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A Small Shift In Perspective.
By Oriondruid.
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Summary: For many Harry Potter fans the Wizarding World seems so real and so close that they almost feel they could simply close their eyes, take a single step and find themselves there. In fact it is very much closer than that single step! In fact it's only a single quantum phase shift of space/time away! Join Hermione Weasley as she interviews Professor Infinitus, (of the Salem Witches Institute's Technomancy Faculty), as he shows both Hermione and yourself that not only does the Wizarding World exist, but that you are also in it right now!
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Author's Notes: The following story contains some somewhat dubious 'cod' physics. Any real Quantum Physicists out there will realise this, but hey! This is the magical world we are talking about, some suspension of disbelief is needed okay, so sue me Einstein! ;o)
Incidentally, I realise I should be writing some more additional chapters to a couple of my stories, but this particular 'plot bunny' just bit me too hard and I had to write this. I will try and get some more stuff written for the other stories soon, meanwhile I hope you enjoy this short piece of pseudo science.
By the way- With regard to the following story, the characters and settings in this story, (other than the character invented by myself), belong entirely to the works and 'world' created by our beloved J.K. Rowling and I am grateful that she so kindly allows us, her fans, to enter her world and 'play' for a while. This is an entirely amateur work and not for profit.
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A Small Shift In Perspective
I had been commissioned by a brand new British academic publication to do an interview for an article. I might perhaps, have seemed an odd choice for interviewer, but they wanted the article to be written from the perspective of an interested amateur, not a specialist. They hoped it would make the material more accessible to a wider audience. I had suggested that perhaps, in order to widen that audience even further, they might want to permit my friend Luna Lovegood at The Quibbler to re-publish the article after they had done so, to which they agreed. The forthcoming task was a slightly daunting job, but I had confidence in my interviewing and writing skills, even though these were generally used in a very different field from that of my intended subject.
I met the distinguished American, Professor Alexander Infinitus of The Salem Witches Institute exactly as he had requested, at a small and slightly twee tea shop in Diagon Alley, at twelve midday. His visit to Britain was a rare event, but he had become well known here in the last few years, as his writings on Technomancy, (a cross-over discipline between magic and muggle physics), were becoming very popular. He had been described by those who know muggle science as the Stephen Hawking of our magical world, although thankfully he did not suffer the same tragic physical problems as that muggle genius. The Professor was in Britain because he would soon be taking up the short term post of Visiting Professor at the new Hogwarts Senior Faculty, the Wizarding University that had been created alongside Hogwarts School, following the end of the second Wizarding War.
Professor Infinitus was short, slightly built and with a somehow birdlike nervous energy to him. He was dressed in an old fashioned, almost Edwardian looking brown pin striped suit and he radiated precision and intelligence from the blue eyes behind his round, thick lensed, glasses.
"Hello Ms. Granger," he said standing and holding out his hand as I approached him, which I took in my own and shook. Professor Infinitus then pulled out a seat for me at his table and made sure I was seated comfortably. He then sat back down himself and ordered us both tea and cauldron cakes.
"It's very nice to meet you Professor," I said. "I have read your book 'Doing Magic the Quantum Way' and I enjoyed it a lot. I had reason to use the Reverse Entropy spell you detailed in it a while back, to set up a controlled low-level heat source, for use as a bird incubator. It worked a treat I'm glad to say. I thank you and my little flock of ducks thank you."
I smiled and went on, saying, "Please just call me Hermione though, my name now is actually Hermione Weasley as you probably know, but I retained my maiden name Granger as my pen name."
The Professor smiled at me and said, "Well I'm pleased the book proved useful for you Hermione, Perhaps we should co-patent the incubator idea, it sounds a fascinating practical application for my spell. That book is of course a fairly basic 'popularised' version of my earlier work, but nevertheless it has, as you found out, got it's practical uses."
The Professor continued, "I in turn have read some of your works Hermione. Including your wonderful book Hogwarts, A Recent History, the one you wrote about the various frightening struggles that you and your two friends Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, (now your husband of course), had against the return of Lord Voldermort, whilst you were all still mere pupils at the school. The later chapters of the book, those analysing and clarifying the events of the terrifying climactic battle that happened there must have been the results of meticulous research and were, I must say, a triumph of modern history writing. My congratulations on the book's success and of course I'd like to take this opportunity to add that my greatest admiration and gratitude goes out to all three of you, for what you did for our whole world."
He added, smiling, "However the book of yours which myself and my wife Eva have found to be of most practical use is Raising Imps, a Witches and Wizards Guide to Parenthood. That little book is a life saver, as our two hellions, Carl and David, are now becoming almost civilised due to your sage advice. Thank you most sincerely for writing it."
"You're welcome Professor, I'm glad it came in useful, although I have often thought that perhaps I should have given my friend Ginny Potter co-credit for many of the ideas in that book. My own children were hard enough work, but Ginny's were really naughty. Especially her eldest James, he was a total demon as a young child and he has retained a 'taste for trouble' even now whilst he is at Hogwarts." Hermione smiled.
"Anyway, I think we should push on to our main subject matter, if we may my dear Hermione," said the Professor.
"Certainly Professor," I replied. "I'm sure your time is very valuable and I don't want to detain you too long. Do you mind if I use a recording quill and pad. I assure you it will simply and accurately write down anything you say, (unlike one owned by a certain bloody Daily Prophet reporter!) I thought to myself.
"That's fine by me Hermione," the Professor replied.
"Thank you sir," I said, "I can then edit the notes it takes into article form later."
"Okay then, so let's get onto the subject of this interview. That of course being our latest research findings at The Institute. I will try not to get too technical, as much of this can only really be accurately explained in the natural language of Technomancy, that being mathematics, and very complex maths at that. We have to use numbers that are not just imaginary, but which exhibit an imagination of their own!"
He smiled, and asked me, "You are, I understand, a Muggleborn, yes?
I nodded and the Professor went on.
"That's good, then you may have some unconscious and instinctive grasp of what I am about to tell you. Many Muggleborns I have spoken with about this have said that when they first encountered the Wizarding World it was, for them, like entering another world entirely. What they did not realise at the time is that this feeling they had was completely correct!"
He continued, enthusiastically, "The world of your origin, (that being the world of the muggles), and our own 'wizarding world' are literally different, separate from each other, but as close to one another as pages in a book. Closer in a sense, as they inter-penetrate and overlap each other, without, (in the normal order of things), there ever being the slightest possibility of their making contact. Only in one way may this mutual isolation, this 'cosmological quarantine' be broken. That being that they may, by use of magic, sometimes be allowed to touch each other and exchange information or even matter, but for the most part they remain separate entities."
"You must understand Hermione, said Professor Infinitus, "That the muggle world which you came from and the Universe it is a part of is not the only continuum that exists. An enormous number of possible 'alternates' are contained in what is known as the Multiverse. Some people call these 'parallel worlds', which is an easy way to get a hold on a very complex reality. The truth is, of course, far more convoluted, but for most people the phrase 'parallel world's' suffices."
"For example, we are seated here in this little teashop in Diagon Alley, which is in a place apparently just off of the Charing Cross Road, in muggle London. But, in truth, whilst we are apparently so close to the world of the muggles, we are in fact no longer even in the same universe! This place, Diagon Alley, would, if it actually were in the muggle world, have nowhere to exist! The area it covers in that muggle world contains streets and buildings which entirely cover the land this place also seems to occupy, leaving our current 'here and now' nowhere to be. How then can we be sitting here in this pleasant little tea room, holding this conversation?"
"Let me explain. The portal into our world, which appears simply as the charm concealed door to The Leaky Cauldron is in fact not only hidden from the muggles, it does not even exist for them! It is a gateway into an entirely different version of reality and requires magical abilities to use, or even merely to see. Crossing that door's threshold leads one not merely into a hidden place, but out of one world and into an entirely different one!"
"The Diagon Alley we are sitting in exists in this, our magical world, and only here! This same principal also applies to all the many other magical places which you know of and that Ms. Rowling wrote about in her splendid books, which are so popular amongst the muggles. For example Ottery St. Catchpole, Godric's Hollow, Hogsmeade, even Hogwarts itself, all may not be found anywhere on maps of the muggle world or discovered within it. This is not simply, as most witches and wizards believe, because they have magically been 'rendered unplottable', but because they are simply not there to be found at all in the muggle world!"
"No matter how diligently one may search, those places simply do not exist in the muggle world. Neither do the so-called charms and wards that allegedly have been set-up to 'conceal' these places from muggles actually exist either, for the most part, or even if have been cast they have no function! Most witches and wizards believe differently, that it is our magic that 'keeps our world hidden'. This general ignorance of the truth amongst our population is not unusual, it is, I must add, also a delusion that suits our political leaders. However, one should note that just because 'Everybody Knows' a thing that does not make it true! Even in the muggle world the public's perception of the nature of their reality has undergone many revolutions over the centuries, after all most muggles thought the world was flat at one time!
"But Professor, surely that wonderful muggle author you mentioned, JK Rowling, who wrote those brilliant fictionalised histories said the Wizarding World needed to be concealed by magic." I interjected, happy to finally be able to inject a question into what was rapidly becoming a lecture, this after all was supposed to be an interview.
The Professor smiled a little sardonically and replied, "Ms. Rowling, if indeed she is a muggle must have been deliberately or accidentally misled about that, by her mysterious source of information. If, however, she is in fact actually a witch or a squib then she may simply have been voicing the beliefs currently held by most of our wizarding folk about such matters. The fact remains however, that no muggle without magical powers can ever simply 'stumble across' Hogwarts, or anywhere else in our world for that matter, their active concealment is not actually required, even if, it is sometimes mistakenly utilised."
"Of course a witch or wizard whilst 'out and about' in the muggle world may find situations where magical concealment is needed and it is possible to use spells and wards, invisibility cloaks etcetera to do so, whilst in 'muggle territory'. But that is an entirely different set of circumstances and another matter entirely."
"I think I see what you are saying Professor, "But what then keeps our two realities separated and hidden from each other, if it isn't magic?"
Professor Infinitus smiled and replied, "The thing that keeps our two worlds separate, the magical and the muggle, (and indeed the many other alternate realities), is a simple quantum phase shift. This is something that even some muggle physicists are speculating about.
"What exactly is that Professor?" I asked.
"Well I don't know how much, if any, muggle physics you may know Hermione," the Professor said, looking speculatively at me. "But I'll try and explain it in simple terms whilst trying not to be too patronising."
He went on, saying, "All of this and all other realities exist as what are known as space/time continua and neither space nor time can exist as truly separate entities. Matter and energy exists within the matrix of space/time and can only interact with each other within the framework it forms. What keeps the multiple realities apart is simply a lack of synchronisation of the time aspect within each individual space/time continuum. In other words they are 'out of step' and can never interact in the 'natural order' of things."
"Exactly how are the realities 'out of step' Professor?" I asked.
"Well," he replied, "At a fundamental level of matter, at the sub-atomic particle level, certain events can only happen within a certain fix and unalterable time frame. The most important of these types of events from the point of view of the subject we are discussing is the time it takes for an electron to make a 'quantum jump' from one energy level 'shell', more commonly thought of as an 'orbit', around an atom's nucleus up or down to another energy level. This time unit is a universal constant. It takes the same amount of time to make this jump whether, say for instance, a hydrogen atom and the orbiting electron concerned are here on Earth, on Mars, or even at the furthest edges of our observable Universe."
This 'quantum jump time', (a time period so infinitely small that it was, until recently, thought to be instantaneous), is, as I said, a universal constant. It is also in fact a synchronised one within each individual space/time continua. By that I mean that for reasons we do not now and indeed may never know, if any particular electron is going to make a quantum 'orbit change' it will do so at exactly the same time and rate as all other such 'jumps' that occur in that universe. It's like there is a basic 'time tick', to any given Universe. It is like the ticking of a clock and it's a tick which pervades everything in a given reality. All matter everywhere in any given 'Universe' is 'in sync' with it's particular 'local' clock and nothing can change in the quantum state of an atom in between the 'ticks'."
The Professor continued his explanation by saying. "So that is how the many Universes within the Multiverse are able to co-exist so closely without interacting and thereby absorbing or destroying each other. The 'fundamental clocks' that tick at the heart of their separate space/time continua are all very slightly 'out of sync' and so nothing can pass between the differing 'worlds', be it matter or energy. They simply cannot 'touch' each other. Nothing may interact between them, nothing that is but for one exceptional type of energy, the power of magic!"
"The only thing that can make the crossing between the realities is magic, and as a result people or objects with their own 'magical field' or which have one imposed on them, like say a Portkey for instance, may do so. Magic seems to be the one and only exception to the rules and even then there are limitations on it's ability to locally synchronise 'universal clocks' and make such crossings between realities possible. The 'world-lines 'or continua concerned need to be very nearly 'in sync' in the first place and the versions of 'Earth' concerned obviously also have to be suitable for human life."
"So far as I know just two realities, the Wizarding World and that of the Muggles that are, as yet, in regular contact. Although research is going on in my own facility back home, to see if we can discover how many more realities we can reach. At the last count my team had found three, but none of them as closely synchronised or as easily bridged as the muggle world. We are, however, trying to send through some basic surveying probes, to let us know if we will be able to survive in these other 'alternates'."
The professor smiled and his body language indicated that he felt he had said all he needed to. He took my hand once again and spoke, saying, "I hope that's sufficient for now my dear Hermione, I was hoping to take a look around the magical section of the British Museum this afternoon before it closes for the day, since I will be leaving for my new post in the morning.
"Thank you very much Professor Infinitus, I said, putting away my recording quill and pad. That has been most informative and fascinating. I'm sure that when published in the new British Journal of Experimental Magic it will be most warmly received by our academic community and hopefully also by a wider audience. As you know the article will also be going out to another more widely read publication, The Quibbler. I hope you enjoy your period lecturing at Hogwarts. I'm sure you will as the new Faculty is magnificent and very well equipped. My dear friend Luna Lovegood published an article on it in her magazine, the one I just mentioned, The Quibbler, shortly after it first opened. She was lucky enough to be shown around the facility by the Faculty Chancellor, Everard Winstanley himself whilst she was on a visit there."
"A sudden thought struck me and as I was about to rise to leave and I said, "By the way Professor, could you kindly do me a favour and pass on a message from me to Headmistress McGonnagall? Please tell her that Harry, Ginny, Ronald and myself will be up to see her and all our friends at the school on the first Hogsmeade weekend this term. Tell her that we're looking forward to seeing everyone then, including yourself sir."
We finished our tea and left the cosy tea room, Professor Infinitus headed for the British Museum and would be joining the Hogwarts Express the next day, on his way to take up his post. As to myself, I needed to edit my notes into printable form and get the finished article written.
It had been a good day.