There was the thrum of conversation and the clinking of cutlery in the Great Hall as the students sat down to eat their evening meal. Professor Dumbledore had just completed his speech with the oddest statement many of them had ever heard. The older students were quite used to the Headmaster's eccentricities and gave it hardly any thought.

"Nitwit, Oddment, Blubber, Tweak!" seemed to be the strangest thing anyone could say at any point of time forgetting a welcome feast. The tables groaned under the weight of the scrumptious food that had magically appeared on the tables. The older students were catching up with their friends and acquaintances while the freshly sorted first years gaped around in awe and spoke to the ghosts.

Suddenly, there was a sound like thunder and all the floating candles flickered. The hair stood on people's arms and necks as an amazing amount of magic filled the air. With an almost supersonic whoosh, there appeared a young man, dressed all in black in front of the staff table. He seemed to have fallen out of the heavens. He stood for an instant and then collapsed with his eyes rolling into the back of his skull. There was an almighty gasp from the students and teachers alike and then there was silence.

It was in that silence that Hermione Granger suddenly screamed, pointing and screaming incoherently at the robes, tie, trousers, shirt, spectacles and wand that had suddenly clattered onto the bench at the Gryffindor table. For long seconds, nobody could move, and then Albus Dumbledore sprang into action. He walked quickly around the staff table with his wand out, muttering detection charms and checking the stranger for curses and enchantments even as he walked. He had not failed to notice the hysteria of one of the first-year students, a hysteria and panic that was quickly spreading at the Gryffindor table. He saw that Minerva was on her way there, so he focused on the stranger who had so startlingly appeared in their midst. He would suspect apparation but the build-up of magic preceding the event and the fact that it was impossible to apparate into or out of Hogwarts made that highly unlikely.

Professor McGonagall quickly walked over to her house table, noting them all talking at once and pointing at something on the bench that she could not see.

"Miss Granger, what has happened?" She asked sharply, displaying her formidable memory as she had only seen her name twice; once when they sent out the invitation letters, and once on the sorting list. The fact that she had so easily put a name to a new face went unnoticed by the thunderstruck children who had been sitting around that area.

"It was Harry Potter!" Hermione Granger exclaimed with a sob, pointing wildly at the clothes and accessories lying on the bench. "One moment he was there and the next, he…shimmered and then… disappeared! That's all that was left of him!" She sounded like she was going into shock. Professor McGonagall paled and examined the clothes and artifacts left behind. She had been looking forward to getting to know Harry and was delighted that he had been placed in her house. Now it seemed they had lost him before the term had begun. She quickly placed a stasis charm that would avoid any evidence tampering and hurried back to the staff table, where Dumbledore was still crouched over the prone and unconscious form of the stranger who had miraculously appeared.

"Albus!" She exclaimed as she neared the table, hand clutching her chest, "Albus! Harry Potter has disappeared!" She was short of breath as she hurried to the table. Albus Dumbledore seemed to age on the spot as he looked towards the Gryffindor table, taking in Percy Weasley doing a commendable job as a prefect and comforting the young Miss Granger. He felt a moment of despair as he pondered the loss of the first year student. No one but he knew the actual meaning of this loss. Harry Potter had a destiny to set the wizarding world free. His sharp mind quickly connected some dots and his face seemed to clear up. His eyes narrowed as he looked back at the stranger.

"My dear Professor, calm yourself." he said quietly, looking at her over his half-moon glasses. An inexplicable disappearance and an equally inexplicable appearance probably have something in common."

The Great Hall was filled with speculation as all the students craned their necks tring to get a look at the newcomer. Some of them, including a pair of red-haired twins, had even stood up on their seats to get a better look. The man was still unconscious, but did not look to be in any discomfort.

"Enervate." said Dumbledore, pointing his wand at the strange young man who seemed so at peace. The spell had no effect. His eyebrows raised, Dumbledore simply whispered "Interesting." under his breath as he turned to face the students in the Great Hall.

He calmly walked back to the podium in front of the Head table and raised his arms to get their attention. He allowed a little bit of his magic to infuse his voice as he addressed the students.

"My dear students, I'm sorry that your welcome feast has been disrupted in this manner. Please continue with your dinner while the Professors and I investigate this matter. Prefects please help the newly sorted students to the common rooms and their dorms. Classes will continue tomorrow as scheduled. Any questions can be directed towards Professors Flitwick or Quirrell." Dumbledore gestured behind him to the staff table, where the tiny Professor Flitwick stood up on his chair and gave the student body a small wave. Professor Quirrell simply looked nervous and extremely curious as to the events that had unfolded.

There were whispers all around the room as the students speculated what he meant by "investigate the matter". He smiled at the naturally curious young minds around him and then raised his hands for silence again.

"Alas, we cannot conclude this magnificent meal with a rendition of the school song, but no matter, there will be other nights for that. I welcome you all to another year at Hogwarts and for those joining us for the first time let me assure you that occurrences like this are most uncommon, even for us!"

There were a few titters from the older students at that. He waited for them to subside, before adopting a more serious look. "Our older students know that the forbidden forest is out of bounds to all students, but I would like to give a word of warning to our newest students as well. The forbidden forest is in a word: forbidden." The new students had goggling eyes. The very name sounded ominous, and most of them couldn't imagine voluntarily going into it. Still, they were grateful for the warning. The Headmaster seemed to have more to say so they turned their attention back to them.

"I must inform you all that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

There were a few laughs from around the room, that quickly died out as they realized that the Headmaster looked completely serious. There was some muttering by the older students and murmured conversation as the Headmaster stepped off the podium and walked back towards their unexpected guest.

Dumbledore levitated the stranger and started making his way out of the Great hall, signaling Professors McGonagall and Snape to come with him. He left behind a subdued and curious crowd of students and staff members.

He led the way to the Hospital wing, where Madam Poppy Pomfrey was still getting ready for the start of the term, no doubt dreading the number of students who would be traipsing in and out of the infirmary as soon as classes began. A magical school tended to have an astounding number of incidents and accidents throughout the school year and she was often up to her gills in work. Yet she wouldn't have it any other way. Hogwarts was the place she loved to be in, though she often forwent the feasts as the noise and the clamor of the entire student body at once was slightly more than she could stomach.

She was just enjoying a nice dinner by herself when the doors to the infirmary opened and the Headmaster walked in levitating someone she had never seen before in front of him, followed closely by the Professors.

She gasped and jumped out of her chair, her medical training kicking in instantly as she sent diagnostic spells at the young man even as she hurried towards them. She indicated a bed to levitate him onto, and then continued, while shooting questions at the Headmaster.

"Who is he?" she asked as her wand ran up and down his body, pausing at his head and at his chest before sweeping over the rest of him. "Where did he come from? Was he cursed? Hexed?"

"We do not know." came the soft answer from Severus Snape, who was as curious as he had ever been as a student, staring at this stranger. He was taken aback by the Minerva's report of the disappearance of Potter, who he had stared at with loathing as he got sorted. He was the image of his arrogant father, but those eyes still stirred something in his soul. Lily's eyes. To see them on a face so like the one that he had despised for nearly all his adult life had been quite a jolt.

Madam Pomfrey seemed to have finished her diagnostics and motioned them to come forward as she conjured a hospital smock and laid it on the bed near the stranger. She pulled the curtains around the bed shut and then turned to the attentive Professors.

"He is in perfectly good health." She noted relief on all the faces though she wondered what they would make of her next statement. "There is no sign of life in him." She even felt ridiculous saying it after her previous statement.

"Whatever do you mean, Poppy?" asked McGonagall, looking at her quizzically.

"Well," she began, wondering how to explain this. "He is physically fine. His magical core is strong, stronger than any- most people I've ever seen." She looked pointedly at the headmaster as she said this wanting to see his reaction. He was well known as one of the most powerful wizards alive. He inclined his head, gesturing for her to continue, not commenting on that at the moment though it made him more curious than ever.

"However," continued the confused Mediwitch, there is no mental activity within the young man. It's as if the lights are on but nobody is home." She winced internally, already marking this down as the strangest diagnosis she had ever given.

"Interesting" said Albus Dumbledore again, looking at the closed curtain. "Who are you, I wonder." He seemed intrigued by it all and that was saying something for the 176-year-old wizard. He had seen a lot of things in his life, yet this left him stumped.

He had been actively fighting off his wave of panic at the disappearance of Harry Potter, a boy he had looked forward to watching as he went through his schooling. He could not understand how the boy could have disappeared from the middle of the Great Hall with everyone watching and the wards there on the school. He sighed as he looked towards the bed again.

"Keep me informed if his condition changes." he requested as he gestured to the other Professors to accompany him.

They walked briskly through the empty hallways of the school, heading back towards the Great Hall. They were each lost in their own thoughts and trying to come to terms with what they had witnessed.

The students were just finishing up with dessert as the Professors came striding back into the hall, generating another wave of whispers and questions. They walked up to the Gryffindor table to a spot that was an island of empty space on the bench.

The charm that McGonagall had placed on Harry's things was still intact as the three teachers carefully examined the area. Dumbledore was using his wand to check for any known magic or latent spells that could explain the disappearance.

Snape turned to the nearest student and barked out his questions. "You!" Ron Weasley almost spat out his pudding in his hurry to answer the scary looking man. "Y-Yes S-Sir?" He had gone deathly pale and looked towards his brothers for help, but they stared back at him, saying nothing.

"Tell me what you saw." Ron gulped a little. "I-I didn't s-see anything Professor. I only noticed that he was gone when Hermione Granger here started screaming!" He pointed towards the young witch, who he thought was quite obnoxious.

Hermione Granger was bursting to tell her story and she wasted no time walking up to the Professors. She seemed to have completely gotten over her shock over the events that had transpired.

"Excuse me, Professors," she was feeling quite nervous about talking to her soon to be teachers and the Headmaster as well, but she knew she had to tell them everything in case it helped with finding out where Harry Potter was.

"I was looking right at him when it happened. His eyes seemed to roll up into his head and his whole body sort of shimmered." The Professors were all watching and listening intently, since she was the only eye witness who had seen him disappear. "He - shimmered -and then just – disappeared! It was like magic!" Hermione wanted to bite her tongue as the last bit slipped out of her. Of course, it was magic! She mentally berated herself.

"I see." Said Professor Dumbledore gravely. "We will investigate this matter and find Harry."

"Please do not be overly concerned." He added kindly to the rest of the Gryffindor's who were eagerly hanging on his every word. He smiled blandly at Hermione and made a small shooing motion with his hands, excusing the girl who seemed a little over-awed to be talking to the Headmaster.

The Great Hall was filled with the sounds of benches scraping and shuffling feet as the students made their way to the dormitories. They were much more subdued than they usually were at the start of term.

It was a most unusual start to a new year.

Dumbledore had expected the unexpected when it came to Harry Potter, but this was something else entirely. He vowed to find out where the boy was and who had managed to get him out of the castle despite the many wards and protections on it.

He sighed and turned to the other Professors. "There's nothing we can do as of now but wait until that young man wakes up in the infirmary. Minerva, do ask Poppy to let me know as soon as he does." McGonagall nodded tersely and walked away, presumably to the infirmary.

"Trust a Potter to create a ruckus on his first day in the school." growled Snape as he watched McGonagall walk away. He hadn't dared say anything in front of her, knowing that she was fiercely protective of her "lion cubs" as she called them. Dumbledore simply looked at Snape and said nothing for a moment, but he exuded disappointment.

"Severus, I would ask you to try to look beyond the boy's resemblance to his father and try to get to know the person beneath. I, for one, am most interested in knowing what kind of person Harry has become and what kind of wizard he will grow into." He started to walk away before he turned back and softly said "He may have more of Lily in him that just his eyes."

Snape had an unfathomable look on his face as he watched the Headmaster walk out of the Great Hall, before turning on his heel and heading to the dungeons to his own quarters. Strange beginnings indeed.

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office and contemplated the happenings of the evening. It was an unusual start to a new year to say the least. He had been looking forward to Harry Potter rejoining the magical world and was hoping to mentor the boy for the task he had ahead of him. It was disturbing that he had somehow been whisked away from the school and the aged headmaster was more that certain that it had something to do with the dark-haired stranger who had appeared in the Great Hall. He did not believe in coincidence after his many years of tenure as headmaster and all the things he had seen over his long and interesting life.

Some instinct in him was keeping him calm although he realized that if the stranger could not explain the disappearance of Harry Potter he was going to be in a very unenviable position when he tried to explain to the magical world and the boy's relatives how exactly he had managed to allow this to happen.

He sighed as he chose and ate a lemon drop, closing his eyes in pleasure as he took in the sweet and sour flavor of his favorite sweet. It was going to be a long night, as the wheels in his mind kept turning.

Severus Snape sat below in his quarters in the dungeons, slowly sipping on a goblet of Firewhisky as he thought about the events of the night. He didn't know any magic that could penetrate the wards of the school. Even at the height of his powers, the Dark Lord had not managed it. It left him intrigued to know that someone had. The sheer force of magic he had felt in the Hall was unimaginable.

Not many people knew it, but although he was a gifted potioneer, a prodigy some might say and a master in his field, he was also a scholar of magic. He had spent several years involved in his own research and while potions would always be his first love, he still had a deep longing for deeper knowledge in all subjects. It was one of the things that had led him to take up a teaching position in a school even though he almost loathed teaching the younger years.

He took a sip and grimaced as he realized that, if found, Harry Potter would be one of his new students, no doubt bumbling around and putting everyone in danger with the volatile mixtures they were supposed to know by the end of their first year. He often felt that potions should be introduced to more steady hands and minds, yet also knew that a strong foundation was an absolute necessity to turn out potioneers of any worth. He drained his glass and stood, preparing to retire for the night, for who knew what the morning would bring.

The dawn was breaking as Albus Dumbledore rose from his slumber and donned his robes, ready for a new day in which students would begin their journey down the path of learning. A silver patronus appeared in front of him. It was a swan that spoke in the voice of Minerva McGonagall.

"Albus, Poppy thinks the young man is about to awaken. Please come to the Hospital wing."

With spry steps that belied his age, he walked quickly to his fireplace, deciding to forgo the walk through the castle in exchange for the time he would save.

He appeared in a flash of green flames in the Hospital wing, noticing that the curtains were still closed around the man's bed and that Severus, Minerva and Poppy were standing around the bed and talking in hushed tones.

"Good Morning Everyone." Said Dumbledore as he stepped up to join them. "I trust you all slept well." A few sour looks and a small snort from Snape was all the response he got. "Shall we check on our young patient?" He asked, deferring to Madame Pomfrey as he was in her domain. She gave him a quick nod and moved the curtains aside.

They were all taken aback to see the stranger looking quite comfortable. His legs were crossed at the ankles, and his arms were crossed behind his head. He didn't open his eyes, but they could tell he was awake.

"Good Morning. I'm Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You are currently in our Hospital wing. May I inquire as to who you are?"

There was a moment of silence before he spoke. His voice was quite low, and he didn't change his position or open his eyes.

"Who else is here?" he asked softly. The Professors exchanged looks. He had not answered the question about himself. Dumbledore decided to play along and be polite, not wanting to scare the man with an untoward show of his magical strength.

"You are in the presence of Professors Snape and McGonagall, as well as Madame Pomfrey, who is the school Mediwitch and the woman who is taking care of you. Is there anything we can get for you Mr...?" Albus trailed off, hoping to catch the young man off-guard and get a response. All he got was a small smirk and the man still hadn't changed his position. Snape was bristling at this blatant disrespect and was about to speak when a hand on his arm stopped him. He looked askance of the Headmaster only to get a small shake of the head.

"I need information." he stated quietly. His next question had them stunned. "What year is it?" There was a gasp from both McGonagall and Pomfrey. Snape simply looked shocked and Dumbledore bemused.

"It is the year 1995." Said Dumbledore, scrutinizing the reaction this information would have. The man's face scrunched up a little as if he was concentrating on something and then his face went blank again.

"Has Harry Potter come to Hogwarts?" was his next question. It caused even Dumbledore to look startled. He looked at his colleagues as they all looked to him, wondering what he should say. He wondered why the stranger had asked about Harry of all people. McGonagall gave him a knowing look, because he had been so sure that the disappearance and appearance had been linked. This seemed to be proof that it indeed was. He decided to tell the truth.

"Mr. Harry Potter has indeed come to Hogwarts." He saw the man let out a breath that he had been holding and then saw him stiffen as he continued. "However, young Mr. Potter disappeared from the Great Hall during our welcome feast. At the same time as when you...joined us from wherever you have come."

"Disappeared?!" He exclaimed, seeming to lose his casual attitude for a minute. He still lay in the same position though. They silently watched him as he seemed to digest this information. They all reached for their wands as he swung his legs off the bed and sat on the side of it, eyes still closed. "Disappeared." He whispered again, almost to himself. "Well that was unexpected. 1995. Who knew." He seemed to be mumbling to himself and the others were wondering about his sanity.

"Ahem." Dumbledore cleared his throat and stepped a little forward. "Would you happen to know something about Mr. Potter's whereabouts, young man?"

There was a silence again. Before the boy opened his eyes and looked right into Dumbledore's wise blue ones.

There was a gasp from all four of them this time.

"You might say that, Professor. I do indeed know something about his whereabouts."

He took in the stunned looks on their faces as they all saw his bright green emerald eyes.

The teachers stood in shock as the young man casually stood up and stretched his arms above his head.

Snape moved to raise his wand, only to have Dumbledore stop him again. He shot the headmaster a look of disgust as he lowered his arm, wondering what the old man was thinking allowing this stranger to roam around free with impunity.

"H-Harry?" Stammered Professor McGonagall, staring at the young man in shock, unable to comprehend what was happening in front of her eyes.

If she had to put an age to him, she'd say he was around 20 years old, 6 feet tall at least and with a physique that suggested a lot of exercise or manual labor. He was dressed all in black, with black jeans a long sleeved black t-shirt and a black dragon-hide vest that seemed to have been made from the hide of a Hungarian Horntail.

She didn't see a wand on him, though she supposed he could have anything up his sleeve. He turned to her and she was taken aback by the amount of pain she saw in his eyes.

"Hello, Minnie." He said with a soft smile, seeming to enjoy the startled look on all their faces at the nick name that only her sister, niece and closest friends called her, before tiredly scrubbing his face with his hands and making eye contact with the others in the room.

"Severus." He said, with a sardonic smile on his face. Snape looked the most flabbergasted look out of all of them.

Severus Snape had a blank look on his face looking like he'd just seen a ghost. Everything he knew about magic was telling him that this was not possible. This could not possibly be Harry Potter in front of them. Although between the disappearance of the boy and the strange appearance of this man who had eyes he would never forget, he had to admit it was looking more and more probable that he was telling the truth.

Dumbledore looked lost in thought, though also at a loss for words as he stared at the young man in front of him, his mind whirring with a thousand thoughts. From what the man had said he was Harry Potter, and Harry Potter had just disappeared from the Great Hall. It made no sense. Hence, it must be true.

"Mr. Potter, I believe we have a great deal to discuss. Please follow me to my office and help me understand exactly what is going on here. I can tell you have a great story to tell."

"Albus." The boy's eyes seemed to narrow a little in dislike, much to his alarm, as he spoke. He was taken aback by the familiarity that the young man was showing with all of them. None of their first names seemed to sit strangely on his tongue. He seemed to know all of them, yet he had never met them before. A conundrum if there ever was one.

Harry nodded slowly, looking around the hospital room at everyone present. He sent a small smile towards Madame Pomfrey who stood all but forgotten in the shock of the events unfolding.

"Yes, Headmaster, we do indeed have a great deal to discuss and it should be in private." He looked pointedly at the other Professors. "I will tell you what I can and then you decide who should be privy to the information." He suddenly looked all business like, standing with the air of someone used to getting things done quickly and precisely. If he was taken aback by the shell-shocked expressions on everyone's face, he didn't really show it. His face was a blank mask that betrayed nothing.

Dumbledore merely glanced at his incredulous colleagues and gestured for Harry to follow him out of the Hospital wing. He was looking forward to this conversation. He could sense a great story and great magic involved.

They walked in silence, the students probably already in the Great Hall for breakfast. Dumbledore was watching Harry out of the corner of his eye, and was surprised to see a wistful, nostalgic look on his face as he gazed around the school. Albus could swear he saw him tear up a little before he blinked, and his eyes looked as clear green as before. He had a lot of questions for the young man. A most important one was why he had no lightning bolt scar on his forehead. The headmaster vividly recalled not doing anything about it when he had left him in Privet Drive. But then again, was this even the same boy?

Harry Potter looked around his old school with a great deal of nostalgia. He loved this place. It was great seeing it as it used to be, with the suits of armor standing proud in the alcoves and the torches burning merrily in their sconces, casting shadows on the walls. Portraits collected over centuries lined the walls, and they all were a flurry of motion and color as they walked down the corridors. He had a sudden mental flash of the last time he had seen his school.

Smoke was rising from the ruined floors and there were suits of armor lying broken, dented, blackened and burnt with pieces strewn here and there like garbage. There were broken picture frames, their charms worn off by their destruction with blank canvas staring out of most of them. A small part of the floor was still smoking from the torch that had been torn off a portion of wall that was broken. The worst part of it all were the bodies. They were strewn about haphazardly much like the suits of armor. There were dismembered limbs scattered across and thick, gelatinous blood that was half clotted pooled on the floors. It hadn't mattered if the bodies belonged to Half-bloods, Pure Bloods, Muggle borns or squibs. Their blood had all pooled on the floor in the aftermath. Hundreds were dead. It was horrible, but it hadn't been the first battle field he had seen.

Harry mentally shook himself as he came back to the present, pondering how to tell his story to the Headmaster without sounding insane. They'd lock him up in St. Mungo's if they didn't believe him. He'd have to tread carefully while sharing his tale of war and suffering with these people who were in no way ready for what the magical world would become in just a few short years.

They ascended the spiral staircase, each lost in their own thoughts as they rose gracefully to the office door. It opened of its own accord and Dumbledore gestured for Harry to step in before him. As he walked in, he looked around, seeming to be lost in thought. It had been years since he had last stepped into this office looking the way it did now. 4 years to be precise.

A warm note of Phoenix song welcomed them to the Headmaster's office as they stepped in. "Hello Fawkes" smiled Harry, feeling calm and strength wash into him with the soft sound.

If Dumbledore was startled that Harry knew the name of his familiar, he didn't show it. He merely gestured to the seat opposite his and waited with his hands on his desk, giving the young man all his attention. There was a lot of information to be gleaned from the conversation and he couldn't wait to get to the bottom of the mystery this man had proved himself to be.

Harry sat and looked around the room, taking in the whirring instruments and the portraits of the previous Headmasters and Headmistresses of the school. The portrait of Godric Gryffindor gave him a small bow, which he hoped Dumbledore hadn't noticed. He had a lot of explaining to do but he wanted to keep it simple. It was going to be a lot for everyone to digest anyway.

The Headmaster was still looking at him expectantly, so he reluctantly turned his attention away from the room and took a deep breath.

"As you've no doubt surmised or suspected, I am from the future. Ten years from the future to be precise." He waited for a reaction. He knew this was going to be the most difficult thing for them to accept, but once they did he was sure the rest of his task would be made easier.

He wasn't disappointed. The Headmaster frowned, pressing the bridge of his nose as if staving off a headache. "There is no magic that can send someone so far back in the past, Mr. Potter. A time-turner can -"

"It wasn't a time-turner. And call me Harry" interrupted the emerald-eyed youth, wanting to intervene before the man confused himself with speculation. He paused for a moment, seeing the Headmaster attentive again, seeming to brush off the rude interruption. The Professor gave a small nod of acknowledgment to call him "Harry" before making a gesture for him to continue his tale.

Harry took another deep breath. "It was a combination of Fawkes' magic and the Veil of Death in the department of Mysteries." Fawkes crooned a little as if in response to hearing his name.

Albus gasped and sat back in his throne-like chair. He certainly had been speculating, but this had not been something he had been expecting. He knew that the department of mysteries was fanatic about their secrecy. The only reason he knew about the Veil was that he had been called in to examine it, as one of the foremost learned people in the magical world. It was well known that he was a brilliant mind, with vast knowledge of magic and its foundations, as well as history, artifacts and theorizing what could happen with experimenting with artifacts. However, the black shroud that waved about absent wind and made some people hear whispers of the dead had not yielded up its secrets even to him, and he had accepted that it's mystery would never be solved, at least in his lifetime.

"That is…surprising…to say the least." He observed, recovering from his surprise and focusing on the troubled face of the young man in front of him. "We have examined the Veil and found no way to understand its intent, nor its creation."

Harry sighed and scrubbed his face. It seemed to be something he did quite often. "It doesn't really have much to do with time, but it does have a lot to do with space. It's a doorway or gateway between two portals." He could see that Dumbledore was enraptured with the new knowledge and smiled a little to himself. The man was a scholar and an intellectual above all.

"In a time of great sorrow and great strife, Fawkes and myself combined our magic and I went through this gateway to get…here." He looked around the office again, while gesturing with his arms.

He still didn't know how to impart all the knowledge he had of the things to come. He was most worried that any action they took would change how things turned out. He had already created an alternate reality by coming back. He had no idea what repercussions his actions had already had. There were very good reasons why wizards had not learned time manipulation. It was simply too complicated to predict what would happen. It had been a last-ditch effort to save wizarding Britain that had led to the mad scheme he had gone through with.

"I don't know why I was sent to this particular time, but I suspect because it would mitigate the damage done to the magical world the most."

Fawkes trilled, as if in agreement. Harry wondered if the amazingly beautiful bird had retained his memories of the time that hadn't yet occurred. A sad and knowing look from the phoenix and a sad warbling note confirmed to him that he did indeed have knowledge of the terrible things that were to come.

Dumbledore intently observed the interaction between the two of them, his considerable intellect already in a tail spin as to what could have possibly happened for such drastic measures to be taken. If there was one thing he had learned in all his many years it was that time was not to be trifled with. It was a magic beyond what they could understand and as per his knowledge, flowed in only one direction. To be sitting across from somebody who had reversed the stream had him riveted. He realized that he still needed to ask about his missing student, though he supposed the man sitting in front of him was answer enough. This was going to be a long meeting, he surmised.