The Future -----------------
The voices came to him as if from a distance. "So the smeghead says,
'Destroy the female statues first,' does he, well, sod him! I'm going to…." He heard no further; the voice had made it into his conscious.
Someone was going to attack the others. He shifted his form and became human.
"I do not think you will harm anything here," he said. "I would advise you to leave." The tone was cold and sent shivers down one of the men.
"Oi! Rod! We got another wand-waver here." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a weird-looking device. A smile crept over his face. "Now what're you going to do without your stick?" He started to laugh and his friends grinned; then there was nothing. Whatever it was that might have stopped a wand was no match for a Basilisk's stare; they fell to the floor, dead.
"My wives, it is time to awaken; it seems Hogwarts is under attack, or has been defeated." The statues shimmered; Hermione, Fawkes, Cissy,
Luna, Luna, Myrtle, Hedwig, and Blaze. One by one, the sleep fell from them. "We are to war once more." A confident Harry Potter left the Chamber of Secrets and made his way around the castle, reading the minds of the invaders.
It seemed wizards and witches had been betrayed; the secret was out and there were witch hunts going on again. Hogwarts had fallen when the latest headmaster had given in to save his students. Here and there on the walls were words like some mad graffiti artist had been along. Luna looked at them critically.
"When stone is man and man is stone, Hogwarts' fall shall never be known…. When all is dark, the light shall appear…. Wizards of good, your hero shall appear…. Take note of this and all will be well; he shall stand and defeat all ne'er-do-wells." She turned to Harry. "Seems like you're expected, my love. Shall we make our introductions to the world?"
Harry sighed. "As one man once said, onward and upward."
They found people in the headmaster's study; they shocked them and kicked them out of Hogwarts, along with the dead bodies littering the room. They tried to put up wards, but they were pushed back each time.
"Potty Potter, look to the lake!" came a distance voice. Harry looked towards it and saw what he assumed was the lake. It smelt awful and there were many dead things floating in it. He hoped it wasn't the merfolk, but, his resolve settled, he headed towards it. He tried afflicting it with lightning, snow, sleet, and all manner of spells, but none seemed to work.
Luna looked at it and smiled sagely. "Maybe a simple solution, my love"
She walked over to it and pushed a button. Harry felt magical energy start to flow around him.
"The off button." He smiled. "I should have thought of that." He turned and at the edge of the forest, he saw people come out, herding and whipping others. His face went grim. Unknown wards appeared around him and the people being whipped started chanting. Harry moved forward, his cloak doing a passing imitation of Snape's.
The muggles, or whatever they were, looked on in shock as a strange man and several women and strange animals came towards them. They tried to throw up protection against the wand-wavers and magical creatures; sadly for them, it didn't stop the Basilisk that appeared before them. They fell to the floor, dead.
The wizards and witches stopped chanting as soon as the first overseer fell. They knew if the new thing, whoever (or whatever) it was, lost,
they would be punished, but any chance to be free was worth it. Luna continued to dismantle the small boxes and smiled to her husband. He changed back to human form.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he announced.
"I am Harry Potter and these lovely ladies are my wives." The wards shot up around the place and the once-slaves felt sharp surges of hope.
"Harry Potter, Harry Potter," they murmured over and over. They all looked to him.
"Dobby, awaken! Pheone, awaken!" His voice held pure and simple power.
Two elves popped into existence at his call. "We shall restart Hogwarts,
my friends; let us enter and catch up."
So began Harry's second war, 75 years after his first. His army was small to start off, but people and creatures heard he was back and smuggled themselves into Hogwarts. His own children turned up and soon the muggles and wizards had an uneasy truce; many died on both sides.
Harry and his wives (including a couple of new ones) went back to sleep.
Every so often, he awoke to fight, and slept again. His family and his knowledge grew.
A long time later, he awoke again. This wasn't Hogwarts; there was too much metal. Children were singing; he looked around and found that his wives were not present.
"Are you ready for your trip to Oxy-Moronicus?"
The children yelled that they were. Harry skimmed the speaker's mind and found that it was shielded somehow; he saw a small box on his person and tried to summon it.
Again he failed, so taking a leaf from Luna's book, he hit the bloke over the head from behind. There were gasps from the children and who he presumed to be their teacher. He removed the box and entered the man's unconscious mind. New worlds, travelling the stars; a world where technology wouldn't work past a certain stage. Slave labour of children with a version of the bubble-head charm to work in the mines.
"Where are the other statues from Hogwarts?" he asked.
A teacher stuttered, "There, and there." She pointed to other vessels.
"Why did you hit him, mister?" came from a small pale boy with unruly hair.
Harry laughed as he saw the boy's green eyes. "You are one of my descendents, I think. You look so much like me when I was younger."
The teacher stared at her pupil, then at the man. "Harry Potter?" she said in a small voice. "You only show up when…."
She looked at the unconscious guard and paled. "We are at war and never knew it." With her help and the children's, and using the old Trojan horse trick, Harry soon liberated all the other ships and got some of his wives back. The children had watched in awe as heroes and heroines came to life in front of them.
A child gave a pad to Hermione, and a set of learning plugs. "Here,
Miss, it's our lessons; you will want to learn a bit of history and new spells."
Hermione grinned and sat down as she started to learn. The new war didn't last long and wasn't hard, though as it seemed the government and some large companies had merged for the purposes of the fight. The general public made a huge outcry and soon, new people were in power and many more were in jail. It wasn't bloodless but far fewer died than in any of Harry's previous wars.
He stood and looked over what was once the finest school of magic in the world. There was barely a whisper of power now, and even he found it hard to stand. The ghosts seemed to be gone; the lake was dry, and the forest was smoking. Of all the times he had awoken, this was the hardest. It seemed others from another world had met mankind's kindness and they had retaliated hard. He had met with the enemy and had fought;
his wives were hidden, as they were too weak to awaken yet. He noticed a human in the middle of what was left of the Forbidden Forest and realised it was a ghost.
The enemy commander walked up behind Harry and spoke. "We have decided."
Harry turned around and looked at the being. He had his guards and ships, but he looked small and scared when he had seen the damage this one human had done. He remembered how he had laughed when one human slave had spoken about the saviour coming, and how the Stardragon would awaken. He had stopped laughing when an iridescent dragon with crystal wings had actually appeared and destroyed thirty attack ships in a few blinks of a crow's eye. When the dragon had shimmered and disappeared,
and this human had appeared on his deck, the commander had felt fear.
"We will talk or you will be destroyed," was all the human had said before he vanished. The dragon reappeared and flew to the planet below.
It hadn't taken much talking before they all had got together. The flight leaders had laughed until they saw a replay. They had taken one week to decide. During that time, there had been some fighting; they had told the solders to stop, but looters and other bad elements hadn't,
although as some had their homes and loved ones destroyed, no one felt too bad about it. That was, until they had attacked this place. It was where the Stardragon called home and it hadn't been pretty. Few would have memories of it as few had survived. Half a fleet was destroyed. The rest were grounded or late to get to there. When he had appeared after the attack, the only surviving person in command had asked why.
"You attached my home," was the answer. When they had seen his home before and after, as he projected it directly into their minds, they shook. "It was a school," he said. "One of the best. It has been my home for longer than anyone would think."
He had left and the enemy had decided to speak with one of the old ones.
They had awoken him from his slumber and quelled before his anger at what they had allowed to happen, after the cease fire. Now they stood behind him and as he turned to them, they hoped to Jester that they could stop it and have peace.
"We will help rebuild your home and your world," the commander said. "We were told that a multi-type government would be best; a coalition of worlds."
The human's sniggers turned into a barking laugh. "A united federation of planets, maybe?"
They looked at him, stunned. "Yes, yes of course, that's it; an excellent name for us." They looked at each other and back to him.
"Would you be willing to join?"
Harry looked back at them and they got a sense of his tiredness. "I am a warrior," he said. "A killer, a fighter. I know little of peace. My home is gone; I think it's time for me to move."
One spoke up. "Where will you move to? I-I-I am sure we could help, if you need it."
Harry looked at him and smiled. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think you could go where I'm going; Atlantis isn't all that easy to get to"
He saw several go bug-eyed and others make strange signs over themselves.
"Wh-who /are/ you?" stuttered the leader.
"I am Harry James Potter," Harry said boldly. "Heir to Gryffindor,
guardian of Hogwarts and Atlantis. Friend to elves and Jokers!" He had to stop as most of them were disoriented now and others were being violently sick. He looked apologetic. "Sorry to shout, but when someone asks who I am…some idiot cursed me and I always shout it. As most know me, I rarely get asked, so I just forgot."
One of the more able commanders vanished as he touched his transporter chip; he returned with the ancient one. Harry looked at the thing in the dome he held; it swirled and coalesced, and swirled again. "Who are you?" he asked. "What are you? Why do you seem so familiar?"
The being spoke. "I was injured a long time ago. I have been travelling since I heard the news of one who could feed us. I am a Joker, the father of Jester."
Harry's eyes widened. "Expecto Patronum!" The silver mist hit the casing and the Joker inside started to change form; soon the casing fell apart.
"I am leaving Earth," Harry said finally. "I am going to Atlantis; your son is there. Would you care to join us?"
None of the enemy remained standing when Harry looked around. "What's with them?" he asked.
"It was their holy mission to try and save me," Jester's father explained. "When news came of you, we left straight away; it hasn't been an easy journey. When your kind met us at an outpost, we were attacked.
The rest you know. They attacked and destroyed the home of the one there. They are in shock; some may even die."
It took awhile, but soon all the issues had been settled or designated to other people. Harry was so tired that he nearly forgot the ghost, but as he was about to go, a drape fluttered and he remembered. He appeared in roughly the right area and started to look about.
"Potter! Ten points from Gryffindor for sloppy Apparition." The voice was not slimy as it used to be, and the sneer seemed forced.
"Severus," Harry said with fond derision. "How thoroughly you." He sat down and pointed to the end of the log; Snape sat down as well. "It has been a long time, my old nemesis, hasn't it?"
Snape nodded. "The magic is about worn out of the Forest, the lake,
everything. Hogwarts is gone; soon, so shall I be, once I have said my piece." Harry looked at him closely. If a ghost could look ill, tired,
and fed up with everything, then that was what his old potions master looked like now.
"It was you who gave the prophecies and advice to the man in black, the spectral guardian," Harry said, suddenly understanding. "How many names have you used over the years?"
"Twenty points to Gryffindor," Snape shot back. "You finally managed to use your brain; it only took you…." He looked about and laughed. "So long I forget how many centuries it took."
Harry laughed. "Um, does this mean I might be in need of a special needs class? I seem to be a bit slow at learning."
This was too much for Snape and he nearly lost his form. "I think even Longbottom wouldn't take this long." He sighed. "I have much to tell you before I can go to my rest."
"Do you want to rest?" Harry asked. "Or would you like to teach or study again?"
Snape cocked an eyebrow at him. "I am leaving," Harry explained. "Do you remember when I vanished the first time? I am going there. Would you like to come as well?"
Snape frowned. "Why?"
Harry looked him in the eyes. "Because," he said. "Simply because."
Snape shook his head. "Still you have the habit of annoying me," he said. "I had thought that…well, it's no mind."
Harry smiled. "We are both from long ago, and neither knows the other. I have heard of you using various names to protect Hogwarts and you must have heard of my little fights every so often."
Snape laughed. "Little fights? Forty near-world wars, countless internal wars, and now an intergalactic one. If these are little fights, I would hate to see a big one."
Harry shrugged. "Don't I get points for modesty?" And he bust out laughing; Snape tried to glare but couldn't manage it.
Jester appeared before them. "We are ready," he said, and he vanished.
Snape looked at Harry.
"It would take time to get to know each other," he said thoughtfully. "I could just say what I want to say to you, but…. Oh, hell, come on,
Potter; let's set the universe on edge. Snape and Potter. If you can move me, I'm sick of this place, and I want to see everything."
The enemy came upon them and bowed. "Sir, we are so sorry we destroyed your home. We didn't know." He went to hit himself and Harry s eyes lit up.
"Elves, you're related to the elves," he said excitedly. Snape stared at him.
"What are you on about? You mean these are related to house elves?"
The enemy shook his head and frowned. "We, we don't know what you mean."
Harry grinned. "Dobby, Dobby!" he called. The elf in question popped into place, saw Snape, and hissed.
"Thought the greasy one would leave Harry Potter alo—" He stopped abruptly and stared at the enemy, who stared back at him.
"An ancestor," the enemy breathed. "A living ancestor."
Harry smiled at Snape. "See?"
"Twenty points from Gryffindor for having a big head."
The enemy and Dobby turned to Harry and spoke almost as one: "It is time for us to come home."
Harry's smile softened. "Yes, my friends, it is time." He waved his hands and the forest was gone; Hogwarts remained, but all the grounds were gone. Snape was a bit surprised; Dumbledore couldn't have done it so casually.
"Do you remember when I went missing, Snape? Well, you are about to see where I went." Harry put his hand into his pocket and vanished, and Snape saw him reappear a ways away. He put the stone, or whatever it was, down and popped back to Snape. He grinned and pointed at the thing.
"Engorgio!"
Atlantis appeared before them.
Beings and creatures started to pour out; all were extinct, or had only been myths and rumours from before Harry even was born. Snape saw the city, the animals, then the people: Granger, Lovegood, and a few others—Narcissa, Myrtle. What the hell was Myrtle doing there? She was a ghost—but she wasn't, at least not anymore. Snape looked at Harry as a golem came out and stretched its massive arms. They all walked over to him; elves were appearing all over the place and the enemy was in tears.
Many landed their crafts or transported down only to faint or die of shock on the spot.
The Jokers came out last. They all looked well. Each time Harry had awoken, he had fed them, and he had fed them again before he slept.
"So, Snape," Harry said, "you want to leave this place and see everything, then so be it." Harry made some motions with his hand and Snape felt something tugging at him; he felt suddenly solid but not really solid. It was a most strange sensation. It took awhile, but he found he could walk further than he had gone since his death.
"I see I owe you again, Potter," Snape said begrudgingly. "Well, OK then; ten points to Gryffindor for…this." He waved his hand about.
The golem spoke: "Now, see, Harry, I told you that you would do truly great things if you had been in Slytherin. Now you only get ten points"
The golem chuckled as Snape goggled at it.
"The Sorting Hat? You're the bloody Sorting Hat! What—why—how—" Snape managed to feel faint.
"Hmm, I sort of adopted him," Harry explained. "Or maybe he adopted me.
He came to me when I was ill the first time I vanished. He comes here every so often to see how the school fairs without him; he was even Headmaster for awhile."
The hat laughed. "Happy days."
Snape looked between Harry and the hat. "What do you mean, he should have gone to Slytherin?"
There followed the story of how Harry had already met Malfoy and how he had befriended Ron on the first train to Hogwarts, and how the hat had wanted him to be Slytherin but as he hated Malfoy, he asked to go somewhere else. Snape laughed.
"I, as Head of Slytherin, hereby make you an honorary Slytherin and award you three million points for all this."
Harry smiled cheekily. "How come when I was Gryffindor, I only got ten points?"
Snape laughed again. "Well, you see, I might favour my own house a little bit." They both broke out in laughter.
As time went on, Harry would sleep every so often, but for the most part, he and Snape and Harry s wives travelled the universe and became known as Defenders of the Light. Snape even married an alien who could become incorporeal so they could touch each other. They eventually became an intergalactic police force: Harry, his wives, and Snape, plus the hat.
They all had happy and sad memories, like the time the Earth's sun went nova. They didn't know if they were all immortal or not, but they had a laugh about it as Snape once said: "If Tommy boy wanted immortality, all he had to do was be your wife, or your friend, and do good."
This had caused a bit of an argument when it was pointed out by Harry's thirty-six wives that he didn't play that field (much), but they were sure Tommy boy could have been good friends with Snape. The stories and legends continued to grow; some were to be told, some may never be known. Who knows what the future holds?
As you can see, some of the future is good and some old wounds are mended. This isn't the end of their story, however, but another beginning. How did they get this far, even? Well, that is another story for another time. Thank you for reading.
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Thanks to beta Lanie McCoy