Edit: Thanks go to Fiver who told me that nothing was showing up! I didn't know. Sorry!

Another one! In just a day and one hour!! … Well, okay. I'll admit it. I've really been working on this for more than a month and a half all told, but it was that Ulquiorra story (and his surprising reentrance into Bleach manga last night) that pulled me through the last five to ten thousand words! Please, read, review, love, 'haet', whatever!

Another Harry Potter Crossover! Though, with Chobits this time and placed in HP simply because I skim over it more. I'll be branching out soon though, so if you have any series that you want to see crossed, just tell me and I'll consider it. Just keep in mind that 33k words is way above average for me.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my crazy ideas; that means that anything you recognize, probably isn't mine. I will admit to leaning heavily on the Chobits manga to write that arch, but I feel it is where Zima and Dita grow the most and is, therefore, very important to the story. I couldn't cut any more than I did. Sorry. None of that is mine either.

What You Might Need To Know: Persocoms are humanoid computers; they have earports, covered connection terminals, on the sides of their heads to allow them to connect to one another and other electronic devices. Harry Potter has been moved into the future to make the timelines align more.

WARNING: Spoilers for Chobits' books 1-8 and Harry Potter 1-5


Surpassing the Father

Part One

By: Nenagh24


July 31, 2015

The room was a nearly-blinding white, somehow gaining the strictness of military beige while retaining the sterility of a top-of-the-line hospital. The large, round room was sparsely furnished, holding only a few servers collected off in one corner and two or three free standing pedestals, all of which were necessary in the programming of the figure hanging in the center of the room. Two Japanese men were working quietly, each at a different pedestal, before the taller one yawned and stretched, rubbing his eyes then running his hand through his short black hair. He touched one last button on the consol and then started to meander over to the other man who seemed to be finishing up as well.

"Well, that's the last of the basics," the bespectacled man reported with a relieved sigh. "Now, we just have to wait for the others to finish debating what the rest of the programming will be."

Laughing, the taller man pulled on his discarded lab coat, before patting his exasperated friend on the back. "We'll be working on this project for the next decade or so then, ne?" His only response was a pained groan from his fellow scientist. The younger man was hunched over his keypad, trying to rub the sleep out of his own eyes before he slipped his wire-framed glasses back on as he turned to face his cheerful co-worker.

"Why do politicians have to complicate these things so much? The persocoms were supposed to make our lives easier!" he whined, before frowning and crossing his arms. "Only the government could have corrupted this advancement so much!"

Another laugh came from his friend who leaned down to his level, as if talking to a small child. "Aww, is Shin-chan tired?" A glare from the shorter man didn't faze him as he not-so-gently pushed the other towards the door and, as soon as he was out of the way, tapped a few more commands in to the other's consol. "We'll be able to test it soon, now that its basic programming is installed. Its energy levels are almost full as well, so we can deactivate the connections now and test it out tonight, er, this morning before any one else gets here. How's that?" He received a sleepy nod and started to type in the commands that would release their subject. "Good job with that extra program for accepting new stimuli, by the way. You do realize it will be rather superfluous after we get the higher-ups to agree with our proposals, right?"

'Shin-chan' snorted, staring at the floating or, more accurately, hanging figure in the center of the room. "Yeah, but who knows how long that will take. I'd like to see what it'd learn first, though. Without even the dictionary databases it will be like a small child trapped in an adult's body."

"Done," the other announced, rolling his eyes discretely at the other's wild ideas, and turned to find his friend practically bouncing by the door.

"Come on, Edo-san. It's time and past for a midnight snack. We can finish this after I wake up again, a few coffees should do the trick."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming. I was just reviewing its hardware to be sure it was ready for release. It surprises me every time just how huge that server is! I can't believe that all that space is necessary; it could replace whole floors of regular servers. Heck, even those newer updated ones could be replaced by the hundreds! That has got to be overkill."

The smaller man opened the heavy door for the both of them, "It's going to have to hold the Database and protect itself; it has to have a lot of space!" Their voices were already getting fainter as the door slowly swung shut on the now mostly-darkened room.

"Ah, we'll break the rest of them on that idea soon. We should really be trying for four, possibly more..."

Falling silent again as the door finally closed, the room seemed muted, as if waiting for something, even the electrical hum of the lighting seemed to quiet. A few moments later, though, the silence was suddenly broken by the computer equipment as it revved itself up again and started to prepare the persocom for its first test run. Soon, the cables that had been attached to its arms and legs started to disengage one by one. The persocom was still hanging, suspended by the cables along its spine and the 'wings' that were designed not only to make hardware changes easier during the construction process, but also contained a slight anti-gravity field to keep the heavy persocom from breaking the cables as they were removed.

It was only moments after the currently empty server started 'breathing', a natural cooling system for much of the hardware inside of it, when an old, strangely-dressed man appeared next to the computer consol. He blinked, as if slightly disoriented, before he spotted the dark-haired, winged being that was slowly being disengaged from the ceiling. Smiling, the man started speaking in a language that wasn't anything like what the two before him spoke.

"You are destined for great things, my boy. Great things," the ancient man murmured before forcibly ripping the rest of the cables from the other's body with a casual wave of his hand, a strange, wooden baton clasped within it. Alarms started to blare around them, but the bearded man moved with a speed that belied his age, grabbing the still figure that was drifting towards the floor and disappearing only seconds before the scientific duo, accompanied by the closest guards, ran back into the room, only to be astonished by the sudden lack of their project's subject. The only evidence that it had ever been there were some slowly swinging cables and a name plate with three characters, reading 'Zima'.


July 30, 2015

Albus Dumbledore appeared back in his spare room at the Hog's Head tavern, looking exactly the same as when he left, but with a new addition to the party. In his hand, and hovering slightly in front of him, was the prophesized child! There was no mistaking it! Magic itself had selected this child, having made the portkey to take him directly to 'the child of prophesy, who has the power the Dark Lord knows not', there was no error that might have occurred.

'There is always a chance that the Longbottom boy will be born within the next few hours, but, if the nurses are correct, that chance is getting smaller by the second! But I cannot deny that the prophesy could have many meanings, so while Longbottom will be 'born to those who have thrice defied him', you shall be 'borne' to another couple who also fits the requirements. I cannot allow Voldemort to continue his reign of terror any longer. Not while I can put a stop to him forever!' The old man nodded to himself, determination renewed and actions suitably justified. He turned to the still sleeping 'man' before him. 'This may take a while, but it will be for the greater good. I'm sorry to have to do this to you, my boy.'

With that, he started a complex series of spells. Through this process, Dumbledore reduced the body's age to that of a newborn, shrunk the wings into nothing, applied a few select glamour charms, not too many, the boy looked a lot like his intended family to be sure, and erased all of the boys memories. Or rather, that is what he believed he had done. Either way, the end result was a healthy-looking, bouncing baby boy, perfect for the most prominent of light families. Now, all that remained was to wait the last twenty hours and then bring the child to the happy couple, fulfilling the stipulation that the baby be 'born' to the family. Albus smiled, confident that he had the prophesy figured out, and sat down to have a nice cuppa tea as a reward for all of his hard work.


December 22, 2023

A worried frown knit Chief Librarian Rem Johnson's brow as she surveyed the top floor of the Surrey County Library for the fifth time that day. She sighed before turning to the stairs and retreating back to her office. It was four days now that her little protégé had neglected to come to the library, which was completely unlike him. Since the age of four and a half, little Harry Potter had been visiting the Public Library every day except, more recently, for when school was in session. Trying to pass it off as an illness hadn't worked, the boy had never been sick in his life, or so he reported, and she was afraid that his family had finally gone too far.

They weren't physically abusive towards the boy in any way that she could see, oh no, that was only their son, but that was just 'normal rough-housing', you see. She rolled her eyes discreetly at the thought. No, they simply didn't care for the child, in any way, shape, or form. She knew for a fact that they were kinder to the homeless that lived just outside the building than to their own nephew and it showed. Harry was almost painfully thin, his hand-me-down clothes hanging off of his lanky body, and, lately, constantly tired. This perpetual exhaustion sometimes even kept the boy from his true love, knowledge.

Mrs. Johnson smiled to herself, thinking of the boy's constant, never-ending questions. He would fly from topic to topic, never getting enough, even as her not-quite-infinite resources gave out, before having to move on to the next subject. A need for information, how and why things worked, what they were made of, who made them, why, why not, where are they used, why not here—a nonstop stream of logic that continued even when the answers stopped coming. But she loved him for it, he was like the son she could never have. She had spoken to the authorities about his treatment many times, but nothing ever seemed to change. Even when she spoke of the green-eyed boy's astounding intellect, his having a completely perfect memory to go with his unique outlook on the world couldn't make the Dursley's care for him more or encourage the authorities to even investigate. They just smiled and passed it off as an over-embellished story.

But, this was no exaggeration. The middle-aged woman also had doubts at first, thinking that the messy-haired child had used his over active imagination while describing the night of his parents' deaths and how he had survived. 'After all, magic wasn't real,' she had thought to herself. She was, however, willing to get real proof of it for the child that was quickly worming its way into her heart. To do this, she secretly taped a conversation, informing no one about it, and, two—almost three—weeks later she placed the tape in her walkman and asked him to repeat the specific conversation. Imagine her surprise as the child repeated everything, word for word; each phrase was perfect, down to the pauses and intonation. The librarian never doubted him again.

Lately, though, Harry had been more tired than ever. Her frequent and concerned questions on his sleeping patterns only received a small smile as he replied, "Sleep isn't the problem" and returned back to his own line of questioning. These last four days were torturous, she made frequent sweeps of the library as part of her duties but found herself sweeping the rooms, not for troublemakers but, instead, for a small head of black, uncontrollable hair. For now, she could only wait and watch. Mrs. Johnson's sigh was interrupted, however, by the alarm system in the front blaring; it seemed another persocom had accidentally set them off. She stood up and walked towards the front, ready to face the world once again.


December 22, 2023

The Dursley residence was usually a perfect picture of controlled chaos, everything having its own place and each staying carefully placed within it. Today, that control had been taken away through one simple action.

Harry was unable to get out of bed.

This caused a major disruption in the days of every person in the house. First, as Harry was the one to make breakfast every morning, it stopped them from being fed, a cardinal sin in this household. Second, well, for an already spiteful family, the first mistake was reason enough. Angry, Vernon Dursley had practically ripped off the cupboards door only to find his nephew still and unresponsive. Being the impulsive man that he is, he did the first thing he thought of.

"Boy! You wake up this instant and make us our breakfast or we will never let you go to that library of yours ever again! Do you hear me?! Never!" he cried, grabbing the boy by his overly-loose shirt and pulling him out of the small space. The small child didn't as much as twitch, making the large man's temper raise through the roof as his mustache bristled and his face began turning red. Thinking the eight-and-a-half-year-old was trying to fool him, Vernon threw him back to the floor, screaming out orders as he did so. His thin wife and large son watched as he blustered at the unresponsive boy, one disgusted at the child's behavior, holding her nose up at the display as she sneered slightly at the boy, the other cheering his father on with loud whoops and hand motions indicating a beating.

Two others looked on in horror, standing close to one another at the other end of the hallway, unable to help even though they desperately wanted to. The mother-daughter pair had been purchased just over a year ago; the older was used around the house, helping with chores and the later two meals, while the daughter was designed to be the perfect playmate for the round, bratty child standing across from them. After the first time they witnessed this emotional, sometimes physical, abuse and tried to stop it, they had been reprogrammed and ordered to let the child receive any and all punishments the relatives deemed necessary. These new commands didn't stop either of them from caring, though, especially when the boy before them, by some strange and completely welcome phenomenon, seemed to unlock so many unprogrammed responses from them.

Thus, as the color drained from Linette's tan face and Ami turned her face towards her mother's skirt, dark hair, like her mother's, shaking as she started to 'cry' or as close to crying as a persocom could emulate, the brown-eyed woman could only pray for a miracle that would save the child. This illness he had was unnatural and could only end in death, especially if the slow, shallow breaths were anything to go by. She could only stare down as Harry landed at her feet, hoping for the best, but fearing that the worst had come to pass, before she heard it. Ami raised her head, beginning to look around with unfocused eyes, never noticing her mother's eyes gaining and equally far-away look or the shrill commands coming from the Dursleys.

"There is a message. A message only we can deliver." The small girl spoke softly, looking distractedly into empty space. Nodding, Linette responded in a similar tone, eyes never moving from Harry's prone form, "Yes, dear. We must deliver the message. We will deliver this message." Neither moved, yet they perfectly synchronized their voices and spoke in a foreboding, almost menacing monotone.

"We accept this task." Each snapped to full attention instantly, eyes facing straight forward and flashing as each of their processors worked to their maximums, before a cold, colorless light sprung up around them and the boy they were standing over. An invisible wind tugged at their clothes and blew at their hair as a gravity field was generated from their combined electrical movement and, possibly, something more, though none were visibly close to the hall, but neither Linette nor Ami noticed as they began to broadcast the distress call.

Not five feet away, Mr. Dursley finally overcame his shock and frowned heavily at the persocoms' behavior, face gaining a fierce puce hue as he blustered loudly, "What is the meaning of this nonsense?! I order you both to stop this at once!" The lack of reaction from each of the persocoms didn't help his anger in the least and his bellowing continued, following this same pattern until, roughly a minute or so later, "If you won't listen, I'll just have to make you listen!" With this, Vernon threw himself, fist-first, into the golden barrier without a single thought to what the dangers might be. He got off lucky with only a few bruised knuckles and a broken ego, but that wasn't enough to deter a second attack. But, Luck had given up on the unfortunate man, as soon as she realized that common sense had made its own exit years before, and this time the large man was thrown back with enough force to fly back and skid to a stop just in front of his wife and child.

Petunia screamed and did the only thing she could think of; grabbing her son she raced back into the kitchen and dialed 999 asking for the police, citing persocom violence as the cause. After receiving her information the police asked her to remain calm and said they would be there in five minutes or less. Not thirty seconds after she placed the phone back in the cradle, she heard a knock at the door. Carefully walking past her unconscious husband and ignoring the whines of her child, the thin woman walked cautiously towards the door, making sure not to touch the glowing circle before grabbing the handle and swinging the front door open. As soon as she realized that those who were standing on her front stoop were not, in fact, the authorities, she tried to shut the door on them, not wishing for word of this freakish behavior to make it out around town. She shuddered to think of what the neighbors would say!

A small foot, inserted between the door and its frame prevented this from happening and Petunia could only gasp in indignation as the door was forcibly pushed open and the guests invited themselves in. The woman who seemed to be in charge, and had been rude enough to get into the house through under-footed means, was a long-haired blond of a moderate height, who seemed the type to be looked over or passed off as insignificant, her overly normal, slightly-in-fashion-yet-not clothes helping her blend into any crowd, but one look into those violet eyes brought many of the toughest to their knees. Standing protectively behind her was a tall, similarly styled, brown-haired male, who's intimidating stature was only surpassed by the promise in his steely eyes which screamed, 'Touch her and you won't live to regret it.' The other two guests were obviously scientists, wearing lab coats and looking sufficiently geeky as they examined the gold field that surrounded the three 'trouble-makers', paying no attention to the man on the floor or the highly snobbish woman that was looking down her nose at the four of them.

"And just what do you think you are doing, barging into my house like this?" the overly lanky woman sniffed. The razor sharp smile she received in reply doing nothing for her nerves, she backed up towards Vernon, hoping that he might have a better chance of getting these strange people out of the house. She had just begun shaking his shoulder when the willowy blond spoke up for the first time, addressing the two frustrated scientists, "I can do it, please move so we may help Zima as quickly as possible." Petunia almost stopped her actions to look at the strange people once again, but was stopped by a groan from the figure lying closest to her. Blinking his eyes open, Vernon grunted and huffed as he picked himself up off of the ground only to come face to face with the most imposing of the four, at which time he jumped as far as his bulk would let him and brought a hand up as if to protect himself, almost instinctually. His anger and false-bravado were soon returned to normal levels, though, and he stood up straight, standing protectively in front of his wife.

"Just who are you people and what are you doing in my house?!" Neither the volume of the questions nor the spittle that accompanied them fazed the large fellow in the least; he simply raised an eyebrow then turned and walked towards his female partner. This allowed both of the parents a good view of the moment that the gold field was deactivated, a spectacular scene which may have entertained them more if it wasn't for the fact that it was interrupting their perfectly normal, peaceful lives. This didn't, of course, stop Mr. Dursley from repeating his question, which continued to be ignored.

As soon as the field was down, the two standing persocoms seemed to snap out of their daze, blinking themselves into reality once more and finding themselves under the close watch of four inquisitive gazes. Shyly, Ami hid behind her mother's skirt, trying to get away from the prying eyes, while still being too curious to stop staring. Linette gave the four unknowns a warm, if not slightly distracted smile, eyes flickering worriedly down to the child still lying between them, before asking, "Is there something I can help you...with?" Her words slowed, and would have stopped if not for the strict software she had been given, as her mind finally processed the impossibility that she was viewing. Where a small, English, malnourished eight year old had lain not minutes before, now rested a tall, well-muscled, and decidedly Asian man, looking to be in his late teens-early twenties.

The blond woman touched Linette on the shoulder, giving her a soft smile, before kneeling down next to the unknown male, completely ignoring the still screeching Dursleys, allowing her imposing partner to play bodyguard as she checked the status of the comatose persocom. Speaking as if to herself, or possibly the unconscious man in front of her, the lady commented, "It seems as though he has learned to use that unique power to regain energy for himself." She brushed her hand over his perfectly smooth face in a motherly manner, "Assuming, of course, that it was the same energy we encountered before that was responsible for the change in appearance and the boosted transmitter levels for these two persocom over here." Here, both Ami and her mother found them selves under careful scrutiny, each feeling painfully aware of their imperfections and disobedience as they did so, before they were given a dreamy smile and the professional looking woman got back to work. "Terribly fascinating, though. It must have been what has kept him in working condition for all of this time. He has been missing for over eight years now. Don't you worry, little Zima," she gave his face a little pat as she said this, "Auntie Luna is here to help you. After all, we Databases have to stick together, yes?"

Giving the young man one last look, she relinquished him to the two antsy scientists who looked relieved to finally be able to start actually doing their jobs. With that done, Luna, as she could now be identified, turned back to the still angry family that was sullenly standing before her partner, gaining their attention as soon as she started over. She grasped her taller companion's shoulder, "I can take it from here, Solaris." He gave her a brisk nod and stepped back to hover just over her shoulder as she finally addressed the 'proper' English family, cutting off their renewed protests.

"I, Luna, the National Database for any and all of the countries within the boundaries of Europe and Africa, have, after being called to number four Privet Drive on the twenty-second of December by an amplified class four-B distress, reserved and programmed in National Databanks specifically for situations were all power was about to be lost, the call delivered through two under-cared-for persocoms in residence here. I believe I have adequately assessed the situation and will now pass judgment on those at fault. The users, Vernon and Petunia Dursley, along with the underage user, Dudley Dursley, you are charged with abuse of rights towards persocoms, inhumane living conditions for persocoms, and damaging the Asian National Databank's first server.

"As such, you will be sentenced to life without persocoms, unable to buy, own, or even use a persocom without the express permission of an owner that is not part of your family, distant or otherwise, and will have a time limit of thirty minutes before permission must be given again. No hearing will be permitted for at least four years. You would also be liable for any and all damage you may have caused the Asian National Databank."

Putting aside her official tone for a moment, the blond cocked her head to the side, questioning, "You don't happen to have the one-hundred forty-three million Euros necessary for his basic tune-up he will need, do you?" Their shocked and horrified looks gave her all the answers she needed, so, giving a short nod, she went picked up the authoritative voice once more. "As you do not have the ability to fulfill this last punishment with any promptness, you will instead be--"

"Now see here!!" Vernon cried, finally working past a large amount of shock that had come with the first list of punishments. He had realized that most of these punishments were being given because of how he treated that 'freakish machine that had pretended to be his nephew' and believed that if he could prove that he had no prior knowledge that the boy had been so important, he would get off a lot easier, or so he thought. "We had no idea that the boy was important in any way! It was our nephew up until a few moments ago, how can we be held responsible for the damage dealt to an unknown persocom?" He twitched his mustache, smugness covering much of his anger, confident that he had out thought the small-minded machine standing before him and got his family out of that mess. Large violet eyes blinked once, slowly, as the woman processed this information fully. She nodded once more.

"I see. Upon review, I shall revoke the accusation," the heavy-set man gave a triumphant smirk, "of damaging the AND's first server and the punishment of community service that went with it. This will be replaced by the charge of emotional and physical abuse towards a perceived minor," mood performing a one-eighty turn, Vernon went to protest this charge as well, but the woman continued to speak as if he hadn't said anything. "Further investigation and sentencing hall be left to the Surry County Police Department and local judiciary system. All other sentences stand. Removal of current persocoms shall commence as soon as the local authorities arrive. Estimated time of arrival: thirty-five seconds." With one final, curt nod she turned back to the group on the other side of the hall and went back to her position next to the still prone young man.

By this time, Vernon Dursley had been pushed further than ever before. His blood pressure had been sent flying through the roof and he was going to face punishment for trying to help society and make his freakish nephew normal, not only that, but he would be the laughing stock of his company, forced to use out-dated computers instead of the more convenient persocoms that had become so popular almost five years ago. Trying to hold in all of this anger was hard work and Vernon, not used to keeping this sort of thing to himself, only managed it for a few moments before he gave a holler and threw himself at the ever-ready and heavily muscled Solaris, completely ignoring the sirens that were getting closer by the second. The officers burst through the still open door just in time to see a red-faced Vernon attempt to pummel the brown haired man he had pinned underneath his bulk.

From behind her partially spread fingers, Petunia Dursley couldn't help but shudder as she tried to imagine the next few years of her life. Passively going into custody, she started to quietly sob on the way to the back of the police car, knowing that her perfectly normal life was gone for good and there was nothing she could do about it.


February 10, 2024

It took over a month and a half to finish uploading the proper programming and information on to Zima's hard drive, as the scientists had to be extremely careful with the memories that he had gained through experience. They first backed-up the memory files on a stationary land server before carefully building the new programming around the data that he already had, integrating the new information and additions to his personality very carefully, testing the system multiple times on trial programs before finally beginning the final updating process.

After he was disconnected from the highly sophisticated super-computer, he was reintroduced to his team of scientists, a team lead by Edonika Daiki and Ibuka Shinsei who had worked on his original making, and told many things which, while he already knew the information from the data they had uploaded, the records needed to be brought out through small briefings on each subject, as the files wouldn't fully integrate for up to two weeks. First, they had informed him of their displeasure at finding that they were unable to update his hardware, as the components that would have enabled this had mysteriously vanished. Thankfully, he was still near the top of the line, surprisingly so for a persocom that hadn't been updated in over eight years, something else which none of those on the team was able to explain. Next, was the explanation of how exactly much data had been loaded into him.

"Japan?" 'They had loaded the entire information network of Japan?' Neither question was incredulous, disbelieving, or even sarcastic, simply a need for confirmation. Zima was well aware of his purpose and had accepted it, even going so far as to look forward to what he might eventually hold. Constant questioning the world as Harry made Zima more than willing to be the next National Database for the Asian Nations, yet, even as he stood in front of his team, he could feel more information pour in and the effects that the personality adjustments had on this assimilation. He was as curious as ever, but he was more mature about his thoughts, questions and understanding. Allowing himself a small smirk, Zima found he liked the expression. It seemed to express his current mood quite well.

"Well," Ibuka-san replied, slightly unnerved by the smirk, "the current Database for Asia only just started running seven months ago, and should continue working well for the next three years or so, depending on the strain he faces over that time, but we thought that you might like to serve as a back-up for his Japanese information while you were waiting for the position. It won't be anything large, but it will get you used to the information streams."

The novel expression never left his face, in fact, it grew slightly and he realized that he also enjoyed the confusion that was worn by each scientist and decided to try and make that happen more often, if only for the unimportant and less dangerous things...for now. He waived his hand, motioning for them to continue. They had only one more thing to say and Edonika-san said it in his most teasing manner, grinning in much the same way as he had years before, "One last thing, Zima-san. We were told to remind you that your 'girlfriend' would be finished by next Friday, so try not to get too attached to any other girls before then, ne?"

A slow blink as Zima paused, quickly accessing the information within him, before a half grin made its way back to his face as the Protector's data appeared before his eyes. She was supposed to be finished around the traditional 'dinner time' on Friday and was currently being programmed with all the firewalls necessary to protect him and the same, brand new and super exclusive software that he had. He froze once more, for only a fraction of a millisecond as another file appeared with the software information, a female persocom and the only other, not including Zima, himself, with that specific software, but he processed it rapidly and made a decision even as he began his reply. "Great. I'll be back to pick her up at eight, then," and with that he was gone, only a slowly swinging door showing the direction he had escaped.

Doctor Shinsei Ibuka looked at his long time friend and their mutual colleagues, detachedly musing, "Maybe we shouldn't have made him so fast..." His only response was a flurry of expletives, with a few repetitions, at varying volumes.


February 16, 2024

A four month old Freya smiled up at her father as he gave her hair one final brush. After finishing, he gave her a pat on the head and was ambushed by her powerful leap at him; she hugged him for all he was worth even as they both fell to the ground, his wife laughing in the background. Soon, her smooth laugh was joined by the two others in the room and an air of contentment fell over them all.

Unfortunately, this happy, family moment was interrupted by a knock at the front door. Ichito Mihara looked up questioningly at his wife, wondering if she had invited any guests over and had forgotten to tell him, only to find himself at the receiving end of a similar gaze. Being free from the grasp of their only child, Chitose Hibiya went to answer the door, leaving her husband to convince their daughter to sit back down in her seat while they waited for the woman to get back. A few moments went by as the duo listened to the incomprehensible muttering before the pretty woman came back, accompanied by a short, black-haired figure. Upon seeing the curious, ivory-haired girl, his large, green eyes widened beneath thick black glasses before a beautiful smile spread across his face. "Freya-nee-chan!" he crowed joyfully before running over and hugging the now confused girl who could only look at her equally stumped parents.

"Nee-chan?" the amber-eyed girl asked, not having heard that word before and curious as to what it might mean, but put an arm around the boy anyway, as that was what she had been taught to do when her parents had hugged her. It was a good thing she had, because without it, the boy would have fallen as he sat up. He chuckled as if she were joking, though it sounded more like a giggle because of his age, "No! Nii-chan. Not Harry-nee-chan, Harry-nii! Harry isn't a girl!" Giving a happy sigh he hugged her once more before continuing, effectively interrupting any attempt at correction or questioning from the girls parents. "It took me so long to find you, nee-chan. I don't have much time left, but it is nice to see you, even if it won't be for long."

Chitose kneeled down in front of the both of them, confused but still relatively good-natured. "Harry-kun, where exactly did you meet Freya-chan?" she had to ask, there were so many people around that knew of their small family in this community that it was hard to keep track of all of the children the persocom had met during the small amount of time she had been awake.

"I saw Freya-nee-chan in the park on the swings!" he smiled brightly, "I love the swings!" The ivory-haired girl who he was seated upon smiled as she remembered her last trip to the swings and nodded, agreeing with his last statement completely. She loved the swings as well. Her parents, however, saw this as recognition of the child sitting before them and unconsciously relaxed slightly. Harry's smile dropped soon after, though as he continued, "I just wanted to say good-bye before I had to go. I thought we might exchange emails so I could talk to someone..."

A frown also marred the younger girl's face as she looked at him, confused once more, "Where are you going?" She couldn't see why the boy couldn't come back from this place and what made him so sad just thinking about it.

"I'm going to this HUGE white building with a bunch a' guys in lab coats. They said they wanted to watch something inside of me and that I might not come back if it gets too big." He said this all, making large hand motions to illustrate the strange place, almost falling off of the persocom's lap as he did so. By telling the truth, if not the whole truth, Zima was able to stay with them and talk without being suspicious, as no child would keep this kind of information from his friends. His programming prevented him from out right lying, a precaution against doing so to his protector and scientists, but he was quickly finding the loopholes, widening them as he justified his actions and knew that soon he would be able to get away with white lies, if he was lucky. It had already allowed him to knowingly lead people to the wrong conclusions and he had only just gotten the program less than a week before. Seeing the parents jump to all of the 'right' conclusions, he smirked inwardly as they gave him sympathetic looks.

The two adults looked at each other and – silently conversing as all good couples could – made a decision, Ichiro voicing it. "I don't see any problem with you being Freya-chan's pen pal while you are in the hospital, so it is up to her. What do you want to do, Chobi?" Neither parent noticed 'Harry's confused look at the man's endearment, which he used on anything that he found hopelessly adorable."

Still confused, Freya nodded her head cautiously, hoping that this was the correct answer. At the smiles of those around her, the nod became more confident and she returned the joyful expression in kind. Smile never leaving his face, her father turned to the young boy on her lap, "You can just tell Freya-chan your email address, there is no need to write it down. I promise she'll remember it, Harry-kun."

A small nod was given before Harry leaned forward, looking like he was about to recite the address, but he paused and leaned back at the last second, looking at the two adults who were lingering nearby. "Um. It's supposed to be a secret; I'm only supposed to tell Freya-nee-chan." His cute apologetic, almost pleading, look made the parents smile reassuringly at him and they went to stand outside the side door, far enough to be out of earshot, but close enough to see the two of them. Taking his chance, Harry moved closer once more, bringing his face close to her ear-port that was furthest from the door and covered his mouth as if he was going to whisper some deep secret to her. In reality, this was just giving Zima time to partially drop the strange energy, which he had learned to convert from electricity during his time in the lab, in a way he had practiced many times as he was hunting his sister down, uncovering his own ear-port so he could use his connection cable to link them together for a small amount of time.

Making very few movements, he hooked them together and transferred over a folder containing a couple file copies and a video file as he began whispering to the slightly unfocused girl in front of him. "It is good to finally meet you sister. I have given you some information that should clear up the more complicated parts of my relation to you along with my email address and a small vid clip to remember me by. If you ever need anything, Imouto-chan, do not hesitate to ask. I'll do anything I can to help you, even if you just need another person to talk to." He undid the connection and reapplied the energy to his ear-port as he slid her own closed. Sitting back, he smiled at her once more, becoming as frank as he would ever be since his personality change, "Good luck, Sister. I hope we will become great friends."

'Harry' left the house soon after that, the girl's parents none the wiser that anything more than email addresses had been exchanged during that time period, and made his way back to the facility as it was getting late. Freya hadn't said anything to her parents, but every time she heard the nee-chan after that it made a brilliant smile come to her face, as the definition had been sent over in that data pack as well. It was only right, Zima mused as he dropped the smaller façade in an empty alley, flipping his long rat's tail back over his shoulder as he continued on, and it was lucky that many younger children called their older friends 'sister' or 'brother' and the older kids often went along with it here in Japan or else it would have seemed very suspicious.

The ability to make himself smaller and younger, at least for a time, was also very useful, he decided as he waltzed back into the corporation's building once more. He would later decide, after avoiding every question his team asked for the rest of the night while still dropping teasing hints that they couldn't puzzle out, that, yes, he did enjoy this type of activity, going so far as to add it to his programming, making him more curious and coy than his programmers could have ever imagined, much to their annoyance.


May 1, 2024

It was in that time between late night and early morning that it happened. Zima was sitting calmly, looking at the cityscape with one leg dangling over the edge of the building and the other's foot resting on the ledge holding up his arm as he reviewed the influx of information one moment, and the next he felt a small twinge of a headache. He let his leg drop as he brought his hand up to his head, failing to hide a small wince, and getting the attention of his partner, Dita.

They had met for the first time two and a half months ago. Each had studied the other for a few moments, Zima simply taking in her simple civilian clothes which matched his to some degree, making a note to try and get the scientists to change their uniforms as the clothes were actually way behind in fashion making them stand out more than even the Goths and Cosplayers, her bangs, her choppy chin length black hair and the long portion that was tied off on one side of her head. Her largely unimpressed look as she finished her evaluation of him did nothing but successfully amuse him. He simply treated her with a smirk, introducing himself politely but with a flirting undertone, to which he received a sharp nod and a quick introduction. She was all business, but he was sure he could break her of that soon, and he would have such fun with it. After all, they were going to have to be close, as, while she had to work within him to protect the information, by doing so she was forced to open herself to him as well.

The current intrusion was only their fifth—a surprisingly low number, considering the amount of information Zima was holding, but it seems that when the hackers wanted information, they would go for the big fish instead of the small fry almost every time. What was unusual about this probe was the depth it was able to reach in such a short time period, almost halfway through Zima's firewalls before Dita could jack-in and start doing her job. As she worked on this newest threat, he turned to give her better access to his other port, in case they had to speed up the connection, by straddling the short wall that made up the building's edge to face the kneeling girl, balanced precariously on the fifteen-centimeter wide border.

As he concentrated on rebuilding his firewalls as she forced the intruder out, he registered the fact that she was tilting ever-so-slightly to one side, the dangerous one. His hand shot out to her shoulder, steadying her. Unfortunately, Dita had just finished and had begun to right her balance as well, causing an over correction to her left. Acting quickly she tilted forward, hoping to catch herself on the ledge before gravity took hold, only to find her sideways dissent stopped by another hand. Her balance was regained, but she could only allow herself to keep falling forward, unable to stop the forward motion she had initiated.

This left them in a slightly-compromising position, which would later turn out to be the first of many, Dita having fallen forward onto her companion, hands splayed across his chest in an attempt to maintain some distance, but, as he had no scruples when it came to something this innocent, Zima had simply moved his arms around her as she fell, lightly pressing her to him after the 'fall'. After a slight, almost unnoticeable pause on her part, she moved her legs so they could take back her weight easily and tried to pull away. He let her after some a small amount of hesitation, which only earned him a small glare, making his smirk grow, and held his hands up to show he wasn't going to try anything. At her disgruntled look and narrowed eyes, he adopted a roguish grin, tilting his head back and raising an eyebrow as he gave her an appraising look, remarking, "You're cute when you're angry."

She struggled to give him a level look, before crossing her arms and looking off to one side in a huff. Laughing inwardly, he cataloged this new look, loving the fact that he could make a girl who ran on programming have completely unprogrammed reactions, such as the pout she wore right now. This life was so much better than the one he'd had while he was called Harry and the list holding the proof just kept getting longer. Not only did he have a sister who wrote to him regularly, a wide variety of friends, including his team and the three National Databases from around the world, a nice job that let him learn as much as he wanted with...benefits, he was unable to keep his eyes from flicking to Dita as he thought this, but he also grew as a person-er, persocom with his personality augmented and his new more exciting selection of hobbies. Yes, life was going well for Zima and he knew he'd do anything to keep it that way.

And it stayed relatively the same for the next year and a half.


Dec 31, 2026

Wishing she could cry, if only for a few tears, Freya wrote to her brother in shock and resignation, hiding in her room as her mother and father celebrated the new year, thinking her to be asleep, so as to not give away her new feelings.

Zima-aniki,

Older brother, I have written you many times of my adventures with my family, my exploration of this strange world we call home, and, lately, the search for the one my mother and father call the 'someone just for me'. I am both elated and depressed to finally realize that I have found him. Ecstatic to find the one that I love above all others, that makes me happy when I am with him and sad when I am not. Depressed because he already has his 'someone just for him', not only that, but I have already grown to love them very much as well.

I have chosen my father, who I must have picked long before I knew that he was happily taken or even of these types relationships, but I cannot help it and I don't believe I would want to even if I could. To lose these feelings would be worse than being tormented with them for the rest of my life. But I cannot bring myself to end such a happy relationship, especially since I love each of them so much. I can only hope that if I ignore these feelings they will eventually change or choose another person, but at least half of me holds hope they will never change.

No, I must resolve to ignore these feelings and keep them private for as long as I can so that mummy and daddy will be happy, for I cannot stomach making them feel anything that I am experiencing right now.

Your loving sister,

Freya

She sent it quickly and, within minutes, received a reply, sympathetic and understanding of her reasoning, yet unsure if these feelings could be hidden. There was a half-hearted offer to remove the deeper feelings, but she could tell he knew that her answer would be no. She smiled at his efforts and sent a short 'Thank you' back before lying back on her bed, praying to whatever Gods may be for a long string of distractions to keep her from feeling the crushing weight of her unreciprocated feelings.

It would be a month and a half before her parents realized that something might be seriously wrong and another two before they accepted that they wouldn't be able to fix it themselves nor get it out of their stubborn daughter. About a month and a half after that, Elda was made to give her a twin sister. Freya seemed to be happier, though she still had small bouts of depression, and teaching Elda about the world and the many new and unusual things in it kept her twin suitably distracted for the next six or seven months. Only Zima knew what was wrong, but he couldn't fix it without going directly against the girl's wishes. He would always regret not being able to go and see his new sister or revisit his now dieing sibling, but he couldn't risk their relationships being found out and his siblings being threatened.


July 28, 2027

Once again indulging in his love of high places, Zima stood on the peak of Mount Fuji and looked at the sunset and over the lush landscape, covered by tourist attractions around the base and up the trails, but otherwise untouched. Having given his female companion the slip for at least five minutes, he sat down on the rocky ground to contemplate some subjects that he felt obligated to keep from everyone, even Dita whenever possible. His constant yet secret worry for his sickening sister was never far from his mind, though he was happy that she had their sister to keep her company while he was unable to, but there was also that first year or so of his 'life' as Harry that continued to confuse him.

Over the years, during his sparse free time such as the portion he had now, he would sort and think on that year he spent with those who could do magic. He could find no better label for it than the one his 'parents' had given it as the energy he had watched for that entire span had done many impossible things which no amount of logic could make up for. As time went by, he also came to accept the fact that he also had this magic, for all that he wasn't really their son, and could manipulate it to a certain degree, allowing him to become child-like once more, generate gravity fields, even though he had lost the ability to have gravity suppressors even applied to him, or use it to create more energy. This last came from a skewed ratio during the conversions of energy to magic and back again. Through experimentation, Zima had realized that while it only took about 2.4 Volts, about the same as two Double-A batteries, to generate magic, while that same amount of magic that you just derived from that electricity would convert back into 12 Volts. A conversion from two Double-As to two D batteries doesn't seem like much, but it was an increase by more than four times, which could be continued indeterminately as long as the process was known and the power and magic as had somewhere to go afterwards.

Yet, the magic dispersed much quicker than electricity was used and Zima was unsure of where exactly it went. If it was released into the air or used in other activities, the persocom couldn't tell either way. He held hope that it might one day cure his sister, who he had grown extremely close to over the past year, or so, maybe not from love itself, but give her the choice to choose again if she was rejected the first time. Just one more chance to make herself happy. Because, although he had many bad experiences with family as a child, he hadn't been able to help himself once he came to Japan, he reached out to his new 'family' in one last attempt to be accepted and had been welcomed with open arms. He couldn't give that up, but he couldn't and wouldn't stop his sister if this was what she truly wanted, especially if he couldn't ease the pain even if he forced her to get better.

He heaved a small sigh, just before Dita made the last leap up the small mountain path he had taken to this point, an annoyed and slightly exasperated frown on her face as she looked down at him. Holding his hands up in mock surrender, he picked himself up off the ground. "I know, I know. It's dangerous to go this far away without some type of extensive firewall, why can't I be more responsible?" A grin was sent at her annoyed and completely unknowing pout as he guessed exactly what she had to say and he continued, hands still raised, "I'm do it because I know you'll be coming for me Dita, Love, and how could I deprive us both of the thrill of the chase. I do so love playing hard-to-get." Slinging an arm around her shoulder, he playfully nuzzled the shorter girl's hair before he was forcefully pushed away and she stomped off, his thin tail of hair firmly in her fist as she tugged him along behind. He simply smirked once more, "Then again, I may love you playing hard-to-get even more."


July 28, 2027

At the same time, halfway around the world, Dumbledore was looking older than his staff had seen since the war had been finished. By this time in his career, he was used to not being able to convince all of the muggle-born children that learning their magic was the best thing for them, even some of the half-bloods had sworn off magic after their families had been torn apart after the last war, though that was becoming less of a problem as the years wore on, but never had he been stopped from even delivering the first letter so thoroughly. It didn't help his nerves in the least that this was by far the most high-profile and looked forward to student in the past fifty years.

Many years before, he had accepted the fact that the Dursleys might not want to let their nephew come to Hogwarts because, like many parents, they did not want to be separated from their child. Having experienced familial losses during the last war, including James, Lily, and Petunia's parents, they could have been leery of giving up their eleven-year-old nephew to the society that had taken the rest of their family, but Dumbledore had been confident that they could be placated, as Hogwarts was the safest place in the magical world. But it seemed that not even the enchanted books of Hogwarts knew where Harry had gone. At the time the headmaster had figured this out, he had been thankful that he still knew the address to the Dursleys.

A few days after the realization that owls would not be effective, Dumbledore convinced his deputy-headmistress to make a visit to the Dursley residence with the letter and considered the matter closed. He was, therefore, extremely surprised when Minerva McGonagall strode into his office not thirty minutes later demanding to know why she hadn't been informed that Harry was missing. Immediately, he had fire-called Arabella Figg, who he had positioned to look after Harry, and she looked just as surprised as he did, if not more so. She reported that ever since Harry could read, he had been going to the library every day he could, his relatives even left him there for the librarians to mind instead of getting a babysitter, but she had convinced her cats to keep an eye on the child that lived at Number Four, as she hadn't seen him in over four years because of his strange schedule, and they hadn't reported anything out of the ordinary. The only change in the household was about two and a half years before, but that was just when the family had gotten rid of their computers, persocoms they called them, and had a bit of a run in with the police.

Dumbledore had then tried to track Harry's movements through the muggles' legal system, but lost him after he turned eight. It was just about now, three days before the boy's birthday, the headmaster wished he had linked a few tracking devices to the boy, but he had wanted to give the boy a normal life, and tracking his every move was rather counter-productive for that. He was, however, annoyed that his device tracking the status of the wards on his house hadn't made a peep, until he realized that the magic seemed to have been sucked out of it before it could put out a distress signal. This stumped the 'all-knowing' headmaster and his infamous eye-twinkle in their tracks. He could only sit and hope for some kind of miracle. His newest regret on his long list, was not taking note of where he had found the boy in the first place, as that was the most likely place for him now.

It seemed that he would just have to continue on, there was nothing else he could do. Having informed the proper authorities, he could only hope for the best in the coming years.