Whose Universe Are We In?

26

The next day, he had a quiet breakfast with Alan then set off again to complete his mission of the previous night. He spent several hours in the astronomy tower scanning the rest of the journal, then checked his emails for any news from his sister. He had three from her,

Dan,

I’ve had enough of all this shit at home. I’ve left home and school and I’m staying with Mandy, my mate from school who’s also left. She helped me get an office job which I hate but I can eat and pay her some rent.

Mum and dad have split up, turns out dad has been having this affair with this other woman for years, I fucking hate them both. Mum’s a wreck, slobs around in her dressing gown all day, drinking vodka, moping around the house. I couldn’t stand it any more, Danny, I miss you more each day. I was strong when you were about but I can’t do this any more.

Gotta go, I’m using work’s email account. The only good thing to have come out of this at all is that I’m not bullied by that bitch Megan any more.

Love you, Dan and I miss you.

C xx

The next had been written only a week previously,

Hi Dan,

Got sacked from the job for using the email and I’m now in the Public Library and on the dole. My life sucks and Mandy is getting pissed off with me whinging all the time. I’m afraid she’s gonna chuck me out too. I know I’m not ready to leave home yet but I didn’t know what else to do. Dad’s been finally thrown out of the house and mum burned all his stuff. Our whole lives revolved around you and your career but I think it was more than that, you were the one who held us all together. I don’t think mum will ever recover from losing you and it’s killing me slowly to see the decline in this family yet I can’t say that you are still alive, as there is little to no hope of ever seeing you again. I almost wish you had died, then this would sort of be easier but you’re not and it isn’t. Everything is pressing in on me and I’m at the end of my rope. I don’t know if you’ll even see this mail as you haven’t spoken to me in ages now. I’m so alone, Danny, so fucking alone. I used to have a mum and dad and brother – now there’s no-one, no-one at all.

I hate my life

C x

The last had been received only yesterday and the tone was even more bleak,

Dan,

I’m giving you two days to reply. If I don’t hear from you, then it’s a header off Blackfriars Bridge for me matey. I can’t stand this any more. I didn’t ask for any of this. I can’t get a job and I don’t really care anyway. Mandy chucked me out and I had a couple of dodgy nights sleeping rough before some social workers found me and I’m now in a hostel filled with drug addicts and prostitutes and other runaways in the east end of London.

You have two days, Danny, then it’s ‘sayonara’.

C.

There was no kiss appended. Dan’s heart plummeted, he really had no idea what to say, how he could reach her from here and he swallowed painfully. Selecting ‘new’ from his drop-down menu, he stared at the blinking cursor without the first idea of what to say. His mind was in turmoil. This was no time for emails. He needed to speak to her, but what to say? How could he give her hope? She was obviously close to the edge and in pretty dire circumstances. He felt wrung out and exhausted.

He typed a quick mail,

Chris,

Sorry I haven’t been in touch, but I killed him – Voldemort – he’s dead now and I was quite seriously injured although I’m getting better. I never forgot you and in fact I dedicated my killing curse to you just before I cast it on him.

I did this for you, sis. I want to think of you living your life, not thinking of you taking headers off bridges. I want to be there for you but I’m as stuck here as you are there, in fact, with Alan at my side, we want to stay here. What the hell happened to all my money? And why won’t mum and dad give you some to help you set yourself up properly? What the hell’s going on with you all? It wasn’t me holding anything together, Chris, I had the feeling after the fifth movie that all was not well chez Radcliffe, and I know mum and dad were arguing then.

I’m trying to find a way to send Tom Felton home – he came here with Alan and I – we were all the victims of a magical plot that went horribly wrong and the ripples are still spreading out from that, I guess. It was a selfish move on behalf of the whole wizarding world and for that I should be raging mad but somehow, I’m not. I love it here and I wish you could be beside me.

Please don’t jump, baby girl, don’t jump, for me, if not for yourself. I miss you all the time but, yes, I do have a life here, although at the moment, I am magically drained and still recovering from offing the big ‘V’. It’s knackered me just getting from one side of the castle to another to write to you and I’m gonna have to wait a few hours before my injured leg lets me make the return journey.

Hold on, baby girl and we’ll come up with something. Do not – I repeat – do NOT kill yourself. I know life is hard for you at the moment and you are alone but this will not always be the case. Trust me if you can, and if you can face the parents, quiz them about my money. I made a will, you know, and although some of it goes to mum and dad if I died before marrying and that portion would have gone to a spouse had I married, there was always a chunk laid aside for you if I pre-deceased you. My solicitor’s name is Archibald Crabtree, of Fleesem and Runns, solicitors, their office is in Holborn. I chose after I turned eighteen to remove my dealings from the family lawyers and set up something for myself. What happened at the reading of the will? Surely the money I left to you should have come to light. I can’t believe you’re living amongst junkies and prozzies in a flop-house and that mum and dad are just leaving you to it, the very thought makes my blood boil.

I have to go, Chrissie. Take care of yourself if you can, and now I’m up and about again, I can stay in more frequent contact. I know it’s not enough but it’s all I can do at the moment.

Stay safe, little sis, and remember I love you.

Your big bruv

Danny xxxx

He didn’t even look over it again to correct typos, simply pressed ‘send’, his heart thudding in his chest, hoping she’d read it in time but then he slapped his forehead, D’oh! What a dolt! His bloody phone, why hadn’t he thought of it before. He didn’t have it in his bag, it must be back in their rooms, then he remembered the landline handset he’d thrown in with the rest of his purchases all those months ago and hunted it up under the glamour he kept permanently over the plug and phone sockets and switched out the Internet connection and plugged it in, making sure he had a dial tone and called her mobile.

It rang and rang, going to voicemail after several rings. He left an urgent message for her telling her to read her email if she could get to a machine, not to give up hope, that he loved her dearly and not to do anything rash until she’d at least been to see his lawyer, then he hung up, disconnected everything and disconsolately packed it all away and limped back to the dungeons with a heavy heart.

He let himself in and leaned on the door, sliding down it until he was on the floor, gathered his knees under his chin, folded his arms atop them, laid his head down and started to sob. He heard no sound within their rooms and he sent out a tiny thought-tendril to his husband, not knowing if his magic was strong enough yet to even communicate this way, then folded over and wept afresh.

A couple of minutes later and the door tried to open against his back and he came back from his sorrow to hear Alan’s voice from the other side of the door, “Danny, let me in. What’s wrong?” Slowly he moved to the side as the door burst open and Alan rushed in with a gust of air following and was on the floor beside Dan in a heartbeat, gathering him into his arms as his young husband wept and snuffled against his chest.

It took quite a while for Alan to get any sense out of Dan but when the crying eased a little, Dan haltingly told him of the trouble his sister was in and how much it was tearing him apart. Alan held him right there on the cold stone floor and rocked him, making soothing noises while his mind raced. Christ! What a mess this all was, and it wasn’t doing his beautiful Danny any good in his healing to be going through this, so Alan said the only thing he could think of under the circumstances.

{Dan, I’ve just been to see Tom, and yes, I agree with you, he may try again if we do not send him home, but in order for the transference to take place, there has to be another to transfer with. I suggest that we bring Chrissie here. Even if she is a muggle or a squib this side, I think she’ll be happier with her brother around and if it turns out that she’s magical, then she can attend Hogwarts and at least complete her education or some part of it}.

Stunned, Dan lifted wet eyes to his husband’s face, then leaned up to gently kiss him, {You are amazing, you know that, don’t you? Can we ask Dumbledore? It’s the least the old bugger can do for us after bringing us here like this. In fact, if he doesn’t than I’ll have to use threats – these bastards owe us big-style}, and Alan had to agree.

In the end, threats were not necessary. Dan explained, still trying to rein in his wayward emotions, all about the distress that bringing him here had caused his family and the fact that his little sister was close to suicidal. Albus’ face was grave as Dan told his tale, leaning forwards over his desk and listening intently, nodding from time to time until Dan ran down and slumped back in his chair, not even trying to hide the hopeless tears as they streamed down his face.

It took Albus mere moments to make up his mind. If he had ‘Harry Potter’ here, how would he explain a sister, given that the whole wizarding world knew that Harry was an only child? He found himself nodding his agreement all the same and sighed inwardly, if the transference worked again, they would come up with something, he could not deny this incredibly strong boy before him. He even said, “My boy, please calm yourself. This world owes you and Alan so much and our thanks has been paltry at best. Yes, I will help to bring your wee sister here, as I assisted in sending Harry and Severus from us, albeit with such disastrous consequences. I performed the spell and I will do it again, but it cannot be done until one of the high points of the magical year. You two were brought over during the spring equinox, traditionally, a time of passage, and as midsummer has already passed, I cannot contemplate trying again until the autumn equinox later this year, but if your sister can sit tight until then, we can bring her to us then and send Tom home. Is that agreeable to you?”

There was silence in the room, broken only by the crackling of the fire burning low in the grate. Dan eventually said, “Yes”, in a small voice then added, “May I tell her, sir? She needs some hope right now”, and at Albus’ nod, he withdrew his phone and dialled her number. Albus looked askance at Alan, who smiled and murmured, “We bought them the day we bought the computer”, by way of explanation.

Puzzled, Albus looked hard at the tiny box against Dan’s ear, “Does it use radio signals, only I see no wires? Only radio signals have been blocked from Hogwarts these many years”. Alan smiled wider, “No, Albus, mobile phones use microwaves”. This made Albus blanch and he came out from behind his desk rapidly, making as if to snatch the device from Dan’s hand, “Bloody hell, young man, what are you trying to do? Cook yourself?”

At this, Alan stayed the old man’s hand and laughed, “The waves are different from those employed by microwave ovens, sir. These waves are relayed via masts set up to relay signals up and down the country. These machines are extremely popular amongst muggles, in fact I know of at least two of your pupils that keep in touch using them”, but his speech was cut short when Dan turned away from them both and said, “Chrissie?”, in a higher than normal voice, tinged with fear.

He stood and went to the window, looking out onto the grounds as he talked. She had read his email, she had received his phone message and he was delighted to hear his voice but she positively squealed when he told her she could come and join them. She asked how soon, like, today? Dan chuckled and told her to hold on a minute, then turned to Dumbledore and said, “Sir, when is the Autumnal Equinox?” From his seat, Albus smiled and said, “Third week in September this year, Dan. She will not have to wait long but impress upon her the need for complete secrecy about where she is going”. Nodding, Dan went back to his conversation.

Closing his phone and returning to them, he sighed, his face clearing of it’s frown and slumped back beside Alan. {Do you think we should tell Tom?} He had kept his inquiry in a light voice so Albus would pick it up and the old man himself replied, {An excellent plan, it will help Tom to know he has something to look forward to. Would you like to be the one to convey the news?}

So that was their next port of call. Dan felt a little guilty that he hadn’t seen Tom since his attempted suicide but cheered at the news he was bringing. He found Tom huddled and unresponsive, looking lost and so alone in the farthest bed from the door to the hospital wing. Alan kissed him at the door and said he’d see him later and that he was going to do more reading. Dan took a deep breath and plunged on into the room, letting the door swing to behind him and made his way to the far bed.

Tom whipped his head around at the sound of footsteps approaching and sighed with what looked akin to relief when he saw it was only Dan. Dan could see the hollows around Tom’s eyes and the nervous twitch of his fingers as they plucked at the covers, the fine sheen of sweat making his face shine. As he drew closer there was a strange sweetish smell emanating from Tom but Dan ignored it, sat on the bed and slowly drew Tom up and into his arms.

Initially, Tom tried to resist but Dan persisted and wrapped himself around the shaking lad, “Look, I’m not here to seduce you, you prat, just let me hug you and tell you the good news. I have a sister who is in some trouble and is having the same thoughts of ending her life that you’ve been having, though not for the same reasons of course, so now we have a willing person to exchange for you. We’re sending you home, Tommy-boy, you’re going home”.

At this, Tom burst into tears, “Can I go now?”, he mumbled against Dan’s chest but Dan shook his head, “Not yet, mate, in about three weeks. We have to wait until the autumn equinox apparently, as the spell can only be done then. Can you wait?” Tom slowly lifted his tear-streaked face, “Is this true? You really can send me back?” Dan shrugged, “I can’t but the headmaster can. I doubt my magic will be up to much, even by then, I’m still pretty feeble magically as is Alan. We were going to go off somewhere quiet to recover from the magical drain but we’ll wait until Chrissie comes here and I can see her settled before we go. Poppy told me it could take as much as six months for me to recover properly and I feel in danger staying here, you know, in case any extant deatheater kids decide to take a pot-shot at me in the immediate aftermath of this damnable war, but, yes, we’ll hang on and wait, to see you safely home. I’ll give you my mobile number and my email address so we can stay in touch. You must tell me how your new album pans out. How are you doing anyway?”

Shifting out of Dan’s arms, Tom huffed out a breath and lay back amongst the pillows, “I crave that fucking potion all the time. Still, I can’t blame either you or Alan for that. You were just trying to help, but sometimes, the best laid plans and all that....”, he waved a thin arm vaguely and shrugged, letting his arm fall back to the covers, “Oh, god, I’m really going home? Fuck! I’ll count off the days, minutes, seconds but I promise I won’t try and do myself in again, okay? You can bring your sister here. Have you told her?”

Nodding, Dan rose and straightened out his robes, “Yeah, just did before I came to see you. I won’t be able to come up here again during daylight hours as the kids start back in two days time and it’ll be like it was before, having to sneak around at night and so on, but you take care of yourself. How’s Remus with all this?”

Tom’s eyes softened, “I feel like a complete shit when I think of him. He loves me so much and I thought I loved him, but you know me? Total tart? I don’t think I can love anyone though I’ll admit to jealousy at what you and Alan have between you. That’s fucking awesome, dude”.

Dan smirked wryly, “Oh come on, it ain’t that great for us. We can never go back to our world, imagine the furore that would cause. My mum and dad chose to believe that it really was Dan in that box and short of an exhumation they’ll never know any different now. Alan and I will have to stay very much on the periphery of things and stay out of the way of those who wish me or him dead for betraying-stroke-killing mummy or daddy’s master, so no, life won’t be that ideal, but yeah, we want to stay here and we want to stay bonded and together. This is miles cooler than acting and to be honest, I wasn’t that good an actor anyway. Rupe and Emma were getting both more and better offers coming in, even you’ve got your musical career in front of you.....nah, I’m gonna stay here, make something of myself as a wizard. I’ll never be better at anything than I am at this”, he finished on a sigh.

Tom smiled waterily, “You weren’t that bad, Dan, and you held that entire franchise together for nearly ten years, mate. Don’t underestimate yourself”. Dan shook his head, “All very well, but did you know they were thinking of replacing me after film four?” Tom’s reddened eyes widened, “No, never heard a peep about that”. Dan shrugged, “It’s true. They were making some excuses about us all being too old to finish the series but the fans rebelled and I got to stay but it was only down to the fans. To them I was Harry Potter. Now I really am. It’s weird but I can live with that to have magic and Alan. I was never really an actor, Tom, not outside of Harry, so now this is my life”.

Smiling more broadly now, Tom reached up and took Dan’s hand, squeezing it gently, “You’re a brilliant wizard, Dan. I watched you that day on the battlefield. Yeah, there’s a place for you here and there isn’t for me. If I stay then I almost certainly will be killed or attacked, given who my ‘father’ is, so I’m better off out of here. Have a good life, Dan, enjoy it, you deserve to. Now I’m tired and I think I can sleep, now I know I’m going home. Thanks Dan, for everything, and I’m sorry I was such a lousy lover to you. You need love in your life more than I do, attached love, a permanent love. You’ve really blossomed since you’ve been here, Dan and it’s good to see”, then he yawned and apologised.

Leaning over the bed, Dan placed a chaste kiss on Tom’s lips and whispered, “Get well soon, Tom. Stay safe, mate and we’ll get you home”, and with a small answering smile, Tom closed his eyes. Dan turned and exited as quietly as he’d entered once he was sure Tom was asleep again.

****

“So how did they do this?”, Alan was pacing up and down in their sitting room the next day. Dan sighed, “They used a time-turner and whatever spells still lie either in the journal or in the trunk, if they were written down, that is”. Turning sharply on one heel, Alan swung round, “But if they aren’t there?” Dan chewed the inside of his cheek and thought hard. He eventually raised his head and said, “We never did look at the rest of those memories, did we? We only chose the ‘whitest’ ones to view. There could be all sorts in there and it’s easier for me than reading, at any rate”. Alan ‘hmmm’ed and looked sidelong at his mate.

Catching the dubious expression, Dan canted his head to the side, {You don’t really like viewing memories, do you? You were distinctly uncomfortable last time}, it wasn’t a question. Alan thought a moment then nodded, {I find most of the mind magics abhorrent, to be truthful. Messing with the mind brings to mind all sorts of revolting practices used in our history, Dan. History is rife with tales of attempts to control minds or make super-soldiers or super-spies as well as create sleeper agents that can be activated by a word at the right time. And these people could do all of that. From Legilimency to obliviating spells, the magical intrusion into the mind is somewhat repugnant to me}.

Dan considered this response for a moment then nodded sagely. {Likewise I find the elements of mind spells in magic....disturbing, but I have to admit, quite fascinating as well. Still, you can do the lion’s share of the reading and I, at least, can do this, looking for more clues. Of course, they won’t have been able to extract the memories surrounding the actual transfer but there might be a ‘eureka’ moment in there, and at least I’d feel useful. I feel a bit of a drag with barely any magic}. At the plain entreaty in his voice, Alan stopped his restless pacing and came to his lover, dropping to his knees, gathering his Dan to him and kissing him.

{Of course. I will continue my reading of Snape’s notes while you feel free to explore the memories of the two. I think I’ve found some of the Arithmantical calculations that Snape was working on for the transference so I think a little more digging in the trunk will yield results}. Dan smiled at this, and broke the kiss. He looked deep into Alan’s eyes and ‘sent’. {Will you stay close, though? I want to be pulled out of any really unpleasant memories, and they can be a bit hypnotic to be inside of, if you know what I mean?}

Thinking a moment, Alan released Dan and sat up, {Then let us take this into our bedroom, set the pensieve up as before, on a crate on the bed so you only need to bend your head, the I will lie out alongside you with the fresh batch of notes I retrieved earlier and I will be able to keep an eye on you and yank you out of the memory if it seems like you are in distress. Will that do?}

Beaming, Dan nodded then kissed his bond-mate again, {Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks}. They rose as one, made sure the Floo was securely closed and made their way into the bedroom. With a wave of his hand, Dan levitated Harry’s pensieve from the brass-bound box onto a crate on his side of the bed and sat cross-legged before it, with both Snape’s and Harry’s box of memories in front of him and was biting his lip over making a selection.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Alan settle close beside him, pushing his small reading glasses up his nose and unfolding another package of parchment, covered in Severus Snape’s cramped hand. Alan spared one of his own hands to rub a circle on Dan’s back. Dan turned and smiled before descending into one of Harry’s memories that was a murky but pale grey.......

Twenty memories: ten from each of them, and Dan raised his head again knowing more than he really wanted to about the two who had fled their own world. His head spun with the thoughts and dreams in the glass bottles as his mind tried to piece together their stories from only tantalising glimpses.

He’d seen Snape being Marked, and then another mid-grey bottle told of him coming back to the fold, kneeling in terrified supplication before Dumbledore’s feet, trembling, cold and covered in blood, pledging himself to the Light.

He’d seen Harry as he fought off Voldemort year after year. He saw them discover the possibility of bonds and had to wince at the hope and love in their eyes. Then another phial told of their crushing disappointment that a bond was out of reach for them. Dan emerged from that one shaking his head and fighting tears: he could almost ‘taste’ their disappointment and anger.

The next swirling grey steam he plunged his head into was Snape’s, he was alternating them, a wise move as it turned out, for between them, Snape and Harry were telling the story.

Snape’s was so dark and Dan felt shivers go through him as he witnessed Snape being subjected to ‘crucio’ after ‘crucio’, cast by Voldemort at one of the meetings he’d attended, and all for naught as the planned raid did not eventually happen. The memory concluded with Snape returning home to his dungeons and his lover’s arms, who bathed him and soothed him and tipped potions into him, then held him until he slept. The end of the memory made Dan smile through tears. It had been the first time Severus Snape realised just how much in love he was with Harry Potter, although it took him longer to admit it, as Dan had already seen.

He watched as their relationship built. He watched the revolting things Severus Snape had to do in his role as spy for the Light. He felt the pressures that they were both under and he despaired at how easy it had ultimately been for him and Alan until he was snapped back to the memory he was currently in the middle of by hearing his own name mentioned.

“Yeah, Sev, that’s who we need. We need these guys. Come on, they’ve been playing us since before we were, so to speak. They’ve got years on us, anyway”. The memory faded as Severus Snape nodded and said, “We should keep watching these two, they may yet prove advantageous”, his words greeted by a blinding smile and a hug from Harry. Dan felt the frown between his brows as he scooped the memory back into the phial and prepared the next one for viewing, pouring it so carefully as if rough treatment might damage it in some way. He had respect for the memories of the dead and treated them with all due reverence.

The next phial made Dan gasp. The memory was as if it had been filmed from a distance and Dan knew immediately where Harry had lain as he’d spied on them. There was a raised spot just outside the main compound gates where fans would gravitate, always providing they could get past the security guards, but Harry bloody Potter had no constraints on him of this nature, did he? No.. Dan had to watch his own actions as seen through Harry’s eyes and he found it distinctly creepy. He emerged from that memory pale and shaking.

Looking up from his parchments, Alan could immediately sense the distress his lover was in and was right there: to hold him: to love him and to feel Dan’s face bury itself in his shirt front as sobs wracked his small frame for a short while, until Dan sniffed, sat up again and pronounced himself ready for the next batch of memories.

Alan held his lover for a moment and held him away far enough to see into his eyes, {Are you sure? I can read unhappiness}. Dan smiled tiredly, {I need to see this. I need to see their story, even if it isn’t ours. Keep an eye on me, lover, and fish me out if I’m in trouble}.

With a reassuring kiss to buoy him up, Dan tipped another of Harry’s memories into the bowl. He was about to dive in when a hand stilled him, “No, Danny, you have done enough for today”, was murmured at him but Dan pulled away, intent on his mission. He sank into the bowl once more to be greeted with memories of Severus’ clumsy courtship of Harry Potter, the memories quite innocent despite their murky grey colour.

It was as he was viewing Severus Snape on bended knee, asking Harry to be his for ever that he felt the tug of hands on his waist. Emerging from the swirling memory-smoke, he said, “It wasn’t a bad one, quite the opposite, it was nice, so why?”, and the words died on his lips. Alan thrust a parchment under his nose, {I’ve found it, love! The spell they used to bring us here. But.......but...}

Wrenched back into their version of the wizarding world, Dan smiled and prompted, “But?” and looked at his lover askance. Dipping his head, Alan perused the parchment again, {We have to use magic, Dan. Serious amounts of magic, to send Tom home and bring your sister here. We haven’t got it and it’s highly unlikely we’ll have it back by the Autumn Equinox}

Taking his beloved’s words seriously, Dan frowned, {Bugger}, was his pronouncement on the matter, and Alan agreed, sliding his arms around his bond-mate and squeezing him lightly. {Indeed. We may not be strong enough until Yule, or maybe even longer – the vernal Equinox. The same one that brought us here. Fitting, no?}.

Dan let himself be held and sank gratefully into Alan’s arms, {I don’t know if Chrissie can hold on that long}, was his frank admission. He felt Alan’s mouth in his hair and the reply in his mind, {I know. I worry about Tom, too} and the pair subsided into silence, just content to rock each other gently as they held on and despaired.

It was Dan who drew up short, lifting his head, his brows knitting, “Hold on! Harry and Snape had to expend mucho magico ‘cos, a) they were doing the spells to cross themselves over, and, b) they were passing their magic as they went. Do you think it’s gonna have to be Tom that does most of the magic in that case? Maybe we aren’t actually needed for this. This isn’t about us after all, we’re staying”.

Alan shrugged gracefully and made a moue, “I haven’t a clue, love. I’d better keep reading”. He bent to kiss his husband but Dan was staring ahead into the middle distance, his brows still knotted, {You know, the thought occurs....they may have had to leave their magic behind...you know, when they crossed over. Hey, maybe Chris’ll get Tom’s. Yeah, that’d be cool”

Alan’s brows rose at this, “I really hadn’t thought of that”, he said aloud but softly, “I suppose that makes a certain sense. Well, it’s back to the grind, then. How are the memories panning out?” Dan sighed, “Just the good stuff so far but I’ll have to view the darker coloured ones eventually. Still, as a will, it’s shite, if it is their Will”.

Pausing a moment, before going back to his papers, Alan sent, {You know, perhaps they never actually made one}. Dan shook his head, {Nah, old Albus, or was it Remus, said they all did as a matter of course, but in that case, I want to know why these cases rattled when we ‘Accio’d’ them}. It was Alan’s turn to frown when he recalled the day they called the Gringotts keys and the ‘wills’ to them, how the cases hadn’t actually come to their casting.

They were now opened on the bed. Pulling slowly from Dan’s arms, Alan sent, {I just want to try something}, and raised his wand in the air, “Accio Will”, he said decisively and there was a ripping noise from directly underneath them. Dan started in horror and jumped at the sound, “It’s under the bed”, he almost shrieked but Alan was finding it hard to control his laughter, “The boxes were on top of it. Now let’s investigate”.

He didn’t need to. There was a small sound of grating stone, a cold draught of air and two parchments appeared on the bed at Alan’s feet. From his cross-legged position, Dan quickly dived his head over the side of the bed in time to see an obviously charmed piece of the stone floor grind back into place. Another of Snape’s little hidey-holes.

Alan leaned forward and retrieved the parchments, {Well, it seems you were right, my love}., and he sat back and examined the packets. They were sealed tight on all four sides. Alan handed the one clearly labelled ‘Harry Potter’ to Dan who had the folded parchment open with no more than a few whispered words.

Alan’s took a while longer, for Snape had passworded it as well as warded it, but after a quick A-Z of potions ingredients, it finally opened on ‘hellebore’. For such a large piece of parchment, Harry’s Will said surprisingly little; a mere paragraph in the centre of the big page,

I, Harry James Potter, being of sound mind, though my lover constantly disputes this, do hereby make my Last Will and Testament, and in this I wish only two things.

If I die before Severus Snape, then he gets it all. Everything. If he dies before me then the lot goes to either my substitute or Ron and Hermione’s kids.

Whoa! Dan thought, didn’t he know his two best friends were experimenting with queer?

Well, yeah, my substitute first, ‘cos he’s gonna need the cash and I’m gonna have his, so, no probs. Witnessed under my hand, blah, blah, blah...

And there was his messy signature appended beneath.

That was it.

Just like that.

Dan was the legitimate owner of all of Harry Potter’s Galleons. He nudged Alan, {Go on, your turn} and Alan spread out the Will he held.

I, Severus Snape, do solemnly declare,

That all of my lifelong assets, monies and possessions be transferred to Mr Harry James Potter, my lover and life-partner, should I pre-decease him.

Should he die before me, then I bequeath my assets, particularly, my potions journals, firstly to the library at St Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and the research material to the Royal Academy of Potions Makers, no. 2, the Strand, London. If Harry pre-deceases me then my money, such as it is, I wish to donate wholly and without ties, to any charitable foundation that may deal with orphans of the War. This would have been Harry’s wish and I will honour it.

Dan felt a lump in his throat. They both knew that the ‘real’ Snape had been more acerbic than Alan, nay, downright unpleasant, but this was the Snape that Harry had loved. Dan had to blink away tears as he read,

As for any worldly goods, I want for nothing on the other side, save that my Harry be with me one day. If having a Will means anything, then tell that man of mine that I will be waiting for him, he must live out his allotted portion, then I will be there for him ere life ends, and from that time, we can truly be what we want to be, free of all Earthly shackles. I am a realist. I look forward to that day.

And the forward-slanting signature reached the end of the page.

There was a long silence until Dan mind-murmured, {Severus was so in love with Harry, wasn’t he? Just like we are?} Alan nodded and looked calmly into Dan’s eyes, {That he was, love, and Harry really loved Severus and that was what the exchange was all about, wasn’t it? Love}.

Not quite understanding, Dan’s thick brows moved together and he shook his head. Alan moved in and kissed his cheek, {But of course. They loved their world enough to leave it. Leave it to us. Look, somewhere in all this paper”, Alan made an impatient gesture at the parchments surrounding him, “is going to be the evidence that they had that we were worth bringing over. Dan, there had to have been something! They weren’t going to bugger off and just leave us to it”.

A small shrug. {Yeah they did, and we’ve had to cope. They had to leave their magic behind like muddy shoes and they saw somehow that we could do this bond thing, I think the rest of it’s been us and us alone, story or no story. We were sort of playing to a script before but we’re not now. It was really just us out there. Us and the others. And we won, whatever else is going on. And I want to disappear with you...}.

He was cut short by Alan kissing him most thoroughly, enough to make him writhe and start to curl around his beloved until his foot impacted on the cold stone of the pensieve and he had to sit up, desist from seducing his lover and deal with the impediment to doing so.

Alan tidied up his half of the bed, keeping the Wills separate from all the other papers, while Dan packed away the pensieve and the memories, then there was just the bed, and them laid out on it. The next time Alan kissed Dan, Dan could curl all he wanted, with nothing but the cool satin eiderdown sliding under his thigh as he widened it, along with the other, letting his legs part shamelessly, inviting his beloved in.

Who rolled into that space with such a look in his dark eyes that made Dan gasp to see. On the outbreath, he made a sound and Alan was devouring him, eating him up, tongue first....and Dan opened his own mouth and let him.

Some time later, they lay spent. Dan was propping up the headboard with Alan’s head resting on his stomach in the hollow beneath his ribs. Alan’s eyes were closed and he was smiling slightly but not yet asleep. Dan stroked the black dishevelled hair and a shoulder before dabbing up a stray drop of his own jism from the cheek of his lover and licking it lazily from his finger. {You know, we should get these Wills to Dumbledore}. Alan’s mouth was crushed into an odd shape against Dan’s belly and he made a face, {Pass them through the Floo but scan ‘em first. Remember, we keep a copy of everything}.

By the time Dan slid out from beneath his beloved, Alan was three-quarters asleep, and, wrapping his gown around him, Dan padded into the living room on silent feet, looking back from the doorway to see Alan pull Dan’s pillow into his arms.

Shaking his head, Dan continued into the other room, smiling. He was still grinning his head off as he laced the computer and scanner together before raising a hand and Summoning the parchments. They flew effortlessly to him and he caught them without even having to look up.

He read the acerbic tone again, the terseness of the writing, as if both scorned the act of having to write such a thing, laconism and derision throughout, though Snape’s choices of external bequests should they both die was interesting, as was the evident devotion he felt for Harry, bonded or not.

Dan felt a pang then, these two men should have just been able to enjoy the love they had, not have to think about and participate in a War. A War neither of them felt prepared for, felt ready for. Dan found himself muttering, “Well, if you guys weren’t prepared, then we sure as hell weren’t, but we did it anyway. Weird, huh?” Anyway, Dan mused as he laid the parchment on the scanner’s glass and carefully closed the lid, they had been better prepared in the end. Then another thought struck, like a off-side bludger, ‘What the hell would Harry and Severus done as us, anyway?’ Had they lived on that side. They’d rendered themselves effectively muggles. As the light passed to and fro under the thick parchment, Dan let his mind wander.

Okay, they’d have woken up in our trailer and in a very interesting position! Maybe with Alan’s watch alarm beeping. Harry would have known how to switch it off. They’d have probably had some tea or something, Alan’s trailer always was more well equipped than almost anyone else’s on set. He was the go-to guy for the odd cup of sugar or tea-bag after late shoots.

Snape would have seen Alan’s lines for the pick-up and most of that was probably about the lighting, Alan was always so hard to light being all in black with the black hair eyes and brows. He could maybe have glamoured himself to look like him, or maybe he brought polyjuice with him, knowing he’d find Alan’s hairs...

They’d have eventually found our wallets and clothes and cars and credit cards plus our keys and our very lives would have been right there. Damn, this was double bloody sneaky. Neither of us had anything immediate lined up. I think we were both planning on taking a break for a bit.

I wonder what we’d have done. What I’d have done...

And his musings were cut short by the scanner beeping.

Shaking himself, Dan changed over the parchments, putting Harry’s on the platen, pressing ‘go’. As the machines went about their business, he let his tired mind drift again,

He said he wanted to meet me after the films were finished. I’d have done it, you know. Sneaked off behind mum and dad’s back and stayed out the night, leaving breathless messages on their answerphone saying I was at this mate’s or that for the night, too late, too drunk, too......whatever, just to be in his arms in anonymous places wearing heavy disguises and then stay with him until morning.

Would it have been like that? Would he have left his girlfriend for me? Probably not. They had a comfortable life with lovers. He told me about the sculptor girlfriend of the girlfriend. Whoa! Confusing! I would have become the uncomfortable fourth just to be with him.

We would have played his friends’ little mind-games. He told me his home-life, to be honest, it sounded really shallow, and I’d have ended up getting bored with it all...acting jobs maybe taking me away, or my desire to go clubbing and he’d have been jealous and possessive, like he isn’t now, but here it’s right and I love it, whereas back there, I wouldn’t, and now who’s weird?

Brought roughly to the surface again by the beep, Dan huffed out a long breath then retrieved the parchment from the scanner. Going to save the two files he’d created, he yawned then glanced at the screen. Whoa! Hang on! What the hell was this?

He flicked between the two newly created documents. Fuck! On both of them! He stared, aghast at the screen.

It was as if the very act of scanning the two parchments had nullified any spells cast upon them. Whatever the reason behind it, on the screen, Dan was staring at considerably longer versions of their Wills than that merely quilled on parchment, the heretofore invisible ‘codas’ taking the form of letters, if you will, to their ‘successors’.

Dan saved the documents and closed them, only to open them again to see that the extra bits were not a figment of his tired imagination. He wasn’t sure he wanted to read them right now but he had the feeling that these extra bits held the key to the whole story. They were still there. Good. Saving them again for good measure, Dan tiredly put his computer into ‘sleep’ mode, with the documents still open, and went back to bed. Easing the pillow from Alan’s arms, he insinuated himself instead, to hear a satisfied grunt from behind him and he slept, smiling.

****

They were seated side by side on the sofa as Dan opened Harry’s file first,

“Dear Dan,

I’m really sorry to drop you in all this shit but I wasn’t enough and you were. You may scoff if you like but me and Severus saw you act together, the perfection of your casting, that’s wand-casting, spell-casting, not putting you in these films to begin with.

You are both so blissfully ignorant of this window we have created between these worlds but you may not be any more if you have viewed all the memories in the boxes.

We watched you through the last three films and have to make our timing just right to bring you both here after your main acting stints are over.

We will not be passing any of our magic as we believe you are more than capable on your own...”

This made them both sit up and gaze at each other for a minute, {On our own?}, Dan’s mind asked, thoroughly confused, he was a muggle....an actor...what was this all about?

“We saw into the cutting rooms, it’ll be us ‘obliviating’ all the various members of the crews that worked with you, not Voldemort. They were all stunned as to how little CGI they had to do with you guys and you never got it, did you? Not once. Sorry about having to obliviate those chaps but otherwise they might have tattled to your tabloid Press.

I’ll leave anything that might be of some use to you and we’ve read your own magical signatures enough to be able to incorporate you both into mine and Severus’ wards. If you end up thinking that you have somehow ‘inherited’ your magic from us, then so much the better. But in reality, you two are so much stronger.

If you are reading this, then, unfortunately, I died. Please feel free to use all of my money and worldly goods, such as they are. Please save our world. If not for Severus and I. then for yourselves to live in and for my dearest friends to enjoy. I will miss it so much – the muggle world holds no charm for me – but as long as I have my beloved at my side, it will not seem so bad.

There are rooms beneath here accessed through the corridor between the living room and kitchen. Beneath that is a cave that’s just like the Room of Requirement. Dan, you already have my own ability as a Parselmouth and you will find the way in, you were brilliant in the second film, by the way but I think you will be a better wizard than an actor.

Try to enjoy your stay here and I’m deeply sorry you are reading this after my death, which means that you are sort of stuck in my world for ever, but it is not a bad world, only threatened by a force that I cannot defeat. I just do not have it in me, and believe me, we’ve tried.

Stay true to each other. Love each other. Goodness will win. Prove to me that this wasn’t for nothing.

Take heart. Be brave.

Harry J Potter”

There was a long silence in the room, broken only by the ‘shush’ing of cloth as Alan wrapped his arms around a shaking Danny, who relaxed into the hold still staring blankly at the screen, {They were the brave ones}, his mind eventually muttered but Alan stayed silent at his side.

Leaning forward, Alan closed down Harry’s file, leaving Severus’ open. He scrolled the mouse down past the spidery and bitterly short actual Will to the Coda beneath, took a deep breath and focussed on the cramped, angry handwriting.

“Dear Mr Rickman,

I know I think of you as ‘Alan’ but we have never actually met, although I feel as if I know you well. I have watched you at Harry’s bequest and am in complete agreement with him as to yours and Daniel’s suitability for this task.

We are not passing you any of our own magiks as we cross you to this world as we are strongly of the opinion that you do not need our weaker magic interfering. This means that you may not have Harry’s skills, nor yet my own. What these missing skills might be, I know not without making myself acquainted with the everyday minutiae of your lives and the watching spells we have placed on you both only extend to the set itself. Our own magic is far from limitless but we believe we have chosen well.

Everything I have and own is at your disposal, sir, and I hope, for the magical world’s sake that you avail yourself of them all, they are small compensation for the evil that we have done you, or will do to you to bring you here as our saviours. What else can I say but express my profoundest apologies at ruining your lives and hope against all hope (a trait fostered by this foolish lad with whom I fell in love) that our choosing you both to complete this onerous task will not affect you too badly. I can only surmise that if you are reading this then you are alive at the very least whilst I, myself, am dead.

Please save our world, Alan. It needs saving, from itself as much as the madman that would choose to rule over it were it not for the actions of an enfeebled Resistance. Please see your way clear to help if you can. Both Harry and I know you are capable of so much. We have seen it within you, both of you, albeit from afar, and we will have to ‘obliviate’ the men who do the ‘back-room’ boy work on the details of this film. It would hardly do for the muggle world to find out just how powerful you are as wizards, now, would it?

That said, I know Harry and I are asking an awful lot of you.

A little advice if I may: -

Dumbledore is good and wants only what is right for the Light side but he WILL play you if he gets the chance.

Lupin is essentially a good man but is very much Dumbledore’s. Be careful around him. He is lonely and fond of petty intrigue – a deadly combination. Recall also, his werewolf nature.

Harry’s friends: - mainly Gryffindors with the odd Ravenclaw thrown in (Luna Lovegood and the Patil twins: Pavarti and Padma) – they can be trusted. He has a little enclave of his friends, they call themselves the DA, and they are dedicated young warriors fighting for their beliefs. Please try not to get them killed. They are able fighters but sometimes blinded by their own idealism. Anyone with the surname ‘Weasley’ is to be trusted save that spawn of the devil, Percy.

And anyone with the surname of ‘Malfoy’, forget it! They will weasel, whine and insinuate but you must not let any of them in! I cannot stress this too highly. I know them too well! There may be some glimmering of hope for the Malfoy spawn, Draco, and to this end I have created a cuff for him to wear should he decide to change his allegiances. It may or may not protect him from Voldemort’s Summonses though the magic embedded in it is experimental at best. I have left it with him to use or not as he sees fit. Take care of him if he does utilise it as his magic levels will be reduced considerably. The whole thing was a compromise at best.

As to others here in this world? You may trust two of the Ministry Aurors; Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks but as to the rest, I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire, and that applies to the bulk of the Order of the Phoenix, although there are random members that are remotely trustworthy.

In this I would include: - my irascible colleague, Minerva McGonagall, the infernally nosey flying instructor, Rolanda Hooch, and, although I would have to die before finally admitting it, the infernal meddling of that angel-in-bitch’s-clothing Poppy Pomfrey, but if you are perusing this, then I am already dead, if only to this world.

With all of that said, I can only exhort you both to be careful, keep one eye always behind you and I can only wish you the best of luck. I have the distinct feeling, though, that you will succeed where we, with all of our earnestness, will, or would have, failed.

I wish you all the luck I can, and with that, I will sign off.

I will always be in your debt Alan, and I doubt it can ever be repaid.

I will, therefore attempt to guard and shield my Harry as you have always done to your Daniel, albeit in a ‘role’, a ‘part’, but I always sensed something deeper than that between the two of you. I hope you both find it.

Yours,

Severus Tobias Snape.”

They were both shaking by the time they’d finished reading and were each carefully gauging their reactions as Dan leaned in and closed down both the file and the machine. Alan just tightened his hold, {So that’s why you woke me up at this ungodly hour}. It was still before dawn outside. Dan nodded in the dim light cast by the wall-sconce.

{Yeah, sorry, but I meant to show you these later, you were already crashed out. I watched you for a minute before I climbed into bed....you were hugging my pillow...it’s always an amazing way to sleep, with you draped all over me but even then, I have these nightmares, just all the people in my life doing weird things until I scream as the only means of escape, if that makes any sense}.

Smoothing Dan’s sweaty hair, Alan held him tighter, {I think we’re vulnerable in this state, Danny, and we need to rest and recuperate but we’ve still got to send Tom home...}. Even though Dan laid his fingers over Alan’s lips, the older man knew what he meant. Shut up. So he did.

{No. It’s Tom’s magic that’ll get him home and bring Chrissie here}. Pulling back a little, Alan looked into Dan’s hopeful face, {Supposing it’s the magic we have that brought us here? Interacting with Snape’s and Harry’s?}

Dan shrugged, {Chris is my sister. She was always way more into Goth-y type things than me. I’m just an actor, whereas I know she’s written for this slash scene before only she hasn’t ever told me her writing name so I can look her up. I bet she’s an awesome writer. She’s a great girl, Alan. I bet if magic is heritable then she’s got as much as me, maybe more, who knows. Fuck! I can’t wait ‘til she’s here. I’m really looking forward to seeing her again}. Alan held his man tight and dusted light kisses into the thick dark hair, hoping against hope that nothing went wrong with the transference this time.

****

Three weeks later

Tom was pacing back and forth muttering under his breath. Occasionally he scratched himself as he walked, stretched, then was wearing the carpet out once again, his right arm moving, in his mind, his wand was clutched in the curled fist. It tightened on nothing; Tom’s wand was still in Remus’ possession, but the hand still moved as he practised the incantation. He could do this.

He was mainly free of the drug now but the ‘itchies’ still plagued him. He’d had the shits for seven days straight but had ingested all the rehydration salts he’d been given by his ever-attentive lover. Even as he paced, he had to ask himself if he really wanted this, because Remus was awfully good to him. He had magic and he was loved. What more could a man ask? His mind screamed, ‘To love him back’ and Tom sighed. He had to go, he had to go back, be without magic again. This in itself was almost inducement to stay, and he’d tried to discuss it with his erstwhile godfather, only to see Dan’s face cloud. No, he couldn’t change his mind: he was going back.

So he prepared himself, under Remus’ watchful eye.

****

Of course the school was back and had settled into lessons by now. There had been a new batch to ‘sort’ and the classes were filled. More and more, Dan wanted out: to escape somewhere with his lover, his bonded. But they needed to do this first, they needed to see Chrissie over and Tom gone.

It was a quiet Thursday evening while all the pupils were dining when Albus led the small party outside, to the foot of the astronomy tower. Dan pulled the small metal box once more from his pocket and spoke into it, “Yeah, we’re at the base of the tower. Have you managed to shake the tour guide off? Have you got everything I told you to have on you??” The reply he heard made him smile and he murmured a sweet goodbye as he folded the thing in his hand, “See you on this side, baby girl”, and directed Tom as to exactly where to lie.

Averting their eyes, they all heard the faint whoosh of cloth as Tom undressed, folding all of his old clothes carefully before donning the jeans and sweatshirt he’d been found in, now carefully cleaned and mended, the blood from his original head wound on the sweatshirt collar was now nowhere in evidence and Tom shuddered slightly as he pulled the garment over his head. His old clothes felt tight; he’d put weight on here – well that was coming straight off when he got home!

****

Home....the idea was intoxicating. He knew his parents were waiting for him. He had finally made tearful contact with them, tried to impress upon them that he was still alive and that he was coming home and where this was going to happen, with the result that there was an odd little grouping outside the old props office at the base of the tower on the corner of Alnwick Castle.

****

Taking a quick, cautious look round, the small, dark girl now at the back of the tour group took advantage of the guide pointing out a feature across the grounds to slip away. Running swiftly across the close-cropped grass, she didn’t stop until she was at the base of the tower, whereupon she flung herself into the shade and out of sight of the rest of the tour party.

Wide-eyed she ventured a sneak peek around the weathered stone of the tower back the way she had come – whew – they hadn’t noticed her disappearance. She shrugged off her small backpack and leaned fully on the wall, sliding down it until she sat on the grass, her knees coming up in front of her, she let her head fall forwards onto them. She still had ages to wait but she wasn’t taking any chances on being late.

She tried to eat some of the food she had brought with her but the sandwich she had made tasted like dust in her mouth and she gave up on the idea, re-wrapping it for later. It was chilly, too, in the shadow of this tall tower and the stone was cold at her back. Shivering, she withdrew the item that Dan demand she rescue from his room, his third year Gryffindor cloak, and she threw it around her shoulders, revelling in it’s warmth as well as feeling a right prat in it, glad that she was hidden from the tour-parties.

She was a fan of her brother’s movies, okay? Yeah, she was, and she loved Danny dearly. His fame hadn’t made him a git or anything despite their childish nicknames for each other, but as to actually having to ‘wear the costume cloak’ – now she felt like one of those saddoes that showed up at the conventions. She’d intended to put it on only as the time approached but shrugged and stayed hidden, yeah, it was pretty warm.

Her head came up sharply at the sound of feet approaching as well as the soft sound of voices. A quick look at the phone held slackly in her hand showed her that it was almost time. She shook her head and blinked, she must have been asleep for a while. She let the voices come nearer before revealing herself, inwardly smirking at the shock and discomfiture registering on the faces of the late-middle-aged couple standing before her.

“Oh, er, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. Are you Tom’s mum and dad?”, she held out her hand, “I’m Chris, Dan’s sister. We’re gonna swap your Tom for me. Oh, hold on a sec”, she withdrew her hand from the father’s grasp and opened her phone. She muttered, “’S’Dan, ‘scuse me”, and turned away to take the call,

“Yeah, we’re at the base of the tower. Have you managed to shake the tour guide off? Have you got everything I told you to have on you??”

Her heart soared and she could feel the grin start across her face. “Yeah! Yeah, I have, and the cloak. I’m wearing it like some deranged bloody fangirl and Tom’s mum and dad just showed up, they’re here with me now. Come on Danny, we don’t have long”. There was a chuckle and Dan’s sign-off,

“See you on this side, baby girl”,

and she closed her eyes and hugged her phone to her. It was really happening and she was as ready as she’d ever be. Glancing at the couple, she breathed out slowly, “It’s time”, was all she said before stepping from the shadows and into the light, squinting at the slanting sun.

They all looked round, the area was clear of all others. The man nodded at her, “It’s all clear. Do you need to call them again?” The girl shook her head and picked her spot, looking up at the tower as she circled the base. She located the window, the small slot that Dan had peeped through to see a little girl practicing ballet, “Here. We’re here”, then without another word, lay down flat on her back, her head towards the castle wall, her feet facing outwards. Under her cloak, she clutched her knapsack to her belly with folded hands. She closed her eyes and waited.

****

The older couple looked around, not knowing quite what to do. She said to him, “What’s the matter, dear?”. He frowned and looked at her then glanced at the girl on the ground, “She’s wearing one of the wretched cloaks. Suppose this is some deadly hoax to get us onto that wretched MyFace, or whatever it is. I’m looking for cameras...”, but she held his arm tight and he couldn’t go far. “Look, I’d know my Tommy’s voice anywhere and it was him. Remember, the instructions said at a quiet time, not with loads of people around, any one of whom has at least one photographic gadget about their persons. No, love, I vote we trust our son and wait. This young lady seems to know what she’s about”, and with that she looked down.

And gasped.

****

Kneeling either side of Tom’s prone form, Alan first removed Tom’s cloak, “With this sacrifice comes the knowledge that you are freely surrendering your right to wizardly garb”. Tom nodded solemnly and lifted himself to allow his cloak to be lifted away.

Taking a deep breath, Dan took Tom’s wand from his hand, “With this sacrifice you acknowledge that you can do no more cast magic and you are surrendering and consenting to the removal of all of your rights to perform magical rites of all kinds?” Another nod and Tom’s hand opened palm-up to allow it to simply be lifted away without resistance.

The two stepped away to allow Dumbledore close and he knelt beside Tom and looked down into the lad’s eyes, “Would you like to be obliviated of your time here?”, he asked softly but Tom shook his head, “No, please leave me my memories, they are not all bad. I am only sorry for hurting Remus but I know that this is the best path. It will save both me and Dan’s sister. Go on, do what you have to”, he finished softly, for only the aged headmaster and himself to hear.

The old man nodded and lifted his head, then waved his wand over the wandless, defenceless boy, his own eyes closed in concentration. After a moment, a white smoke began to rise off Tom’s body towards the tip of Dumbledore’s wand and he intoned quietly,

“With this sacrifice you are freely surrendering and consenting to the absolute and irrevocable removal of your magic, your ability to perform acts of magic and any residues of magics that have been cast upon you and any magic you personally hold will once again become permanently dormant”.

Dan felt so sad as he saw the very essence of Tom’s magic being drained away and dashed tears from his cheeks. Did it have to be like this? The magical community so sequestered away from the rest of the world? They had electricity and the Internet at the castle and the sky hadn’t fallen, had it?

A cry from Tom and his reveries were broken. He looked up to see Tom’s lips pulled back in a rictus of pain, his body rigid with the agony, pushing up against the blanketing cloak thrown over him, then he shimmered at the edges as Dumbledore continued to hold his wand taut over him then he simply shivered out of sight from under the cloak which went flat for all of a moment before filling again, only this time the form beneath it was engulfed in the large cloak.

Petrified, Dan sat on his heels, his eyes wide, his hand hesitant over the cloth. Breathing heavily, he glanced up at his lover, who nodded. Just once. With a swift move, and three wands out, Dan yanked away the heavy cloth.

****

Falling to her knees beside the tall form that had suddenly inhabited the flaccid cloak, she obscured it’s face from view, taking the upper half into her arms and rocking it against her chest. He said, “For God’s sake, woman, is it him or isn’t it?” She let out a long wail and held tighter, rocking harder. He supposed he had his answer

****

The cloth gave way in Dan’s hand and he looked down...and saw his little sister all curled up in a ball, unconscious. With a strangled cry, he dropped his wand and fell on her, holding her so tight she awoke to find her face filled with a very familiar scent.

Oh. My. God. She was really here! With Danny? She barely had time to question as she was hugged to within an inch of her life then let go of. She shook her head, still feeling a bit green and unsettled then slowly focussed on her big brother leaning over her and grinning his head off, “Hey, sis, how are you doing?”, were his first words to her.

****

Eventually, Tom’s mother moved far enough away from her son so his father could see him. He took in the still skinny but a little more filled-out frame, the slightly more defined sharpness in his jaw but it was around the eyes where his son had changed the most. “Hi dad”, his son said, simply, closing one eye and squinting the other as he looked up, a sudden burst of sunlight from behind a cloud silhouetted his father perfectly, “I missed you. It’s a long story. Can I go home now?”

She helped him to his feet, lent her support every step of the way, his father behind them as if to ward off intruders to their little family unit. He’d lost this boy once, he wasn’t about to lose him again. Keeping his arm around his mother, Tom let himself be led away to the car park; the castle was closing for the night soon, anyway. He cast it one last look as he buckled himself into the backseat and shuddered as his father pulled away.

He was asleep before they reached the motorway, and stayed asleep for most of the journey home.

****

She blinked and looked up into the late afternoon sun. “I feel great. I can’t believe I’m really here with you”, she looked fondly at her brother now sitting on his heels to give her the space to sit up and look around. He said, “Do you really feel all right, Chris? Only we’ll get Poppy Pomfrey, that’s Madam Pomfrey to you, to look you over, make sure you’re okay”.

She nodded and took in the other two men close to her, “Wow, Alan Rickman and Richard Harris. I’m Chris Radcliffe, pleased to meet you guys”, she thrust out a hand. Albus was the first to take it, “My name is Professor Albus Dumbledore, child and I am the headmaster of this school. Welcome to Hogwarts, Christina, I hope you can be happy here”, and with that, he grasped the young girl’s hand and shook it.

Agog, her eyes went round as she looked into the old man’s face. When their hands dropped, she said, her eyes still on Dumbledore’s, “Do I get a go of a wand? I know Dan uses Harry’s old one. Perhaps if I could try out Malfoy’s/Tom’s”. With a cough of surprise, Dan picked it up from the ground and pressed it into his sister’s hand, “There you go, try this”. And she rounded on him in a single move, barked, “Petrificus Totalis”, as she pointed the thing and Dan went down like a stone.

“Bloody hell, take the spell off, you cow”, he gritted out through clenched teeth until, laughing, she pointed the wand at him again and uttered the ‘finite incantatem’, then blew across the tip of her wand like a gunfighter, “Well, I’ve got magic at any rate and I’m bloody starving. Dan warned me not to eat in case the transference made me puke. Can we go inside please and eat?”

Looking bemused at this new young firebrand in their lives, Albus dusted off his robe and held an arm out to her, “Yes my dear. Hogwarts cuisine is famous. Allow me to introduce you to it, in fact dinnertime should still be in session and we can ask the house-elves to prepare you something, no doubt. I take it you already know quite a bit about our world?”, and their voices faded as they walked across the grass.

Alan took Dan into his arms and they just stood there a while watching the old man and the girl as the sun dipped behind the trees.

****

Tom awoke as the night was fully dark around them. He could see at a glance that his mother was now driving and that his father’s lolling head was resting on the upper part of his seat belt, moving slightly with the sway and rock of the vehicle as she changed motorway lanes with aplomb.

Tom mumbled, “Where are we?” in that same sleepy voice, deeper now, that he had used to ask this same question for many years of family holidays. His mother caught his eye in the rear view mirror, “We’re south of Coventry, love, we’re about an hour away from home and your daddy’s asleep. I think it’s about time you and I talked, son of mine. There’s a bottle of water in the pocket on the door”.

Tom shifted in his seat and found the water, now warm from being in the car all day. Just then he longed for a simple cooling charm but he uncapped the bottle and took a long drink of the tepid fluid anyway, and somehow, it tasted of ambrosia as it went down, warm or not, it was imbued with all the scents and tastes of home.

Screwing back the cap he tentatively said, “It was an accident, mum, me passing to that side. I shouldn’t have gone....”, but his mother held up a hand, “Tom, a few months ago, your father started to receive these rather odd emails in his work inbox. They were the instalments of some sort of bizarre story based on your characters in these films. In this story you were in love with a man, a teacher at Hogwarts. Is this true, my son? Are you gay? Is this what this correspondent was trying to tell us?”

Gobsmacked, Tom shrank back into the luxurious upholstery, “I think she was trying to warn you what my life has been like”, he said eventually. “I was in a story but it’s actually real and continuing as we speak. I’ve really used magic, mum, and all you’re bothered about is if I’m queer or not. Well, let me tell you this, I was also a heroin addict for a short time and I still get the odd craving, so, yeah, how about that too?”

Glancing at her son behind her, she decided that she had got off on very much the wrong foot. Time to backtrack. “I only mentioned the gay issue, love, because out of the whole story, it’s the most normal thing. Magic? What did that feel like? And love, too, how did that feel for you?”

For a fleeting instant, their eyes met in the rearview mirror and she smiled at him, waited ‘til she’d seen the answering smile then turned her eyes back to the road.

Eventually, he started in a low voice, “Remus was incredible, mum, he taught me so much. He was a lovely bloke, kind and sincere but with a sense of humour. He didn’t have two pennies to rub together but he had a job he loved, a decent place to live, three squares a day plus care when he changed into a werewolf once a month. I really wished he could have been ‘the one’ for me. I did love him for a while, I really did.

Dan and Alan are staying that side. They’re dead and buried back here. There’s nothing here for them. I’ll miss them both. It was Dan who sussed out who I really was, although Alan had ideas. Mum, I’ve had to do horrible things. Can you still love me?”

His voice was so small and lost that his mother did the only thing she could. She saw a service station approaching and swerved into the entrance with honks of annoyance following her. Stopping the car haphazardly in the huge car park, she cared not for the beeps and angry shouts, just leapt from the vehicle, yanked open the door on her son’s side, pulled him out with the same lack of grace and held him tight to her, both arms around him and the thud of her heart echoing round his ribs.

As they held each other, his mother said, “I know, baby, I know what you had to do. I read the story. I was the one who read the emails. Your dad sent them home without opening them. After the first episode and the, erm, graphic man-on-man sex, he passed the whole thing over to me. Look, your dad knows you’re gay, son, but you’ll just have to give him time. It’d help if we saw more of your boyfriends, you know, instead of sneaking off all around us. We’re not monsters, Tom, we want to know our son, know about your life. If you like men, then that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Let’s face it, the rest of the theatrical world has a distinctly gay flavour, does it not?”

At this, Tom finally braved a look into his mother’s eyes. There he saw acceptance, humour, confusion and love, and she was right, the world of acting was full of queers. He was just one more amongst many. As this hit him he hugged her tight, “Thanks mum. Thanks for not believing I was dead. Thanks for persisting and thanks for trusting magic when you had to. You’re the best, mum, and I bet all of this was down to you”.

She nodded, “Yes, your father thought all this insane, and when that poor boy died on the grave.....oh, dear, things really were not good at home for a while but I had to have the tests done. That boy was nothing like you really. Oh, yes, there was a passing facial familiarity but you are my son, love, and I knew with a mother’s sense that this boy was not my son. DNA proved me right. It is a great shame that Draco never made it back to his own world. It seems his main sin was in loving then betraying Harry Potter and being irrevocably tied to him by the force of the bond trying to make itself.....and that’s why Severus and Harry ran away, well, that, and the fact that they couldn’t defeat the Dark Lord with all the will in the world”.

“You know about that?”, Tom asked, shocked. His mother shrugged, “Yes, love, it’s an important part of the story, that’s why they investigated bringing these two actors across and eventually did it, but another was caught in the crossfire, so to speak”. Tom smiled at this and held his mum tight. Eventually, they separated and climbed back into the car, his mother handing Tom the keys, “No boy racer stuff, okay? You carry a precious cargo”. At that moment, Tom’s father gave out the most snorty, wrenching snore either of them had ever heard, farted and turned over. Mother and son exchanged a look and all of a sudden, Tom wanted nothing more than to see his old bedroom again, pick up his guitar again, slip back into his normal life. With a wry grin and a ‘Thanks, Dan’ in his mind, he started the car and turned it south.

****

They re-entered the Great Hall just as the meal was ending. A second year rushed back into the dining hall, pushing past Dan, clutching the small sorting stool to her chest. She rushed up to the dais and Dumbledore smiled as he took it from her, placing it on the stone floor and inviting Christina Radcliffe to sit.

“This young lady has been, erm, home-schooled up until now but as to her senior education, it has been entrusted to us here at Hogwarts. Whatever House she is placed in, I trust you will make her welcome and make sure that her final two years of schooling are both important and pleasantly memorable. Now, Miss Radcliffe, The Sorting Hat will be placed upon your head....”, and his words were lost to Chrissie as she grinned as the hat engulfed her small head.

It spoke to her! It really spoke to her! Just like Dan’s character, Harry Potter! The Hat actually had a debate as to the best house to assign her. She didn’t realise her lips were moving but she was whispering fervently, “Not Gryffindor. Not Gryffindor”, and with a shout of triumph, the Hat roared his assignation of the newcomer to.....Slytherin.

The Hall was silent for a long while until Dan’s enthusiastic claps led to others and soon the Hall was cheering for the new girl, while rumours were rife as to where she had come from, and how alike to Harry Potter she looked, except for the blue eyes instead of the famous green.

The Hat was removed and Chrissie stepped confidently into her future, the lower sixth Slytherins moving up to make room for her at their table and she climbed easily over the bench and sat down, extending her hand to all and sundry, smiling and shaking hands and generally finding her own way. She didn’t glance at the top table once and left with her new friends as soon as the meal was over and she had ingested calories. Two of the lower sixth Slytherin girls flanked her on either side as they all left and Dan breathed out a sigh of relief.

{Well, that’s it. For good or ill, I have my wee sister here and my life is complete. Now I suggest we bugger off and do the rest of this recuperating malarkey, well away from all civilisation}.

Alan waited until they exited the Hall to give his reply. He flattened Dan against a piece of wall and proceeded to kiss him senseless. Before things could get too out of hand, they moved off, seeking their way to the dungeon and were reasonably circumspect all the way there, bidding a cordial goodnight to Horace Slughorn as he started his nightly rounds then tipping into their own rooms before warding the space silent and locked.

Rolling each other along the wall as they kissed, it was Dan that noticed the blinking green light in the fireplace and broke off the kiss long enough to activate the Floo and retrieve the message. A piece of parchment spat out along with an old shoe.

The parchment, when unfolded, revealed their destination. They smiled as they recognised the cottage from all that time ago. They were to be on the west side of Anglesey, well away from the tourist beat and with several acres of beach and land to play in, with nothing but the Atlantic Ocean between them and America. The boot was a portkey due to activate one hour after it had erupted from the fireplace. As the last few seconds ticked down, Dan checked that the letters he wanted to leave behind were in place, then he cuddled up to his husband, his bond-mate, his fellow Magus and the love of his life, they both held onto the old boot and were whisked away with that disconcerting feeling behind their navels.

****

The cottage was far from pretty. It boasted a living room, kitchen and bathroom on the ground floor and upstairs on a sort of platform was a bedroom up in the roof area, with the tiniest of toilets leading off into the far eaves. It was perfect. They soon found the back door and opened it, stepping outside.

The whole panoply of the setting sun greeted them and they gasped at the view they had, knowing that the nearest land was several thousand miles away, and watched as the sun sank into the sea. There was a bench outside, running the length of the kitchen window, and Alan steered them both to it, settling them and Summoning cushions and blankets.

Lying comfortably, with Dan between his legs, head on his chest, Alan felt complete as he watched the last vestige of daylight fade away, one hand in Dan’s hair and the other stroking his chest. Dan leaned up and kissed him, {It’s all right, being a wizard, isn’t it?}

Thinking long on his reply, Alan eventually nodded, then sent, {Aye, it’s not bad, Danny. Not bad at all}.

They kissed again and smiled against each other’s mouths then withdrew and laid down once more, Alan cradling Dan’s head on his chest. He tightened his hold fractionally and Dan looked up at him. Alan looked down; caught the expression in his lover’s eyes and felt his own water. He blinked and looked away, back to the sunset.

Dan continued to look up, even after Alan had averted his gaze and smiled seeing the tears. He growled as he burrowed further into his beloved, who pulled up a blanket over the two of them.

They were silent then, holding each other and watching the light fade to black.

THE END