Once again, this is really short. This would have been combined with chapter one, if I hadn't wanted to first test the waters with that little bit. In addition, I'll be doing a time skip straight to a bit before he gets his letter, so it's only fitting that the beginning of canon begins in a new chapter - which is why this one was cut short.

Abigail made sure it was getting dark before returning to Harry's cupboard. The Dursleys had all retired to their respective rooms. From the sounds coming from their bedrooms, Dudley was "sneakily" playing his video games while Vernon and Petunia were asleep.

Instead of appearing inside the cupboard, Abigail opened her portal right outside and gave the door a knock. After all, if Harry was changing or something, she didn't want to walk in on him!

Fortunately, it seemed Harry had been awake (and not doing anything), because just moments later, he opened the door.

Abigail gave the most cheerful smile she could manage. "May I come in?"

"Er, sure?" He seemed hesitant, though that was reasonable considering she had appeared in the house during the middle of the night. If she hadn't appeared earlier, Harry doubtless would have assumed she was a thief or burglar of some kind.

They settled down in the cupboard, Harry sitting on the edge of his makeshift bed while Abigail sat on a bag of flour.

"Who exactly are you?" Harry asked tentatively. "How did- why-"

"My name is Abigail, you can call me Abby," she repeated, "And I am a Foreigner."

"Foreigner?" Upon seeing Abigail's lips quirk up in a gesture of amusement, he rapidly backpedaled, as if afraid of being punished for the question. His reaction made Abigail feel even worse about the Dursleys. "I-I-I mean, you look English, a-and I'm sorry if-"

"No, it's all right," she said in the most soothing voice she could muster, though internally she made a note to change how she introduced herself. Judging by how he was still tense, it didn't work. "The term Foreigner has a different meaning for me. This is going to seem somewhat random," she admitted, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, "But do you believe in magic?"

"M-magic? You mean, like the portal you made earlier?"

"Yes, that," she affirmed with a nod of her head. "Magic and magecraft are real."

Harry's eyes widened. "I knew it," he whispered. At Abigail's questioning expression, he explained. "When I was running from Dudley the other day, I somehow got on the roof. And when Aunt Petunia had me cut my hair last week, it grew back overnight."

Abigail nodded, filing this information away. It seemed magic and magecraft – she honestly wasn't sure about the difference, as Lavinia hadn't ever taught her the difference and Carter had excused it as unimportant- existed in this world. She wanted to see this magic in action before being absolutely certain of its existence, but for now, she would treat the situation as if there were other magicians. After all, it was unlikely that Harry was the only one.

"There are many forms of magic," Abigail explained, remembering Lavinia's lessons – she really missed her friend. Pushing her feelings aside for the moment, she continued. "What I meant when I called myself a Foreigner is that I am connected to an Outer God, and thus can call upon that being's power."

"Then what kind of magic do I have? Could you teach me magic?" Harry asked, beginning to emerge from his shell.

"I don't know," Abigail stated bluntly. Harry visibly drooped. "I don't know much about other forms of magic. I specialize in space and time magic, but that's because of my connection with an Outer God. I couldn't teach you that magic either. The only thing I could teach you would be void magic."

Harry looked contemplative. "Space and time? Does that mean you're a time traveler?"

"Yes?" When Harry's eyes widened in surprise, Abigail frowned. "Please, just treat me as Abby. It is whom I truly am. It makes my uncomfortable when people behave as if I were some god." Harry nodded.

They lapsed in silence for a while before Harry asked another question. "If you're that powerful, why…" he paused. "Could you save my parents?" he asked in a meek voice. "Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia say they died in a car crash, but I don't think they did. And even if they did, I want to at least meet them."

"I can try," Abigail acknowledged, "but there are some times and places I cannot travel."

"Such as?" the inquisitive look returned.

"Places of great significance and with large amounts of magic present are dangerous places for me to be at," she confessed, "The fabric of reality would not be stable enough to support my existence. If I were to appear there, the very world would begin trying to push me out, kind of like a cranky person yelling at kids to get off their lawn. I could stay for a short while, but I would definitely be forced out if I lingered for too long. There's also the paradox: if I saved your parents, then you would be replaced by another Harry, so I wouldn't be asked to save your parents. Which, in turn, means that your parents would die. Do you see the problem here?" When Harry nodded, Abigail continued, "In order to get around this paradox, you would have to somehow remember to tell me to go back in time when we meet again in the alternate timeline, which would be impossible because the memory would not exist. And if I told your parents to tell the past me to save them, we would be relying on the fact that they survived. If they didn't, the paradox would cause the implosion of the universe-"

Seeing that the young boy was getting confused, she changed her words. "Anyways, it would complicated. I'm not sure it would be a good idea to try."

She waited as the boy slowly tried to understand the verbal assault. He eventually decided to ask something that wouldn't give him a headache. "Why did you appear to me instead of someone else? Wouldn't a time traveler have other things to do?"

"Because I like being around people like you," she smiled. "I find that in any society, the higher ups tend to have less… personality. They end up strict and all of that. It's always the common people who are kinder. I guess there are exceptions, but that's the way things usually are. And besides," her smile vanished, "I couldn't stand back while your guardians beat you."

As Harry stared at his feet in embarrassment, Abigail stood up and patted him on the back. "I'll be watching out for you," she informed him. "There's a limit to how much I can use my magic, but I'll help you whenever possible. Just don't tell anyone about me, alright? I don't know how people will react to a dimensional traveler."

"Alright." Harry hesitantly supplied. "See you around?"

Abigail gave him a nod before stepping into another portal.

The next morning, Petunia would be surprised to find that a large breakfast awaited the Dursleys. As a result, she didn't bother waking Harry, who finally was able to get a regular night's worth of sleep.

"How are you?" Abigail asked as she stepped into Harry's cupboard with a box, leaving a swirling dark mass in the doorway.

A recently eight-year-old Harry Potter smiled back. "Good. The books you got me were a great read."

Thanks to Abigail's influence, his life had improved drastically. By giving the Dursleys small mental nudges, Abigail guided them away from punishing the young boy. She also brought food from her travels, visiting him almost daily.

"I'm happy to hear that," as she neared Harry, she made sure to hide the package behind her back. Unfortunately, it seemed Harry noticed.

"What's that?" he asked, nodding to the box. She grinned.

"Your birthday present." She opened the box to reveal a pendant with a small black crystal. "It's a magical foci, so that you can practice with your magic. Eventually, you might not need it to cast spells. I may not be able to help you with specifics, nor teach you my time and space magic, but I can at least teach other magic and get you started. Come on!" she gestured to the portal in the doorway.

Harry blinked. "We're going inside there?"

"Yep!" Abigail chirped. "We don't want to possibly blow up the Dursleys' house." In a lower voice, she added, "Even if they aren't nice at all."

Harry broke out in a grin, and the two of them left the cupboard. Just seconds later, Petunia burst into the room, yelling for Harry to wash the dishes. She let out a curse when she didn't find anyone, though she just assumed that Dudley was chasing him around somewhere.

Of course, she had no way of knowing that the idea had been placed there by Abigail in order to get Harry a lighter sentence.

Meanwhile, Abigail and Harry entered a strange area. No word could describe it – the place was pitch black with tiny pinpricks of light in the distance, except somehow the darkness between the lights swirled and distorted and the lights wizzed around in erratic patterns. At the same time, Harry and Abigail could see each other clearly despite the darkness It was also hard to tell where or what the floor was, because just as Harry stood on an invisible platform, Abigail stood to the side on another platform that was nearly perpendicular to where Harry was standing.

The only thing that made sense in this strange void was a significantly larger light in the distance. Inside the light, the duo could see Petunia peering into Harry's room.

It was Abigail who broke the silence, pulling Harry from his observations. "This place has a couple of names, such as the Outer Region, the Void, the In-Between, the Dimensional Gap, and so-on. It's dangerous if you aren't a Foreigner, since all kinds of creatures that would drive you to insanity with their presence wander around, so we'll be staying close to your world. If something comes that refuses to leave, please run away." Towards the end, a hint of pleading entered her voice. As if to verify her statement, a large shadow blotted out a number of the pinpricks. It blended in with the surroundings, and though Abigail could feel its presence, Harry could only identify its shape as vaguely squid-like from the lights it blocked out.

As it drifted closer, Abigail grew more and more tense, until she materialized a large key, with many smaller keys sprouting out of the ring. Immediately, her presence grew thousand-fold, magic leaking out of her in such large amounts that even Harry could see that she was almost shining with purplish light.

Whatever the other creature was, it began to turn away as soon as Abigail activated her magic. Only when it was gone did Abigail dismiss the key, allowing her magic to return to normal.

"Alright." He readily agreed. "I'll run if that happens." Abigail let out a relieved sigh.

"Is it ok if I start instructing you on magic now?" At Harry's nod, Abigail continued. "Ok. The first step is to put on the pendant. Then, focus. Have you ever had a sudden strong feeling? Or a sudden revelation that you felt a certain way? Like how a person might suddenly realize they like their friend, or when someone realizes that their boss hates them? Even something as small as realizing you forgot a chore might work."

As Harry began to focus, Abigail watched the area around them. Outer Gods rarely ventured this close to any world, but there were other creatures that wandered around the Void. For a moment, she wondered how Great Red was doing…

She occasionally turned to check on Harry. Every time, his eyes were closed, and he was scowling.

She observed his face carefully. Even though he was in deep concentration, with his brow furrowed and his teeth biting his lips, he somehow reminded Abigail of a cute puppy trying to please its master. Abigail held back from patting his head, as that would have interrupted his focus.

Finally, there was a loud crack, and an explosion sent Harry flying backwards, the pendant steaming.

"Ow…" he groaned as he got up, coughing out smoke. "I don't think I did that right."

"No, no, it was fine!" Abigail encouraged, "It's pretty hard for someone to do magic on their first try."

"How was your first try?" he asked, wobbling to his feet.

"Not very good."

"What do you mean by that?"

"…Nothing. Please, stop asking."

Harry broke out into a grin. "I guess it was embarrassing?"

Abigail sighed. "I almost blew up a pocket world and became an embodiment of infinite pain and suffering."

There was a pause before Harry responded. "…I suppose that counts as a mess up."

Abigail shrugged helplessly, deciding to change the topic. "Now, as seen from the explosion, you can gather magical power. Next, we'll be learning how to channel that power into a spell. Visualizing the concept behind the spell is very important. We'll start with one of the first void-class spells I learned, vacuum. First, observe the area around us. Try to visualize the concept of an empty space, where even air doesn't exist-"

"Umm, Abby?"

"Yes?"

"Is there air here?"

"No. I had to cast a large number of spells on the portal you entered so that you could act as if you were still in your room."

"So how do I tell if the spell is working or not?"

Abigail froze entirely, much to Harry's amusement, before sheepishly asking, "...would you like to learn a different spell?"

Harry grinned as he teased, "You didn't think of that, did you?"

"No?"

In a similar place, where the pinpricks were the only source of light in the pitch black void, an old man smiled as he watched two people with the appearance of children talk.

The swirling darkness cloaked him, for Carter, as Abigail's mentor, had been wandering for far longer than she had, and knew tricks she did not.

He wouldn't get involved. After all, he had subtly helped her many times in her previous adventures. Since this time she seemed to get along easily with the boy, he would let her act by herself. It was about time she grew up and traveled on her own. Indeed, he was quite proud of his pupil.

With a wave of his hand, the darkness enveloped him, its swirling motion momentarily disrupted. When it returned to normal, the old man was gone.