Of Shadow, Shine, and Shades

Ch.3 Meeny, Miny, Goblins

Harry finished the last of the sandwich and Vanished the crumbles with a bit of wandless magic. The Prophet was open before him but his head was swimming with information from the books and he wanted to sleep so badly that concentrating on it was practically impossible. Unfortunately if he didn't take care of some things now, he'd have to wait until the Christmas was over to legalize his presence here in this dimension.

He had not found anything about dimension travel in the library and only mentions of time travel. Granted, he'd only spent three hours looking but Black library was not really focusing on those subjects. If he ever needed to find out thirty ways of skinning a person he knew where to look but when it came to something else than Dark Arts and bloodlines the library was seriously lacking.

Still, it had been a miracle to find a Potter bloodline book in the library. Harry knew in his world he would have had to go back six generations to find any branches in the Potter line. For some reason they'd always had usually one boy per generation but this dimension was different. While his father here had been an only child, his grandfather had had twin siblings, Charlus and Charleine Potter. Charlus had married a Black and Charleine a muggle. Charleine had had a daughter who had died in 1965 at the age of 26. What a coincidence that counting backwards that would have been Harry's birth year.

It is too big of a coincidence. Maybe I'm thinking about this on a way too small scale. That I just happen to pop into a dimension where everything is set up ready for me is just too big of a chance. If I believed in higher powers, I'd think one of them was at work here, the man pondered while drinking his reheated tea. Well, no point stressing over it. I know I need to include both Potters and Blacks into my family line. One drop of blood can confirm my heritage and I don't want any nasty surprises. And since this world's Harry seems to be alive – though I have to confirm it – I'm not stealing his seat from him and that would be harder to explain.

He got up and rinsed his cup, putting upside down on the counter. He really had no idea how this all would affect the future of this world but he really wasn't one to just stand in the shadows all the time. Operating from there was fine from time to time but it did not appeal to him as something he could stand to do all the time. He wanted friends and family.

He wanted Severus.

It really was his main reason for doing this. To be with Severus he needed to establish his position in society. If he knew his lover at all, he would not accept a stranger from the shadows as his partner and Harry really couldn't right away reveal his true origins. That would certainly alienate Severus from him and that was the last thing Harry wanted to happen. Additionally, Severus would never accept a Potter, thus further diminishing Harry's choices.

A fond smile rose on Harry's lips as he thought of the name he was going to use. Though it served as a painful reminder, it would always remind him of loss and mistakes that he could correct this time.

How long was it... Three years ago?

oooOOOooo

Harry ran through the corridors. His sword was slamming against his back and his leg was slowing him down. Poppy would slay him when she found out he'd not had her heal it while he was in the Infirmary but one well aimed Cutting hex wasn't enough to stop him. And the pain hardly registered in his brain.

He burst through the door to Severus' office and took a look around, grinding his teeth when it proved to be empty. He had three hours until the next strategy meeting and he had hoped to go through his plans with Severus before he presented them to the War Council. And there was that small matter of having spent little to no time alone with his partner in life lately.