Harry Potter Universe, Flamel Cottage

Universal Time: January 9th, 1989

Time until Hun and Po souls are deemed suitable by the laws of the Harry Potter Universe to learn structured HP magic: July 31st, 1991

Harry’s Physical/Mental/Emotional Maturity: 13 years old

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Dumbledore conjured comfortable armchairs for everyone with a wave of his wand. The living room felt cramped with four people and a Nemean Lion, but the warmth from the fireplace created a cozy atmosphere that helped calm him.

"From the beginning then," Dumbledore settled into his chair, blue eyes sharp behind half-moon spectacles. "What exactly happened?"

Harry glanced at Nicolas and Perenelle before taking a deep breath. "Well, it started when I received an offer that would purify my body of impurities."

"Ah," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "That would explain why you now look like someone took a Renaissance angel and decided even that wasn't quite perfect enough." He chuckled at Harry's embarrassed expression. "I dare say we'll need to warn the staff about the upcoming wave of swooning students."

"Grandpa!" Harry buried his face in his hands while Nicolas tried to hide his snort of laughter.

"What kind of impurities?" Dumbledore continued, still smiling as he stroked his beard.

"Everything. Physical toxins, energetic blockages, subtle flaws in my cells..." Harry gestured at the vials of black sludge on the coffee table, grateful for the change in subject. "It all came out as this stuff. We collected samples to study… maybe it could help improve the Elixir of Life."

"The impurities were forced out through every pore. Quite painful to watch, but Harry assured us he was fine." Nicolas added.

"Because of my Hun and Po souls," Harry explained, gesturing at his head with one finger. "My mind doesn't really feel pain the same way anymore."

"And the results?" Dumbledore picked up one of the vials, examining the dark substance inside.

"My meridians are clearer now. Chi flows better, my dantian generates more energy..." Harry paused. "And I'm faster. Stronger too."

"How much stronger?"

"I can lift about seven tons now. And run at twenty-five meters per second."

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose slightly. "Indeed? Most impressive. But I sense this isn't what caused our current situation."

"No." Harry shifted in his seat. "After the purification, I wanted to try creating a portal between worlds, like the one I used in the other universe after I consumed that fear spirit. We went down to Nicolas' testing chamber to try it safely."

"We took precautions," Perenelle interjected. "Diagnostic spells, testing with a captured magical creature first..."

"But what we found wasn't anything like what I expected." Harry stared into the fireplace. "Instead of a shadowy portal to a spirit world, we found... something else. A realm of pure emotion."

"Pure emotion?" Dumbledore's eyes sharpened with interest.

"Colors that shouldn't exist. Feelings given physical form. Every emotion humans have ever felt, all flowing together in endless streams..." Harry trailed off. "And my mist... I wanted to see how it would interact with the emotional energy. So I..."

"Harry." Dumbledore's voice cut through the room like a blade. "Why would you use your mist on clouds of pure emotion when you know what happened with the Boggarts? When you saw firsthand how your magic created a feedback loop that reshaped an entire mountainside?"

Harry opened his mouth. Closed it.

His perfect memory replayed the scene in exact detail. The rainbow colors flowing around them. Nicolas casting diagnostic spells. Perenelle suggesting tests. Him releasing the mist without a second thought...

"I..." Harry's eyes widened. "I don't know."

"You don't know?" Dumbledore raised one eyebrow.

"No, I mean..." Harry stood up and started pacing. "I just... did it. There was no reason. No plan. I just wanted to 'try something' and..." He stopped suddenly. "That's not right. That's not how I think. That's not how any of us were acting!"

Nicolas sat up straighter. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it!" Harry spun to face them. "You kept casting more diagnostic spells than needed. Perenelle kept suggesting new tests. I used my mist without any consideration of consequences. We were all acting... curious. Too curious."

Harry's perfect memory kicked into overdrive, analyzing every detail of their time in that realm. The strange colors. The flowing emotions. And there, in the background, almost invisible...

"There was a mist." Harry whispered. "Not mine. Already there. So faint I didn't even notice it, or rather… I didn’t care about it. We were standing in a thin mist of pure Curiosity the entire time from the moment we entered that portal. Wait. No… that mist must’ve seeped through and affected us before we even entered…"

Nicolas jumped to his feet, knocking over his teacup. "Mon dieu... you're right! I kept wanting to try just ONE more diagnostic spell, then another, then another..."

"And I..." Perenelle pressed a hand to her mouth. "I couldn't stop thinking of new tests to run. Every time one of you cast something, I wanted to see what would happen if we tried it differently..."

"The perfect trap," Dumbledore murmured. "A realm of pure emotion that makes you curious enough to keep exploring it."

Harry hung his head back, sighing deeply. "And none of us noticed! Even with all our experience, even with my perfect memory and enhanced intelligence, even with your centuries of magical knowledge..." He gestured wildly at the Flamels. "We walked right into it!"

"Because the influence felt natural." Nicolas sank back into his chair. "It didn't force us to do anything. It just... enhanced our natural curiosity until-"

"Until I used my mist without thinking!" Harry smacked his forehead. "Of course! The realm didn't MAKE me do it. It just made me so curious about what would happen that I forgot all about being careful!"

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"And that's not even the worst part!" Harry ran both hands through his hair, making it stick up wildly. "When we were in there, we saw... we saw where non-beings come from!"

Dumbledore leaned forward in his chair. "What exactly did you see?"

"A Dementor. Being born." Harry's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "Pure despair just... gathered together. Took shape. Wrapped itself in those tattered robes. Then it drifted away and vanished, probably into our world."

"We saw a Boggart form too," Nicolas added. "From concentrated fear."

"The Animus Realm," Perenelle spoke up. "That's what Nicolas called it. A place where pure emotion takes physical form."

Dumbledore stood up and walked to the window, staring at the colorful rivers all over the sky. "So that's where they all come from. All this time... the Department of Mysteries has studied non-beings for centuries, trying to understand their nature, their origin..."

"And now we know." Harry moved to stand beside him. "Every Dementor that ever existed was born from humanity's collective despair. Every Boggart from our accumulated fears."

"The reports coming in..." Dumbledore turned away from the window. "New types of non-beings appearing everywhere. Entities we've never seen before, formed from different emotions."

"Because the barrier is thinner now." Harry's shoulders slumped. "When my mist interacted with that pure emotional energy, it created a feedback loop. Like with the Boggarts, but... bigger. MUCH bigger."

"The barrier between realms does indeed seem to have thinned worldwide," Dumbledore confirmed.

"And The International Confederation is in chaos with Ministers of Magic from every nation demanding answers..."

Harry sank back into his chair, the weight of what they'd done finally hitting him. "This is my fault. All of it. The thinned barriers, the new non-beings, the emotional aurora affecting everyone..."

The fire crackled in the hearth while nobody spoke up.

He stared at his hands, completely lost in thought. What if someone already struggling with anger glanced up at the sky, saw that red river of rage, and felt that extra push that sent them over the edge? What if a person contemplating suicide caught sight of that black stream of despair? How many people worldwide were being affected right now? How many decisions were being subtly influenced by these emotional currents in the sky over the planet whenever someone glanced up?

"No, no, NO!" Harry jumped up again, running both hands through his hair. "We have to fix this! There has to be a way to-"

"Harry." Nicolas stood up and gripped Harry's shoulders. "This isn't your fault. We should have stopped you from entering that realm. No- we should have brought you back the moment we realized what kind of place it was."

"But I used the mist! I caused the feedback loop that-"

"While under the influence of pure emotional energy." Perenelle moved beside them. "None of us were thinking clearly. That realm affected all of us, enhanced our curiosity until we forgot about being careful."

Tears started forming in Harry's eyes. "But people could die because of this! Someone could look at those colors in the sky and feel just enough extra emotion to-" His voice cracked. "To do something terrible!"

"My boy." Dumbledore's quiet voice calmed Harry's rising panic just the slightest. "You were not in your right mind. None of you were. And we cannot share this information with the world."

"W-what?" Harry wiped at his eyes. "But I need- people need to know-"

"Need to know what?" Dumbledore asked gently. "That one wizard was able to do this? That there's a realm of pure emotion they might be tempted to explore? That someone could open another portal and cause even more damage? What would knowing the cause solve?"

"But-"

"The International Confederation will handle the effects." Dumbledore conjured a handkerchief and passed it to Harry. "They'll coordinate responses to the non-beings, study the emotional aurora, develop countermeasures. Telling them how it happened would only encourage others to try replicating it. Not to mention the aspiring Dark Lords out there…"

"He's right," Nicolas squeezed Harry's shoulder. "Can you imagine what would happen if everyone knew about the Animus Realm? How many would try to reach it? To harness it? It would make everything so much worse."

Harry slumped, all energy draining out of him. "So we just... keep it secret? Let everyone wonder why the world changed?"

"Sometimes," Perenelle brushed Harry's hair back from his forehead, "secrets must be kept to protect people from themselves. This is one of those times."

"The Departments of Mysteries all over the world will research the effects," Dumbledore added. "They'll find ways to minimize the impact on both magical and muggle populations. But they don't need to know the cause to address the symptoms."

Harry nodded slowly, but he couldn’t stop going through scenarios. What about places where large amounts of dark magic was practiced? Would those locations draw in negative emotions from the aurora, creating feedback loops of darkness? Could particularly strong emotional events create temporary portals to the Animus Realm, even if it should only be possible through an out-of-the-world power? Would the thinned barriers keep weakening over time, or had they reached a new equilibrium?

"I can hear you thinking from here," Nicolas smiled softly. "Always trying to solve everything yourself. But this time, we need to let others handle it. The various Ministries have entire departments dedicated to containing magical phenomena. Let them do their jobs."

"But-"

"No buts!" Perenelle's voice took on a stern tone. "You're eight years old-"

"Technically thirteen," Harry muttered.

"Fine, technically thirteen. But either way, you don't need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders." She pulled him into a hug. "Let the adults handle this one."

Harry buried his face against her shoulder, trying to stop more tears from falling. He felt Nicolas join the hug from the other side, and even Chrysa pressed against his legs, purring loudly.

"Now then," Dumbledore spoke up after a moment. "I should return to the ICW. They'll be expecting me to help coordinate the response." He stood and straightened his robes. "Try not to worry too much, Harry. The magical world has faced challenges before. We'll adapt to this one too."

After Dumbledore left through the garden gate, Harry pulled away from the Flamels and walked to the window. The emotional aurora was… beautiful. He quickly looked away.

"I need to do something." Harry pressed his forehead against the cool glass. "I can't just sit here while-"

"Actually," Nicolas cleared his throat. "There might be a way you can help. Remember that wooden case I showed you last week?"

Harry turned around. "The one-" His eyes widened. "The thing that you didn’t want to tell me what it contained?"

"Yes… a Hungarian Horntail heart." Nicolas nodded. "We arranged to purchase hearts from every known species of dragon. I was planning to tell you after we finished our portal experiment, but..." He gestured at the sky. "Well."

"Nicolas!" Perenelle smacked his arm. "He's upset enough without adding more to worry about!"

"No, this is perfect!" Harry moved away from the window. "This is exactly what I need - something to focus on, to work toward. And if consuming dragon hearts makes me stronger..."

"Then you'll be better prepared to help deal with whatever comes next," Nicolas finished. "My thoughts exactly. And we both want to do everything we can to make sure you’ll be safe if you randomly get pulled away to another universe again…"

Perenelle sighed. "Fine. But first, you need to eat something. It's nearly lunch time and you haven't had anything but tea since breakfast."

"I'm not really-"

"Food." Perenelle pointed at the kitchen. "Now."

Harry knew better than to argue when she used that tone. He walked into the kitchen while Perenelle started pulling ingredients from cupboards. Just watching her cook helped ground him, pulling his mind away from spiraling thoughts about worldwide consequences.

"The Horntail heart is just the beginning," Nicolas spoke up from the doorway. "I have contacts at dragon reserves in Romania, China, and Peru. They've agreed to sell us hearts from every species they maintain. The paperwork alone..." He shook his head. "But worth it."

"How many different types of dragons are there in those reserves?" Harry asked between bites of the sandwich Perenelle had placed in front of him.

"Well, let's see..." Nicolas pulled out a small notebook. "The Hungarian Horntail we already have. Then there's the Chinese Fireball, Romanian Longhorn, Norwegian Ridgeback... Ah, here's the full list."

He passed the notebook to Harry, who flipped through pages of dragon species with notes about prices and availability.

"The Peruvian Vipertooth hearts will be particularly expensive," Nicolas continued. "Something about import restrictions... but the Ukrainian Ironbelly hearts should arrive next week. And the Common Welsh Green-"

"Nicolas." Perenelle cut him off. "Let him eat first. Then you can discuss your dragon-shopping spree."

Harry smiled slightly at their bickering. The dynamic helped ease some of the tension in his shoulders. He finished his sandwich while Nicolas and Perenelle playfully argued about proper timing of discussions.

"Now then," Nicolas pulled out his wand once Harry's plate was clean. "Shall we head up to the office?"

"What about..." Harry glanced toward the window.

"The world will still be there after we finish," Perenelle assured him.