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Tweak says, "Well, that's just stupid!"

Albus Dumbledore (albus_ablaze) wrote in lockewood,
@ 2010-03-20 19:53:00

Entry tags:

albus dumbledore, james sirius potter

Who: James Sirius Potter and Albus Dumbledore
When: Saturday afternoon
Where: Jamie's taco stand
What: Collapsing the degree of separation
Rating TBA (likely nothing too crazy)
Status: Incomplete

'Taco' was not a word with which Albus was unfamiliar. He understood its meaning, he simply failed to comprehend why it was associated with an entree. Unless it was a pun. Either way, the adventuresome culinary ventures of Albus's younger years had taught him a little caution. Oh, he would still try just about anything for the sake of diplomacy or gratitude for hospitality, but beyond that he preferred to be well informed of what he was about to eat.

Albus did not set out from his home out of a pressing curiosity about the evolution of Spanish cuisine. He left intending to meet Jamie because he'd said he would. Because he needed variety- distraction. Because staring at the equations and transmutation parameters he'd seared against the wall had yet to produce anything significant new developments. Things were becoming vaguely aligned, but the murky mass of Albus's understanding lacked striking clarity. He had, inadvertently, figured out how to essentially turn Engel inside out. Albus was, by the time he was reaching for his coat, far more familiar with the anatomy and physiology of the small dog than he'd ever expected to be. And since Engel had rather graciously tolerated the manifestations of Albus's curiosity, it only seemed fair to take him out for a bit. He'd done no more than sneeze when Albus had switched him right-side out, and that seemed worth rewarding.

As Albus was slipping his pocket watch into the pocket of his waistcoat, the lead was snapping itself to the puppy's collar. Engel seemed rather delighted by the prospect, bounding his furry little body toward the door. When Albus took hold of the lead, the door opened, and Engel quite merrily scampered onto the porch. A few charms, simple wards for the house, and Albus was leading the way toward the establishment under the management of Harry's son.

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jamie_sirius
2010-03-21 04:13 am UTC (link)

Jamie was in a good mood. He really hadn't slept much but he had been woken up really early and that was always a great way to wake up. There was also Rockstar, which he loved. He would definitely live. A CD was playing in the backgrount and he stood bent over the table with his hat on backward and sunglasses covering very blue eyes. He chopped vegetables like he would ingredients for a cauldrom.

He looked up and saw a tall, red-haired man coming towards the stand. He thought it might be dumbledore from what he had heard. He smiled and then looked down at the puppy. He stepped out from behind the table to hold his hand out to the puppy.

His hands scratched over the puppy for a few minutes and then reached up to hold a hand out for Albus. "Sorry, I'm a sucker for animals," he said with a grin as the dark hair over his glasses. "I'm Jamie Potter, or James, or whichever." Anything but Jimmy, floated through his head, but he shrugged it off.

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albus_ablaze
2010-03-22 06:20 am UTC (link)

What some would call modern attire never ceased to inspire Albus's bemused curiosity. Fashion was something Albus enjoyed, though mostly out of a fondness for enthusiastic colours and textural variety- the constructed manifestations, of course, were most endearingly entrenched in his own time and culture. There were probably some sort of profound statements to be made about the evolution of this particular material culture, though Albus suspected questions of such a nature would be best put to someone like March.

Albus smiled as Jamie turned his attention to Engel, who seemed quite intrigued by the smells that lingered on the young man's hands.

"Albus Dumbledore," he returned pleasantly as he shook Jamie's hand. "And this in Engel- though it remains terribly unclear as to whether or not he is aware of it." Endearing creatures, canines, though the small ones always seemed to be just a little puzzling. Or maybe it was just that Albus wasn't much of a dog person.

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jamie_sirius
2010-03-24 08:17 am UTC (link)

"It's a pleasure to meet you finally," Jamie grinned. He bent down to pet the dog again who seemed to take a peculiar interest in him although Jamie didn't know why. "I do love animals. I didn't like having to drop Care of Magical Creatures but it wasn't an auror prerequisite."

He stood to his full height again and stretched. "I don't suppose you remember that, being your age. You were already gone when I entered but you had a great impact on Hogwarts and on my father." The man seemed about the same age as Gellert, maybe a little older. Their duel was in the history books as a legend. He found that quite interesting, especially since Gellert oozed magic from his veins.

"If I remember correctly, you said you would like a churro. I have learned to make them, not that it is particularly hard. They are really good but I have to watch how many I eat." He took one out of his warm display in a napkin and handed it to Albus. "If I can get you something else, let me know. I didn't think I could cook when I came here but I have many hidden talents."

"What do you think of this place so far?" he asked, curious as to what this man had to say.

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albus_ablaze
2010-03-26 03:21 am UTC (link)

"And you as well," Albus returned, doing nothing to hide his amusement over Engel's new-found interest.

Great. Yes, he supposed 'great' was a good word for the impact his influence had left on Harry. Not good, not by any stretch of the imagination, but significant? Certainly. But Albus understood what Jamie had meant, so he smiled and confirmed, "I have no memories of teaching as a professor at Hogwarts, but I very much enjoyed my time there as a student. Although, even in my day we did have Aurors, and I'm fairly certain that Care of Magical Creatures was never a part of their course requirements."

It was strange to think that in some world, some reality, he was, in fact, buried there. Not in Godric's Hollow, not next to his mother and sister, but in the single tomb on Hogwarts's grounds. But just that quickly, the thought slipped away and he was thanking Jamie for the churro, which he immediately took a bite of- which prompted a very pleased sound to resonate in his throat. And for the moment, Albus couldn't possibly think of eating anything else at all, which he indicated with polite shake of his head. Besides, he suspected it would be difficult to surpass fried pastry covered in sugar.

"It's immensely puzzling and absolutely fascinating. Even if you ignore entirely the potential of plural, simultaneous realities, the magical constructs and parameters that allow such a place to exist... it inspires a positively dangerous level of curiosity," he answered, though he sounded little short of delighted by the notion.

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jamie_sirius
2010-04-02 04:20 am UTC (link)

"As far as I understand, you were very good. The students liked you. You liked lemon drops. My father said your passwords were often candies of some sort. He thought you a very wise and great man, sort of his hero." He smiled at the thought of those old stories his father used to tell.

He studied the man who had become this legend. It was hard to put the two together. His impression of Dumbledore was always of someone much older, not the young man that he was now. He tipped his head to the side. "So what do you want to do at this point. You know what you did eventually, but this is a different place. What were you doing when you came here?"

He took a churro of his own and bit into it. "I have to admit that it is fascinating, and I don't understand it at all. Do you think that there are simultaneous realities? I mean that we are actually living our lives as we were before we were brought here, while we are here as well?" He wasn't sure that he made sense either and frowned. "I want to figure it out. Someone was helping do that by trying to figure out how it was that I was here, I disappeared, then I returned. He is gone now."

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albus_ablaze
2010-04-06 11:00 pm UTC (link)

"Before Lockewood, I'd only just finished Hogwarts," he answered, leaving out the sorts of details that were not for the ears of an acquaintance. Luna had mentioned that information about that period of his life was available, though perhaps not common knowledge. "I was spending a bit of time with my family, working on research and correspondence."

Strictly speaking, simultaneity was relative, not absolute, but suspecting that Jamie was perhaps not pining for an enthusiastic discussion on locals time and the equivalence of inertial frames, Albus opted to take the intent of of the question rather than the words. Did Albus believe that the timeline of events in Lockewood were running parallel to the world outlined by the books in the shop?

"Plural realities, most certainly- at least in the realm of potential eventualities. With regard to this existence and the one documented in the texts of this place, I suspect no small measure of temporal distortion. Parallel is a good word for it."

Albus extended his free hand out to his side and two golden cords appeared midair; about forty centimetres in length, separated by a short distance and running perfectly parallel with each other. A crook of Albus's index finger caused one cord to tie into itself a small butterfly knot.

"Like this," he said, pointing to the loop. "By the time the cord of time makes its way back to the original path, it appears to pick up just where it began. Clever means of avoiding detection, but any knot can be untied, so long as you pull the right thread. That's what I intend to do here- find a way to pick this place apart and return those who wish it to their proper time and place. Of course, pull the wrong thread..." To illustrate his point the knotted cord frayed its end into discernibly separate strands, and when Albus gave an random strand a little tug, the cord began quickly unraveling. "Well, we wouldn't want to get hasty and accidentally unmake the universe while we're at it," he supposed, smiling rather pleasantly before taking another bite of his admittedly quite tasty churro. No need to make a perfectly terrifying notion worse by seeming too concerned about it.

Turning his gaze back to Jamie, Albus's curious brow lifted. "You mean to say that you're made repeated entrances to Lockewood? With no memory of the previous experience?" This was precisely what they had been looking for. This was exactly the sort of person they needed. Gellert was going to be- oh, right. Gellert wasn't going to be much of anything about young James Potter.

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jamie_sirius
2010-04-07 01:58 pm UTC (link)

Jamie watched the cord in the air. He did follow it for the most part. The man really was meant to teach, even if he didn't realize it yet. "What if there are some who do not wish to return to their time? There are those that died in their time. They might want to return to a later time, maybe for a second chance."

He thought of Severus, who had helped him. Severus would have died had he not been brought here. If he were returned to that same time, he would already be gone. The thought did not sit well with him and yet he did not know how to stop the thoughts from coming. "Pull the wrong thread and it could all come undone, but how do we know what is the wrong thread? I know that certain events have to occur in the course to ensure our future - I think."

"I am one of those people though," he continued, noting Albus' interest. "I don't remember a thing about being here the first time, only this one. We tried some simple things to see if I had any memory of the incident. We were going to try legilimency next. I had already agreed to it." He shrugged and his face was sad for a moment. The thought of Severus dying bothered him. "Would you be interested in doing the research?"

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albus_ablaze
2010-04-07 07:28 pm UTC (link)

The tilt of Albus's head was almost considering, almost a shrug. "Death is not a thing to fear unconditionally- although I have no intent to return people to their point of origin who do not wish to go," he said. "It would be a great waste to destroy a place that provides so much relief for some. I intend to leave it intact, if I can. It does, however, seem rather unwise to go knitting new tangles into time by sending them to the wrong point of origin."

He'd considered the idea, naturally, but had decided it. The wizarding world certainly did not need a smattering of displaced witches and wizards who might be unable to retain the memories of this place. There were too many complications, too many lives that would be impacted, altered, and confused to too long seriously entertain the idea. Of course, what he decided to enact for others and what he dictated for himself were not always matters of equal measure.

"A rather debilitating amount of math," Albus answered with a rueful chuckle. One of his hands lifted to stroke his index finger down the length of the remaining cord. It immediately set to vibrating, producing a soft, low humming sound. "And some of it, you simply have to feel. The calculations are exhaustively complex, but the intuitive element... Caution is absolutely vital." Albus was more than a little wary of accidentally destroying with world. Or a number of worlds. It was a little less of a risk, on his own. On his own, the sheer magnitude of his ability was dangerous enough, but with Gellert- Albus had no illusions about how irrevocably destructive they could be if they misstepped.

"As for what needs to happen, I am hardly convinced that the course of events constructed by the books available in this place is absolute or infallible. It is simply one path, from an infinite number of potential paths." He let his gaze sweep over Jamie, considering. Albus very much was interested in skimming through his mind. There were so very many possibilities, so many potential proofs just waiting inside his head. There were matters of privacy, of course, but Albus could be mindful of that. "In fact, you may not recall your previous time in Lockewood because it was not you, but another incarnation, from an alternate existence. If you would trust me with your mind, I would be more than happy to find the answer for you."

((OOC: are you still game for a Jamie+Albus hospital thread? I would love to see a bit of sickLoopyJamie xD))

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jamie_sirius
2010-04-11 05:01 am UTC (link)

Jamie seemed to think for a minute, staring at nothing in particular. "What about this place? I mean that is what we face with people transplanted from whatever time they were in. What would happen if someone didn't go back to their time, but ahead? I know there could be changes in history, but assuming that our true selves are still living our lives in the real world, would this really be a problem?"

He was thinking of all the little symbols all over Gellert's room. Could life's answers be solved by math? "Sometimes you do just have to feel, and maybe have some faith. How can that be a mathematical equation?" He couldn't quite imagine life broken down that way. He didn't like it broke it down that way. It left no mystery or excitement, only numbers.

"I wouldn't mind it if you wanted to pick through my brain," he told him. He wanted answers and his father would approve. While he didn't always do what his father would approve of, this was still Albus Dumbledore. His last words did bother him. "How many incarnations of me could there be?" It was the unknown that bothered him.

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albus_ablaze
2010-04-11 05:08 am UTC (link)

Jamie's question as to the complications of temporal anomalies was swept from Albus's mind when Jamie voiced his skepticism on mathematics. Everything, every single thing in existence, had a mathematical component. (Merlin, didn't they teach arithmancy at Hogwarts any longer?) The beat of the human heart, the draw of breath, there were equations for all of them, and their beauty lay in their clarity, not their mystery.

"A true self?" Albus repeated, finding the notion rather curious. "They're all true- each and every single one of the infinite number of incarnations." Absolutism was little more than a shackle and a set of chains designed to bind mankind to a scripted understanding of existence- but a necessary bondage, more often than not. For all Albus's reservations and reluctance, a nonlinear notion of time and events was not inconceivable. Madness lay on the other end of trying too hard to too quickly understand something in its entirety. Most people craved certainty, craved knowing. The fixation on uniqueness and individualism was hardly limited to the modern era, but Albus could barely appreciate the value there. There was a plethora of divisions between humans. What was remarkable and precious were the things that bound them together.

"There is an art to mathematics," he countered. "A beauty and a flow and a magic all its own. Its improvisation and intuition bound by the rules of what is expressible, just as with arts such as music. And not to worry- we'll find the melody in your mind; its harmonies and its rests. It's all there, inside your head." Albus's smiled, a merry sort of light in his eyes. He simply couldn't help the way his mind latched onto the prospect of uncharted intellectual waters.

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