There was another long moment of silence.
"As in Iris Potter… the Girl-Who-Lived?" Nicholas asked in disbelief.
Harry nodded a little bit, sitting back a bit and resting against the headboard of the bed, letting his eyes focus on the empty space in front of him as the skelegro he downed began to go to work on his shoulder. He could already feel the pins and needles sensation as it went to work on his body. Harry knew that it would be several hours before the bone was back in place.
"Some things in this world are very different than in my world. And yet a lot of the events are the same." Harry sighed, knowing this wasn't likely to be an easy explanation.
Perenelle frowned and leaned forward, "Tell me, before we get to that, I find myself curious just how it is you're… well… here?"
Harry frowned a little bit, "Voldemort performed a ritual, using an artifact called the Mirror of Erised. He stated he was going to a world without a Boy Who Lived. And then he stepped through it, I crawled after him and went through the Mirror as well." Harry was pleased to note that neither of the Flamels flinched when he said 'Voldemort'."
Nicholas leaned forward slightly, "That was one of the differences? Voldemort survived that Halloween night in your world?" Perenelle's followed immediately after Nicholas' "And that was how you were hurt when we found you?"
Harry held up his hands, "Okay, whoa. How about I just start from the beginning? Save all questions for the end? Otherwise we'll still be here weeks from now if we play twenty questions. Or twenty thousand questions."
Over the next hour the Flamels listened with mounting horror as Harry outlined for them in broad terms what had happened on his world. Harry outlined briefly Voldemort's first war, and Harry's own rise to fame, unknown as it might have been to him at the time. He very briefly touched on the fact that Voldemort remained as a wraith. He picked up with Voldemort's return to life at the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament. Then Harry described Voldemort' second rise to power, his attack on the Ministry, the fact that he'd summoned demons, the assault on Hogwarts the ICW, Gringotts, and the destruction that this caused in the wizarding world. Harry mentioned being there and being the one prophesied to beat Voldemort. Harry kept the stories broad, beyond himself and Voldemort, he was careful not to mention specific names, using "we" or "they" when referring to one side or the other. It wasn't that he felt threatened by the Flamels at the moment, but Harry had gotten in the habit of being careful with identities.
Harry kept the incidents general enough that he didn't have to go into specific details until the events of that day, confronting Voldemort in the remains of the Ministry. The ritual he was performing, taking a spell in the chest, and remembering everything going white. "Then I woke up here early this morning, in a date that's nine or so years in my past, in a body to match." Harry gestured down at himself with one hand.
Perenelle and Nicholas were both regarding Harry in a state of shock as they tried to process what Harry had told them. It was obvious that the two of them believed what Harry was saying, and it was equally as obvious that it shook them to their very core. Each was processing the things Harry had told them in different ways, though their thoughts intertwined.
When Harry mentioned that Voldemort had summoned demons, Perenelle had gasped audibly, and her hand had gone to her throat. The look on her face was one of shock and revulsion, though she hadn't interrupted, letting Harry finish. When he had, she merely stared in Harry's direction without really seeing him. Nicholas' reaction was similarly silent. Only his expression seemed thoughtful and calculating. It was obvious that he had no reason to think that Harry was delusional, and it was equally clear by the way Harry told the story that it was very personal and had impacted his life greatly.
It was Perenelle that spoke up first, the expression on her face becoming thoughtful. "So the Voldemort of your world not only made a Horcrux, but made multiple Horcruxes. He really was terrified of death wasn't he? And he cast the killing curse at you, and it rebounded on him. I guess that tells us exactly what soul magic you were exposed to."
Harry snorted, "I lost count of the number of times I've been hit by that particular curse." Perenelle's eyebrows rose, "Are you telling me that you're immune to the killing curse?"
Harry nodded a bit, "Yeah. Pretty much. Might as well be throwing a particularly nasty stinging curse at me. Honestly, the Cruciatus hurts a lot worse." He didn't want to reveal further details of that at the moment. But there was more to his relative immunity to the killing curse.
Perenelle slowly chewed on her lip, choosing to focus on his statement about the killing curse, rather than Harry's obviously experienced comparison to the Cruciatus curse "You're sure?"
Harry nodded and chuckled. "Yeah. I am." Though he gave nothing else away.
Perenelle nodded, sensing the closure in that avenue of questioning and then returned to her thoughtful look, though she got up and began to pace along the length of the room, which wasn't much, when she spoke, her tone was thoughtful "Based on the ritual you described to me. I think I understand what he was doing. It's the results I'm uncertain of."
Harry focused on her, his eyes piercing. "Really? I admit, that while I have a good grasp of runes, my understanding of rituals is minimal at best. I can do a few, but only because I learned how they were done from a friend on my old world. She was a genius, the brightest witch of her age."
Perenelle nodded and then began to speak, her tone that of a teacher educating a student. "Based on what you described, Voldemort was attempting to leave that world, since the magical area was in ruins. He used the Mirror of Erised, an artifact that shows someone their deepest desire if I recall correctly. And his deepest desire was a place where you weren't there to interfere. He could have ended up anywhere."
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