeade for a few moments before the Pensieve ejects us, having completed the memories it was given.

My friends are blinking and rubbing their eyes a little at the transition. "I don't know what to think of all that," Neville says.

"That was incredible!" Hermione exclaims. "Now, if I had some more time, I'd like to study the night sky on Lezaria for a bit longer to try to calculate where it might actually be located..."

"I think that's enough of that," Dumbledore says, eyes twinkling. "You children were in there for well over an hour."

"Oh," Hermione says sheepishly. "Sorry, Professor."

"Are you all satisfied with what you've seen?" Dumbledore says, looking over each of my companions.

"That was not at all what I was expecting," Theodore says. "They didn't even give me a hint as to what I was going into first. I'm going to need to think on this all."

"Lexen's great-grandmother was a total Gryffindor," Draco says, snickering.

"Thanks for sharing that with us," Neville says.

Luna is quiet, and Dumbledore looks to her and says, "Miss Lovegood?"

"Sorry," Luna says. "Just thinking about what I saw and what it all means."

"Does anyone need or wish to be Obliviated now?" Dumbledore asks.

"I don't think that will be necessary, sir," I say, glancing to them. My friends shake their heads. "Just do please remember to keep calling me Harry, or at least Stormseeker."

"Very well," Dumbledore says. "Run along then, children. I have much work to do."

As we're turning to leave, I add, "And definitely no even hinting about any of that without a privacy spell up."

"No kidding," Neville says.

"I wish I had a Pensieve," Hermione says distantly.