Chapter 26: Retreat
01101011 01101011 01101011
Eon opened his eyes. He was surrounded by a familiar whiteness that stretched endlessly in all directions. "Where am I?" he asked aloud, but immediately frowned, for the idea of "aloud" did not really fit the place in which he was. What he heard as his "voice" was not made of sound, but was more of a pulse of thought.
This wasn't the Matrix, nor was it the real world. It most closely resembled the Construct, the intermediary virtual environment where hackers could prepare themselves for insertion into another virtual environment, yet Eon could tell that somehow, this place was different. The interface was alien and uncomfortable, as if it were not meant to simulate human experience. Eon did not feel the connection to the Construct program as he should. Instead, though, he got a sense of where that connection would be.
It was a tiny line running from him to…the Lupin. To his body.
Eon visualized that connection as a thread, and a bright blue thread appeared, snaking through the expanse of white, until it plunged a distance away into the nothingness. That way would lead him back to his body, he knew. Eon started moving in that direction, when he felt the call of other connections. All around him, threads of yellow, green, orange, and silver began snaking outward to and from him, whispering bits and bytes of data to him like ghostly voices.
Eon stopped and turned. He could hear it. He could feel it. Off in the distance of the void, was a pulsing "light" that wasn't light, "sound" that wasn't sound. It was a brilliant, shining beacon of information. Eon instinctively understood what it was. The Source. The font from which all directives to the AI originated. And it was calling to him.
Hesitantly, Eon stepped in the direction of the Source. This was a chance to learn more about the Machines that he just could not pass up. He willed himself to continue to move in the direction of the concentration of data, and with each step, the glow in the distance became brighter. The whispers of ones and zeroes in his mind grew a little stronger.
He didn't notice, however, that with each step, the blue glowing thread back to the Lupin grew a little dimmer.
01101100 01101100 01101100
Harry stared at Draco Malfoy, unable to fully register what had just happened. Draco, for his part, was just shocked, frozen in place staring at the boy he had just saved. Harry Potter slowly pulled himself up off the ground while Draco very gradually lowered his wand.
"Bloody Hell!" a voice from behind them startled the pair from their trance. Ron Weasley stood up from where he had been knocked by his "brother" with eyes comically wide. He pointed a shaking finger towards Harry. "You're not Dean Thomas, are you?" Ron asked apprehensively.
"No, Ron," Harry said, cancelling the function that hid his true image, his face and body morphing into the familiar unruly brown hair and vibrant green eyes Ron was familiar with. The lightning bolt shaped scar above his right eye made the picture complete. "It's me. Harry. I'm here to help you." Harry didn't know how much Ron had seen, but he hoped that it had been enough for Ron to start to trust him again. By now the System surely knew where Harry was, and the only thing likely preventing Aurors from arriving any second was the strict control the Headmaster maintained over the school. No apparating within Hogwarts.
"Fred…George…they were….they were…." Ron tried to find the words. "I saw them…and you were…"
"I'm sorry, Ron, they were never who—what we thought they were," he said apologetically.
"And you—you killed them," Ron said pointing to Draco, but there was no heat in the accusation. The red head was too stunned and confused to do much more.
Draco looked at Ron uncomfortably. "To be honest, I didn't think it was going to work. I just thought it would get their attention." That wasn't exactly an apology, but considering what had just happened, none was expected.
Harry looked around the classroom. It had been devastated. Smashed desks and chairs littered the floor, the little furniture in the room that was still in one piece had been overturned or pushed into the corners of the room. The walls of the classroom were scored with cuts and burn marks. Fred and George Weasley lay crumpled on the ground. It was quite a mess.
Harry stepped through the debris strewn inside of the classroom and retrieved his wand. He noticed neither of the other occupants of the room made any attempt to stop him. That, at least, was a good sign.
Harry regarded Draco, the boy still standing where he had been when he had cursed the Weasley twins. "Um, not that I'm not grateful, Draco, but why did you help me? We've never actually been friends," Harry asked, turning to the blond haired Slytherin boy. "Or did you think I was Dean Thomas?"
"No, I had figured out that it was you, Potter," Draco said. "I followed you from that room on the seventh floor after overhearing Granger talking to the mirror," Draco admitted, his eyes fixed on Harry. "I knew, this would be my only chance."
"Only chance for what?" Harry asked.
"To be a Dark Wizard." Draco took a step towards Harry, an eager look on his face. "I want you to teach me the Dark Arts, to teach me to be powerful like you. Teach me how to destroy our enemies!" Draco gestured towards all of the destruction in the room. "Take me to the Dark Lord and make me one of you."
Ron and Harry stared both at Draco like he was mental.
When Harry didn't immediately reply, Draco continued. "Binns said it. Dark wizards always target their best friends. Well, I don't have any friends who are dark wizards, but I knew that if I kept watch on Granger or Weasley, here, I would have my chance." Draco smiled smugly. "You owe me, Potter. And all I ask is that you give me the same chance you're gonna give Weasley. I'll do whatever it takes."
Harry shook his head. "Look, Draco, it's not what you think. I'm not actually a dark wizard at all. I'm not trying to turn Ron or anyone Dark. I'm just trying to save them."
"Don't give me that!" Draco spat. "I saw what you did in here. You move like Dumbledore does when he's mad! I want you to teach me how to beat Them." Draco looked at Harry intensely. "Yeah, I know about Them. And you can beat them. I may have cast the final spell, but you fought them and they couldn't control you." Draco frowned for a second. "Actually, how did my spell hit them? I saw you try the killing curse on them and it passed right through."
"I solidified the twins, just before you attacked," Harry explained. He moved quickly over to where Ron was still standing watching the exchange wordlessly. "Since the duro spell doesn't need to physically touch a target to work and turns it solid, I figured it might force them to remain substantial. Unfortunately, they disarmed me before I could take advantage of that, but you attacked at just the right time. So…um…thanks for saving my life, Draco. But, well, I still can't make you into a dark wizard. There's no such thing."
"What do you mean there's no such thing?" Draco and Ron asked together.
"There aren't any dark wizards because there aren't really any wizards. There's no magic. The entire world we're living in is a lie." Harry sighed before reaching into his trench coat pockets. "Look, I don't really have time for this. I came in here to rescue Ron, but I'm out of time because of this unexpected fight. If I don't get out of Hogwarts now, I won't make it out at all, and then I won't be able to actually rescue anyone." Harry opened his hand. There were two glowing pills resting in his palm. One red, one blue.
"Sorry Ron, but I'm going to have to give you the really short, short version: The world you live in is a lie. You are trapped here against your will, and you don't know it," Harry said earnestly, facing towards his friend. "Everything you see, everything you touch or do here, is an illusion. I can't explain how this is, but it is. And this pill," Harry said, holding up the red one, "will take you out of the illusion. It will let you know the truth and allow you to escape. The real world isn't really super wonderful, but it is at least real."
There was a moment of silence as Draco and Ron processed what Harry was saying. "What about the blue pill?" Ron asked.
"The blue pill…will let you continue in the lie. It will put you to sleep and you'll wake up with the feeling that everything you just experienced was just a dream. It will be your choice if you want to believe that or not, but either way, the dream will protect you from the consequences of this meeting." Harry said. "It's your choice."
"I don't know, mate." Ron said slowly. "I mean, just an hour ago I thought you were some kind of evil dark wizard, and now you want me to believe a crazy story and eat a magic pill? Look, Harry, I honestly don't know what got into me before, and I'm sorry about thinking so many bad about you. I don't think you're evil, really…you're my best mate. But it's just…too much to believe you. I figure, maybe you're not evil, but you could be barking mad. I don't even understand what you're trying to tell me."
Harry felt a jolt from the map in his pocket. A warning. Something was coming this way.
"Look, I'm out of time. Ron, mate, I hope you'll trust me. Take the pill and then go some place quiet." Harry put both pills in his friend's hands and headed for the door. "I'll see you on the other side."
"Wait, Potter!" Draco called out as Harry pulled on a cloak and stepped through the doorway. "Take me with you! I want to be a dark wizard! I'll do anything!"
Harry looked back at the blond haired boy, the arrogant jerk who had been a thorn in the side of him and his entire time at Hogwarts. Looking at him now, though, pleading with him to take him away, made Harry feel sympathy for the obnoxious prat. "Sorry, Draco, I just have the one pill."
The Lupin could only save one mind at a time. Technology had come a long way, it was true. It no longer required a crew to actually be present inside the Matrix once the trace on a Red Pill had begun; the functions that were once carried out by people inside the System were now contained within the code for the pill. But on the outside, the ship still needed to be there to take a body out of the sewers once the hack successfully caused the System to release the person's body. One ship could only rescue multiple minds if they were located in the same physical cluster, and Harry thought it highly unlikely Draco just happened to be stored near Ron.
Harry sent one last, hopeful look back towards his friend and Draco, then hurried down the corridors of the school. He was out of time. As it was, it would take some luck to make it back out.
01101101 01101101 01101101
Inside the whiteness of the void, Eon knew that distance had little meaning, and time was measured far differently than his human mind was accustomed. But it sure felt like he had been walking a long way towards the cluster of information that he knew was the Source. With each step forward, Eon felt more and more connections being made between him and the Machine world around him.
On some level, he was aware of what was happening. He was becoming something more than he had been.
Eon. The One.
Eon realized that he was not inside the Construct created by the Lupin's systems, or any system from Zion. Instead, this virtual experience was some kind of shared connectivity between AI. The Programs communicating with him through the connections that were being made not only accepted his presence, he noted, they were obeying his commands. It seemed, as the One he had access to anything he desired.
Eon knew that the more connections he made to the Source, the more control he could exercise. At the Source itself, he would be essentially part of the entire System itself, able to accomplish anything. By now, there were thousands of distinct threads stretching from him out into the distance towards the hub of AI activity. Eon was becoming part of that, and he knew that was important for some reason. He had a role to fulfill, and he would soon learn what that role was. Once he reached the Source and received his instructions.
Eon frowned, momentarily. The idea of being told what he was to do was wrong for some reason. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was that was wrong with the idea but—
A scream pierced his ears.
Ears.
He had ears. Back along the blue thread, that faded thin blue thread leading back to the Lupin, he had a body with ears, eyes, a mouth…and a bunch of other organs. He was alive there. The screaming was coming from there. Someone on the other side was screaming.
It was Tonks.
Alarm spread through Eon. Tonks was in terrible, terrible pain! He needed to go back. He needed to go back and save her! Eon stopped where he was, stopped heading towards the massive interconnected space not so far away now as it had been. Then there was a surge of data flowing into him from the Source, telling him, insisting that he continue on his way to being the One. Any other concern was secondary to this one most important purpose. It would be easy to simply follow the command he was being given.
It only took one step, and Eon was back where he started. The thread leading to the Lupin and his body was once more strong and clear. If he followed that, he would arrive back to where his body was and he would wake up.
But Tonks wasn't being hurt back on the Lupin. She was being hurt in the Matrix. Going back to his body would not help her. He needed to go where she was hurting. He followed the connection to the Lupin, not back to his body, but in the other direction, to where it split off and vanished into the System. Into the Matrix.
01101110 01101110 01101110
Shaq, Remus, and Sirius were all standing around Tonks as she screamed in agony. Tears were streaming down Sirius' cheeks as he fought to hold her body still. She was screaming and her body was actually spasming on the platform where her body was strapped in, threatening to pull free of the data probe plugged into the back of her head.
It took severe pain to make body react to something that happened inside the Matrix. Sometimes the body responded on reflex to the signals sent to it, jerking with the impact of a particularly powerful blow or clenching to brace for an impact when struck by significant force. But for someone to actually scream out loud? Sirius had never seen that happen before.
"Just unplug her! Don't let this torture continue!" It broke his heart to give the order, but it was breaking his heart to see the girl he thought of as family in such agony.
"Captain! If we do that, we'll lose her!" Shaq shouted back. He was horrified at the thought of unplugging someone. But Shaq didn't understand.
"Nobody should have to endure this," Sirius growled. He looked over at Remus, the only person he knew who had shared his tortures back in the virtual world. They had locked him up and done unspeakable things to him before his eventual rescue. He understood what it was like to feel agony inflicted in Virtual Reality. The experience may have been virtual, but the pain was real. If it were him, he would have wanted someone to end it.
Remus looked at his friend, hesitatingly. He put his hand on the data probe sticking into the back of Tonks's head. "If you're sure."
Then there was a loud, sudden blip from across the room, where another person was. The monitors by the seat where Eon was plugged in, where his brain patterns and heart rate had both flat lined, were suddenly ablaze with activity. A second later, Tonks stopped screaming. Remus pulled his hand from off of the connection as if it were heated metal, while Sirius dropped his head into his hands.
What he had almost ordered his best friend to do…
01101111 01101111 01101111
Eon was on his feet, back in Borgins and Burke's in exactly the same position he had been when the Killing Curse had struck him. He was there again, black trench coat falling down at his feet and sunglasses on his face. The auror a few paces away was holding a wand over Tonks' prone form as she screamed.
Eon moved.
The entire building shuddered with the effect of the motion, and suddenly Eon was standing right in front of the auror, standing like an avenging angel of Death. Eon shoved his hand into the heart of the Program and locked eyes with it.
"Delete," he commanded.
There was a flash of light around the former-auror's form, a scream strangled from its lips and terror in its terrified eyes, and then it was gone.
Eon had no pity for simulated emotions. He saved his concern for his crewmate. Cooly, Eon gave Tonks a quick visual examination. She had stopped screaming and thrashing, but remained down on the ground, not moving. Eon turned from her, back towards the remaining two Programs in the room.
"Avada Ke—"
Before the red robed Auror could finish the incantation, Eon had leaped to him and kicked him through the wall of Borgin and Burkes. At the moment of impact between Eon's foot and the Auror's chest, time seemed to freeze, as the force of the strike created a shockwave that tore apart the ground beneath where the Auror had stood. There would be no getting up from that.
Kettleburn was staring at where Auror Kreacher had been. The Program wasn't just gone from the Matrix. It had been erased entirely. That should have been impossible. "How did you—"
Eon was in Kettleburn's face before the sentence completed. "Easy, professor. I am the One." And then Eon destroyed Hogwart's professor of Magically Affected Creatures just as he had the Auror who had tortured his friend.
The young hacker paced over to Tonks, put his hands on her, and frowned. There was nothing wrong with her connection, but she was nonetheless not conscious. He was sure if there was something wrong with the code, or even wrong with her virtual avatar, that he could fix it. Even here, inside the Magical section of the Matrix, the authority of the One would be recognized. However, there was nothing he could do for neurological damage.
He frowned. Harry would need his help, but first he had to get Tonks to safety. He took a look at Tonks, then at the Vanishing cabinet.
01110000 01110000 01110000
The halls of Hogwarts were, thankfully, mostly empty as Harry hurried along. Cloaked as he was in the function that disguised him from detection by any Program, Harry could safely ignore the watchful gazes of the portraits lining the hallways and the occasional prowling ghost floating through the walls of the castle. The soft carpeting on the corridors prevented the sounds of his footfalls from alerting anyone of his presence.
The only complication Harry had on the upper levels of the school was navigating the moving stairways. Normally, a student needed to "tell" the stairs where they wanted them to go, but that was not an option for an intruder trying not to alert the Headmaster to his position. Fortunately, Harry had an alternative method of getting from floor to floor. When Harry finally arrived at the end of the hallway and found the stairs all leading away from the exit to the school, he didn't hesitate.
He jumped straight over the edge of the stairwell.
After running through the training programs Sirius and Tonks put him through, leaping from one floor to another was child play. Harry tumbled through the air, twisting around a chandelier suspended "magically" in midair, and planted his feet above the second floor wall. He ran a few steps horizontally before kicking off to twist in the air once more and land on the lowest level of the stairwell. Harry would still need to descend one more set of stairs before he made it out of Hogwarts, but that staircase was located on the other side of the school.
No sooner had Harry landed then he noticed the revealing spell cast over the entire level. Unlike the standard revealing spell which searched specifically for the codes for humans, this new code functioned to detect any new object within the boundaries of the spell. It would treat a stray cat, a bowling ball, or a freed mind exactly the same. Unfortunately for Harry, his cloak wouldn't prevent detection from a function such as this. The Hogwarts staff undoubtedly now knew his whereabouts.
Harry quickly palmed his wand. "Avis!" he called out, conjuring a swarm of small birds which quickly scattered around the hallway. "Engorgio!" he added the enlargement charm a moment later, causing several of the birds to expand to near human size, each flapping away down a different corridor of the castle. Harry quickly vaulted up the walls to the ceiling, bracing himself in the shadows of one corner with his hands and feet.
Seconds later, the sounds of hurried steps filled the hall. The diminutive form of Filius Flitwick, accompanied by a pair of red robed Aurors entered the hall where Harry had just been.
"Hmm, a bird conjuring charm," the Charms professor noted. "A clever ruse to blind our revealing spell. We will need to split up to investigate each suspicious object. You are authorized to use any means necessary to stun Mr. Potter, but so long as he does not escape the castle, he is not be killed." The red robed Aurors chorused their understanding.
A fourth voice, one familiar to Harry, called out from further down the corridor. Minerva McGonagall walked into sight at a brisk pace, her tall black hat and conservative black dress making her look exceptionally witch-like, fitting the archetype perfectly. "Don't you think we should be focusing on catching Black? Mr. Potter may be misguided and a threat to some of our students, but he's not capable of entering the castle on his own. If we can capture Sirius Black it might be possible to save Mr. Potter and perhaps even some of the others."
Harry listened intently. From the sound of it, McGonagall was not a Program. That didn't mean she wasn't a traitor, though.
"Trust me, Minerva, Potter has become a very serious threat. Black has taught him some very dark magic. Remember what Albus told you."
"Yes, Filius, I will alert the Headmaster if I am the one to locate Mr. Potter," the Transfiguration professor said with a nod. "I don't know why Albus is not taking advantage of my experience. I may not be Auror-trained or a duelling champion like you, but I am more than capable of handling myself."
"Of course, Minerva," Filius said amiably, "Dumbledore trusts you and has faith in your ability. It's just that dealing with a dark wizard is a matter that requires specialized training. Now, please report to the Headmaster that Mr. Potter is using the Avis charm to set off our revealing spell."
McGonagall nodded. "Of course, Filius. It's just so hard to believe that such a kind boy as Harry Potter could be corrupted," she remarked as she walked back down the hallway.
Harry watched from the shadows of the hallway as his Transfiguration professor and former head of house retreated, then as Flitwick set off down one of the corridors he had sent the enlarged conjured birds. Harry was grateful the castle had such high ceilings, making it easy to hid away in a corner. Too bad he hadn't thought to bring a broom.
Carefully, Harry Potter dropped down to the castle's stone floor, kicking off of the walls to slow his descent. Harry quickly made his way back through the castle halls, conjuring more birds and enlarging some of them as he went along to make finding him even more difficult. He knew the Programs would notice a pattern in where the conjured birds were coming from, but with his cloak he would be indistinguishable to them from any other object. Harry passed the walls lined with statues and suits of armor, taking an indirect route towards the exit, through the Trophy room which contained the glory of Quidditch teams past.
Just a couple rooms to go and—someone was behind him. "Colloportus!" The doors to the room all suddenly locked. He was trapped.
Harry whipped out his wand. "Locus tutus!" The privacy charm that would prevent anyone from seeing or hearing anything within the room. It wouldn't buy him much time, but with much of the school staff out searching for his conjured birds, Harry hoped it would be enough. He had a good idea who it was who had ambushed him.
Harry looked to the spot he had just passed, where a suit of armor had been. Professor McGonagall now stood in its place, her long robes and black pointed hat morphing into shape as she untransfigured herself. "That is as far as you go, Mr. Potter," his Transfiguration professor said, her aged face stern and her wand pointed firmly in Harry's direction. "If you turn in Black, the Ministry may go easy on you."
Harry shook his head ruefully. "I'm sorry, Professor, I can't let you stop me. I don't want to fight you, but I will be getting out of this school."
McGonagall brandished her wand, whispering an incantation. For a brief moment, Harry's form wavered, shrinking down. Harry could feel the spell. The code affecting him included the specification for a mouse's form, as well as instructions for imprinting the limited set of functions available to and the identity of the rodent over the mind of the target. She was trying to turn him into a mouse.
No.
Harry refused the commands of the code, asserting his own self-image on the Matrix, forcing it to accept his choice of reality. Professor McGonagall's eyes went wide as she watched the transformation reverse and Harry return to his normal form, still holding onto his wand. Harry gave her a sad look. "You should have followed Flitwick's instructions, Professor." Harry fired a Stunner straight at her.
For a second, the room lost focus.
"Protego!" McGonagall called out, just in time, the red beam bouncing off the protection she had called up. Her shield buckled. Perhaps Albus was right to worry. Potter was much more dangerous than she had thought. Oddly, enough, for a moment, she thought she saw her student seem to flicker where he stood. Whatever it was, she would need to use stronger magic to overcome him. "Piertotum Locomotor!" she called out.
Harry's disorientation as the Matrix world around him was disrupted was only momentary, but by the time he got his bearings, he found himself being held in place by a pair of suits of armor. He struggled against them, but their grip was like iron. McGonagall was quick to capitalize on Harry's confusion and lack of mobility. "Incarcerous!" McGonagall waved her wand and ropes were conjured to bind Harry.
"Sirius Black may have taught you some dark magic tricks, Mr. Potter, but if you think leaving behind Hogwarts improved your magical education, you are sorely mistaken," the witch scolded. Minerva walked forward, with a look on her face that seemed half smug at her apparent victory and half sad at the necessity of subduing her favorite student. "I take no pleasure in your capture, Mr. Potter. You have been deceived by a cruel and evil man."
With a deep breath, Harry looked his former teacher in the eye, a defiant glint making the elderly woman pause. "You've got that backwards, I'm afraid, Professor. I'm not the one who has been deceived by someone cruel and evil." A small, bitter smile found its way on to Harry's face. "I can see that you're not a traitor, like Snape is. You're just another victim of the Headmaster's lies, maybe even one of the first he ever tricked. I'm actually glad about that, Professor. You've always been a good person. It would have broken my heart to know that you were in on it too."
Minerva frowned and shook her head. "It is clear that you've had your mind twisted, Mr. Potter. I will try to see if the Ministry might give you leniency considering your age and the fact that you haven't yet harmed any witch or wizard that we know of."
"I'm not here to hurt anyone, Professor. I'm not the enemy. The enemy is the Headmaster and the world of lies he built around us."
McGonagall was taken aback by that declaration. "I cannot believe you would say that, after all he has done for you especially! Albus Dumbledore is a great man!"
Harry struggled against the ropes binding him, but they would not give, and even if they had, the grip of the two suits of armor grasping his wrists and elbows held him even more firmly. Despite this, Harry remained unperturbed.
"No, he's not," Harry replied. "He's not even a man at all. The Headmaster is using you… using all of us, but you can't see it. It's not your fault, though, Professor. The lies he tells are so perfect that it's almost impossible to realize the truth on your own."
"And what truth is it that you think you have realized, Mr. Potter?" It was clear that McGonagall did not believe anything Harry was saying, but she still wanted to know why a student she had known well would turn against the school.
So, Harry told her. "The truth is, Professor, that Hogwarts is not a school. It's a prison."
McGonagall shook her head sorrowfully. "After everything that was given to you here, you would believe that?"
Instead of answering her, Harry looked at his professor in the eye. "Tell me, Professor, have you ever had the feeling that there was something not right with the world? Felt like you were dreaming the things around you, and that your dreams were more real than the waking world? Ever wake up from a dream you thought was real?" The professor didn't answer.
"Have you ever looked at a picture or an object, only for it turn into sound or numbers? Do you ever feel as if your memories are not all your own?" Harry could tell by McGonagall's reaction that his words were hitting home. "Tell me, Professor, have you ever dreamed—for just a second—that you had woken up with your body covered in a warm goo, and you were unable to move? And do you sometimes dream of a void stretching out all around you, and get the feeling that you are trapped inside your own mind?"
"How…how do you know…?" McGonagall's shook her head and stumbled away from Harry shaking her head in denial.
"You're trapped in here, Professor. You have been your whole life. And that's why I'm here, to help people like us get out, to get free."
"No," McGonagall denied. "That can't be true. Magic explains all of that. It's what we teach here at Hogwarts. All of those things are because of magic."
"That's just it, Professor," Harry said, smiling sadly. "There is no magic."
McGonagall quirked an eyebrow. "Then what do you call this?" she asked, pointing to the suits of armor holding Harry and the rope tying him up.
"That's not really here. In fact, I'm not really here. And even you, you're not really here." With each statement, Harry felt the grip on him loosen. Not because the armor was releasing him, or the rope was slackening, but because his mind acknowledged that the entire situation wasn't real, and if it wasn't real, how could it be tight? How could it even bind him? "There is no rope. There is no armor. There is no magic."
Saying that was very liberating. Literally. The armor holding Harry crashed to the floor, the rope binding him unbound itself and then disappeared. McGonagall gasped. She tried to raise her wand, but before she could even lift her arm, Harry Potter was behind her, snatching the wand from her hand and gripping her wrist tightly behind her back.
"How did you….?" The Transfiguration teacher's head was spinning. What Harry had done was impossible. What he had said was impossible. This couldn't be. It was wrong, all wrong.
Minerva McGonagall began to shake, her eyes going wide as the denial within her warred with her cognitive dissonance, disrupting her connection with the Matrix. Harry frowned as he saw the symptoms. Disassociation. Soon, her mind would disconnect from the Matrix, possibly unable to reconnect.
Harry Potter stepped away from his Transfiguration professor and quickly Stunned her. He hoped that would be enough to protect her mind. She wasn't ready to be freed, even if he somehow could. Perhaps it was too late for her. Harry left her lying in the Trophy room.
Harry touched the door of the room…and saw what was waiting on the other side. They were waiting for him. Harry turned the handle and stepped through.
01110001 01110001 01110001
"Tonks isn't waking up," Remus informed as he examined the young woman lying on the table next to him, motionless except for her breathing. "Her brain scans show severe trauma. Whatever happened to her in there…it damaged her. Likely permanently."
Sirius swore loudly, pounding his hand against the ship's interior. "Get Eon and Harry out now. Do whatever it takes."
Remus nodded. "Come on, Eon. You got Tonks out, now it's your turn."
The console flashed red. An error message flashed on the screen. "That's not possible."
"What is it?" Shaq asked, looking over from where he was checking Tonks' breathing.
"Something is overriding my attempt to pull Eon out," Remus answered with a bewildered expression on his face.
"Is our broadcast signal not strong enough? Maybe they need to get to a hard line?" Shaq asked.
Remus shook his head. "We've got the equivalent of a hard line connection already. The signal is clear enough to retrieve him without any issue. It's something else, as if we don't have the necessary permissions, but since he's jacked in through our systems, that can't be possible."
"What about Harry?" Sirius asked. "We should get him out before our window into the encrypted section closes."
"No good," Remus said. "The encryption there is on a whole different level, it's an entire generation ahead of the rest of the code. The only way we've been able to get in there at all is with Trojan programs, and we have no way of inserting one right now. Until Harry gets clear of that place, we can't retrieve him."
"Damn it!" Sirius cursed. "If there's another feedback surge like before…"
"I know," Remus replied. "There was another spike in the feedback a few minutes ago, but the suppression circuit was able to handle it." Remus was now standing over Harry's prone form, concern in his eyes.
A console by Sirius beeped. The dark-haired captain touched the screen several times, then frowned. "Well, it seems Harry did it. The Trace program completed successfully. We have the Target's location and release code. As soon as we get Eon and Harry back, we can go get them." Sirius looked over at Tonks's motionless form. "Whoever they are, they'd better be worth it."
01110010 01110010 01110010
Harry stepped through the door leading to the entrance hall of Hogwarts castle. The massive portcullis that separated the interior of the school with the rest of the "magical" part of the Matrix was just ahead. It may as well have been a million miles away.
Standing in front of that singular exit was the Headmaster. Albus Dumbledore had closed every other path out of the school. The various doors that could take students and staff throughout the Matrix world had been locked. The windows and secret passages had all been closed off. Portkeys, the floo network, and appartion had all been disabled. The only way out of this world within a world within a world was straight through the one person with absolute power over the entire place.
Harry Potter stepped forward, completely calm.
"Ah, Harry, I was beginning to wonder when you would get here," the old man with the white beard and powder blue robes said, speaking as if nothing in the world were amiss. "You are, about two minutes later than I had anticipated." The Headmaster adjusted the half-moon spectacles on the bridge of his nose. "You can remove that invisibility cloak of yours. It may fool others, but nothing can escape my notice in this place."
"I know, Headmaster. Sorry for my tardiness. I was just having a chat with the Deputy Headmistress," Harry replied, even as he slipped the cloak from off of his back to let it fall to the ground at the top of the stairs down. "I hope you won't dock Gryffindor for keeping you waiting."
Harry could visibly see lines of code within the walls of the room flowing into the Headmaster, he could see the control the man had over the virtual environment. It was total.
The Headmaster chuckled. "Oh, most certainly not. In fact, I'm quite prepared to do just the opposite if you would be willing to comply with me. Your attempt to break in here was very brave and bold, quite Gryffindorish, but doomed to failure from the start, I'm afraid."
Harry continued walking, down the steps and straight towards the Headmaster. When he got to within fifteen feet of the exit doors, he stopped. This was where he needed to be.
"I guess it depends on how you look at it, Professor. I may not have freed the person I came to free, but there was a lot I learned while I was here. That alone was worth the trip. When I get back to the real world, that knowledge is going to be very valuable."
Dumbledore shook his head. "If you think you will leave this school, Harry, you are mistaken. Every way out of this school has been sealed off. While you may be strong enough to defeat an Auror, you cannot possibly defeat me. Not here."
Harry smiled. "I know. I've seen how this ends."
For the first time since Harry had met Dumbledore, there was a look of annoyance on the Headmaster's face. "You certainly did a number on Professor Trelawney. It will likely be months before we are able to restore what you managed to damage with that Confundus. But while I may not be as able to use our predictive functions quite as well as our esteemed Divinations Professor, I'm good enough at the subject to know that there is nothing you can do to escape this situation."
Harry nodded, acknowledging the Headmaster's point.
"As you know, Mister Potter, I have would have no compunction at all in casting the Killing Curse on all of your friends if it would suit my purpose, which we both know would result in their termination out in the real world. As you know, I am not human. So now, you have a choice. Surrender yourself willingly and you will not only spare your friends here in the castle, but thousands of others, an unnecessarily premature death. I will have to erase quite a few memories, but that will be much easier and less damaging than the alternative."
Harry watched the Headmaster stoically, waiting. He could feel what was coming. Dumbledore would offer him a choice.
"Why fight me when all that will happen is that you will end up hurting those you care about? Were you aware that because of you the location of Mr. Anderson and Ms. Diggle was compromised? Your struggle will cost many more their lives if you continue opposing your destiny at this school."
There, that was the word. The moment he had foreseen was almost here. There was a buzzing sound in the air, as if destiny itself was approaching.
"All you have to do, Harry, is lay down your wand and give me the coordinates of your ship, and I will arrange for your capture. I am even willing to instruct the sentinels we will send to disable your ship not to kill your crew mates." The white bearded Headmaster had an affable expression on his face that Harry knew was entirely fake. "If you resist, though, I will take the information from your mind forcefully, and then they will all die. The choice, as it were, is yours, Mister Potter."
"Well," Harry said, "that's quite a deal you're offering me. But I've got a better one."
"Oh?" Dumbledore replied.
"How about," Harry held up one hand and stuck up his middle finger. "I give you the finger. And you open up the front door for me?"
"Harry, my boy, don't think that—"
Dumbledore was blasted through the front gate by a black blur that appeared out of nowhere. Then the shockwave hit the castle, ripping paintings off the walls, tearing up the carpet, and sending magical chandeliers crashing to the corridors they had hung above.
Eon had arrived.
"Now I see why you liked Quidditch so much," the older teen said while holding a hand out.
"Brilliant!" Harry said with a grin. "Just get us outside Hogwarts boundaries, and I can take us the rest of the way."
"Hang on." Eon gathered himself, wind kicking up from around him before he sped out through the gates which the Headmaster had just been smashed through, carrying Harry along with him. The pair soared up and out before they disappeared with CRACK!
Author's Note: One more chapter left. Unless there's two. If you've liked the story, please read and review.