Then Harry made up his mind. It was time to use some Shadow-charged channeling power. Something he'd been toying with ever since Uncle Nick had brought up his power levels in speculation. He'd always told him that magic was change. And the more magic you had at your disposal, the bigger change you could make.
Harry looked at the book again. Then he looked at the book using his Shadow-sight, his eyes all but turning black. There. It was there. And it continued out from the book toward the south. It was a line to the writer of the book, he could just sense it. Only, the writer had lived over seven centuries ago.
Harry followed the line anyway. He shadowed it until he reached London. A broken down pub sat where the line stopped. He could sense she was in there. He concentrated on seeing her. If he could have seen himself, he'd have noticed that his eyes were flashing silver then black then silver then black over and over again. The pub looked better, then new, then it wasn't there. Then trees suddenly showed up only to get smaller and smaller until they un-grew, the cycle repeating several times until a fire raged and then un-started. A house (if it could be called that) suddenly appeared and Harry could feel the line from the book get stronger.
Harry walked across the grass to the front (and only) door and knocked loudly. It was early evening and he hoped the occupants weren't asleep.
...
Outside what will become London, 857AD
The house (cottage?) stood by itself near a copse of trees. The sun was going down and Harry could see some smoke coming out what he guessed was the chimney. Or used as the chimney.
Nearby was a small patch of land that had the usual farm look to it. Since there weren't any weeds in it, Harry was pretty sure someone had been here recently, if not now.
Taking a deep breath, Harry went to the door and knocked.
Harry felt a ward come up. What the hell? He wasn't familiar with it since it was informative in nature instead of something out to kill someone with the name Harry Potter.
Harry let out a passive shadow and quickly got the impression of one person in the cottage.
Bam, bam! Harry knocked on the door again. "Hello? Anyone there?"
"Who is it?! I've already paid my taxes for the year. Go away already!" came the rather insistent voice inside. A rather feminine voice at that.
"Um, hello? I'm looking for a Safire Sephiroth. Does she live here?"
"Doesn't sound familiar. You try the hovel down the road?"
"No," Harry replied exasperated. "Look, I'm pretty sure she's here."
"Why are you sure? What's it to you anyway? Why are you even looking for her? I'm sure she wasn't anywhere near that fire. She was in Surrey that day." The voice ran the excuses together so Harry knew something was up. But the voice eventually did open the door. Harry noticed the woman opened the door carefully, looking out the crack first before opening it the rest of the way.
At first, the woman looked out door and saw nothing. Expecting the worst (meaning: an invisible enemy intent on harming her), she was about to send out a wide area stunner when she noticed a boy standing in front of her home.
The woman opened the door all the way and looked down on Harry as if trying to figure something out. After a few moments looking at him, she then looked around the property to see if someone was putting her on. Seeing no one, she intensified her gaze on the young boy.
Harry took this time to study her in return. She was about five feet, five inches, had auburn shoulder length hair tied up in braids as he was sure was the local custom. She also wore a dress of heavy material, even though the weather seemed to favor something else a lot cooler. She was attractive but not a stunning beauty. Smudges of dirt were on her face probably from working the farm. A scar ran across her left cheek to her lower lip. It was fain, but if you looked for it, it was there.
Suddenly, her eyes shot open and she cried out, "Harry? Is that you?"
"Uh, you know me?"
"Do I know you? Come on, how could I forget someone like you, Harry? You saved my life two years ago. Granted, we only met for a few minutes before you drove off that wizard, but I'll never forget you. How can I? Only…"
"Yes?" Harry said for lack of anything else to say.
"Why on God's green Earth are you masquerading like a child? Don't you realize how dangerous that is here? Why not show up like the man you were the last time we met. A delicious man at that. Yum. Now, age up. Come on, chop, chop. Get the lead out."
"Age up?" Harry muttered in confusion.
She must have heard him. "Yes, age up. You don't think I'm going to shag a kid do you? Give me a little credit on that why don't you. It may be acceptable for parents to marry off their 13-year old kids, but this woman has no desire to bed a kid. Too weird. I need a man, not a kid. And I'm not going to do anything with you if you continue to look like a child. What's the big idea looking like that anyway?"
Harry continued to stare at the crazy lady for another minute.
Safire looked at Harry critically like a teacher did to a dense student. Finally, "You don't remember me, do you?"
"No, ma'am, I don't," Harry replied honesty.
"How many trips back is this for you?"
"Alone or with a group?"
"Ah, playing tour guide are you? Need some extra cash and all that. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt to prove it. Course Mikey went and turned it into a wet t-shirt as soon as he could… shame he wouldn't let me wear it when he did that, but that Mikey was always a strange one wanting to wear my clothes. That's why we broke up. Now where was I? Oh yes, how many trips have you taken back alone?"
"Um… this is my first."
She smiled as she looked on him, a hand going to her waist. "Ah. I understand. Well, Harry, since I owe you a life debt, I'm going to start paying it off now. First, you have to understand that while you are able to go back into the past, your actual physical body is in the present. That means you are not here in any manner other than magical. Oh, you can feel and sense and kiss and all that, but your body is somewhere else. You are in essence a waking dream. That means you have a body you can change and not be a metamorphmagus to do it."
Harry thought about it for a moment. "Huh?"
....
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