Dreams of Home

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

For the second time, Harry had to blink the bright spots out of his eyes as he found himself standing in the same clothes he had been in at Kings Cross station. It seemed that only seconds had passed from when he left his grandfather's side, and he looked around desperately hoping to see something familiar. He was astounded and horrified to find that he knew exactly where he was. He turned to look at the mysterious archway that he had watched his Godfather fall through just a few years before and wondered just what had happened to Sirius when he fell through in the original timeline.

Harry gulped a bit of air as he realized that not only had he gone back in time, but he was in the heart of the Ministry of Magic and was definitely not going to be able to apparate out of the wards in this room. The Unspeakables would definitely have questions for him since he had suddenly appeared right inside their wards by the veil of death.

Checking his person, Harry quickly realized he only had a few things in his mokeskin pouch from when he had died in his previous life. His cloak was thankfully one of them, and so was the Marauder's Map. Harry would've done anything to have packed his broomstick, or to have had his wand with him before he lost his life. He did however have his emergency stash of 50 galleons on him, which would be enough to get him into the world and grab a few essentials in case worse came to worse.

Thinking quickly, Harry tried to remember his way out of the Death Chamber and began scrambling as quickly as he could to the doors, throwing his cloak over his shoulders. When he reached the doors, a man was sitting by a table with a book in his hand. The man was clearly engrossed in his story, and Harry came to a crawl as he hoped to sneak past the man.

The elderly man was wearing a long purple cloak that flowed all the way to the floor. The man was around Professor McGonagall and Flitwick's age, if Harry were to guess, and he was balding. There was a passing familiarity that the man held, but he dismissed it, hoping to sneak past the man undetected.

Harry cursed his luck knowing that it was just bad timing that had put him in this situation. It did not take long to realize that there would be no way of opening the door behind the man without alerting him of his presence. Not wanting to be a lab rat, Harry made his decision. Standing directly in front of the man he opened the cloak of invisibility just enough to hold his hand out and wandlessly summon the man's wand. The reaction of the Unspeakable might have been comical, but Harry had the man stunned before he could shout his outrage. With two quick flicks of the newly acquired wand, the ground was cushioned and silenced preventing a single noise from filling the long hallway.

Closing the cloak Harry continued his stealthy adventure towards the elevator to get to the upper levels of the Ministry. As he approached, the doors slid open and two cloaked individuals stepped out in quiet conversation. Slowly stepping aside to avoid the two Harry watched as they approached, and one of them froze. In apprehension, Harry began to tighten his grip upon his newly acquired wand. The man said something in a language Harry didn't recognize and suddenly both men had wands in their hands scanning the long hallway.

The one closest to Harry cast several revealing charms, but they were no match for the Deathly Hallow in his possession. His senses screamed at him to shield as both men threw stunners in opposite directions, clearly firing blindly, but close enough that Harry had no choice but to shield himself. Tossing the cloak back over his shoulders with a whip-like motion Harry surged his hand forward causing one of the two men to be thrown into the wall nearby, while the other was a flurry of motions with a range of dark magic that surprised the younger man. Whoever was under that cloak meant business, and the air seemed to turn electric as Harry produced shield after shield.

Dodging under a black curse that was likely meant to do Harry serious harm, his eyes widened as an orange spell the size of his body hurled at him, its origin unknown. By instinct, his newly acquired wand flipped up as he cried out, "Protego Totalum!"