260 Going on 16
By SciFiFantasyWriter1
Disclaimer: I own nothing of any recognized characters or universes within.
Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson
Emma Granger is played by Lucy Brown
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Chapter 11
Sirius and Remus stood at the edge of a quidditch pitch they had spent a great deal of time at when they were in Hogwarts. They looked up to see James flying around the pitch performing some pretty advanced moves. The pitch was on the ancestral Potter property that had been the home of James' parents and where James had grown up. The property was a large estate located in Gloucestershire County near the Forest of Dean. The Manor House had been destroyed by Death Eaters during the first Voldemort war. The pitch had survived because it had been located quite a ways from the house.
James saw his two best friends shortly after their arrival and flew down to meet them.
"Did you renew the maintenance charms?" James asked Remus.
"Yes, every few years," Remus answered. "I couldn't let this place rot. It was one of the only places of happy childhood memories I had left."
"Thank you, Remus," James said as Sirius squeezed Remus' shoulder comfortingly. The three friends walked over to the bleachers and sat down. "I always wanted to rebuild on this property," James said wistfully.
"You still can someday," Sirius pointed out. "If you mentioned that desire to Harry he'd probably have it done in a heartbeat. Merlin knows he's rich enough."
"That is Harry's money," James said. "Damn…I hadn't even considered money until just now. I suppose our vaults were divided up per our will."
"The majority is still held in the trust you put in place for Harry. This wasn't done until Alice forced the issue with Dumbledore after she was healed. I received the amount you left for me. Thank you for that. Harry knew this would be a concern of yours at some point. He didn't have the authority to access the main trust because of the age restriction you set up but you can take care of that now that you are back. He has returned all money you gave him to a vault in your control," Remus explained.
"He shouldn't do that. It is his money," James protested.
"James…you don't realize just how much your son is worth," Sirius said while handing James a piece of paper.
The piece of paper was a one page summary of Harry's net worth from Forbes Magazine. James' eyes bugged out and he swallowed as he saw the figures.
"I see. Well then maybe I won't complain anymore," James admitted. "I'm so proud of Harry."
"So are we," Sirius assured.
"Hermione is quite a looker," James said with a grin. "Harry has excellent taste."
"She's beautiful and her mind…I tell you…she is brilliant," Remus admitted. "But Harry is no slouch either obviously. They are well matched."
"And their story…Lily can't stop going on about how romantic it is. Harry rewrote the known laws of time travel to return to Hermione for another chance at a relationship with her. He really does love her," James said.
"You have no idea. You haven't really seen them out and about together. Those two are rarely ever apart and when they are together they just bask in each other's presence. It's almost disgustingly sweet," Sirius explained.
"It's good to see the old Sirius Black is still here and you haven't become a soft-hearted romantic in your old age," James teased.
"Never," Sirius declared.
"Don't let Amelia hear you say that," Remus said.
"You keep your mouth shut, Lupin," Sirius warned.
"What's this…does Sirius have a girlfriend?" James probed.
"Yes, Amelia Bones," Remus pointed out.
"Remus is still pining after Alice," Sirius rebutted.
"Don't try to deflect, Sirius," James replied. "Amelia had a huge crush on you back in the day but you refused to notice."
"Yeah…I know. She has grown up considerably since then," Sirius admitted. "We have been getting pretty involved."
"I'm glad to hear it, Padfoot. As long as she makes you happy," James said. "Remus, you never got over Alice?"
"I thought I had. But then when Harry brought us all back together it all came rushing back. I thought she was gone forever. Sometimes I feel so horrible for the fact Frank is gone. I never told you guys this but sometimes I used to fantasize about something happening to Frank and me consoling Alice back when we were in school. I feel terrible now that it has actually happened," Remus admitted.
"Jealousy can twist people up inside. What you felt was natural, Remus," Sirius reassured his friend. "As long as you didn't let the jealousy overwhelm you. I think Frank knew about your feelings and did his best not to rub his relationship with Alice in your face. He could have been a wanker about the whole thing," Sirius replied.
"Sirius is right, Remus," James agreed with his friend. "I can't help but wonder if it was overwhelming jealousy that twisted Peter into what he is today."
"It could have been," Remus agreed. "Witches wouldn't give Peter the time of day when we knew him."
"All these years later and it hasn't gotten any easier to think about Peter," Sirius admitted.
"For me it just happened," James replied. "He betrayed us. It's because of that betrayal that Lily and I almost died…that we didn't get to watch our son grow up. I at least want to know his reasoning."
"You guys are right. It was out of jealousy," Harry said as he materialized silently sitting in the stands next to the Marauders.
The Marauders jumped in their seats at the sound of Harry's voice and his sudden appearance.
"Merlin, Harry," James gasped. "Give a bloke a little warning next time. How long have you been listening?"
"Only for about a minute since you started talking about Peter. I wanted to talk to you wizard to wizard," Harry explained. "In the future I eventually tracked down Wormtail and got answers out of him before I killed him. He was secretly in love with mum."
The three Marauders appeared slightly stunned by this news.
"He never showed even a hint of it," Remus pointed out. "He would have gotten her killed if you hadn't saved her."
"That wasn't his intention. He wanted dad and I killed and Riddle agreed to spare mum in exchange for dad and I. But Riddle didn't keep his word," Harry explained.
"But didn't you also say Snape asked to have Lily's life spared?" Sirius asked.
"Yes. Both Wormtail and Snivellus wanted mum regardless of how she felt," Harry answered. James, Sirius, and Remus appeared sick at this revelation. Standing up Harry said, "Anyway we have more important things to do right now."
Suddenly a silvery glow appeared from the other side of the estate where the manor house used to be.
"What was that?" James asked.
"That was Potter Manor being teleported into place via my starship the Arrow," Harry answered.
The Marauders gaped at Harry.
"How did you know about that?" Sirius finally managed to ask.
"I found one of dad's journals," Harry explained.
"Of course," James said in sudden realization. Wizarding journals were very easy to use. The wizard or witch didn't even have to write anything in the journal. The wizard just had to think what they wanted to write and at the speed of thought the thoughts were recorded to text. "But how did you get the plans for the house?"
"Long before I learned how to go considerable periods back in time I learned how to see far into the past," Harry answered. "That manor is an exact duplicate of the one you grew up in as a child."
James stepped forward and pulled his son into a hug. Harry was at first surprised but then accepted the embrace.
"What you can do Harry…it's simply amazing," James admitted.
"I built the house a few decades ago. I figured if I could ever get back to this time I would install it," Harry explained. "So I was planning on going after a Horcrux today."
This brought James, Remus, and Sirius up short.
"We're going with you," Remus stated.
"Sure…I told you that you could come. But we will have some more people along," Harry answered.
A bright flash of silvery light enveloped the four males and suddenly they were elsewhere. The Marauders looked around as Harry walked over to the wall of his lab and tapped a particular spot. Glowing runes appeared on the wall and Harry tapped out a sequence. The room expanded before Harry waved his hand and wiped the runes out of visibility.
"Where are we?" James asked just before more people began to appear.
Dan, Emma, Lily, Alice, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Nym all appeared in the now expanded laboratory.
"Welcome to my lab everyone. We are onboard my starship the Arrow," Harry explained.
"We're in space?" Emma asked with raised eyebrows while looking around for a window.
Harry nodded before walking over to one of his walls and waving his hand. It looked as if the wall simply disappeared but those present knew that couldn't be possible since they weren't immediately sucked into the vacuum of space. Everyone except Harry rushed over to the wall and looked out at the view of Earth below.
"I never thought I would see this," Lily said.
"Harry, why did you bring us up here? Was it just to tour the ship?" Nym asked.
"No. You're here today because I said I would bring you with me to hunt Horcruxes," Harry answered.
This response caused everyone to turn away from the window and look at Harry.
"How are we doing this then, Harry?" Neville questioned.
"That is the easy part, Nev," Harry answered while he conjured couches around the expanded lab and caused a cabinet built into the wall to open up.
The reaction speeds of many people in the room were impressive as they drew their wands on Bellatrix Lestrange, or what appeared to be the insane witch.
"Harry…you might want to explain," Sirius told his godson as his wand maintained a steady aim on his cousin.
"She's a golem," Harry assured.
The tension left the room as everyone who had drawn their wand returned their foci to where they had stored them.
"That's a pretty damn convincing golem," Nym said.
"I'm assuming this is using some type of technology?" Lily asked as she got closer and examined Bellatrix. She spun after getting close enough to sense something and stared right at her son. "I can feel her magic."
"That is because I am equipped with a Mark seventeen magic generator set to mimic the magical signature of Bellatrix Lestrange. I have all of her memories," Golem-Bellatrix informed Lily in a voice identical to that of Bellatrix.
"You can generate magic through technology?" James asked curiously.
"Not the conventional technology you are thinking of. In the future some of the things technology can do is indistinguishable from what magic can do. The golem series you see before you is a hybridized technology. I will send her down to Gringotts to get Hufflepuff's cup from Bellatrix's vault," Harry explained.
Even as he spoke Golem-Bellatrix disappeared in the silvery glow of transporter light. Then a hologram appeared in the center of the room.
"Oohh…a show," Luna declared happily as she sat on the couch and watched.
The others followed suit. They could see everything Golem-Bellatrix saw and more as her scanners were active and showed her surroundings. Golem-Bella also saw things normal people couldn't. She could see the wards and enchantments in the goblin bank and detect the strength of those energies.
"How is she able to just walk into the bank?" Hermione asked. "I mean she is wanted by the Ministry."
"The goblins don't care about that," Remus explained. "That is part of the wizarding judicial system."
"The goblins maintain a private apparation point on their lands for customers willing to pay for discretion," Alice added.
"That is the way Golem-Bella is entering," Harry added.
As the group watched Golem-Bella had her magical signature tested and passed through a barrage of wards designed to verify she was who she appeared to be.
"She just defeated all of those tests," Lily said with admiration.
Golem-Bella asked to be taken to her vault. After a long cart ride she entered the vault which was filled with gold and other precious valuables. The spectators watched as Golem-Bella switched the cup with a duplicate and laid an enchantment on all the remaining valuables in the vault.
"What was that enchantment?" James asked.
"She is tracking everything in that vault so we can see where the money is being spent. We can also teleport any of that tracked matter to where we want in the future," Harry explained.
Golem-Bella left the bank shortly after and was teleported back to the Arrow. Harry and the others present watched as Golem-Bella went over to one of the lab tables and opened the top of a device that the others hadn't really paid too much attention to before then. Golem-Bella placed the cup inside before closing the top of the device and returning to her cabinet.
"What does that do?" Hermione asked her boyfriend while indicating the device.
"Watch," Harry answered as he pressed several keys on the control console of the device.
There was a brilliant glow emanating from the device and suddenly a beam of almost translucent blue energy came out of one side of the device. Interspersed with this energy were threads of darkness. The light stopped half a meter along the lab table and a shape began to form. Within moments a dark black crystal that seemed to draw in the light had formed and the device shut down. Harry activated a rune sequence on the lab table beneath the crystal just before the device shut down and the crystal was caught in a glowing field of almost unnoticeable red light. Harry walked back over to the device and removed Hufflepuff's cup.
Harry tossed the cup to Hermione and she caught it. She examined the cup for a moment before looking up at the crystal in awe.
"It extracted the soul fragment without harming the cup," Hermione said with admiration.
"Yep," Harry confirmed. "I call it the Soul Extractor. Riddle's soul fragment is trapped in that crystal. The energy field is red because the color is meant to warn anyone trying to take the crystal. The field will disintegrate the crystal and the soul fragment with it if the safeguards aren't disabled. I wouldn't want my hand in there when that happens."
Lily took the cup from Hermione and examined it for a moment before passing it on and joining Hermione examining the soul extractor and the crystal. Harry took the cup after the last person was done examining it and walked over to a cabinet on the wall. He opened the cabinet and placed the cup on a pedestal before tapping out a runic sequence that activated a glowing yellow security field. Slytherin's locket and Ravenclaw's diadem were on similar pedestals.
"You've extracted the other soul fragments," Luna said excitedly.
"What does the yellow field mean?" Nym questioned.
"It's like a stunner," Harry replied.
"Have you had a chance to study the diadem?" Luna asked hopefully.
"Yes. Ravenclaw was a visionary. Her diadem was a memory recall device which allowed the wearer to recall memories from any point in their life similar to a pensieve. The wearer could fast forward through the memory and project the memory directly into their conscious mind from their subconscious. We had better versions of this in my timeline but they involve technology. Ravenclaw did it purely through magic a thousand years ago," Harry explained. "In my time we just called the technology memory bands."
Harry gestured and caused headbands to float out of a wall cabinet and to each person in the room. Hermione was the first to put her headband on and it conformed to the shape of her head. The headband changed to her favorite color. The others quickly followed suit.
"How do we use them?" Hermione asked but then said, "Oh."
"The first memory is a memory of a lesson on how the headbands work," Harry explained. "They become invisible if you want them to or will change to any color you would like."
"These are fantastic, Harry," Lily said excitedly. "Thank you," she added while hugging her son.
The others thanked Harry profusely as they adjusted to the use of their memory bands.
"Harry…where are the other soul fragments?" Neville asked curiously while he eyed the floating crystal.
"I have them in a pocket dimension," Harry explained. "I put all dangerous experiments there. I'll show you."
Everyone present watched as Harry's right index finger lit up with an electric blue glow. He drew it down in a vertical line from half a meter above his lab countertop to the countertop itself. Space seemed to split open to reveal a glowing pocket of spacetime that glowed the same color as Harry's finger. Harry gestured and levitated the storage crystal containing Riddle's soul fragment into the pocket dimension before twisting his finger and causing the tear to seal.
"What was that?" Alice asked. "When you said pocket dimension I thought you meant like a space expansion charm."
"A space expansion charm utilizes higher dimensional storage but it wraps the region of expanded space in stretched spacetime from our dimension. What I just did was actually tear through our lower dimensional spacetime and penetrated into a higher dimension of spacetime. Think of it like apparation," Harry explained.
"Aren't you worried about someone else accessing that dimension and getting at what you are storing?" Remus questioned.
"No," Harry answered. "That was an artificially synthesized sub-dimension embedded within a higher dimension. The sub-dimension's borders are made of an exotic turbulent matter which would tear anything apart unless a person or object is protected by an encrypted shield only the creator of the sub-dimension knows how to create."
"I'm just going to pretend like I understood that," Sirius admitted.
"So there is one Horcrux left other than Riddle and his snake right?" James asked.
"Yes," Hermione confirmed. "That one is in the shack belonging to the Gaunts where Riddle's mother grew up."
"Are you going to send a golem after that one too?" Luna questioned.
"Yes," Harry answered as a golem looking like Albus Dumbledore stepped out of a wall cabinet.
"Just how many golems do you have, Harry? And why did you choose to have this golem look like Dumbledore?" Nym asked.
"This is actually the same golem," Harry answered. "That cabinet is actually an expanded space. The golem is very adaptive. The equipment in that cabinet just modified the golem to this shape. Golem-Dumbledore even has Dumbledore's signature. I chose Dumbledore's form because it was Dumbledore who uncovered this Horcrux the first time around for me."
"Harry figures that even if he has changed so much from his old timeline that by not changing the small things it might steer the universe towards the direction he remembers in some parts," Hermione explained.
"The feeling may not be based on any fact but that's just the way I feel. It doesn't really matter for things like this which form I choose for the golem. I have no intention for my golem's actions to be observed by anyone but us," Harry said. "I have taken extensive scans of the target location and mapped out all the wards and traps Riddle left behind."
Golem-Dumbledore disappeared. The group watched as Golem-Dumbledore infiltrated the Gaunt Shack and retrieved the Horcrux without a problem. Golem-Dumbledore replaced the Horcrux with a convincing duplicate that Harry was pretty sure Riddle wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Harry was especially confident because Riddle didn't realize the resurrection stone was anything other than the gemstone for a family ring. The only difference between the resurrection stone Golem-Dumbledore was retrieving and the duplicate stone was the level of magical saturation the retrieved stone had achieved over the eons. Golem-Dumbledore soon reappeared in the lab via teleporter light. The golem once more placed the ring in the Soul Extractor. Harry activated the Soul Extractor as Golem-Dumbledore returned to the wall cabinet.
After the soul fragment extraction Harry retrieved the ring and handed it to Hermione.
"Is that…the Resurrection Stone?" Luna asked with a tone of near reverence.
Despite knowing her friends possessed five other Hallows the sight of a Hallow still caused a shiver to go down her spine.
"Yes," Hermione answered as she accepted the ring from her boyfriend and popped the stone out.
"Does someone want to clue us in?" Emma asked. "I expected a different reaction when Harry gave my daughter a ring."
Emma's comment earned a quick explanation from Neville.
"So these Hallows…they don't really give you power over some entity personifying death?" Dan clarified.
"No," Harry assured. "But they do give us immense abilities with necromantic magic and many other branches of magic Colron was skilled in. But some of those branches aren't ones Hermione and I care to explore. Colron could charitably be called grey in his outlook on what magics he practiced."
Harry wasn't yet ready to reveal that in his timeline he had taken Colron's knowledge and developed it further. Colron's knowledge base had certainly given Harry a leg up on his peers but he hadn't stopped when he had become proficient at Colron's abilities.
"Ok…so that was the last Horcrux. What now?" Sirius asked.
"In my past timeline Riddle spent much of this year sending me visions through my scar connection to him to lure me to the Department of Mysteries so that he could get the prophecy and possibly do me harm," Harry explained. "He has become desperate enough due to the ineffectiveness of his attacks to try that again. This time he is less concerned about the prophecy and more concerned with killing me but he still wants to know the contents of the prophecy."
"But you said you destroyed your scar connection in your past timeline long before you came back," Nym pointed out.
Harry waved his hand and a glowing crystal was revealed on his lab counter. This floating crystal contained twisted strands of violet energy wrapping around and through it.
"This is one of Riddle's soul fragments. I have re-established the scar connection I once experienced using this soul fragment and a golem containing some of my memories and an artificial intelligence capable of fooling Riddle into believing he is succeeding in his attempts to lure me slowly to the DoM," Harry explained.
"We are going to turn his trap into our trap," Hermione announced.
"Do you have a detailed battle plan put together?" Lily asked curiously.
"I do," Harry answered. "I also have several possible scenarios mapped out. But these are also predicated on Riddle reacting the same way he did in my past timeline."
"No plan ever survives the battle," James pointed out. "But plans are nice to have going in. They make us feel better."
"It might come down to who is the better fighter in the heat of battle," Sirius suggested.
"My money is on Harry," Hermione said confidently. "How many black magic users have you taken down in your time?"
"Twenty-seven dark lords and nine dark ladies," Harry answered. "Three of the dark lords and one of the dark ladies were classified as worse than Voldemort."
"What…was there a ranking system?" James joked.
"Yes," Harry answered. "A book was written comparing all of their strengths and weaknesses. Of course the author of that book didn't know about Riddle's Horcruxes and a lot of the nastier magics some of those bastards used."
"I've read the book and he has told me what other magics he was talking about," Hermione admitted. "Harry will wipe the floor with Riddle."
Lily opened her mouth to ask a question but Harry pre-empted her and said, "The book is available on our private network with my personal comments. It's called Black Magic – A History of Practitioners."
James chuckled at the expression on Lily's face.
James' expression sobered and he suggested, "How about we go over those plans, son."
Harry nodded his agreement as he brought up a hologram of the Department of Mysteries.
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Hermione opened her eyes after Harry had uncovered them. He had said he wanted to show her something. They had been standing in a lounge with an observation screen built into the wall which made the outer hull of the Arrow transparent. She had been looking at Earth one moment. Now she was looking at an entirely different scene. A large planet lay before her with a myriad of colors represented by its atmosphere. It was larger than Earth. A moon orbiting that planet was closer to the Arrow and the moon appeared lush and green with plant life. She could see several bodies of liquid water too.
"I didn't even feel us move. How is that possible? You only had my eyes covered for a few moments," Hermione said. "How far are we from Earth?"
"I dialed up the inertial dampeners. I set up a transit conduit between Earth and this location. Those suckers aren't easy to make or cheap as far as resources are concerned. This is an uncharted star system five thousand light-years from Earth. I call the planet Serenity and the moon is called Potter's Retreat," Harry explained.
"Harry," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.
Even though Firefly wouldn't air for another 7 years Harry had brought it back in time with him and showed Hermione the television series. She had liked it.
"My geekiness aside this is a place I set up in my past timeline to fall back to in case things ever heated up on Earth. With the transit conduit set up we can get here quickly. Both transit gates on either end of the conduit are cloaked so that only our ships can sense them," Harry explained. "Shall we go down and have a look?"
"Yes," Hermione said excitedly.
Harry took Hermione's hand just before the couple teleported down. They appeared in the middle of a garden with fountains and all kinds of plants located in the front of a huge house that made Potter Manor look small. Hermione spotted that the house was made out of advanced materials fairly quickly but also noticed that the materials were disguised to give them an Earth-like appearance.
"This is our home," Harry said. Hermione didn't miss the use of the word our in Harry's statement. She also didn't miss as he dropped to one knee beside her and reached into his pocket. Harry drew out a ring box and opened it to reveal a ring. Hermione stared at the ring in shock as Harry took her hand. The ring was glowing a multitude of colors. The multiple large gems were shaped to perfection and of several different types including diamond, emerald, and ruby. The ring was giving off light. "Hermione Jane Granger, would you do me the honor of marrying me?"
Hermione didn't even need to think about it.
"YES!" Hermione shouted as Harry placed the ring on her finger.
Hermione leaned down and kissed Harry while trying to project her love for him through her lips. He stood as they kissed and wrapped Hermione in his arms.
"I love you so much," Harry whispered while staring into Hermione's chocolate brown eyes after they had broken the kiss.
"I love you too. I could never doubt your love with how much you have done to get back to me," Hermione said. Hermione's expression turned from contented and loving to thoughtful. "Harry James…you didn't propose to me now of all times to distract me from our OWLs did you?"
OWLs were in fact currently going on at Hogwarts. Harry had asked Hermione to go away with him for the weekend between the two weeks of OWL tests. She needed to relax a little bit despite the fact that she was much calmer than in Harry's past timeline. Her relative calm might have had something to do with the fact that since she, Neville, and Harry had taken their DADA NEWT they had also taken their NEWTs in Charms and Transfiguration. Hermione and Harry had also taken Arithmancy and Runes NEWTs without Neville. As a result Harry and Hermione had very few OWLs to take.
"No. The OWLs have nothing to do with me asking you. I was going to wait until after the OWLs are over with next week but I found it too hard to resist asking you now. It just seemed like the perfect moment," Harry assured.
Hermione's ring began to give off a golden glow.
"Why is it doing that?" Hermione asked.
"It glows a different color depending upon your mood. That signals happiness. There is a micro-illusion rune in the ring which can make it look like a normal ring," Harry explained.
The ring's glow changed from golden to gold tinged with red.
"What does that mean?" Hermione asked.
"That means someone is growing aroused," Harry answered.
"How about a tour of the house, starting with our bedroom," Hermione suggested.
Harry didn't object.
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Harry finished reviewing the last of his answers to his History of Magic OWL examination as he got the alert he expected again. Voldemort had just sent the vision to Harry's golem through the scar connection. Riddle wanted Harry to believe Sirius was currently at Voldemort's mercy in the Department of Mysteries.
"It happened," Harry sent telepathically to Hermione.
Neville was still reviewing his answers. Hermione had just finished her second check of her answers. There was no rush. Harry knew Sirius was really in no danger. Even now the golem was sending intense distress through the scar connection back to Riddle. But more was needed to convince Voldemort. Riddle had spies even at Hogwarts. Harry stood and beckoned one of the examiners Professor Tofty over. He wandlessly erected a silencing charm around them.
"What is it, Mr. Potter?" Tofty asked.
Trebal Tofty was wary of Harry Potter. Potter looked quite determined and focused at that moment. Potter was one of the most powerful wizards politically and economically in Britain and if the rumors of his power were true one of the most powerful magically mages in the world. The practical OWL tests and NEWT tests Trebal had observed Harry Potter undertake did nothing to dissuade from that notion of power. Trebal had overheard Marchbanks comment that not even Dumbledore had performed as well on the examinations as Potter.
"When my god-brother Neville Longbottom is done checking over his work in a moment he, Hermione Granger, and myself will be leaving the examinations early. I am afraid I cannot tell you why other than it is on a matter most important to our world," Harry answered.
Tofty was not stupid. He read between the lines and knew Potter was referring to something to do with Voldemort.
"I see. Good luck, Mr. Potter," Trebal answered.
Within minutes Harry, Hermione, and Neville were leaving the Great Hall. As they stepped into the Entrance Hall, Nym appeared from under her invisibility enchantment.
"Everyone is getting ready," Nym assured.
Nymphadora felt a sense of exhilaration and a small measure of fear course through her. When Harry had sent her the telepathic message that it was time for the final battle she had been feeling primarily fear. But to see Harry so calm and composed when he would personally be facing Riddle was soothing. But she expected nothing less from someone as powerful and skilled as Harry Potter. After all, Riddle was nothing next to the black magic practitioners Harry had faced before.
"Thank you, Nym," Harry replied as Luna joined them. "Fancy a flight everyone?"
"Sounds like a blast," Neville assured.
The group was visibly flying away from Hogwarts for the benefit of Riddle's surprise and so the Marauders and company could get the trap properly set. Most everything had already been arranged but everyone needed to get in position and it would be better to wait until the Ministry had cleared out for the day. They enlarged brooms as they approached the front doors of the castle. Hermione rode with Harry on his broom while Luna rode with Neville. Nym was on her own broom invisible. Soon they were flying off towards the Ministry of Magic and the danger that they knew was waiting for them.
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Harry entered the Hall of Prophecies with Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Nym at his back. Nym was still invisible. Harry quickly located the 97th row of prophecies and went to the end where he knew the prophecy about him and Voldemort was.
"Where is Sirius?" Harry asked for the benefit of the Death Eaters watching Harry and his friends.
"I don't know, Harry," Neville answered.
"Harry, look at this," Hermione said while pointing at one of the prophecies on a nearby shelf.
Harry strode over and picked up the glass orb. He knew it didn't hold the real prophecy but a fake prophecy he himself had made up to screw with Riddle's mind.
"I will take that, Potter," Lucius said as he and a group of Death Eaters dropped their invisibility spells.
"I don't think so," Harry answered calmly.
"You are severely outmatched, Potter," Lucius pointed out. "Give us the prophecy and I will let you live."
"You said that you would let me live, not your companions and associates. I would imagine that even if we make it out of the Ministry you have someone waiting on retainer to take care of us," Harry suggested.
"Enough of this," Bella said while attempting to summon the prophecy.
Harry had long since banished the glass orb in his hand and replaced it with an illusion. So naturally the summoning charm did not work on something that wasn't really there.
"You have always been a stupid bitch, Bella," Lily declared as she materialized behind the group of Death Eaters along with James and Sirius.
Nym revealed herself too at that moment. The cloaks used by Harry's family and friends had been duplicates of the Hallow cloak. A standard invisibility cloak functioned by the bending of light around the object being cloaked. A Hallow class cloak actually pushed the object being cloaked into another dimension. The more powerful the cloak the further the wearer could be pushed into that other dimension. At first just the light was pushed into the other dimension. But eventually the wearer could even push their matter into the other dimension so that they were not just invisible but intangible. The Hallow cloaks Harry had duplicated didn't have enough power to push the wearer intangible at their current age but they could certainly do invisible.
Remus and Alice were currently off on a mission dealing with the last Horcrux other than Riddle himself.
"You are still outnumbered, Potter. Give us the prophecy. Nobody needs to die here today," Lucius tried.
"Lucy, you still don't get it," Sirius said. "Harry has chosen quality over quantity."
Sirius sent a piercing curse at Lucius' body. Malfoy stepped to the side and responded with a killing curse. The death eaters paused as a glowing semi-translucent shield formed in the shape of Sirius' body just over the surface of his skin and absorbed the killing curse.
"It's a trap. Kill them all. Bella, summon our master," Lucius cried as battle broke out.
Each of Harry's friends was wearing advanced battle armor built in his previous timeline. The armor itself could take five killing curses within a minute before it broke. If the armor was given time between subsequent curses the nanites in the armor could regenerate the armor's structure so that it could keep on taking killing curses and other harmful magics indefinitely.
Bellatrix sent a killing curse at Sirius from point blank range. The plan had been to kill Sirius. Potter would surely chase after Bellatrix in his anger. Bella's master had known Potter was coming with friends, just not as many as Potter had shown up with. The armor Potter and his companions were wearing changed quite a bit. If the enemy was truly invulnerable to conventional spell-fire then something unconventional would have to be used.
"I almost had your mongrel godfather, Potter," Bella shouted back at Potter as he ran after her while she ran through the Ministry.
When she cleared the Department of Mysteries Bella didn't try the elevators. Instead she took the staircase and sprinted up them several steps at a time heading towards the atrium.
"Keep talking, Bellatrix," Harry urged. "Your words will make the experience all the sweeter when I kill you."
"You don't have the stones to kill me," Bella shouted back over her shoulder.
Bella reached the Fountain of Magical Brethren and stopped. She used the fountain as a partial shield while sending a killing curse at Harry. Harry swatted the killing curse aside with a flick of his wand. He had bent spacetime in a very localized region so that curved space redirected the curse.
"You can come out now, Riddle. I know you are here," Harry called while looking directly at one of the fireplaces.
"How did you know, Potter?" Riddle asked, appearing to be perfectly calm.
The Dark Lord was dressed in a simple all black robe.
"You smell like a snake, Tom," Harry answered. "Your resurrection ritual saw to that."
"I won't ask how you could smell me," Riddle said. "I also won't ask you to stop calling me by that name because I know it would prove fruitless. Instead I'm just going to kill you. Originally I had only planned on using my failsafe plan in the event your Kryptonian friend showed up. Now I think I will use it because my followers have failed me," Riddle suggested.
Bellatrix's features twisted into a mask of glee as Tom dropped his robe to reveal glowing red tattoos all over his flesh. Harry's eyes scanned the designs even as Riddle sent out an activation spell.
"Oh bloody hell," Harry cursed while Riddle clenched his teeth in agony. Bellatrix was unable to keep her feet because of the pain. The agony lasted half a minute. Harry sent a lance of energy at Riddle just to test and see what would happen but as he suspected his attack was absorbed by a shield dome. Then Riddle and Bellatrix were standing again facing Harry with a look of glee on their features. "Which of the demon lords did you make a pact with, Tom? Was it Argon, Traiton, Persead, or some other lord?"
Riddle appeared surprised before responding, "Does it matter? You will die either way."
"It matters because I find myself curious how badly you got screwed and in what manner. Each of the demon lords will enhance the power of mortals but finds a loophole in their contracts which makes the mortal regret the pact," Harry answered.
"There were no loopholes in Traiton's contract," Riddle assured.
"Traiton loves tricking mortals by granting them power but doing it in a way that the power will fail after a month or so without his continued assistance. His influence also generally does great harm to the body of the enhanced," Harry replied with a grim smile. "How many souls of your Death Eaters did you feed to him?"
Harry knew that the dark mark meant that every person who accepted it had forfeited their soul to their master's will. Riddle had built that clause into his mark in case he needed to bargain with souls.
Riddle did not look pleased but answered, "All of them. But I don't need long to kill you with the powers of a Kryptonian."
Harry reached into his pocket and drew out a small device. Harry pointed the device at Riddle and examined the holographic display which only Harry could see.
"I understand now exactly what you have done," Harry said conversationally. "What Traiton just put you through will have serious repercussions on your long term health. Without his continued assistance you will likely die a horrible death."
Traiton had put Riddle and Bellatrix through a process similar to the one Harry had undergone to utilize Kryptonian abilities. But Traiton's process was much faster but ultimately unstable without continuous maintenance. This process was also bad for health.
"Enough of this," Riddle said before surging forward in a burst of super-speed and lifting off the ground a meter from Harry.
Riddle delivered a kick to Harry's gut that sent the time traveler hurtled backwards and upwards towards the ceiling of the Ministry. Riddle was grinning maniacally because he thought Harry was probably already close to death from the kick delivered and would be finished off when smashing against the atrium ceiling. But then Harry's motion stopped several meters from the ceiling and he just floated there. A smirk appeared on Harry's features as he saw the stunned looks on the faces of Riddle and Bellatrix.
"Did the Kryptonian give you these powers?" Bella demanded.
"He is the Kryptonian," Riddle said with realization. "Or rather he is pretending to be one. But that doesn't explain the technology."
"My secrets are my own. You will be dead before you ever learn them," Harry assured just before he apparated down in front of Riddle and drove an upper cut into Riddle's jaw that sent the dark lord hurtling upwards with such speed and ferocity that a sonic boom went off. That sonic boom was on top of the sound of Riddle crashing upwards through the stone above the atrium. "Here, Bella," Harry said as he tossed the bitch a fusion grenade and took off flying upwards after Riddle.
Harry heard the grenade go off as he cleared street level and shot after Riddle. Bella's scream of rage was music to his ears. Harry had wanted Bella plenty pissed off so that she would chase after him. Harry noticed traffic was stopped from where Riddle had hurtled upwards out of the street and non-magicals were gawking upwards. Riddle had managed to arrest his upwards motion high above London. Riddle was consumed with rage and had his wand drawn as he shot down towards Harry. A Fiendyfire serpent of gigantic proportions shot out of Riddle's wand.
"I guess things are going the same as last time, Harry. Isn't that the same serpent he used during this fight in your last timeline?" Remus projected at Harry telepathically.
"Yes it is," Harry confirmed. "How did your mission go?"
"Nagini is destroyed. Riddle is now ready to die," Alice replied.
"Good to know," Harry answered while he generated a silvery cloud from the Elder wand that took the shape of a massive dragon equal in size to Riddle's serpent.
The dragon and serpent engaged in the air high over London. The magic of the silvery dragon tore into the magic of the Fiendyfire and decimated the Fiendyfire. But the silvery magic was diminished as a result of absorbing Riddle's power. But that didn't matter because Harry caused his silvery dragon to dissipate for it was no longer needed. Harry sent a bolt of lightning out of his left hand at Riddle while his right hand still held the Elder wand controlling the banishment of the dragon. Riddle dodged the first lightning bolt so Harry sent several more in rapid succession. Riddle was so busy dodging the lightning bolts he didn't notice the micro-storm forming high overhead. Voldemort noticed when the lightning bolt bigger than any Harry had generated surged down out of the storm clouds, connected with Harry's wand tip, and then blasted into Riddle. Riddle was smashed backwards through a nearby skyscraper by the power of the lightning bolt. Harry flew after Riddle and watched as the dark lord crashed onto the roof of a neighboring shorter skyscraper.
Riddle lay there stunned for only a moment before he got up. His robes were smoldering. Riddle looked pissed. His robes catching fire had nothing to do with his anger.
"Please Tom, don't let those robes burn off. If you truly have the abilities of a Kryptonian you should know you need to wear skintight clothing for your clothing to remain intact in a fight," Harry taunted as he floated a few dozen meters in front of Tom.
"You have been holding back, Potter," Tom suggested as he floated up off the rooftop. "No fifth year wizard should know what you do. How did you do it? Are you still holding back?"
"Tom, unlike you I don't reveal all my plans while you distract me. Bella, you might as well drop that invisibility spell. You two are amateurs at using these powers," Harry replied.
Bellatrix dropped her invisibility spell but she was already pretty close to Harry and shot at him using super-speed. At the same time Riddle hit Harry with his heat vision. Harry flew out of Riddle's path at the last moment and directed Bella into Riddle's attack telekinetically. Harry noticed multiple news helicopters flying nearby and was sure they were broadcasting this live around the world.
Harry thought that was good. It was time the world knew about wizard-kind. Harry shot a cyclone out of his wand directed at Riddle and Bella to blast them higher into the sky away from the skyscrapers. He wanted to limit the property damage if at all possible. Harry flew after them. Riddle channeled magic out of his wand to nullify the wind but Bella was hurled about a kilometer away. Riddle started slinging around some heavy dark magic and Harry was forced to use magic to counter and nullify Riddle's twisted energy otherwise the surrounding environment would suffer.
"Harry, I've got Bella. The American Magical Government just revealed to the world that we are magicals and are disseminating information about the magical world. It is obvious they prepared for an eventual reveal," Hermione projected as Harry saw her flying up towards Bellatrix.
Hermione was flying at a much slower speed than the fully empowered magicians. Harry had only managed to get her proficient in mimicking and projecting an invulnerability field around her body and limited flight. Harry didn't have much time to spare looking at Hermione as he was busily engaged in fighting Riddle. He was tempted to use some time travel to intervene with Hermione too but wanted to see if she could handle herself. The Arrow currently had its sensors locked onto Hermione and if she got into any serious trouble the starship would transport her to safety. At the same time as it transported Hermione out the Arrow would transport in a runic cage which would hold Bella for a little while, at least until Harry could deal with her.
Harry re-focused on Riddle as the dark lord sent a slew of organ shredding, piercing, flesh peeling, heart exploding, and skeleton disintegrating spells at Harry. If it wasn't for the cloaked mobile sensor probes currently hovering around the sky linked up with the Arrow, even Harry wouldn't have been able to identify some of the other spells being used by Riddle.
Just then two fighter jets came screaming in above London heading right towards the two combatants. Harry hit Riddle with a blast of telekinesis combined with a super-powered punch that sent the dark lord several miles up higher than his previous elevation. The jets pulled up heading towards Riddle and opened up with their guns. Harry watched in satisfaction for a moment as the bullets hit Riddle. Though they didn't kill a Kryptonian the high powered bullets stung like hell. But then the dark lord raised a magical shield and projected his heat vision out to cut the wings off of one jet. He also sent a blasting curse at the second jet as it passed by. The non-magical pilot couldn't perceive the slower moving but still quite deadly blasting curse so didn't know to bail out. Harry flew forward at super-speed and while projecting a field which made him out of phase with normal matter flew through the jet. He snagged the fighter pilot along the way. Within moments the blasting curse had done its job and destroyed the fighter jet.
"There was an invisible curse heading towards you," Harry projected into the pilot's mind before setting the pilot down on the roof of a nearby building.
Harry flew back towards Riddle and saw that the dark lord was just floating there waiting even as the sounds of Hermione and Bella fighting off in the distance were heard.
"Your concern for these insects will be your undoing, Potter. You have always cared for them too much," Tom put forth. "Now I will prove it to you."
The dark lord gestured towards the sky above and Harry felt magic go out of his opponent. Harry's enhanced vision spotted the meteors coming before the non-magicals but their devices soon picked them up if the panicked screams below were anything to go by.
"Meteors Riddle…you surprise me," Harry said.
"I was raised non-magical, Harry. No matter how much I wish it I can't forget that. I conjured those meteors weeks ago and put them up there cloaked," Tom explained. "Now it's time to die."
Riddle began shooting destructive curses down at the ground. Harry was ready for many of the tricks Riddle might pull. Granted Harry hadn't planned on Riddle gaining Kryptonian powers and taking the fight into the air but Harry had prepared to protect innocent bystanders. Hundreds of cloaked shield generator probes were flying around the area. Each one was capable of analyzing the attack needed to be shielded against and either generating an energy shield capable of stopping the attack or snap-conjuring a temporary physical barrier against types of spells that couldn't be shielded against without more energy being expended than Harry had installed in the generator's power systems.
"You won't find it so easy to harm innocents, Tom," Harry assured.
Riddle sneered at Harry and replied, "You are foolish, Potter. Those vermin aren't innocent. Having been raised by them you should realize that."
"It's true…there are those among them that deserve to be killed. But you can't be allowed to harm those who don't deserve harm to get at those who do," Harry pointed out.
Just then Harry picked up a familiar scent on the wind and heard a familiar heartbeat. He looked off into the distance with his super-senses and spotted a blonde woman in her early twenties. She was examining the fights between the super powered beings. Her gaze focused on Harry's when she realized he was observing her. Riddle caught on and spotted the blonde too.
"Who is she?" Riddle asked, not really expecting an answer.
"Kara of the house of El, daughter of Zor El, and a friend," Harry answered before turning his focus back on Riddle.
Kara was startled as she heard the handsome male state her name. He knew her but she didn't know him. She had been observing the fight for several minutes. The combatants seemed like they possessed Kryptonian abilities and more. She had already determined that the two combatants known as Harry Potter and Hermione Granger according to the news broadcasts she was picking up on were fighting two beings that could easily be classified as evil. She was preparing to help against the evil magicians when Harry Potter named her as a friend. He looked like he was easily holding his own against Voldemort but Hermione looked like she could use some help against Bellatrix.
Kara shot forward with a burst of super-speed flight and streaked towards Bellatrix so fast the dark witch couldn't move out of the way in time. Kara's blow smashed into Bellatrix and sent Bella hurtling upwards towards the upper atmosphere. Hermione and Kara stared at each other. They had anywhere from a few moments to maybe more than a minute before Bella recovered. The dark witch was probably pretty dazed from Kara's blow.
"I'm Kara," Kara greeted.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Hermione but you might have heard that from everything the Americans are broadcasting," Hermione answered.
"Why is it that I get the feeling you knew my name and know a lot more about me?" Kara queried.
"It's complicated. We can discuss it later after we kick her ass," Hermione suggested while pointing upwards at the enraged Bella flying down towards them. "I can counter her magic if you can counter her physically. You will be vulnerable to her magic otherwise."
Kara really didn't know what to make of the term magic being used but knew Kryptonians were vulnerable to many types of exotic energy. If these magic users had been able to cloak themselves and the energy they used from Kryptonian sensors that feat itself suggested they were dangerous.
"That sounds like a good plan," Kara agreed.
By this point the meteors were nearing ground level. Everything was happening so fast. Harry began shooting down meteors using blasting spells and his heat vision while Riddle was attacking the time traveler.
"You will never get them all, Potter," Riddle shouted with glee as he charged Harry again.
Harry slipped to the side of Riddle's attack at the last moment and delivered a blow to the side of the dark lord's head that would see Riddle dazed. It was obvious that while Riddle possessed great strength he did not know how to effectively use it. Riddle was right in one way though…conventionally Harry would never stop the hundreds of meteors. Luckily he wasn't conventional. He decided there was no help for it but to time travel. Suddenly Harry blurred into super-speed flight and he could be observed to appear under every meteor coming down almost simultaneously. Through time travel Harry reached every meteor. All the meteors were smashed or burned into fragments so small they wouldn't harm anyone.
"What were you saying, Riddle?" Harry asked as he arrived back in front of the dark wizard.
"That isn't possible," Riddle growled.
Riddle knew right then that he was going to lose this fight. At least he still had his Horcruxes and he would survive. Because of this Riddle decided he would at least try to take Potter out with him. Tom felt the powerful wards preventing portkeys and apparition from functioning in the region he was inhabiting. He had taken steps to make sure one of his unmarked followers knew the possible resurrection rituals in case he became disembodied again. Tom would hold Potter here and take the troublesome teen out.
In the blink of an eye Tom had released a shrunken object out of his pocket, enlarged it, and gotten behind Harry while wrapping arms around the time traveler's waist.
Harry barely resisted the urge to laugh as Riddle put him in a hold that was fairly easy to break. But Harry didn't break the hold. Instead his attention focused on the object floating on a platform in front of Harry which had just been released and enlarged by Tom.
"A nuke, Tom," Harry said. "You surprise me again."
"I'm going to make sure you die this time, Potter," Riddle asserted. "Even if I have to spend time as a spirit again to ensure it," he added while triggering the countdown on the nuke with a spell sent to a runic interface sequence.
"Oh but you won't be a spirit this time, Tom," Harry assured as he grabbed Tom's wrists and held tight. "You will be dying. I have destroyed all of your Horcruxes, even Nagini."
As Harry watched the last five seconds countdown on the time he held the struggling and screaming Tom Riddle and enclosed both of them and the nuke in a shield spell shaped like a sphere. Harry poured as much energy as he could muster into that shield. Then the nuke went off.
Hermione drew her dagger from Bellatrix's abdomen and watched the woman die painfully. She didn't have time to enjoy the end of the mad-witch because she was worried about Harry. She turned and saw a scene from one of her worst nightmares. Harry was being held by Riddle while a nuclear weapon counted down in front of him. Hermione saw a spherical shield shimmer into existence surrounding Riddle and then a blinding light appeared. Hermione was forced to look away as it seemed like a new star had formed where Harry was.
Seconds earlier relative to the rest of the universe Harry activated a time dilation field inside his shield sphere excluding the bomb. The time dilation field was an inverted field to the standard time dilation so time was actually moving much faster on the inside. The outside universe appeared frozen. Harry telekinetically held Riddle in place even as Harry phased through Riddle's grasp. There was one second left on the bomb's timer which appeared frozen due to the bomb being outside of the time dilation field's effects. Harry allowed Riddle's head to move but suppressed Riddle's ability to generate heat vision using nanites he had injected into Riddle while the dark lord had been in contact with the time traveler.
"How are you doing this, Potter?" Riddle demanded. Seeing the timer on the bomb Riddle said, "You have frozen time."
"Inside a localized region of spacetime I have sped up time," Harry answered.
Riddle gazed intently at Harry.
"You can control time," Riddle said, realization evident in his tone and expression. "You have been toying with me."
"Yes," Harry answered.
"Why?" Riddle wanted to know. "You could have killed me at any time. But you didn't."
"I did it to make the public realize how much of a threat your ideals and those who share your ideals are to our world. I traveled back in time for my own reasons but I want the world to handle things better than in the timeline I came back from," Harry answered. "I also want you to know exactly who has defeated you and how. I want to see the defeat in your eyes as I end you. In a moment I am going to phase through my shield but not before I cast a spell on you which will destabilize Traiton's empowering of you. In my time we know how to effectively combat the demon lords. Your Kryptonian abilities will instantly begin to weaken. They will keep you alive long enough for you to really enjoy the effects of the nuclear bomb you intended to use to kill millions of people. But you will die for good this time. Do you see the irony, Tom? You look down on muggles yet it is their weapon which will end you. And you are the one who delivered that weapon to me. Enjoy hell Tom because I'm pretty sure that is where you are going."
Harry saw the pure hatred twisting Tom Riddle's serpentine features as the time traveler cast the destabilization spell before phasing outside of the shield. Harry diverted the power he was expending to maintain the time dilation field and to telekinetically hold Riddle in place into the shield. At the same time he also opened up a small wormhole inside the shielded sphere connecting to a location in deep space out past the Kuiper belt. The wormhole would relieve the pressure on the shield enough so that the energy Harry was using from his Fallen Prison to maintain the shield wouldn't be expended (killing the prisoners). Harry could always get new prisoners but he would prefer not to. Some of those black magic practicing prisoners were quite strong. At the same time the nuke inside the shield would still produce enough of a blast to vaporize Riddle and probably make a lot of non-magical mortals below crap their pants in terror.
They would never learn unless they feared the threats that Riddle and his ilk represented. The light lasted for long minutes until Harry gradually compressed the shield and pushed the radiation and energy through the wormhole. When he finally closed the wormhole and let the shield collapse he was sweating. Even if it hadn't used much of his personal magic to do what he had just done the concentration required was immense. He had to make sure no harmful radiation had remained or leaked through his shield. Hermione was on him within moments of the shield coming down.
"I thought I had lost you," Hermione whispered as she hugged her lover tightly.
Kara was floating over as the cheers began from the city below. The clapping and shouting was definitely a good sign.
"So," Kara said as the lovers drew apart. "Do you mind explaining to me how it is you know who I am and how you are demonstrating the abilities of Kryptonians when I know you two weren't born on Krypton?"
"Can we go someplace more private for this explanation?" Harry requested.
"Where do you suggest?" Kara asked.
"I have a starship in orbit which should work nicely. I can transport us up there if you are agreeable," Harry suggested.
"Alright," Kara agreed.
The three beings were gone a moment later. They reappeared in a spacious room with comfortable looking chairs and couches. There were tables off to one side for eating. Kara noticed that the room was quite large. The ship must be fairly sizeable she thought. She didn't realize that space expansion technologies were at play. She also knew that the sensors in her outpost had not detected the orbiting craft she was onboard and still couldn't. They could detect her but not the vessel around her.
"Please have a seat," Harry requested. Harry and Hermione meanwhile sat together in a loveseat. "My name is Harry Potter as you have heard from the Americans. Hermione and I are from a branch of humanity which can access and manipulate a higher form of energy. Due to our branch's general disdain for non-magical science they believe the energy we manipulate is magical in nature."
"But you believe otherwise," Kara said. "Obviously, or you likely wouldn't have a starship," she added.
"Yes. But this starship does not just utilize technology native to our branch species. It also utilizes a great deal of Kryptonian technology. I have augmented Kryptonian tech using the energies available to our branch species," Harry explained.
"And how did you acquire Kryptonian technology without being Kryptonian?" Kara asked.
"You gave it to me," Harry answered.
Kara stared at Harry intently, detecting no signs of lying. He believed he was telling the truth. She was perplexed.
"Could you elaborate? You believe you are being truthful but I have no memory of meeting you before today," Kara said. "Has my memory been modified without my knowing it?"
"No. Nothing quite that simple," Harry replied.
"Oh stop beating around the bush. Harry comes from a timeline quite a ways in the future relative to this one. In that timeline you and he were lovers for a time," Hermione interjected.
Kara's mouth dropped open while Harry pouted at Hermione.
"I was having fun leading her on," Harry told his fiancé.
"I know Harry. But it was becoming trying at this point," Hermione replied.
"Kryptonian technology cannot do what you are talking about," Kara pointed out. "At least not yet."
"Kryptonian technology isn't how I got back here. But your understanding of temporal mechanics was what enabled me to experience the necessary breakthrough which enabled me to come back using our energy," Harry explained.
"This all seems a little hard to believe. Do you have any proof?" Kara asked. Harry worked a spell which carried his voice to Kara's ears alone and whispered something that only she would know. Kara's face turned an interesting shade of color. "Alright, I believe you. And now the reason the previous outpost commander stationed here couldn't determine if you are truly Kryptonian makes a lot more sense."
"I sensed them trying to get close to me when I was acting as Super-Man," Harry explained. "I didn't want to be found by your previous outpost commander."
"How was today any different?" Kara asked.
"I didn't want to hide from you. I constructed a cloaking technology using the innate abilities of my species, our magic, to hide me from the sight of all Kryptonians but you. I didn't expect I would need it for many years though," Harry mused. "You are early on Earth."
"Our previous outpost commander wasn't due to leave for several years yet but when you showed up wearing the symbol of the House of El on your chest it was decided that maybe another member of that house would have better luck figuring things out. So my rotation on Earth was moved up," Kara explained. "So you have revealed the existence of aliens to the people of Earth and now the existence of your branch species has been revealed to the rest of your population. What now?"
"I still have more I can teach humanity," Harry mused. "I have been considering revealing the fact that I am really a time traveler from the future."
Kara's eyes widened somewhat and she showed all the indications of surprise.
"Would you be revealing the fact that my future self gave you Kryptonian technology?" Kara asked.
"Of course not," Harry assured. "I know the Kryptonian High Council can't legally hold you responsible for the actions of a future version of you. But they could definitely make things difficult if they learned of what the other you did. I can easily say the technology was developed by my people."
"I have been working with Harry on a biography about his life and adventures. Some things won't be revealed but humanity could learn how to avoid some of the pitfalls it fell into in his time. He brought numerous historical records back with him," Hermione explained.
"Including the next several hundred years of Kryptonian history," Harry added.
Again Kara showed surprise. She opened her mouth to ask to be given access to this history before she was stopped by Harry handing her a data crystal. Kara smiled at him.
"You did know me well," Kara said with a grin.
"That includes technology advancements your people will make in the next several hundred years," Harry pointed out.
"The next question you are going to ask is why things didn't work out between you and Harry," Hermione predicted.
"How did you know that?" Kara asked.
"Because this isn't the first time we have encountered this situation," Hermione answered. "And things did sort of work out. Harry had children with the future you and left her with a clone of him in every way."
While Hermione spoke, Harry projected holograms of his children and his other Kara.
"I would have loved to have met them…and her," Kara said while staring intently at the hologram.
"Who says you can't," Harry replied. "I can send you to her time and bring you back when you contact me."
"You can?" Kara asked in wonder.
"Yes," Harry confirmed. "I have set up a stabilized wormhole portal between the two timelines since I arrived here. They are now divergent realities. Would you like to visit? I can bring you back so that little time has passed here since you left."
"I would like to visit. But if you can, bring me back so that the normal amount of time has passed. It will be disconcerting enough time traveling without factoring mismatched time flow into the equation," Kara said. "Do they know I'm coming?"
"We talked about it and they expected you might want to come visit," Harry assured.
"Alright…when can I leave?" Kara asked.
"Right now if you want," Hermione answered.
"Sure," Kara agreed.
"The portal is this way," Harry said as he led Kara out of the room and into a nearby room.
Harry dialed up the archway with a touch of the control panel which caused a shimmering orange portal to form.
"How do I come back?" Kara asked nervously.
"The other Harry or other Kara can send you back when you are ready," Harry assured. "Have fun."
Kara nodded and stepped through the portal. It shut down automatically after she was through. Hermione's right arm wrapped around Harry's waist and she laid her head against his shoulder.
"I like her," Hermione stated.
"You two have a lot in common. Despite how she is portrayed in the comic simulations she is quite studious," Harry answered as the couple left the portal room.
"I won't be surprised if she comes back with her own clone of you," Hermione mused.
"I won't be surprised either," Harry agreed. "I considered my duplicate might decide to copy himself like I did. Would it bother you?"
Hermione was silent for several moments as she thought her answer over.
"No. Your clone may have all your memories but you said you modified his feelings in regards to me. Really he is more like a brother to you in my opinion," Hermione said as she and Harry returned to the love-seat they had been sitting in earlier. Hermione snuggled into Harry's side. "What is going to happen down there now do you think?"
"I showed you memories of the previous exposure event," Harry answered.
In only a few decades technology would advance to the point where it could detect the effects some magics such as the space expansion charm had on spacetime. The muggles had quickly discovered about magic from that point. The Americans had revealed the truth first. As it turned out the British Department of Mysteries had a plan for helping the British magical community to transition into an exposed world as did the equivalent in most other magical ministries throughout the world.
"Yes," Hermione agreed. "I agree that I would rather we reveal ourselves than the non-magicals find us on their own. But the way in which it was done could scare a lot of them."
"I don't think it will scare them anymore than aliens have," Harry mused. "Super-Man was a good buildup to this big reveal."
"You make a good point," Hermione admitted.
Even as Harry and Hermione snuggled together the media in the world below was working overtime to disseminate the information about magical-kind and in particular about Harry Potter, the genius CEO of Potter Tech. The closest family and friends of Harry and Hermione were also activating golem duplicates of themselves to take over their lives on Earth while the real family and friends took a vacation on the separate compounds/homes Harry had constructed for them on Serenity. The separate compounds were nearby Potter's Retreat but sufficiently spaced to give Harry and Hermione their privacy. While Harry and Hermione didn't expect trouble they felt the vacation and use of golem doppelgangers was prudent given the turmoil the big reveal would instigate.
HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16 – HP – 260 G o 16
Rev 0 Posted 1/11/2015
All that is left now is the epilogue.
