"Counsel?" John racked his brains but the only time he could think of talking with the old man had been….
"When you advised me about your brother's behaviour. Recent events have forced me to reconsider my original stance. You no doubt heard about the explosion on the second floor? It was caused by your brother. He is, in fact, far more dangerous than I had originally feared, and his raw power unquestionably matches your own unusually high levels. He is just like you — twins in every way, it would seem."
John's eyes widened. How was that possible? Yes, he'd heard rumours of his brother doing powerful magic, and there had been that bragging from Malfoy, but Malfoy was always bragging, wasn't he? But if Harry really did match him in power…. He was only that powerful because he'd come from the future… which meant… John's heart started to race.
"Although we've no way to prove it, I also believe that the explosion at the Burrow last year was indeed Harry. The similarity to the incident on the second floor are just too many."
He knew it! Ginny. His Ginny. John clenched his fists together.
"I'm sorry, John."
"Headmaster." John steeled himself and stared straight into Dumbledore's eyes. "We have to do something!"
"Mmmmm…." Dumbledore stroked his beard. "I fear your parents would not listen to me though, nor to you. What would you suggest?"
John hesitated. What would he suggest? He'd wait till next year, let the chamber of secrets open, and put his brother back where he belonged, back in Azkaban. Suddenly, images of Ginny cuddling into Harry's arms flashed across his mind. His eye twitched. But if he waited then Harry could corrupt Ginny even more. He might lose Ginny forever, and, even worse, the timeline could become changed beyond recognition. If Harry was from the future, he might try to stop the chamber incident from happening to keep himself from being put in Azkaban. Harry could even realise what the diary was and take it away from Ginny!
John took a cautious breath. "Azkaban?" For a moment, John thought he saw a look of triumph shoot through the Headmaster's eyes, but a split second later he was sure he'd imagined it.
Dumbledore frowned sadly, looking every year his old age. "John. Azkaban is a very serious recourse."
"Yes, but…" John scrabbled in his mind for good reasons. "But, if Harry is as dangerous as you say, isn't it critical that he's somewhere he can't become another Voldemort?"
The headmaster slowly nodded, as though thinking it over. "Yes. It is. And it might not be impossible." The headmaster looked over his desk at him. "But it would require your help, a lot of planning, and total secrecy."
John eagerly nodded. Anything to sort out this mess. He'd get Harry back in Azkaban and everything would be back to how it was supposed to be. His eyes sharpened. But not before forcing the truth out of his evil twin, right after he got out of here.
Harry felt a respectable aura of rage moving towards him. He looked up from the book he was reading in the library, and raised an eyebrow. John was storming towards him, a look of intense anger on his face.
This should be interesting.
"You!" John shouted, the moment he got in range, causing several dozen students to look up sharply from their books.
"Mister Potter!" Madam Pince shrieked. "Volume! Get out! Now!"
John ignored her and made to grab Harry's arm, which he shoved off.
John glared at him. "We need to talk, now!"
Harry looked up at the wide eyed crowd watching. He shrugged, packed up his books, and followed his fuming twin out of the library, Madam Pince admonishing them both all the way. As soon as they were alone in an empty classroom John turned around and glared at him, again. "You came back with me!"
"What?"
"You came back with me! Don't try to deny it. At the end of the tournament, something happened and you came back!"
Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. Not even a privacy charm. His eyes darted around the classroom. Now, the question was did he cast a privacy charm himself, go along with his brother's accusation, and finally drop the chummy brother act, which would have certainly happened after John got his ass handed to him at the duelling tournament anyway, or did he just continue to deny everything for the time being? "How did you time trav—"
Okay, the first option. Harry shoved his hand over John's mouth, whipped out his wand and cast a privacy charm while John shoved his hand away and flicked a wand into his face, which Harry then smacked away, leaving them both a few feet apart from each other, and not currently pointing any wands.
John looked at Harry's wand in shock. "What was that?"
Harry glared at him. "A privacy charm, idiot. You do realise that long term time travel is illegal, right? Like, lock-you-up-and-dissect-you-in-the-departm ent-of-mysteries illegal? It's not the sort of thing you just go around talking about in empty classrooms! Please tell me you haven't told anyone else." John ignored him and glared right back. "How did you come back?"
"I don't know," Harry snarled. "One day I was happily minding my own business, letting demons from hell rip all good feelings from my head — you know, the usual — and next I'm sitting back in the cupboard under the fucking stairs!"
"What cupboard?"
Harry ignored him in turn. "And then I was like, 'oh wow, I'm back in time. Maybe this time I can make it through second year without being framed for letting a bloody great snake out on the school.' He glared at John.
John glared back. "Ginny is mine."
"I think you'll find, that Ginny is hers. Time-travel."
John's glare became momentarily confused. "What?"
Harry smiled a smile of zero warmth. "Just a bit of insurance. I know memories can't be used as evidence in criminal cases, but you can't be too careful. Considering the penalties we'd incur if what happened to us became public, I'm pretty sure neither of us want this conversation shared with anyone else, mmm?"
John didn't say anything for a few moments.
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