The Secrets of the Marauders

Five

"Well..." Harry took a deep breath. "He's kind of... my father."

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Dumbledore actually did drop his quill this time.

Silence fell upon them. The faint, distant rumbling of students moving from class to class was barely audible as the silence was so deafening. Dumbledore merely blinked. He clearly did not expect that. Both wizards stared at each other for an untold amount of time, and soon enough, Harry was beginning to feel uncomfortable and stupid. He couldn't believe it just... came out like that.

Harry didn't realise he was holding his breath until Dumbledore's old, stressful face gave off a whiter colour. He wanted to think quickly and say something, but his brain was all mushed. I mean, what would you say after you gave somebody a gigantic blow like that?

Dumbledore managed to choke out, "I'm sorry?"

Harry knew Dumbledore had heard - he had said it loud enough. It was the mere context and principle of what he had said and the silence that Dumbledore didn't understand. And yet, he still didn't know what to say.

Luckily, Dumbledore broke the silence for him.

"But - no, that can't be possible... unless..." He stared at Harry, mouth slightly open. "Where exactly are you from, Harry?"

Harry wasn't quite sure how to explain it. He came from here, as one way to put it, but then again he didn't. But if he was wrong at the fact that he was in the Marauders' time period... or perhaps this was all just a prank... then he'd be extremely embarrassed afterwards if he just came out with it. He decided to let Dumbledore in on the idea first, give him minute clues, in which case, then he would confirm Harry's fears.

"Well... um... here... kinda - I suppose, yeah. Oh, I don't know... The last thing I remember I was fighting and then Sirius, and the veil, and..."

"Wait a minute." Dumbledore cut him off. "The veil?"

"Yeah, we were in the Department of Mysteries and me and my Godfather were fighting Death Eaters and -"

Dumbledore's eyes widened. "Of course..." He whispered under his breath. "The Death Veil..."

"You know about the veil?" Harry felt like he had gone cross eyed. "And, um... I - I'm sorry, the what veil?"

"A fair bit, yes..." Dumbledore mused, nodding. "Not as much as the Unspeakables, mind you... no... anyway, yes... The Death Veil...It is the barrier between the land of the living and the land of the dead... One cannot travel freely between the two worlds, as it is a one-way trip... Inexperienced wizards know nothing about it, but some much more experienced wizards may have heard about it, and the Unspeakables, who work in the Department of Mysteries, have likely studied it closely."

It was then that Harry fully appreciated how much of an experienced wizard Dumbleore was to know all this. He decided to try and take advantage of this, if he could. "Do - Do you think it could have brought me here?"

Dumbledore stared at him, and green eyes stared back, both afraid and intrigued.

"I'm not sure - as I said, I do not know much about it. What I do know, though, is that if you step through it, it means instant death."

Harry eyes widened, and he knew he had paled considerably. "Does that mean - am I -"

"You do not look so to me, dear boy." Dumbledore said, suddenly smiling.