Disclaimer: Neither Ranger's Apprentice nor Harry Potter belongs to me. I make no money off of this, yada, yada, yada!

Author's Note: I'm back! First off, sorry for the delay but this was only gonna be a simple one-shot since it was just a plot-bunny that mercilessly forced me to write it down and post it on this wonderful site. But since I had some time on my hands and felt bad leaving you guys hanging, I decided to continue it. Just a quick word though, I changed my mind and Harry didn't suddenly appear when Will came. It's a big step telling Will all that but he trusts him and is fed up with things. You'll see why. Also, his story sounds a bit far-fetched but I just needed a reason to get him there that was original and made even an ounce of sense, I hope. So enough rambling and let's get on with the story!

CHAPTER 2: A Talk by the Fire

Will sat and stared, enthralled, as the alleged wizard told of his misadventures in Hogwarts, his life with the Dursleys, and the war against Voldermort. Will didn't know what to believe but he could sense true honesty in the young man's voice and those piercing green eyes seemed a lot sadder and older for someone his age. Besides, what with his own adventures, the other boy's didn't seem so strange. But the concept of magic was still very, very hard to believe!

"So after the war," Harry was saying, after a sip of coffee Will brewed over a hastily-made fire. "Things got pretty intense. The Wizarding government didn't trust me very much since I was powerful enough to defeat the worse enemy they had ever known with such a simple spell. It was then that they revealed their greatest secret."

"I hate secrets," Will muttered dryly.

Harry nodded sadly. "You could say that again. Anyhow, to make a long story short, the Department of Mysteries I told you about turned out to be a fake, a cover-up."

Will wrinkled his brow in confusion.

"I don't understand," He cut in. "You said you went there and those brain-thingies attacked your friend and you got trapped in that Hall of Prophecies that Voldermort wanted."

"Oh Ron got attacked alright," Harry chuckled grimly. "It was as if he was so stupid that all brains everywhere were offended by him and even ones severed from a human head didn't want to be so close to him."

Ron didn't understand why Harry disliked Ron all of a sudden, aside from betraying him in fourth year and ditching him during the Horcuxe Hunt and misusing his position as Prefect. There must be something he wasn't telling him or was about to so he decided to hold his peace and wait. The mental image of Harry's joke was pretty funny though and he allowed himself a grin.

"And Voldermort did ambush us in the room where the Veil of Death was," Harry continued. "But it turned out to be just what I said: A cover-up. Truth be told, it was a Department of Mysteries but not ones of our world."

Suddenly, realization dawned on Will and his eyes widened.

"You mean..." He asked haltingly, hardly able to believe it.

"Yes," Harry affirmed. "The Veil of Death was actually a portal to your world and the brains real brains but cut out from humans from your world in an attempt to study your world."

Will shuddered in horror and Harry grimaced. It was a pretty awful picture but the Ministry had enjoyed taunting him about that one.

"As for the Prophecies," Harry went on. "It turned out none of them were Prophecies aside from that one. They were actually messages in a bottle so to speak, passed on by someone from your world. Only, Dumbledore was stupid enough to think they were Prophecies, as was Voldermort and his cronies apparently, since he hid the damn thing in the Hall with the other messages."

"And those were destroyed in the fight," Will sighed.

"Sorry about that," Harry mumbled. "Things were pretty intense and lots of oddities put in there to make it seem like a Department of Mysteries got destroyed also including a cache full of Time-Turners. Say, you don't have time travel in this world do you?"

Will shuddered again although this time feigning horror since time travel was way more confusing than he ever thought possible. Harry smirked but the grin quickly vanished and was replaced by the sad look he previously sported.

"Anyhow," He said. "Basically, the wizards didn't trust me with all the power and popularity after the war especially since many of the wizards and witches were calling for me to be Minister of Magic. The Ministry feared this since there were still many corrupt wizards who were not Death Eaters and they didn't want to be discovered. The whole world would be turned upside down."

"I can imagine," Will breathed.

Harry nodded. "So to make a long story short, they revealed one last secret: The Department of Mysteries was actually designed to learn more about your world they could access through the Veil of Death. Then they snapped my wand and threw me into the Veil. After that I woke up here in the forest and wandered these woods for days."

"But that flash of light..." Will asked in confusion. "And that bang that knocked me off of Tug. Wasn't that you?"

"No," Harry said with a sheepish grin. "I ran into quite a few unsavoury types of characters, huge oafs. Claimed they worked for Lord Keren, Son of Syren, and were hunting down an evil sorcerer. What with my wand gone and no weapon, I was without a means to defend myself to them so I attempted to use wandless magic."

Will felt a thrill of excitement wash through him.

"You mean like that time when your wand triggered to life against the Dementors and later the Death Eaters?" He asked excitedly. "But that could explain all those lights and sounds the locals said to have heard in the woods. Halt and Crowley didn't think there was a real sorcerer but now that you're here..."

"Halt and Crowley?" Harry asked in confusion. "Do I know them?"

"Sorry," Will sighed glumly. "I was just getting so excited with the thought of magic. Truth be told, commoners think we Rangers are sorcerers since we can vanish by use of camouflage, secrecy, and patience. Perhaps at one time one of our kind was a sorcerer and that started the rumour mill but we're no magicians, not like you. Anyhow, you're probably wondering what I'm going on about now."

Harry nodded dumbly and Will chuckled nervously.

"Alright then, here goes nothing," He sighed, and then he told Harry about his own adventures that seemed to pale in comparison to those of The-Boy-Who-Lived.

Even so, Will felt a bit proud as the hero opposite him listened with an impressed look on his face and a tentative gaze. The fire grew cold and died until there were embers and when he finally fell silent, Will shivered.

"And so here I am, looking for the Sorcerer of the North," Will finished, taking a large gulp of cold coffee. "And I think I've found you."

Harry frowned.

"But that doesn't add up," He said. "The locals claimed to see those sights and hear those sounds for a while now and I've only been here for a couple of weeks at the most. Otherwise, I would have found a village or town or something and who knows what would have happened."

"You haven't found the Veil of Death you mentioned?" Will asked.

"No," Harry growled. "Those bastards in the Ministry put a Fidelius Charm on it to prevent me from remembering where it is. Since it was half in my world, it worked. That was also a safe-guard to keep prisoners from this place in the Department of Mysteries, or should I say the Prison Camp of Mysteries."

Will smirked dryly at the name but there was no mirth in his grin. It was obvious that poor Harry had nowhere left to go. He could not return home. It just wasn't possible at the present moment.

For now, he was stuck with Will but if what he said was true about wandless magic he could prove extremely useful and an invaluable ally in his mission and, possibly, the future. Besides, it would be only decent to offer him a place to live until he found his feet. Heaving a sigh, Will licked up the last of the coffee and glanced back at Harry who was staring fiercely into the dying embers.

"You could come and live with me at Redmont when this is all over," He offered. "If you help me out on this mission then I can legally vouch for you and people trust my words back home. If you can display even an ounce of magic it would make your story all the more credible although Halt and Crowley will probably want to keep it a secret so our enemies don't find out about your gift."

"That makes sense," Harry nodded. "Very well, one good turn does merit another I guess and Merlin knows I need something to do around here. There are only so many days I can walk around in this forest for."

"We'll have to come back here eventually to search for the previously-known sorcerer," Will said reluctantly. "But it would be great to have an ally on this venture since I'm all alone on this first mission. Well, I'm supposed to meet up with a couple of insiders eventually but for now I'm on my own."

"Not anymore," Harry grinned. "It would be nice to have a friend and I hope to meet your folks back home when this is all over. They sound like good people and I think I could enjoy this world. One thing I want to do though is learn how to use wandless magic, even if in secret, so that eventually I can attempt to break the charms on the Veil of Death and destroy it so that the Ministry cannot infiltrate your homeland any longer. Who knows what would have happened if Voldermort and his minions discovered the entranceway?"

Will shuddered and quickly agreed, knowing that Harry was right. He'd need his magic after all on this mission and it would be good to have a friend along. Feeling a little better, the two talked a little about friends and family and marvelled at how they could sympathize with each other on that account; what with Harry's parents being killed and Will being an orphan Ward.

But eventually, the stars faded and Will realized it was time to get back to the castle lest he draw suspicion from Orman or Keren. After agreeing to a quick plan, the two put out the fire thoroughly and hastily returned to Will's quarters in the castle. Their story would be simple: Will had gone out for an evening ride with his dog when he found a lost man in the woods, a man who wanted to join Lord Keren as one of his new recruits.

It was a likely enough story and should prove believable enough.

With that plan in mind, the odd group of dog, pony, Ranger, and wizard returned to the castle in high spirits. But while they were leaving, however, a pair of dark eyes trailed after them and vanished as the body belonging to the eyes darted silently through the trees to his master. Something unexpected had happened and soon, things would never be the same again.

TO BE CONTINUED!

A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave a review and let me know so that I can make this even better yet!