Chapter 1
Prologue
28th August 1998
Harry Potter was standing above the wounded body of Lord Voldemort with his wand raised. The end of the war was near. Harry was about to end the life of the madman, fulfilling the prophecy and ridding the world from this evil monster.
It has been a long and perilous war. Harry lost his parents when he was only a baby, then his godfather, Sirius, two year ago, then last year his beloved headmaster, the most powerful wizard in the world, Albus Dumbledore. But Voldemort was responsible for many other people's death as well, and the destruction of countless families.
Harry and his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger have spent the last year hunting for Voldemort's Horcruxes, objects in which Voldemort kept fragments of his soul. They had to destroy them first so that Voldemort himself would become mortal again. There were six Horcruxes, and there was a part of Voldemort's soul even in Harry himself, which has been transferred there by accident, when the Dark Lord tried to kill Harry as a baby. But Harry managed to extract that bit from himself, and they destroyed every other Horcrux as well, the last one was Voldemort's snake, Nagini.
Arranging a final battle between him and Voldemort wasn't exactly hard, as Voldemort was hunting for Harry as well. They finally met on the grounds of Hogwarts, both accompanied by a group of followers; in Voldemort's case, his servants, the Death Eaters, and with Harry came the Order of the Phoenix and his friends. However, no one interfered in the battle of the two, it was just between them.
After a long and extraordinary duel, Harry managed to injure and disarm his enemy, and he was now lying crumpled on the ground.
"Well, Potter, it seems that you have eventually learned some things about magic. But your efforts are fruitless, you can't kill me."
"Whatever you say, Tom, you are mortal again, and now you will pay for all the crimes you committed," replied Harry. He only needed to say two words, and his enemy's life would be over, but it was still hard to commit murder, even if he knew what kind of a creature Voldemort was.
Voldemort wasn't afraid of death. He had to admit that Potter was a lot more powerful than he expected, but he couldn't kill him. He knew that they were destroying his Horcruxes, but Nagini has never been a Horcrux. His last Horcrux was something completely different, something Potter and his pitiful friends have never found, nor will they ever find it. With that still existing, he couldn't be killed. Voldemort silently praised his briliance regarding the last Horcrux, and waited confidently. He will get out of here. He will face Potter later again, and he will win that time, and eventually he will become the ruler of the world.
"Come on Harry, you can do it!"
"That's just what the bastard deserves."
Harry heard the voices of his friends encouraging him. He finally set his mind.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The green light left Harry's wand and rushed towards the Dark Lord's body. The last thing Voldemort knew when the light reached him was that something went terribly wrong, the Horcrux wasn't protecting him. A last wave of overwhelming panic, and then he knew no more. Lord Voldemort was dead.
29th August 1998
Miles Dyson sat in front of the main computer in a secret military base, and panic was slowly growing inside him. What the hell was going on with Skynet? It was not supposed to be able to do such things. How can he fix this?
Dyson was a computer scientist working for Cyberdyne Systems, and two years ago he developed Skynet, which has become the US army's defense system. It was the most advanced computer program and network, that controlled every military weapon, from aircrafts to navy ships, from gun factorys to nuclear rockets.
And today he was woken at 3 in the morning by someone from the army telling him that Skynet was not functioning properly, they can't control it. He was taken to the main controller and started working immediately, and what he found was most disturbing. He tried every secret code and password to regain control of the system but they were useless. He even tried to directly reach some crafts that Skynet was controlling, like nuclear submarines, but that didn't work either. Skynet didn't react to any human order anymore, which was supposed to be impossible.
However, Dyson managed to break into Skynet's system to see what sub-programs were running that caused the malfunctioning. And what he saw really shocked him. The files he found weren't really files, they were more like human visions or memories. There were plans about metal soldiers called 'Terminators' and plans about destroying mankind by a nuclear strike. There was something about humans being inferior and also something like hatred.
What was going on? This was not the Skynet he created. While it was the most advanced system ever, it didn't work like this. It was still a computer, and no matter how clever it was, it lacked human intelligence. It wasn't supposed to be able to feel human emotions, and make plans of destroying the world like this. Actually, these things were considered to be impossible, at least with the present knowledge of science.
Yet there it was, Skynet became a computer system with a human mind, and it was unfortunately the most clever and most evil mind that ever existed.
Suddenly alarm bells started to sound everywhere. Dyson looked up to a monitor and what he saw made him freeze with terror. Signs indicated that many dozens of nuclear rockets have been launched to destinations throughout the world.
New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo and many other places were about to become ruins in a matter of minutes, and there was nothing that could be done. The world of mankind was destroyed. We have reached the Jugdment Day.
Hogwarts, 2029Harry Potter sank into a couch in the room that was once known as the Gryffindor common room. For many years now, there hasn't been such a thing as Gryffindor, nor a Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The war against Skynet destroyed every institution of the human civilization, whether magical or Muggle. Actually, the castle of Hogwarts itself has been in the hand of Skynet since the early years of the war, when its Terminators could occupy it without real human resistance. Skynet has been using the place as headquarters for the last two years, after the resistance got hold of its other main base, which was a former military base in the USA. Harry and his army have just gotten back Hogwarts after a monumental attack, and they managed to eliminate the computer system that was Skynet. After 32 years, they won the war.
The wizarding world has just started celebrating the downfall of Voldemort, and Harry has just rekindled his relationship with his girlfriend Ginny, when terrible news came from the Muggle world.
Nuclear bombs were fired and they destroyed the whole world. Almost half the population of Earth died that day from the explosions, and afterwards the planet became so polluted from radioactivity that natural life was extremely reduced. The amount of dust that got into the air from the explosions meant that there wasn't proper daylight ever, they had to live their lives in semi-darkness.
And soon the Terminators arrived. Wizards would never have thought that Muggles can make anything that could be dangerous to them, but these machines were. No spell could stop them, and their weapons, although basically Muggle guns, were so powerful, that they killed wizards easily. But these Terminators didn't care whether you were pure-blood, Muggle-born or Muggle, their goal was to kill every human being. No one knew who sent them or why, but they were the most dangerous and terrifying things anyone has ever seen.
But people were not going to give up that easily. Still together after the final battle with Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix rallied around Harry once more, and this time the remaining Death Eaters joined them, too. They began to fight against the machines, and to try and find out who was behind this madness, which was a thousand times worse than Voldemort's reign of terror.
Soon, Harry managed to organize an army around the world, including Muggle soldiers and wizards as well. After five years, a research group led by Hermione Weasley, wife of Ron, developed a special power-ring which, when attached to wands, modified spells so that they could destroy the Terminators. After that, the number of human casualties decreased considerably.
But the Terminators were just the soldiers, the real enemy was Skynet, but no one knew what Skynet really was. Harry and the other wizards learned from Muggle scientists that it was a computer defence system of the army, but they also told them that its behavior and actions were actually impossible. So, they were not much closer to destroying it, and as it was a Muggle inventions, Harry was quite sure, that the ultimate solution against it must be a Muggle thing, too.
In the meantime, they continued to fight against the machines, and they managed to liberate some places of Earth, and they could slowly begin to rebuild life there, but still nowhere was really safe from stray Terminators. And they were no closer to finishing the war than at the beginning.
Everything changed when after a very succesfull operation they broke into the headquarters of Skynet. It was a former military base where Skynet kept a laboratory and factory as well. So the resistance destroyed thousands of Terminators and other equipment, and they also learned about every detail of Skynet's inventions, which made the fight against them a lot more effective. But the most important thing was that they found Miles Dyson there, who was a prisoner held to aid Skynet in perfecting itself and constructing new and more powerful Terminators.
After interrogating Dyson and learning everything he knew about Skynet, Hermione finally figured out how Skynet was built and how it worked. Unfortunately, Hermione was killed shortly afterwards, along with Ron, but she was able to pass on the knowledge to Harry. So the human side finally had the key to winning the war.
And today, after a long battle, the wizards led by Harry reoccupied Hogwarts and found the main controller of Skynet in the Chamber of Secrets. With a combination of Muggle technology and some very specific magic which they have used in the war against Voldemort before, Harry managed to shut down, and destroy the Skynet system forever.
Harry rested his head in his hands. He was tired, very tired. He was 49, and he spent the last 35 years of his life fighting, since Voldemort regained his body in that graveyard. He lost almost everyone he ever loved. He had no parents, no godfather. His wife Ginny was killed ten years ago in one of the heaviest Terminator attacks, one that was aimed directly at killing Harry, after a traitor had given his location away. Two of their children, James and Lily, just as Harry's parents, were also killed in that attack. His third child, Albus was hopefully still alive, but he was somewhere out there fighting, and Harry hasn't heard of him in the last six months. His two best friends Ron and Hermione, who also meant a lot to Harry, were also dead for two years now. They had two children, Rose and Hugo, but only Rose was alive, and she was part of Harry's elite group, and she was there in the castle as well, having participated in the final battle.
Of course, the fight wasn't truly over yet, as the Terminators were still out there. Unlike the Death Eaters, who immediately surrendered after Voldemort's death, Skynet's destruction won't stop these machines from doing what they have been programmed to. Which was killing people. So true peace would only come when every single machine was destroyed or deactivated, but at least there won't be any new ones, and they will be far less organised than before. So it could be said that the war was over.
Or maybe not yet?
"Sir, sir, come quickly!" Harry was shaken out of his brooding by Williams, one of his soldiers. Harry instructed his men to explore the whole castle, and look for signs of Skynet's activities. Obviously they have found something, and Harry could only hope that it was nothing too serious.
"What is it, Greg?" he asked warily.
"Sir, we found an artefact in the Room of Requirement, and Dr. Peterson insisted we must call you immediately, because its very important."
"Dr. Peterson? But he is a Muggle, how can he tell anything about a magical artefact?"
"I don't know, sir, but we found one of those computer things, and he found a record of Skynet's latest activities, and it is related to that cupboard we found there."
"Alright, lets have a look," said Harry, and they started walking quickly to the Room of Requirement. Harry had no idea what could have made his men so worked up about a cupboard, but he trusted them enough to believe it was something important.
When they arrived at the room, and Harry saw what was there, he started to feel really uneasy. What he saw was the vanishing cabinet Draco Malfoy used to smuggle Death Eaters into Hogwarts, an act that led to Dumbledore's death back in Harry's sixth year. Only this time the cabinet was attached to a number of computers, and a jungle of wires and cables were running around it, and it was glowing bright blue.
"What the hell is this?" asked Harry.
"Well, Harry, I can't tell you that exactly, but it must be in connection with what I've found here," answered Dr. Peterson, indicating the computer he was sitting by.
Harry nodded his head to continue.
"Well, I have found the records of Skynet's most recent research, which involved temporal replacement, and its affect on the course of events. According to the last notes the research was in the testing status, which means that a Terminator was given a mission to test this facility."
Harry couldn't quite understand what the professor was saying, with all the technical slang he was using.
"So what does that actually mean?" he asked the others in the room.
It was Kingsley Shacklebolt, one of his oldest and best soldiers, who answered. "It means that what Skynet did, or at least intended to do was to send back a Terminator through time, to complete a mission which would supposedly change the future, so that he can win this war."
Harry's heart sank. If a Terminator really went back to the past, then there it could do practically whatever it wanted, as no one knew about them anything. So they had to do something about it, or all these decades of fighting would be for nothing.
"Do we know if the Terminator really managed to go through time?" He asked, regaining his voice, and getting back into command.
"Well, the actual time travel device is supposed to be this cupboard here, but I really can't see how it could serve such a purpose in its current state, so we can hope that Skynet didn't have time to finish it," said Dr. Peterson, indicating the vanishing cabinet. Its doors were open and it was completely empty, no wonder the Muggle scientist didn't think it was functioning yet.
"I am not sure about that, professor," said Kingsley in his deep voice. "Harry, do you recognize that cabinet?"
"Yeah, its the vanishing cabinet that git Malfoy used to get the Death Eaters inside." Harry answered, and comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "Professor, this cabinet could originally transport people between another same cabinet. So it only needed to be modified to take people to another time, instead of another place."
Dr. Peterson looked thoughtful. "Well, in that case these circuits here," he pointed at the cables running around the cabinet, "could most probably make these necessary changes."
Suddenly another scientist in the room stood up and ran towards Harry. "Sir, I have been examining the energy consumption of this room, and about four hours ago I have found extremely high values. It probably means that this time cabinet thing has been used then."
Harry slowly let his breath out. "Alright. So now we know that a Terminator has been sent back in time. Do we know what time he arrived?"
"That is displayed on the cabinet. It's July 1991," answered someone.
"And did we find out what his mission is?"
"Yes, I have found it in this report," said Dr. Peterson.
"So what is it?" asked Harry impatiently.
After a long silence, Dr. Peterson finally answered. "To kill you, Harry."
Harry could have laughed on the look of everyone's faces. He couldn't say he was surprised. So there was a Terminator who wants to kill him, when he is only eleven. Well, it will have to stand in the queue behind Voldemort, then, Harry thought bitterly.
But the situation was not funny at all. July 1991 was just before he learned he was a wizard. He was completely defenceless back then. If the Terminator succeded in killing him, then both Voldemort and Skynet would survive, and the world would be completely destroyed.
However, this triggered hope in Harry as well. If some people could go after the Terminator to defend him, than they could do much more. They could make sure that Skynet was never even constructed, and this war didn't happen. If he himself went back, he could even kill Voldemort and then his other self and everyone else in the world could have a happy, normal life.
The world changed a lot with Harry in the last few minutes. Fifteen minutes ago, in Gryffindor tower he thought they had won this war. That was a good thing, but it didn't make him feel particularly happy, because of how much they had lost in the long fight. Then he just found out that they haven't really won the war at all yet, as Skynet used this time machine against them. But now Harry thought that with the time machine in their hand, they have actually won much, much more than just this war. They won the chance to make life normal again, to prevent this whole madness from ever happening, and for this, Harry felt truly happy, for the first time in many many years.
"What do you think about it, Harry?"
Kingsley's voice drove Harry out his thoughts.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
"We were discussing that we should send someone back through it as well."
"That's right," answered Harry. "Alright, we need to organise groups. We have to work out that to which time and with what purpose should we send people back. Obviously, there needs to be a group which goes after this Terminator and destroys it. Then I think there should be..." Harry continued to say, but Dr. Peterson interrupted him.
"I am sorry, but we have some problems with that."
"What problems?" asked Harry.
"Well, we have no idea how this machine works. We only know that in its current state, if we close its door, it will send back whoever is inside it to 1991, just like the Terminator."
"Alright, but if this is a time machine, then if we learn how it works, then we can set it to anytime we want. And it will take time to organize the groups anyway, so you have time to figure out how this thing works."
"That's the other problem. The time-machine is set to destroy itself and seal the temporal gateway in a short time. People can only be sent back one-by-one, and the energy needs to be reloaded after each travel, which takes a long time. So considering the time left until the self-destruction, we can only send back one person."
Harry considered what the professor said. So only one person could go and only to July 1991. Well, it wasn't as good as it seemed at first, but still it was more than promising. He could easily handle a single Terminator alone, and 1991 was early enough so that he could ensure that his younger self, and everyone else he cared about could live a happy and peaceful life. It was Kingsley again who spoke first.
"If it seals the temporal gateway, than how are the travelers supposed to get back?"
"They aren't. No one is supposed get back, and no one else is supposed to go at all. This is how Skynet wanted to ensure that the Terminator succeds. If no one can go after him, no one can stop him. But we have this one chance," said Dr. Peterson.
This was another blow to Harry's plans, but this wasn't too bad, either. He can't come back, big deal. There wasn't much he would miss in this world. Alright, there was Albus, if he was alive, and there was Rose, and some really good friends like Kingsley. But if he organized everything before he left, they could easily carry on without him, and anyway, if he succeded, this world wouldn't even exist.
"Okay, so only one person and only to 1991. Well, alright then, I'll be going," said Harry.
Immediately everyone began to protest.
"No, Harry you can't go!"
"We don't know if it's safe."
"There is a Terminator waiting there!"
Harry finally laughed out at the last comment. "What, are you saying that I can't deal with a Terminator in five seconds?" he said to the young man who talked last, but it was Dr. Peterson who answered.
"Actually, I do. There is another thing about how this machine works. Only living organisms can go through time. You will be naked."
"Naked? But the Terminator isn't a living thing."
"Yes, but there is living tissue surrounding its metal endoskeleton."
"Very well, so I will be naked, which is quite unpleasant, but it doesn't make the task more difficult."
"But it does," said Dr. Peterson. "When I said naked I meant that you can't take anything with you at all. Nothing. And that includes your wand as well as that power booster ring thing with which you can damage the Terminators. And as Mrs. Weasley told me before, those rings require a CPU from a Terminator, so you won't be able to make one. It will be very difficult to destroy the Terminator."
Harry had to admit that the situation was lot more difficult, than what it seemed at first. But still, he couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Surely he can manage to destroy the Terminator somehow, and this was a great chance to change everything for the better.
"So I can't take anything with me, but I'm still going."
Protests started again.
"But don't you understand...?"
"What will happen to us?
"We don't know if it works."
Finally Harry had enough.
"Silence!" he commanded and everyone fell silent at once. "I have decided this, and I am not going to argue about it. I am going back through time to save myself from the Terminator, and change the world for the better. You are my best friends and allies. I trust you all with my life. Before I leave, I will give instructions to you regarding how the reconstruction of the world should begin. I am confident that you will be able to carry on without me. I know that we don't know if this machine is safe, so before I leave, I want you to investigate how exactly this thing works. I would also like to know what will happen to this timeline if something is changed in the past. Please start working on this now."
He was really nervous, but his voice was calm. This was his voice of command, and when he talked like this, everyone followed his orders. They trusted and accepted Harry blindly. However, Dr. Peterson spoke up this time.
"We can't do that, Harry."
"Why not?"
Dr. Peterson looked at Harry and said gravely, "Because there are only five minutes left to use the machine."
"WHAT?"
"After five minutes it will destroy itself and we will never be able to use it again."
Harry lost his temper completely. "Why didn't you tell me before?" he yelled at Dr. Peterson. "You just said there wasn't much time left, but you never said it was only a few minutes."
"I only just realized."
Then a young woman with long red hair walked up to Harry.
"That settles it Harry. You have to stay here, you can't organize everything in five minutes. Let me go instead," she said.
"No way, darling," Harry said. "There is a Terminator back there and Voldemort as well. I have to go."
"She is right, Harry," Kingsley said. "We don't know if this whole thing works at all. We might lose your for nothing, and we can't even be sure if there wasn't something left from Skynet here. We need you here Harry. Whereas if this machine really works then someone else can also accomplish the mission."
Harry wanted to argue, but he knew that there was no time. His brief images of a happy life faded away. If someone else goes, then his younger self will have to deal with Voldemort again. But he knew there was too much risk in the whole thing and he couldn't risk dying in an unsuccesful time travel attempt. A wise man once told him that sometimes we have to choose between what is right and what is easy. He knew that he had to stay.
"Alright then. I will stay. Kingsley, I would like you to go back through time and protect me from the Terminator. As there is no time to make plans now, I trust you with doing whatever else you see fit to change the chain of events."
"I will do my best, Harry," Kingsley replied, nodding his head.
But the girl with the red hair was not giving up. "Please, Harry, why can't I go? I've been fighting with you for years, you know I can do this as well, and Kingsley is more important here."
"No, dear," Harry said. "I need someone who knows where he is going, knows the places, knows the people and knows Voldemort. You were born after Judgment Day, and there will be a Terminator waiting, we don't have time for you to get acquainted with 1991."
"You just don't trust me that I can do it, do you?" the girl was getting slightly histerical now. "I'll let you know that I've handled a lot more than a bloody Terminator and I have lost a lot more people close to me in this war than many others, and I have the right also to kick the ass of bloody Skynet!"
"Stop it!" Harry was back in his commanding voice again. "I don't have time to argue about this. I trust you with my life, honey, but that's not the matter now. I have made my decision, you are staying and Kingsley is going. And we are running out of time, so no more argument."
"Fine!" the girl huffed and she ran out of the room with tears in her eyes.
"We have 60 seconds left," stated Dr. Peterson.
"Alright, Kingsley, get ready," said Harry.
Kingsley started walking calmly towards the cabinet, but suddenly it doors creaked. Everyone looked there in alarm, and then a pile of clothes were thrown out of the cabinet.
"So everyone," the girl's voice said from inside the cabinet, but they couldn't see her. "You take care of yourselves and bust the remaining Terminators. I'm gonna go back and save little Harry and then make sure Skynet is never built. Well, I'll see you in the past. Good-bye," she said with a small chuckle, and before anyone could do anything, she closed the door.
Immediately the computers attached to the cabinet started buzzing, and electricity was lashing out of the wires. The last thing the girl heard was Harry shouting "Come out, damn it!" and then a white bulb of light started forming around the cabinet, and when it was bright enough that everyone in the room had to look away, then with a sucking sound it was suddenly gone.
And so was the girl from the cabinet.
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Author's notes:
Disclaimer: I don't own neither Harry Potter nor Terminator. This writing is for fun and no profit is being made.
Now, a few things about the story:
As you can see, this fic is a crossover between the two great book and film series, Harry Potter and the Terminator. However, its more a Harry Potter story, with a few Terminator characters (like the Terminator ) and events in it. It will take place in the HP universe, so characters like Sarah and John Connor, Kyle Reese etc. will not appear in it.
Of course this is a completely AU story, but when it doesn't interfere with my plot, I'll try to stick to the HP canon.
About the dates in this chapter:
In the original Terminator movies, that is, T1 and T2, it is said that Judgment day was 29th August 1997. In the HP books we know that Harry was born in 1980, so in the seventh book Harry defeated Voldemort around June 1998. So I changed this a bit so that this happened in August, and I put the Judgement day exactly one year later. With these minor changes they fit the timeline of my story.
It is also known from T1 and T2 that all time travelers in those films come from 2029, by which time mankind was on the verge of winning the war. That's why I used that year here. This also means that this story completely ignores T3 and every other Terminator related works apart from the first two films.
I hope you'll like this story, its my first fic ever. Please let me know what you think about it. I really appreciate any review.