Disclaimer:Still nothing belongs to me.

TDE and other references belong to me neither.

Thanks again to my beta Dragonbard this would not have been readable without him.

This story is AU including a different time setting. Here Harry was born 1990.

I do regret the long wait but work and a vacation as well as several futile attempt on this one accumulated to the long wait.

I now invite you to let your imagination run wild again.

Things considered

It was hot, dry and not even the slightest breeze provided any comfort. In the golden yellow grass, a colony of rabbits was feeding on roots and the few fresh green saplings, oblivious to the danger closing in on them. A predator, a cat, had decided that rabbit would be his dinner. The cat cowered, and then crawled, slowly closer onto its prey. Taking its time, it closed until it was sure a flash sprint would end in a successful hunt. The cat's ears twitched, its focus solely on its intended prey, it didn't notice another far more dangerous creature observing it's hunt. The cat was just about to leap onto the unsuspecting rabbits when the creature flung itself on the cat.

"Ha! Gotcha."

The cat found itself in a tight embrace. It struggled to break free, making sure to do so without using its formidable claws. After a moment, it was able to escape, and jumped a few feet away from its attacker quickly transforming into a young man.

"Ginny! I almost had it this time."

Ginny smiled at him. "Harry I…" Her eyes flickered onto something behind him. He spun around. Then the sound of horses pounding the ground reached his ears.

"What on all glaciers…" He examined the incoming people; fifteen riders clad in leather, wielding and waving weapons. He saw sabres, as well as a few axes and swords. As they came closer he heard a battle cry over the thundering hooves.

"Into the forest! Run Ginny!" Harry shouted. They spun and ran towards the edge of the forest.

Ginny pulled her wand. "Expecto Patronum" A silver shining cat appeared and dashed into the forest. "Message for the others." Ginny shouted.

"We need to be faster! Even then they might catch up with us!" Harry was still running alongside Ginny. Even if he could have been faster, he would never abandon his love. With a glance at each other, both of them nodded.

"Axxelleratus lightning speed" Suddenly their fast run changed into a dash that would have made a world-class sprinter look like a slug.

"We're in position at the edge." They heard the whispering of Neville's voice in their ears.

Ginny grinned at Harry. "Brilliant spell, the 'Wind Whispers, Elven Friends' isn't it? Even better than patronus messages."

Harry nodded, and then with a feral grin, pulled one of his blades from its scabbard.

The couple changed directions, while still heading towards the forest they drifted apart, forcing the riders to spread out more.

Seeing their friends emerging from the forest, dashing their way, Harry and Ginny again looked at each other. "Let's dance!" Harry shouted and stopped dead in his track. The riders, who had closed in to just about ten meters, were taken by surprise. They passed Harry by without even trying to take a strike at him. He, however, slashed his blade as the last of them passed, feeling the blade hitting and a slight pull as it slid deeply though the riders side, opening his body. The man turned, looked at Harry somewhat astonished, and slipped off his horse.

The attackers found themselves in an unfortunate situation. The prey had been two people they had spotted in the grass covered valley, an excellent opportunity for fun and profit. Closing in they had noticed one of them being a very attractive redheaded female, which would just increase the profit to be made on the slave market.

Then, suddenly, they had found themselves in an ambush. The ludicrous thing was that they were ambushed by so few. Regretting their attack would be the last thing they ever did.

Harry glanced over towards his friends. He saw Luna and Neville standing back to back, fighting some of the attackers who had dismounted. He saw Hermione and Ginny standing side by side, Hermione waving nets of magic around the two of them, striking against any attackers out of the reach of Ginny's flashing blade. He saw the faces of his friends, his lovers, his wives and marvelled at their confidence, their beauty, and their relaxed determination. Then he fought on.

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"Have we done the right thing? I mean we have just killed fifteen people." Harry knew what his friends were thinking about.

They were sitting round a small fire in the forest. Talking about life, the universe and everything.

"No, we didn't. Those were not real people, they were creations of the Room of Requirement." Ginny stated.

"Are you sure? Because they acted very much like real people and had nothing like super optimised teamwork or anything that would indicate they were artificial." Hermione had a theory of her own. She though the room might use the sub-consciousness of real people to direct the actions of its constructs. When she offered this theory Luna, Ginny and her dove into a deep discussion.

Neville looked at Harry and shrugged, smiling.

"Harry and I take the watch."

'Neville has become confident. The battle at the Department of Mysteries and Luna have changed him a great deal.' Harry thought as he got up and joined his friend a few meters away from the fire.

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Luna, Ginny and Hermione watched as the boys retreated into the dark.

"About time." Ginny stated, her face showing a large grin. "Let's talk."

"About?" Hermione asked.

Luna looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted a second head. "Why, them of course."

"Oh! Sure."

"Hermione. You do really surprise me." Ginny mustered her friend and future wife. "I have known you for almost five years now and you still keep doing it." She sighted. " We have to talk about what happened."

Luna looked at Hermione. 'I wonder whether she knows what Ginny wants to talk about. I bet she doesn't.' Luna relaxed and waited for the approaching misunderstanding and consequent simultaneous conversation about two absolutely different, not in the least related topics.

Hermione started. "I do not really know how to feel about it. I mean it was the first time for me."

"You mean you're disappointed or unhappy about it?" Ginny could not belief what she heard.

"Frankly, I don't know. I… it has been fun and I appreciate the effort but is it really necessary?"

"Hermione, I can't belief you! I thought we had something special and now you tell me it was just fun!"

"Well it is not real, is it? So there is no real meaning to it."

"Not Real?" Ginny looked like she had just lost something precious.

At this point Luna decided to give her friend a few pointers. "Who of you talks about today's training and who about your marriage? Or are you both talking about sailing Sniffelsluggers?"

'I just love the name.' She thought.

Hermione looked at Ginny. Understanding growing n her eyes. She leaned over, cupping The younger girl's face in her hand, gently kissing her. "I love you. I love him. I love us."

Only Luna saw the light surrounding the girls.

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A man stood looking out of a window, behind him several people sat watching his back. "The training-vacation will end today. When they are back I have something to show them, kind of a last lesson." The man turned around facing the others. His eyes glances over the respect calling figure of Albus Dumbledore, the stern but friendly face of Minerva McGonagall the warm and caring looks of the Weasley matriarch, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, resting on Mad Eye Moody he said. "Those of you willing are invited to share this lesson."

Several of the listeners raised an eyebrow, all of them thinking along the same line. 'He surely doesn't belief he can teach Albus Dumbledore…..'

Dumbledore had had time to think about this man. He had take the time and he had come to the conclusion that this was not a mere coincidence, nothing concerning Harry and the recent change of him seemed to be merely coincidental. Maybe, hopefully, this man was another pawn of fate, just like himself, to play his role in the endless battle between the powers of good and evil, light and darkness.

"I do look forward to this. I have had a feeling that there would be something I would be learning from you."

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The teens had had a great time. The room of requirement had been the perfect place to really experience a role-playing game. It had been fun, thrilling and demanding to really follow the trail of a group of slave hunters and drag them before the authorities. This evening would be the end of their vacation, they would be leaving in the morning. The companionship had reached new heights as had the quality of their teamwork.

At this last evening they sat around a campfire at the same place their adventure had started. A bottle of mead passed along the line and there had been some joking and some thinking.

"All is in the eye of the beholder." Harry stated. When his friends looked at him questioning he told them. "That is what Tom told me right after the assault on his place, when we killed those Death Eaters. He told me that according to muggle science there could be an indefinite number of realities all different and there would be one in which we would be dead and the DEs had been successful and one for every possible outcome."

Hermione nodded. "That is an existing and accepted hypothesis. Even if it is applied in a unusual way here."

"What does that mean exactly?" Neville asked.

"It means, my future husband, that what we did here is reality and not reality at the same time. Somewhere in a universe with a bit different numbers it happened for real. We did it here and did it there only there was no room of requirement."

All of them looked at Luna who had been giving hints of deep understanding all over the past days.

"What? I'm not a Ravenclaw for nothing, am I?" Luna smiled as Neville tightened his arms around her and kissed her tenderly.

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The wood and paper walls surrounding the room were lit by nothing but a few oil lamps. Their flickering lights illuminating delicate figures of Asian origin in the paper. Daemons, dragons strange masks and other things flickered into existence whenever the light met the paper in special ways.

"You are witches and wizards, you are united in a common cause. You are light. I want you to let all of this go. I want you not to think about who you are. I want you to listen to your heartbeat."

Tom spoke in a low but very well articulated voice. He used everything he knew about meditation techniques to relax the people lying in his Dojo. Helped by years of experience he brought them down to their core, the most inner sanctum of their being. And he brought them back, back to a stage of over-consciousness.

"Feel the flow of magic. It connects all of you it surrounds you connecting all things, living and dead, good or evil, it's the foundation, the beginning and the end."

AN: Harry's summer will be over soon and this story will come to an end I guess it is no more than 2-3 chapters to go.