"So, to sum up, you're from a completely separate timeline, though you do have some useful knowledge about the Second Wizarding War due to cross-time records of some form. You possess several capabilities that are outside context problems for Wizards in our timeline, which is the reason for your defeat of the Death Eaters that had attacked Diagon Alley. In your timeline, it is currently late August of nineteen-ninety-seven, some two years and one month from the current date here. Finally, you have a tower that made the journey with you, which you were separated from while crossing the timelines. Did I leave anything out?" Questioned Dumbledore.
"No, that pretty much sums things up nicely." I admitted.
"Right, pull the other one, lad. Alternate Timelines? If that sort of thing existed, the Ministry'd be all over it." Scoffed Mad-Eye.
"I'm afraid Mister Kowalski is quite serious." Informed Dumbledore.
"Some of your mind magic, then Albus?" Queried Mad-Eye.
"Regrettably no. Mister Kowalski's mental defenses seem quite impenetrable. However, one need not be a Leglemens to read body language and tone." Smirked Dumbledore.
"So he thinks he's telling the truth, but alternate timelines? He's clearly a bit daft, Headmaster." Frowned Tonks.
"Cross-time travelers have been known to happen, my dear, though it is quite rare. Why, I can think of perhaps a handful of documented cases in all of Wizarding History, with the most recent dating to the late Fifteenth Century. Teferi Al-Zhalfir, who you might recall was credited as the co-inventor of the Time Turner, along with Leonardo da Vinci. Supposedly the man was an accomplished Chronomancer and his input is the reason we still do not completely understand the mechanisms behind the Time Turners." Explained Dumbledore.
"Teferi Al-Zhalfir?" I spoke up.
"You've heard of him, I take it?" Asked Dumbledore.
"I have. He comes from a place called Zhalfir on a continent called Jamuraa. Accomplished Chronomancer doesn't even begin to describe him, though last I heard, his ability to walk between the worlds was lost due to him burning it out in an attempt to seal up a rift in time." I admitted, going off what I remembered from the Lore of Magic the Gathering.
"Was he successful?" Questioned Mad-Eye.
"It's Teferi. He's forgotten more about Time Magic than anyone I've ever heard of. Of course, he was successful." I snorted.
"Right. So, say we believe you. What does that mean for us?" Queried Tonks.
"I think perhaps we ought to ask Mister Kowalski that question. Will you aid us in our fight against the Death Eaters?" Asked Dumbledore.
"Unfortunately, I really do need to get back to my own timeline. I'm expected at a party in New York City in a few days. If you'll help me locate my tower so I can return, I'm willing to help you until I can do so." I answered.
"How many days?" Pressed Mad-Eye.
"That's where it gets a bit tricky. Time passes differently in different timelines. What could be a few days here might be a year back home, or vice-versa. Unfortunately, I'm rather new at walking between the worlds. I'm no Teferi, honestly, I hesitate to even call myself a Bo Levar or a Freyalise. I honestly barely qualify for the title of Worldwalker at this point." I sighed.
"How new is new?" Questioned Tonks.
"This is my second jaunt to a new world. Ever." I grumbled.
"I see. Well, at any rate, it is unlikely we will be able to turn any assistance away. Our allies are in short enough supply at the moment." Intoned Dumbledore.
"What are you blathering on about now, Albus? You're the bloody Chief Warlock of the Wizangemot!" Snapped Mad-Eye.
"Unfortunately, as of midnight yesterday, I have been forced to resign. It seems Minister Fudge has decided that sticking his head in the sand about the Enemy's return and decrying any attacks as rogue agitators is the strategy to pursue. When I attempted to persuade him otherwise, he demanded my resignation from the Wizangemot." Informed Dumbledore.
"What? He can't do that! You've got a legal right to the seat!" Blurted out Mad-Eye.
"To the seat in the Wizangemot by noble right. Not as the Chief Warlock. I might have attempted to persuade him to instate the Order as a deputized force a bit too soon. It seems that Cornelius has finally slipped from my ability to persuade entirely. Lucius seems to be pulling his strings fully now." Responded Dumbledore, shaking his head.
"So we do what? Take the Order Underground and keep fighting from the shadows?" Queried Tonks.
"If it helps, I can get you information that will strike a blow to Voldemort directly." I offered, watching Tonks wince as I used the Dark Lord's name despite the taboo. Dumbledore and Mad-Eye didn't wince in the least, though. Instead, they laser-focused in on me.
"How?" Demanded Mad-Eye.
"Tell me. What do you know about Philacteries? I think you call them Horcruxes in this timeline? Silly name, regardless, what do you know about them as relates to Voldemort?" I asked.
"Tonks, would you be so kind as to go check the wards are still functional? This is not a discussion I would like to have while they are being tested." Commanded Dumbledore in a manner that sounded like he was making a request. I knew better, though, and by the look on his face, so did Mad-Eye. Tonks seemed to miss it, though.
"Right, Headmaster. I'll go do that, then." Nodded Tonks as she left the kitchen area.
"Those are some very dangerous terms you are throwing out. I'm going to have to insist that you tell me what you know and why." Intoned Dumbledore, dangerously.
"I know that Voldemort made a number of them. Seven, in fact. I can tell you all of them and their locations, though there may be some differences, accounting for temporal drift. I know what it takes to make one if not the exact spell, and I know the consequences for making so many." I listed off.
"This is quite valuable intelligence. If it can be verified, we may even deny the Dark Lord his safety net, as it were." Mused Dumbledore.
"Albus? You knew about all this?" Questioned Mad-Eye.
"I suspected. The Dark Lord must have had a method to return from the dead as an incorporeal spirit. While there are a number of ways to do that, he would only really enjoy using one of them, and if there is one thing that the Dark Lord always did, it was whatever he pleased at the time. I confirmed my suspicions after the Chamber of Secrets was re-opened a few years back. The Diary young Miss Weasley had in her possession contained a fragment of the Dark Lord's soul. I have been searching for the others since his return in May." Admitted Dumbledore.
"How many have you found?" Queried Mad-Eye.
"Thus far, only two. Marvolo Gaunt's Ring in a cave on the south coast of England, and another which has been under our noses for the past four and a half years." Answered Dumbledore. Mad-Eye's gaze hardened at hearing that last bit. He looked like he knew exactly what Dumbledore was saying and wasn't pleased in the least about it. Meanwhile, Gaunt's Ring being in the cave instead of the fake locket was new, but I could roll with it.
"The others are Salazar Slytherin's Locket, which is in a cabinet in the Drawing Room of Twelve Grimmauld Place, Hufflepuff's Cup, which is hidden away in the Lestrange Family Vault and protected by Flagrante and Gemino curses, Ravenclaw's Diadem, which is in the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor in the left corridor of the Hogwarts castle opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet, and Nagini, Voldemort's familiar who is constantly by his side." I recounted.
"Some of those will be easier to get to than others. I can't think of anyone who'd be able to enter the Lestrange Family Vault that isn't already on the Dark Lord's side." Frowned Mad-Eye.
"True, but there are ways around such a stumbling block, though they require methods that are quite exacting and possibly quite out of reach for the time being. Perhaps we should focus on the ones we can deal with for now. The Diadem, Locket, and Ring?" Tried Dumbledore.
"Leave the Ring to me. I have a number of out-of-context magics that should allow me to bypass many of the protections safeguarding it." I offered.
"Do you even know where it is?" Asked Mad-Eye.
"One of the sea caves on the south coast of the Isle of Wight. It was in a different position in my future, but another item was in that cave, so I should be able to grab it. Timeline drift being what it is, I'm sure you can provide an exact location for me." I shrugged.
"Indeed. In the meantime, I shall fetch Ravenclaw's Diadem. Alastor, if you would please visit Sirius and have a look through his Drawing Room cabinets for Slytherin's Locket, then I think we shall be ahead of the Dark Lord for once." Intoned Dumbledore.
"Right. I'll just go ring up the bloody hound, then." Groused Mad-Eye.
"If you would also Floo Molly and Arthur and tell them that they should stay overnight in Godric's Hollow with the Wrights? No child should have to bear witness to the horrors of a Horcrux, much less three of them." Insisted Dumbledore.
"Fine. I'll relay the bloody message." Griped Mad-Eye. He still went to the floo to make a call. As he did, Dumbledore turned to me and asked me if I knew how to apparate. When I told him that no, I didn't, he gave me a crash course in Apparition that I managed to pick up in a few hours of practice thanks to my Adaptable and Ever-Evolving Powers.
By the time eleven at night rolled around, I was able to apparate myself around the Burrow Property multiple times without Splinching myself. Dumbledore was impressed enough with my ability to pick up the magic that he promised to teach me more spellwork later, should I return successfully with the Ring. Beyond that, however, he gave me the coordinates he'd narrowed the cave down to and told me to Apparate approximately five hundred meters away from there when I was ready.
Twenty minutes of more practice later, I pulled on my magic and found myself apparating to a point on the south shore of the Isle of Wight. I appeared in a copse of trees with a crack of displaced air, slamming my face into a solid oak and bashing my nose crooked, but otherwise coming out of my first, long-range, apparition unharmed. One moment to set my nose back straight and a bit of Alakhestry to heal it later and I walked out of the copse to get my bearings.
I found myself on a promontory northeast of Sandown Bay. The Lights of the Resort Town could be seen across the bay and I figured I was somewhere near Culver Down. Indeed, as I walked along the coast to the Northeast, I found myself climbing the Down itself, stopping just short of the old, abandoned, gun battery before my mystical senses had me begin climbing down the cliff-face to the waterline below. As I made my way down, my super-powered body ensuring I didn't slip and fall, I noticed that there was a small, rocky, overhang down below, just out of sight of any snooping passers-by.
As I managed to reach the overhang, I spotted a small door set into the cliff face with a platform about six feet above the water level, hidden underneath the overhang. With a grin, I realized I'd found my destination, though my apparition had been off by about two hundred meters or so, turning a six-hundred-meter hike into an eight-hundred-meter hike. I was definitely going to need to work on that in the future. Regardless, I made my way over to the door and looked at it with my mystic senses. A weakness payment was required to enter the doorway, and I grinned, realizing that I could pay it with blood and then use Alakhestry once I was inside to heal any cut.
Nodding, I cut my hand open, using my blood to open the door. It worked, and the door popped open to allow me entry. I stepped inside to find a stairwell leading down a short way into the main cave. Quickly using my Alakhestry to heal the cut, I made my way down into a cavern that glittered with crystals. A small beach led out across a saltwater lake on which a single island rested. There was a basin of black stone on the Island that I knew held my target.
Of course, Voldemort had laid down multiple protections. Most of the conceptual stuff required the trespasser to be an adult Wizard. Dumbledore got around that by bringing Harry, but I was able to circumvent it by not being a Wizard at all, but a Sorcerer instead. Presumably, a Magical Being such as a House Elf, Goblin, or Veela would be equally capable of bypassing those protections. Of course, they wouldn't be able to cross the lake without being attacked by the Inferi that waited beneath the waters. Anything that disturbed the water would rouse the Inferi to attack, and while there was an invisible boat, the protections on the basin would stymie any further attempt.
After all, the summoning charm would automatically wake the Inferi and the only other way to retrieve the ring was to drink the caustic, fear-conjuring, potion that couldn't be charmed, vanished, or transfigured at all. The only one who was capable of bypassing all of these protections would have been Voldemort himself. . .until now. After all, the Force was my ally, and Force Pull wasn't the same thing as the Summoning Charm.
With a brief moment of concentration and a twist of the Force, the Zeison Sha Telekinetic Techniques I had picked up allowed me to levitate Marvolo Gaunt's Ring out of the Basin and pull it toward me. It immediately went into my bag of holding and I began to make my way out of the Horcrux Cave, mission completed.
As I clambered up the cliffside once again, I couldn't help but feel that my out-of-context abilities had once again won me the day over Voldemort and his cronies' overreliance on the orthodox methods they knew. I felt like laughing to myself as I pulled myself up onto the clifftop. Of course, that only lasted until the sudden appearance of an opponent in a burst of oily smoke.
A Burly, Dark-hared, man in Death Eater Robes and a mask appeared as the smoke receded. He cocked his head at me and asked in a lightly accented voice, "Who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm just a simple man, trying to make my way in the world." I replied, paraphrasing a certain Bounty Hunter.
"It doesn't matter. I'm going to kill you either way. Perhaps you'll even make this fun for me before the end? After all, you did seemingly manage to bypass all but the simple alarm ward on my Lord's Cavern." Scowled the Man.
Then with a slash of his wand, a line of purple flames were flying my way and I was forced to duck and roll out of the way. I launched a perfunctory blast of flame back at the Death Eater only for him to swat it out of the air contemptuously with a gesture of his wand before snapping his wand out at me and tossing a blue line of light my way. Once more I found myself dodging, leaping into the air above the line, which struck a nearby rock and literally blasted it to pieces. A conjured spread of metal buckshot bounced off a shield charm he put up at the last second and he fired back with a conjured set of ropes, hoping to tie me down as I landed.
I dodged the ropes by the simple expedient of falling flat on my ass before firing an Amber Spear at him that struck his shield, cracking it a little. As I skipped up to my feet, I fired off a second Amber Spear that shattered through the shield, only for the Man to send the broken shards of energy ripping for me with a flick of his wand. I dodged as best I could, but one of those shards managed to slice into the meat of my upper arm, beneath the pauldron of my Argentum Armor, not that he could have realized it was there through my glamour. With a grunt, I hit the ground, my upper arm bleeding as the man regarded me coldly.
"Good show, but this isn't a gymnastics competition. First blood to me. Last blood too, I'd wager." He sneered before slashing his wand out in another line of purple fire.
This time, I reached into myself for blue and red mana and sent them at the flames in a counterspell. The counter tore into the spell matrix of the unknown curse, and the flames unraveled. The backlash of energies slammed into the Man's chest and sent him flying backward into a nearby bush. I could still tell that he was alive and able to fight, though thanks to the Dragon Pulse. Instead of waiting for him to get back up, I conjured a thorny bramble hedge that grew out of the bush he had fallen into. Steel-hard thorns bit into his arms and legs, but only for a moment before he slashed out with his wand and cleaved them apart as if with a sword.
My Amber Spear, meant to finish the fight, was blocked by a hasty shield charm, and his counter, a lance of gray light struck back at me, impaling my left shoulder as if with a railroad spike. I reached out with the Force, Zeison Sha Telekinesis grabbing shards of rock and smashing them through his shield. His second attempt to pepper me with shards of his broken shield charm was blunted by a shield of my own.
"Shield against this! Avada Kedavra!" He snarled as a green beam of light shot toward me.
Once more I dug into my reserves of Red and Blue Mana, counterspell attacking the killing curse and fraying it just enough for it to unravel itself. The Backlash slammed the Death Eater back, down, but not out. I didn't try to follow up this time, instead, I booked it for the boundary of the Anti-Apparition Wards. This Asshole was just too good and he would eventually land a blow that'd do more than take out an arm or shoulder.
I ran for it, dodging curses as I did so. A hundred-fifty meters from the edge of the wards, I leaped over an impediment jinx meant to slow me down. A hundred meters had me jank to the side to avoid another blue beam that blasted apart a tree trunk. Seventy-five meters saw me rolling underneath another wave of purple fire. Fifty had me janking to the side to avoid another impaling curse. As I leaped over another killing curse at the twenty-five-meter mark, I finally cleared the ward line and immediately apparated away.
I landed hard in Molly Weasley's carrot patch, biting my lip as I did so. I'd succeeded in escaping who I was fairly sure had been Antonin Dolohov with the Gaunt Ring and my life. As I stood up and reached into my bag of holding to grab a healing potion, I began to down it just as Dumbledore made his way out to me.
"You look rather worse for wear, my boy, and not in any of the ways I would have expected. Did you get the ring?" Questioned Dumbledore.
Instead of answering verbally, I reached into my bag of holding and took out the Gaunt Ring to show Dumbledore.
"I think we'd best go inside, then and you can tell me about what happened." Intoned Dumbledore.
I nodded, too tired to argue, and followed him inside. . .
XXXX
AN: The next chapter is already up on my Patreon, so check the link in the threadmarked post if you guys feel like throwing me a couple bucks to get chapters in advance. Everyone who does is super appreciated and I can't thank my patrons enough.
All right, so here we get a bit of Jan helping out Dumbledore, both giving him a list of Horcruxes and retrieving the Gaunt Ring as well. A lot of the protections on the Gaunt Ring were meant to keep out Adult Wizards, mostly because Voldemort only really seems to think Dumbledore was capable of even getting that far. The rest of the protections were things like the weakness payment on the door, the Inferi in the lake, and the potion in the basin, all of which could be defeated by Jan's out-of-context magic.
Of course, as we saw, a sufficiently skilled and powerful wizard can adapt to such out-of-context magics. Especially someone like Dolohov who was known to create his own Dark Spells. Dolohov isn't a chump like the random followers who attacked Diagon Alley. He's a member of Voldemort's Inner Circle. Jan managing a draw with him is pretty good here.
Mind you the next time they meet, that means Dolohov is going to have it out for Jan, but that was likely going to happen anyway.
At any rate, the next chapter will have the destruction of the three Horcruxes.
Stay tuned. . .