Chapter 29: The Last Illusion (Part 1)
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Harry stood alone at the gate leading to Hogwarts, alone except for the intimidating presence of the Headmaster. The grounds were quiet. Nobody would see the deal that was about to be made, but perhaps that was for the better. If there were no witnesses, nobody would need to be Obliviated.
"You'll let my friends go?" Harry asked the Headmaster. "You'll set Ron and Hermione free as well?"
"Of course I will set your friends go, Harry," the Headmaster said kindly. "As much as it will cost me to do so, it will be worth it for your return. Once you are back in the System, your friends will be released."
"And you will call off the attack on New Salem? Nobody has to die?"
"I will send the command to halt the attack with all of my authority behind it. Now, take my hand and it will all be over."
Harry hesitated. Was he willing to become a slave to the Machines for the rest of his life to save his friends?
Harry reached out and grasped the Headmaster's hand. The moment he did so, he felt the intrusion. To anyone watching, it would appear that a black, shimmering liquid-like substance spread out from the Program's hand and began to envelope the image of the boy, coating his virtual hand, then his arm in an all engulfing darkness that grew outward from the Headmaster's touch. Harry could feel himself being overwritten, feel how the process was taking all that he was and rewriting it into something different. Instinctively, Harry fought back, and the liquid corruption halted in its progress.
"Your willingness is part of the agreement, Harry," Dumbledore chided.
Harry gave the Headmaster a fearful look before, finally, nodding. Then he let go, let the changes happen. Accepted them. It was the only way to save his friends and New Salem. The blackness spread over his entire body, poured down his mouth, through the connection back to the ship, back to his body.
Then it was over.
Harry Potter stood before the Headmaster in his Hogwarts uniform. Gone were the trench coat and the weapons he had brought with him into the simulation. Gone were all the old feelings, doubts, and questions he once had.
"So, Harry Potter," the Headmaster asked. "You need to specify which students are your friends so that I can release them as per our agreement."
The figure standing before Albus Dumbledore quirked an eyebrow. "Friendship is a human relationship, professor. Since I am no longer human, I do not have any friends. You know that, of course."
"Excellent, my boy. Once your body is recovered from the ship and reinserted permanently into the Matrix architecture, we will need to begin preparing the school for an influx of new students in a couple of years. It is unclear how many subjects from the human colonies will be suitable for Hogwarts, but our best estimates suggest at least a doubling in enrollment. I'm afraid that while I have indeed sent the order for the army approaching New Salem to abort the attack in accordance without our agreement, as merely the Headmaster of Hogwarts I lack the authority for my order to mean anything out in the real world. That command must come from the Source itself."
"Very clever, Headmaster," the boy said, without even a trace of emotion. "I look forward to returning to Hogwarts."
Harry Potter was gone.
Green eyes blinked disconcertedly. He heard a voice
"Harry?"
Tonks was looking at him with concern. He gave her a smile, then took a long settling breath. That vision had been disturbing.
"We're here, Harry," a deeper, cooler voice inquired.
Eon.
"Are you sure you want to do this alone?" Eon's warm brown eyes regarded him from over at the controls of the Lupin, concern evident in his expression.
Harry looked from his friends over to the black, twisting metal towers that rose up into the sky. Electrical current wound around the great spires in great arcs of power that illuminated the bleakness of the surrounding land. There were human bodies plugged into those towers, human minds all trapped there serving the interests of the Machines who had enslaved them. Here he was, back at the beginning.
"I'm glad you're both with me," Harry Potter said. "We need a new plan."
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"Sirius Black," the voice coming from the doorway barked, "you are under arrest for insubordination."
Sirius rolled over on his bed to stare up in annoyance to where a pair of uniformed men stood. "Have you any idea what time of the day it is?" he growled out. "If Remus put you up to this…"
"I'm sorry, captain," the second soldier said, shooting a glare over at his partner. "You are not being placed under arrest at this time," the man paused momentarily before apologetically nodding over to Sirius. "However, we do need to escort you to Commander Robards immediately for questioning."
Sirius frowned in annoyance as he began pulling his clothes on. "Questioning? About what? And why can't this wait until a more reasonable hour?"
"Because, Black," the first solider began, "you—"
"The name is Sirius," the hover ship captain said, a hard edge to his voice. "I don't care whose authority you are under, I don't answer to a name the Machines gave me."
"Apologies, Captain Sirius," the second man said, glaring at his partner. "Nott here is new to the uniform. Zion-born, sir." Nott certainly knew what he was doing was rude, but that was not something that was tolerated in military ranks, especially since at least half in the military had come from freed minds. "But I'm afraid we must bring you down to the Commander immediately. It's about the Lupin. Three members of your crew stole it last night."
"WHAT?!"
Sirius dressed quickly.
The walk down to the Docks was frantic, Sirius not needing any prodding from the military escorts to hurry. He had to see the ship gone in order to really believe it. There was no way what he had been told could be true. When he finally arrived with his escorts to see that the Lupin was indeed missing, he angrily turned to the Dock Commander who was waiting by the berth where it was supposed to be.
"What happened to my ship?" he demanded.
"That's what I want to know from you, Captain," Robards replied. "Last night, three members of your crew disabled the guards and took off with the Lupin using a virus planted in the Dock controls to prevent us from stopping them. Are you trying to say that you had nothing to do with this, that they were not acting under your orders?"
"No, they weren't, Robards. Believe me, and when they're brought, back I'm going to kill them!" Sirius growled, staring angrily at the empty space where his ship was supposed to be. "Who did you send after them? The Kreacher?" Sirius turned to the commander. "Put me on the radio with Captain Walburga, I know some fast side tunnels Tonks doesn't know about yet that would put her ahead of them before they get beyond the local tunnel systems."
Robards gave Sirius a hard look. "Nobody has been sent after your ship, captain. The Dock is under lockdown by order of the City Council. With the threat of an imminent sentinel attack, we need every available ship to evacuate as many people as we possibly can. If your crew did act without your knowledge, then when and if they are found they will be tried for treason against Zion for taking a valuable asset in a time of war."
As incensed as he was at the theft of his pride and joy, Sirius was not about to see members of his crew brought up on treason charges. A month in the brig he could support, but not the death penalty. "Look, they're young," Sirius reasoned. "They don't know what they're doing. You don't even need to send a ship out beyond the local area, just far enough to get a radio signal to them. I'll talk some sense into them and get them to bring the ship back and the Lupin can take part of the evacuation. We can handle this without the need for a court martial."
"What I find suspicious," Robards said, eyeing Sirius critically, "is that you knew that one of those responsible was Tonks or that the youngest members of your crew who were responsible. If you didn't know about this incident before now, then how could you know who it was that took your ship, hmm?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Three of my crew knocked out everyone on this Dock without getting caught? No way that wasn't Tonks. Alastor's too old and injured to even attempt something like that. Remus wouldn't do anything like this in a million years, and the only other person on my crew stupid enough to do something this crazy is standing right here arguing with you. So, rather than standing here arguing about things, just send out a ship to get a radio signal to them, or if nobody here has the stones to do it, give me a ship and I'll go after them myself!"
"That's probably exactly what you—"
"Well, well, what do we have here, I wonder," the calm, confident voice of Lucius cut into the conversation. The finely dressed man strode onto the scene, his eyes lighting on Sirius and then the empty space where his ship had been. "Has someone misplaced a hover ship?"
Sirius glowered. He did not need this. Not now.
"Councilor Lucius," Robards acknowledged with a dip of his head. The suckup. "I see your received my message. But you didn't need to come down here personally so early in the morning; I just thought that you would want to be informed of this violation, since you were the one to issue the lockdown on the Council's behalf. I can handle this matter for the Council until after the crisis is averted."
"Your diligence is appreciated, Robards," Lucius said with a nod, "but I wanted to see this with my own eyes."
Robards smiled and bobbed his head deferentially. "Of course, Councilman. As I was saying," the New Salem Dock Commander continued, turning back to Sirius and taking a firm, belligerent tone, "I bet you were hoping we would send you out after them all along. Then you'd have two ships to run whatever scheme you have going, one last attempt to have a successful mission to save yourself from the Council's judgment. Well, that won't happen. No military ship is to leave the Dock. Period."
"Come on, Robards, you don't have to be an ass about this. It's not too late to handle this without having to court marshal anyone. Just send a ship out far enough to relay a direct signal. I'm not asking to be on the ship; I can transmit my message from here. I'm sure they'll listen to me and they'll bring the ship back before the Machine army arrives. No harm done." Sirius plead. "They're just kids."
Robards shook his head. "There is not a single ship to spare, Sirius, and even if there were one, I wouldn't give it to you."
"Then," Lucius said, turning to Sirius with a wan smile on his face, "he may take my ship."
"What?" Robards and Sirius asked as one.
"Councilor, my orders are…"
"I know what your orders are, Commander," Lucius said, "I'm the one who relayed them to you from the High Council. No military ship can leave New Salem except as part of the evacuation. The Abraxas, however, is not a military ship. It is under the direct captaincy of the Zion City Council, and as such I have full authority to turn it over to Captain Sirius in order for him to mount a retrieval mission of his wayward crew."
The commander sputtered for a second, flabbergasted by the sudden turn around.
"Now, have my ship prepared for the captain, and inform the rest of his crew that they will be departing posthaste." With that, Lucius dismissed the Dock Commander as if he were just some nameless grunt and turned his attention to his former captain.
Sirius was equally dumbfounded. He looked at his long time political foe and former disaffected crew member in consternation. "Why?" was all that he could ask.
"Let's just say, that up until a day ago, I hadn't quite grasped what it was you were trying to accomplish, Captain Sirius. It was only when you brought my son back to me that I really understood you," Lucius paused, looking away from Sirius, out over the large empty space leading to the Dock doors. "Most importantly, I owe you for the return of my son. Now you are the one who has lost something and needs it back. I'm repaying my debt."
Sirius regarded the man standing before him for several long seconds. "Thank you, Lucius," he said, shaking the man's hand before hurrying on again.
Lucius smiled to himself as Sirius disappeared back down towards the barracks. A couple days ago, he would not have lifted a finger to aid Sirius or anyone on his old ship. Today, though, well…it was most likely a futile effort, but it cost him nothing. Even in the worst case, if both the Abraxas and the Lupin ended up lost, nobody would begrudge him such a favor to his former captain, especially with the popularity Sirius enjoyed. If Sirius did manage to contact the Lupin and get the crew to return voluntarily, then Lucius's decision to let Sirius make the attempt would be lauded as wise and brave. It was truly a small price to pay for such a great debt as the return of his son, a lost connection to his own beloved Narcissa.
And if he had dared to admit it to himself, Lucius would have acknowledged it felt good to do the right thing.
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Albus Dumbledore stood in the back of his office dressed in periwinkle colored floor-length robes, with a dark purple cape decorated with silver stars and golden crescent moons draped over his back. The Headmaster's gaze was fixed at a point at the center of the wall of his office, a calm smile giving his wizened face the appearance of benevolence, while the silver-white long hair that capped his head added a sense of wisdom and serenity. The man stood there, seemingly perfectly still and perfectly at ease.
Appearances, however, could be deceptive.
While any onlooker would have thought Albus Dumbledore calm, the opposite was true. The Headmaster was excited. Such excitement may only have been a number indicating the high probability that several key algorithms tied to his primary function would greatly increase due to projected eventualities in both the physical world and the virtual one, but nevertheless, his placid features belied the status of his affective parameters—he was positively thrilled.
The perception that Dumbledore was looking at pretty much nothing was also entirely false. In fact, standing motionless within this virtual environment allowed the Headmaster to see vast amounts of data and do numerous things concurrently. At the moment, Dumbledore could see where each of his students were, track their real world vital statistics (though that was hardly relevant), access and analyze the reports they had made for their homework and class work, and even read their superficial thoughts in real-time. There were, of course, limits to what the thought analyst Programs could get from the data, but the words and images that formed within those areas of the brain were easy enough to interpret. Emotions were particularly easy to identify, though the root of some emotions remained elusive.
For instance, at that moment the anomaly Neville Longbottom, a subject who had recently shown heretofore unseen results, was feeling guilty about his happiness over Severus Snape being indisposed. The Deputy Headmistress, anomaly Minerva McGonagall, was stressing about end of term reports and the overall health of students, while manifesting minor concern about reports of a disturbance happening outside of school grounds—something the human should have realized that Ministry of Magic would handle and should not concern her. Of most immediate "concern" to Albus, however, were the thoughts of two of his prize Gryffindors who, even now, were approaching his office. Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were agitated and fearful as they approached the stairway leading up to the very office in which he stood.
It was a shame that their fear and agitation was entirely warranted. The two of them had become irreparably compromised by Potter's intrusions. While the Weasley boy on his own could have been dealt with after apparently having undergone the human "blue pill" program, making him remember his encounter with Harry Potter and the Weasley twin Programs as a dream, Ron Weasley's interactions with Granger had cemented his doubt of the virtual world. No level of Obliviation would remedy that. It was only a matter of time before he began experiencing repeat disconnections. Granger was even worse. There was a high probability of her spreading her disassociations to other humans before her eventual final disconnection.
With a gesture of his hands, the doorway to his office opened, and the pair stepped in apprehensively. "You called for us, Headmaster?"
"Yes, Miss Granger," the Headmaster said, a kindly smile on his face as he turned to face them. "Please, take a seat." The two did. "Would you like a lemon drop?" the Headmaster asked innocently.
The pair very notably, did not take the candy, looking at the sweet with undisguised suspicion. Confirmation that Potter had discovered that particular method of influence.
"I'm sure you are wondering why I have asked the two of you here. Would either of you like to venture a guess as to the reason?" Dumbledore asked.
"You, um, want to tell us we can go home for the weekend?" Ron ventured, nervously.
Dumbledore smiled even wider, then stared directly into Ron's eyes. It wasn't possible to delve too deeply into everyone at once, but the analysis program could reveal a lot of information in a short time if it was directed to specific individual. "You know perfectly well that is not my reason for asking you here today, Mr. Weasley. Besides, do you really feel you would be more comfortable around your family right now?"
It was unlikely the anomaly Ronald Weasley was aware which of his "family" were actually humans and which, like the twins, were actually Programs fulfilling a social role, but in the 0.002% chance that the boy somehow managed to leave this room in the few minutes remaining before his physical body was recovered for examination in the slim hope that such would reveal something further about the anomaly that had not been gleaned from similar examinations of past subjects, it would be unfortunate for Ron to spread his doubts to any of the human Weasleys. Of course, this little mental subterfuge was overkill, the possibility of such a thing a truly trivial risk, but it was Dumbledore's nature to aim towards perfection.
"You're going to expel us, aren't you, sir?" Hermione said, with a tremble in her voice.
It would have been amusing, if Dumbledore had chosen to analyze the irony of a girl facing her entire reality being revealed to be a deception and still being more concerned with her school record, but he had not. Instead, he found the opening useful. The more he understood their recent interactions with Harry Potter, the more damage control he could run. So, he probed, "And why would you think that, Miss Granger?"
"Because you know that we've seen Harry Potter and…that we believe what he said," Hermione replied.
"Ten points to Gryffindor, Miss Granger," Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"So," she said calmly, "it's all true, isn't it? Everything Harry said."
"Oh, undoubtedly he told you many uncomfortable truths," Dumbledore said with a warm smile, his outwardly kind demeanor unchanged in the least from when the pair had entered. Ron, on the other hand, had gone deathly pale, his fingers digging into his seat as he tried to scrunch as far back from the very dangerous man in front of him. Hermione, however, had grown perfectly calm. "The only question I have," the Headmaster continued, "is how Mr. Potter managed to get his communications inside of Hogwarts in the first place."
As he had expected, Hermione Granger's surface thoughts connected with her memories of the attempts to contact and communicate with her. With such a clear path to the information, it would be a mere matter of minutes before that information was in his possession. What Dumbledore had not anticipated was how Hermione would act.
She drew her wand in a single swift motion, "Stupefy!" she called out.
The jet of red light from the tip of her wand was halted by a mere flick of Dumbledore's hands. While the girl's decision may have been unexpected, there was nothing surprising about her speed. The young witch had no hope of striking Dumbledore, not even had she had complete surprise on her side. Before she knew anything, she had been frozen in place, her wand flying out of her hands to land in Dumbledore's lap. Ron valiantly, but clumsily attempted to pull his own wand, only to meet with the exact same result.
"I had hoped we could continue our rather stimulating conversation for a while more, but, alas, it seems you were intent on doing some harm before your…expulsion." As Hermione and Ron sat frozen, their eyes—the only parts of their bodies able to move—fearfully followed the Headmaster as he stood up from the upholstered barrel-back sofa he had been sitting upon to deposit their wands onto a small table that rose up from the floor to collect them. The Headmaster began to putter around his office as he continued to speak to the bound pair, his back turned to them.
"Unfortunately for you, there is nothing at all that you can do to me, least of all here. In actual fact, the only way you could have done any harm to me or the school would be if you were spread knowledge of what Mr. Potter was able to reveal to you to the rest of the students. That would have, at worst, forced me to modify some memories, still a risky proposition despite recent progress on that front, but ultimately have been a small nuisance at most. Which, you may have deduced, was why I asked you to my office during the last few minutes you have remaining of your lives." Dumbledore turned back to face them with a fond look on his face. "It truly was a pity to have to order your termination, but the risk you pose is just too great in comparison to what can be learned from your continued participation in this school."
Dumbledore watched the pair struggle futilely against the spell binding them, the two never realizing that by struggling they were only acknowledging the power of the spell over them. "I'm afraid that your struggles will be in vain. Even were you to get free of those bonds, there is nothing you or anyone could do about the fate that even now is approaching you. I—"
A knock came unexpectedly, interrupting him mid-sentence. With a gesture, he concealed the presence of the two students. The Headmaster cast an annoyed glance at the door before causing it to open with a wave of his hand. It was Minerva McGonagall, and she was greatly agitated.
"I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall, my dear, but this is not a good time…"
"Albus—this is important."
The Headmaster sighed. He knew everything that was happening in Hogwarts, down to smallest line of code being executed, but he could not expect a human to truly understand just how well he had things in hand. "What is it, Minerva, that has you so flustered that you feel it cannot wait a few minutes?"
"It's Harry Potter, Albus. He's right outside the castle gates!"
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Scores of students milled about the castle's main entrance, pointing and murmuring to themselves in their school robes as a few of the prefects attempted in vain to get them back inside the newly repaired double doors. Harry Potter had returned to Hogwarts. And he looked dangerous.
From a distance, Harry in his all black attire could have been mistaken as still one of them, but a closer look would show that the young man standing just beyond the threshold of the school grounds had changed significantly since he had last been a student at the school. Instead of a wizard's robes he wore a black heavy trench coat which wrapped around him protectively. Instead of bags of school books hanging from his back, there were dozens of Muggle firearms sheathed and holstered on his vest and at his back. And instead of a pair of reading bifocals framing his eyes, there were a pair of sharp, black sunglasses.
It was to this scene that Minerva McGonagall arrived, making her way through the throng of gathered observers, a concerned look on the aged Transfiguration professor's face. This was a dangerous situation, as the half dozen Aurors lying around Potter's position attested, their red robed bodies serving as a stark warning that this boy was no longer under their control. She had hurried to make it back from the Headmaster's office, which fortunately, was just a short distance from the front entrance to the school. Flitwick and Sinistra were still there, but had yet to do anything about this situation.
The Headmaster appeared with a loud CRACK!
Albus Dumbledore looked at the scene before him in true surprise. "Astounding," the Headmaster remarked, glancing briefly towards Flitwick to make the necessary eye contact for instantaneous communication. "I must say, Harry, your arrival here defies probability," Dumbledore said calmly, yet his voice projected across the grounds despite the chaos of the panicking students gathered just behind him. Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, and Filius Flitwick walked in step together towards where Harry stood, creating some space between them and the gathered children. Behind them, the remaining Hogwarts faculty began to form up in a line in front of the students.
Harry met the Headmaster's gaze with a steady glare. Even at this distance, there was an intensity there, a dangerous edge that hadn't been in the boy while he was still Minerva's student. "That's the problem with people who have slipped out of your control, Dumbledore." Harry replied. "We might just do something you never expected."
At that expression of disrespect for the venerable Headmaster, Minerva McGonagall stepped forward indignantly, her pointed hat tilted slightly on her head. "Mister Potter!" she said, her voice ringing loudly, "I cannot believe you would return here with such ingratitude towards Professor Dumbledore and everyone here who taught you! That you would threaten violence and dark magic against the students here is…is unconscionable! You have no idea how much you have disappointed me." And it was true. Harry was one of her Gryffindors. She had watched him learn and grow within the school. Sure, he had a few troublemaker tendencies, but the boy had a good heart and cared deeply about his friends. Or so she had thought
Harry turned ever so slightly to his former Head of House, his hard expression softening momentarily, and gave her a small inclination of his head. "Professor, I have no wish to disrespect you, or any of the people who did their best for me at Hogwarts." There was an odd stress on the boy's pronunciation of the word 'people' which Minerva found inexplicable. Harry glanced quickly over to a few of his former friends who were standing with the other students behind the Hogwarts staff, looks of fear and wariness on their faces. "I wish I could tell you that no student will get hurt today, but that, I'm afraid is out of my hands. It would be best if you took all the students and left this area. Hogwarts is not the safest place to be right now. Nor has it ever been."
There was a murmur of trepidation from the student body, but Dumbledore raised a hand. "There is no need for alarm. You will all be perfectly safe within the castle walls. No harm can possibly come to you here, not so long as you are under my care." The Headmaster's confidence bolstered Minerva's own.
"Your care?" Harry questioned loudly. "Don't you mean your control? You are holding them all here in this prison, and they don't even know it." Harry directed his next comments towards the students still standing outside the castle doors. "Hogwarts isn't safety. It's peril. You are all deceived, and you can't fathom how deep the deception goes, but every moment in that 'school' the illusions grow thicker around you. I…" Harry's bold voice shook for a moment, but he continued on, "I wish I could save you all, but I can't. I didn't come to rescue you, all as much as I wish I could, but I don't wish harm to any of you. You should all leave, preferably away from this place, but at the very least away from this courtyard."
As Harry spoke, the sky began to darken. Black clouds began to form into a broiling wave of thick blackness that stretched across the entire sky, thundering ominously.
Despite it all, McGonagall remained standing beside Dumbledore, but she began to shudder.
"You were a fool to come here," the tiny voice of Filius Flitwick announced as he stepped forward, along with several members of the senior staff. "You are no match for the Headmaster. Whatever it is you hoped to accomplish by this will not happen. Aurors will be here before—"
There was a disruption in the cloud front above, as a twisting funnel stretched outwards into a frightening tornado, only to then plummet straight down towards the ground at tremendous speeds, straight towards Harry Potter's head. The tip of the cyclone halted itself only a few meters above the scarred boy who hadn't even flinched. Instead of striking Harry, two red blurs exited the funnel to smash into the ground to either side of the young man. Craters formed beside Harry Potter, the ground shaking with enough force to make the corpses of the six aurors around him to bounce up into the air, only to settle back down a moment later. Harry, however, remained rooted perfectly to the ground. Now, however, instead of only six corpses dressed in red robes of an auror, there were eight.
All eyes swept upwards from the sudden destruction to the one who had caused it, the black shadow that a moment before had appeared to be the tip of a cyclone. Hanging in the air directly above Harry Potter was a figure in a black coat dressed almost identically to the wizard below, arms still stretched downward in follow-through position of throwing the two aurors to the earth. Eon remained in that position a couple seconds more before straightening himself and then allowing himself to ever so slowly lower to the ground to stand just to Harry's side.
"That should take care of the auror problem, Harry," Eon reported dispassionately. "I made sure no more of them can apparate into this area and there aren't any available minds for them to possess anywhere near here, not unless they want to start possessing students right in the middle of the school."
Harry nodded, looking back to the black clouds in the sky, a clear sign of the disruption to the System his friend had made. Unlike his fellow students, Harry could see how the flashes of Machine code had been altered, the storm of dark clouds visible as a cascade of broken code and garbage ouput. By the time the Machines managed to undo what had been done and bring in reinforcements, this would all be over. "Thanks, Eon. That should do it."
"It's not too late if you want to change your mind," Eon suddenly suggested, but Harry just shook his head, still keeping his eyes fixed on the teachers in front of him. Eon sighed and nodded before turning to face the assembled Hogwarts staff. "Well, then, from here on out, it's your show. I hope you know what you're doing."
"So do I," Harry answered and then stepped onto Hogwarts grounds.
A look of consternation appeared on Dumbledore's face as he registered the alterations to the environment around Hogwarts. This was an eventuality that he had not prepared for, and was most vexing. "Inexplicable." The Headmaster exclaimed, clearly puzzled by what he had just seen. "The probability of Harry Potter electing to remain behind at our last encounter to guarantee the safety of his friends was calculated to be 23.792%. The probability of him choosing to return after leaving was 21.003%, but in that eventuality the possibility of him managing to obtain transportation for the return, given environmental conditions, was estimated at less than 1.1%, unlikely but not entirely unanticipatible." At this point, Dumbledore's gaze shifted to Eon. "The probability of John Anderson helping Mr. Potter return with any of the possible intentions for which he has chosen to come here today was calculated as 0.000%. This should not be possible."
There was confusion on many faces, most particularly on that of Professor Minerva McGonagall. "Albus? What—what do you mean?"
There were whispers among the students. 'Wasn't he almost a squib?' 'Is that John Anderson?' 'I thought he was dead.' 'How can he fly like that without a broom?' 'What was the Headmaster talking about?'
"He means, he's not as sure of the outcome as he thought was," Harry said with a grim smile.
"Professor McGonagall, please see to it that all of the students are taken to the Great Hall. They will be safe there," Dumbledore spoke as calmly as ever, but his eyes never left Eon's.
Harry nodded. "I guess you should do what he says, Professor. Whatever happens next, it would be better for everyone if none of you see it."
Harry did not have time to wait for all of the students to get into the school. Even as the deputy headmistress began to direct the students indoors, Harry was already moving forward. As always, time was against them. Too long of a delay would allow the System to undo what Eon to do and for Agents and aurors to arrive, which would make things too complicated, even with Eon's newly awakened powers. Even now, the System sought them out, trying to find where they were hacking in from and destroy them. Or worse.
Harry Potter strode forward and the Hogwarts staff all raised their wands in unison.
"Wait," Harry said, with a raised hand. "I didn't come to fight you. Not unless I have to."
"Then why did you come?" Dumbledore replied, gesturing for his side to lower their wands. The Hogwarts staff did so in perfect synchronization.
"You know why I've come," Harry said to the Headmaster. "The army you have sent out to destroy New Salem. I cannot let that happen."
Dumbledore shifted his gaze from Eon over to Harry. "There is nothing you can do to stop it. Not even Mr. Anderson in his role as The One can do that. Even if you were to destroy Hogwarts, or even tear down the Matrix itself, that would not change what will happen. You cannot prevent it."
"I know..." Harry said. "...but you can."
"Ah, I see," Dumbledore replied. "You want me to use my authority as Headmaster to call off the attack. But then, why would I do so? You know my nature. Appealing to my sense of mercy will avail you nothing. Why would I prevent an action that has the potential to be of great benefit to my purpose? What would I gain from doing what you wish?"
"Me," Harry replied, taking another step forward, he was now standing at the midpoint of the grounds between the edge of Hogwarts and the front door, a short distance from the Headmaster. "I've come to take you up on your offer. My mind and my freedom in exchange for the lives of everyone in New Salem."
Dumbledore quirked an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that the deal that I offered you before is still valid? Why wouldn't I simply just capture you and force you to return to Hogwarts now that you have returned so brazenly to my domain?"
Harry smirked, though there was nothing of the smile in his eyes. "Oh, there's only the fact that you made such an incredible effort to reclaim me in the first place, and the fact that if I fought against your attempt to control me that it would be far harder for you to use me for what you need me for. If all you wanted was a battery, you would have just raised us all brain-dead. I'm betting that my willing choice is the one thing that can make this work for you. For whatever reason it is that you think makes me special, you're going to agree to this deal, Headmaster."
The Headmaster chuckled, holding out a hand. "Very well reasoned, Mr. Potter. Remind me once you are safely back in school to give Gryffindor ten points for use of logic."
"Hold on," Harry said, raising a hand. "I have a few more conditions before I agree to go with you."
Dumbledore sighed. "Very well, Harry, name your terms."
Harry held up one finger. "First, the Lupin is granted safe passage back to New Salem." Dumbledore nodded, that request had been expected. Harry held up a second finger. "And I want an exchange. Ron and Hermione get to leave in my place. Alive."
"Impossible," the Headmaster replied impassively. "You can hardly expect us to let two students go in exchange for getting one back."
Harry gave the Headmaster a hard look. "You offered exactly that before, Headmaster. I won't accept anything less. Things aren't like they were before. Between Eon and myself, I think we can do quite a bit of damage to things here before you manage to force us out. We've learned how to make your losses truly hurt. It's your choice. Either you can accept the deal and get what you want from me, or you can reject it and deal with the power of the One, plus whatever it is I am turned against you."
There was a brief pause, as Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry considered the offer before him. When he gave his reply, his tone was almost amused. "You know, you sounded almost like your Divinations professor when you said that. Very well, Mr. Potter, I will accede to your terms. I will call for the Machine army to abort their attack on New Salem, release Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley, and permit those you consider friends to have safe passage back to human settlements. And in return you will return to us of your own free will. Agreed?"
Harry frowned for a moment, not expecting the negotiation to go so smoothly. "Agreed. But first, I want to see Ron and Hermione. They weren't among the students at the Hogwarts entrance. I want to see them out here."
Albus Dumbledore paused for a beat before snapping his fingers. With a pair of loud cracks, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger appeared in the middle of the grounds next to the Headmaster. They were stuck there, bound to the chairs they had been sitting in when this commotion had begun. "Well, it appears the two of you will actually be being expelled, rather than that being a euphemism for something far worse." With a snap of his fingers, the ropes binding the pair fell away. "Now, Harry, if you will."
Harry locked eyes with his friends as he approached where they stood. Eon watched silently from the edge of the school grounds as Harry Potter said some parting words to his two friends. "You two are going to be alright. Everything is going to be crazy, but you'll be safer than you are now. Whatever happens, you can trust John. He'll explain everything to you."
Ron struggled to move, to say something to his best mate, but he was frozen there. Hermione wanted to ask a thousand questions of her first real friend and smother him in a fierce embrace at the same time, but she simply could not budge. And then the moment of brief contact was over and Harry took the last step and reached out to take the Headmaster's hand.
The moment just before Harry clasped hands with the Headmaster, he looked straight into the Program's eyes and said, "LEGILIMENS!"
The battle between two wills was fierce. Dumbledore was relentless, throwing off every attempt Harry made to batter at him with an absolute certainty that He was the Headmaster and the ultimate authority on what is and what was not within Hogwarts. It was this authority that resisted Harry's attempts to alter what he was, to access the secure information that only the Headmaster was privvy to. It was also with absolute certainty that Dumbledore went about "reprogramming" Harry Potter into becoming the perfect student he wanted him to be.
Unfortunately for the Headmaster, Harry rejected the concept that he was any kind of program at all or that anyone other than himself could determine who he was or what he thought. He certainly wasn't going to allow himself to become less than human.
"Your willingness is part of the agreement," Dumbledore demanded.
Blackness began to creep up Harry's arm, spreading like thick oil from where Dumbledore touched him, only to suddenly be jolted by a spark of electricity. Dumbledore's eyes widened momentarily before he was suddenly thrown back. With an explosive shockwave, Harry and Dumbledore were thrust apart, the former tumbling backwards to sprawl on his back, the latter to skid across the grounds, his feet digging a furrow into the ground, a hard glint entering his eyes.
"Deals off," said with a snarl. Harry kipped himself up off the ground, back to his feet and into a ready crouch. "But it's hardly a deal when you never intended to honor my demands, was it Headmaster."
With a glance back, Harry gave Eon a nod. "You were right, Eon. Plan B it is."
All the faux-warmth left Albus Dumbledore's features. Without even a trace of kindness in his voice, he gave the order. "Terminate them both."
There was a moment when the world seemed to pause, when the grounds of Hogwarts seemed to suddenly still, as if someone had pushed the pause button on reality.
Then the Hogwarts faculty lifted their wands in unison and a barrage of deadly spells streaked out from the wooden instruments in polychromatic streaks of light towards Eon's position at the gates leading into the grounds. The curses ripped and bore into the ground around the gates, tearing up chunks of earth and hurling them in all directions. Before the deadly curses struck, however, Eon had already moved. He disappeared in a blur of motion that left an afterimage behind and the sound machine gun fire spitting out lines of lead announced Eon's counter-attack.
Harry was also attacking, charging forward, randomly zigging and zagging left and right as beams of red and green slipped past him, tearing up the ground around his feet. In his hands a machine pistol stuttered and spat, a line of lead digging in the ground straight for Dumbledore. Harry had to be careful of his aim, for the Headmaster stood directly in front of Ron and Hermione's immobile forms. Harry did not actually expect to hit the aged wizard, merely to keep him occupied for the time being, so Harry was not surprised when a dome of blue energy sprung into being around the grandfatherly man, sending bullets whining off away from the Headmaster at all angles.
Where the bullets struck the ground, the earth around it turned black and disintegrated. Stones in the way were obliterated, turned to fine dust upon impact. But not a single bullet found the Headmaster's form.
Dumbledore plucked a single bullet from the ground and examined it with a raised eyebrow. "Implanting a Trojan virus into each individual bullet? Clever, but ultimately futile. Against me, in this place, your defeat in inevitable," Dumbledore's tone was conversational but there was nothing kind or heartening in his words. Harry dropped his empty submachine gun and pulled out a pair of automatic pistols even as the Headmaster continued speaking. "Everything within the boundary of this school is mine to control. I command all the walls, all the doors, every room and space...even the ground at your feet."
To prove that Dumbledore's words were true, as quickly as the ground was torn away by each bullet Harry fired, new earth quickly rose to replace it. Harry was forced to quickly jump away as spikes of earth rose up from the ground to attempt to spear him, while grounds of Hogwarts simultaneously began forming walls and embankments to protect the Headmaster from Harry's attacks. Meanwhile, Harry's weapons were becoming increasingly ineffective. Initially, the bullets were tearing through the spears and earthen walls in mere seconds, the code within each bullet serving to break into the Program that controlled that instance of the ground and cause it to destroy itself. Yet, Harry could already see how the System was adapting. The Headmaster was detecting the different variations of the Trojan programs before they could infect the Matrix code, making each bullet no more effective than ordinary bits of lead striking the ground.
While Harry emptied entire clips into the animated earth without much success, Eon was faring better against the group of Hogwarts teachers targeting him. While the Programs could move and cast their spells with inhuman speed, Eon's speed defied definition. The constraints of the Matrix did not apply to him, nor was he limited by two dimensional movement as the gravity-bound Programs were. In an instant, Eon flew past the curses being flung towards him and had landed just a few steps away from Professor Vector, approaching at an angle that did not give any of the other professors a clear view of him. He walked through a blasting curse from the Arithmancy professor as if it had no meaning, for to the One, it did not. It was just another series of ones and zeroes that he did not have to accept as real. In a last-ditch effort to stall the one time Hogwarts student, Vector conjured a steel cocoon around himself, the six inch thick metal sphere appearing around him out of thin air.
Eon's fist smashed through the wall of steel as if it weren't there, the metal warping and melting away from around the man's wrist as if the shielding were made of liquid. In the blink of an eye, the Program's wand hand was caught in Eon's stronger-than-iron grip, the wand falling away from Vector's nerveless fingers as Eon pulled him out from the conjured shell of steel.
"You…you can't do that! It's not possible!" Vector protested. "It's against the rules!"
"Sorry, but I don't follow your rules," Eon said. An instant later, he had put his hand through the Program's head, his fingers sliding in as if the man before him was insubstantial. Eon knew that all he was holding was a bunch of numbers and instructions. "DELETE," he commanded dispassionately, and the Hogwarts professor let out a scream as it slowly vanished in a series of flashing of lights before ceasing to exist.
The moment this happened, Dumbledore snapped his head around, away from Harry and fixed the space where Vector had been with a frown on his face. Eon had already leapt way, zooming through the air towards the next professor, who was frantically attempting to curse Eon. With a visible sigh, the Headmaster lifted his wand in the air and released a visible pulse of light that radiated outwards from him.
Harry Potter stopped to catch his breath for a moment as the Headmaster's focus momentarily shifted off of him, before he remembered that there was no reason for him to be out of breath. His body was a simulation. Harry reloaded his guns, seeing the remaining professors rise into the air on brooms that had suddenly appeared in their hands.
For an instant, Harry smiled. The code had changed. But his smile vanished as quickly as it came. He shouted a hasty warning, "Eon! Watch it! They can app—"
But he was too late.
Before Harry could finish his warning, the sound of multiple cracks of apparition split the air, and Eon was suddenly surrounded by all the professors on all sides, their wands extended and curses already on their way. "Avada Kedava!" "Crucio!" "Bombarda!" "Impedimenta!" A dozen streaks of magical light shot through the air, converging on Eon's position. There was no way for Eon to dodge.
There was an explosion of white light as the curses struck. Eon plummeted to the ground, a small crater forming where his body struck.
"Well, that should be sufficient to handle even the One, I think," Dumbledore said as he turned back to face Harry once more, his eyes twinkling as if he were Santa Claus giving out presents rather than delivering the news that he had murdered one of Harry's closest friends.
"Don't count on it," Harry said, dropping the guns in his hands and pulling out his wand.
Dumbledore laughed.
"Don't be foolish, now, Harry, you cannot possibly think you can defeat me in a battle of magic, can you?" Dumbledore took a step forward.
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Professors Filius Flitwick, Aurora Sinistra, Bathsheda Babbling, and Rolando Hooch landed around Eon's motionless form. "What a shame it had to come to this, Mr. Anderson," Flitwick said with a flat, emotionless tone. "I always did like your effort in my Charms courses, even if you lacked any talent for enchantments."
Eon's eyes opened.
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"Actually, Headmaster," Harry Potter said with a cheeky grin. "I beat you the moment you took that step away from my friends. Accio Ron and Hermione!"
With a flick of his wand, Ron and Hermione's unconscious forms flew, chairs and all, over to Harry's waiting hands. With a quick finite from Harry, the pair were once again able to move, looking around in surprise at their changed surroundings.
A look of surprise, followed by one of cold fury appeared on Dumbledore's face.
"Harry!" Hermione said. "You came for me. I'm so sorry…"
"It's alright, Hermione," he answered. "I'm going to get you out of here."
"Uh, Harry, mate," Ron said, dazedly "I should have taken that red pill."
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"My name," Eon said still lying flat in the crater, "is Eon!" With a motion too fast for anyone to see, much less respond to, Eon rocketed up in defiance of gravity and slammed his fists and feet into one professor after another, sending Hooch, Babbling, and Sinistra flying away with blows of such magnitude that they sent shockwaves through the air.
"Crucio! Bombarda! Avada Kedavra! Reducto! Confringo! Diffindo!"
Flitwick threw a half dozen curses at Eon in the space of a second, but the dark haired man simply batted the spells away with his hands or walked through them as if they didn't exist. And then, one moment Eon was a short distance away, the next he was holding Flitwick up in the air by his now broken wrist.
"H—how? Why don't you die when you're supposed to?" the short Charms professor stammered out.
"Because," Eon answered, shoving his hand into Program. "I don't believe in magic. DEL—"
"ENOUGH!" Dumbledore roared, suddenly rising up into the air sweeping his hand outward in a wide gesture. Eon went soaring backwards to smash into Hogwarts castle walls as if the Headmaster had struck him, the impact sending pieces of rock and mortar crumbling down around him. Dumbledore looked on imperiously over where Eon had fallen. "You belief, Mr. Anderson, is ultimately irrelevant. What matters is control, which I have here at Hogwarts."
The Headmaster made brief eye contact with Flitwick. A moment later, the smaller man nodded before disappearing with a crack.
"Filius is too valuable to be allowed to be harmed. So, I will finish things here myself," Dumbledore announced to nobody in particular.
But then Harry Potter's eyes opened wide as he saw Dumbledore turn towards him as if in slow motion and make a small gesture with his little finger. Without any warning a at all, Harry felt a something impact him in the chest with the force of the Hogwarts Express running at full steam. He was thrown from his feet, sent flying backwards through the air to hit the ground and crash into the rough earth, tumbling uncontrollably. Harry felt his skin being flayed as he skidded to stop along the surface of Hogwarts grounds. And he knew that something in his chest had broken.
"HARRY!" the scream had come from Hermione.
When he finally came to a rest, there was a sharp, piercing pain in his chest. Harry tried to move, tried to get up, but the slightest effort to move his body sent unbearable agony through his system. His entire body was raw with pain.
"It was foolish for you to challenge me, Harry Potter, and foolish of you to have brought Mr. Anderson back inside of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said. "For all of his advantages in the Matrix, they will not avail him here against me."
With great effort, Harry managed to turn himself over, but the feeling was excruciating. Now, Harry could see that the Headmaster was there, floating towards him in the air, slowly, inexorably. Then, with just a casual snap of Dumbledore's fingers, Harry felt another jackhammer blow smash into him from above, created out of nowhere. There was no way to dodge it. It was instantaneous.
Harry Potter screamed, blood spurting from his mouth as the internal damage manifested itself. He knew that back in the real world, his body would be coughing up a similar amount of blood.
"It is a pity that you chose to reject the offer to return to Hogwarts. Alas, I'm afraid that your death, Mr. Potter, has become a necessity."
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Tonks looked up from her screen as an alarm sounded to see Harry's vital signs dropping.
"No! Not Harry! Damn it!" she cursed.
But there was nothing she could do for him. Tonks had no way to get him out, and she knew it. So, she concentrated on the job she had to do, her fingers working furiously over the keyboard as tears streamed down her face.
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Harry knew he had to get up. He had to rise and fight, or so many people could die. That was why he come back in the first place.
"What is the point of resisting, Mr. Potter, when I control the world around you? I can create force to smash your body," the comment was punctuated with another crushing blow from nowhere that caused Harry to spit out even more blood. "I can turn the ground you walk on to fire." Harry started to burn as the ground beneath him erupted in flames. "I can even remove the air from your lungs."
Burning. Broken. Gasping for breath. Harry Potter was dying, and he knew it.
And then there was a loud, whooshing sound. Harry suddenly found himself away from the flames, felt strong hands holding him still.
Eon was there.
It should have been excruciatingly painful in Harry's condition. The movement should have killed him. But even as the impossible rescue was happening, Harry could hear…or feel…or know that it was fine. It didn't hurt. He wasn't being burned. Eon was making it so.
"Harry," Eon said urgently. "Breathe. Not the air here, the air back with your body. You can do it. I know…"
And then Eon was smashed away again, the air visibly distorted in the shape of a gigantic fist. He hit the ground, cracking the stone walkway beneath him.
"I am surprised at you, John," Dumbledore said as he looked over to where the figure dressed in black had been smashed down. "I thought we had taught you better than that at Hogwarts. It is impolite to interrupt a professor's lesson," Dumbledore said serenely to the prone form. "I was instructing Harry how to die."
But this time, Eon did not remain down. He rose up into the air, and as Eon rose, Harry began to breathe again.
Eon launched himself towards Dumbledore at an incredible speed, but he was again slammed into the ground by unseen forces. This time, though, the Headmaster had no time to speak before Eon was up once more, flying at him. Again, a force smashed him hard into the ground. Thrice more the pattern repeated, with Albus Dumbledore making bigger gestures and ever increasing force blasting Eon downwards into an ever widening crater, the ground quaking with the impact.
As Eon once again rose up from the ground, the Headmaster's eyes pinched together in a scowl. "Why, Mr. Anderson, why will you not stay down?"
"Because," he answered, "while it's true that you can control you Hogwarts, you can't control me. I am the one who chooses who I am, and no matter how many times you call me John Anderson and tell me I am beaten, I will get up every time as Eon. I am the One, and I am the only one who can change myself."
It wasn't Eon's words that did it. It wasn't even the fact that his friend stood up over and over again despite being struck so hard that gave Harry the strength he needed. It was the sight of his friend facing the Headmaster in the air unchanged, undamaged, and unaffected by the forces Dumbledore had struck him with that gave Harry the power he needed.
Harry Potter looked deeper than what his senses were telling him, deeper than what the Matrix was telling him he should see and feel, and looked at the Code itself. Within the Code, Eon was a bright white collection of symbols that stood for all of his will and all of this thoughts. His code was unchanging, uncompromising against the demands of the Matrix to conform to its rules and expectations.
In contrast, Harry examined his own code. Harry's residual self image had changed, taking on injuries and pain to satisfy the demands the Matrix had made of him. It was then that Harry realized that the Matrix had not done this. He had done it to himself.
No more.
Harry Potter got back to his feet. The pain was gone. It was gone because it had never been there. He had no ribs to break. He had not skin to pierce or blood to bleed. Not here. Here, he was what he chose to be, and Harry chose not to let the System have any input on who he was.
"You should have accepted my deal, Headmaster," Harry said. "If you had been willing to keep your word, I would have sacrificed myself for my friends. Now, I'm going to make you regret your choice."
Albus Dumbledore looked down from where he stood in the air, a look of severe annoyance upon his face. "You have no idea what you have done. You should be dead, Mr. Potter. And you will die. It is only a matter of when. Even were you to escape me here, which you will not, your actions here have made the destruction of you and Mr. Anderson of paramount importance. Now that you have the secret of how to destroy us, we will most assuredly destroy you first. Were you to take refuge in Zion, that would be cause for the Truce to end and the human race wiped from existence."
Eon stretched out his arm, flying over to Harry in a moment. "Are you alright?"
Harry nodded. "Yeah. I understand now." He looked at his friend. "You were right. I am really not like you. I can see it now, too."
Harry's looked back over to where he had been when Dumbledore had struck him. There was nothing there. Harry smiled.
"It's time."
"Are you sure, Harry? We could still leave together."
"No," Harry shook his head. "I've got to do this. If I don't, tens of thousands of people in New Salem will die."
"Alright, then," Eon said. "We'll come back for you. Just don't die on us before we do."
"Go on," Harry said. "You've got your mission, and I've got mine."
Twin bolts of force slammed into Harry and Eon simultaneously, knocking the pair of them backwards. This time, they both remained upright, their legs digging furrows into the ground.
"Did you think I would simply sit there and let you plot your escape?" Dumbledore asked. Then with a wave of his hand, a wall of white nothingness rose into the air all along the boundaries of Hogwarts. "There will be no escape for you."
Eon smirked, then he put one hand on Harry's shoulders while using the other to extend the Headmaster his middle finger before being engulfed in a white light and vanish.
Dumbledore frowned. It should have been impossible for anyone to get out that way, not without risking brain damage. It made no sense to come back just to leave like that.
In the face of his lack of understanding, the Headmaster fell back on psychological warfare. "So, they abandoned you to face me here alone? That does not seem like much of a plan to me, Mr. Potter, no matter how much stronger you have become here."
Harry summoned his wand to him from where it had fallen when he had been struck and aimed it at the Headmaster. "We'll see about that, Headmaster."
Dumbledore simply laughed. "After all this time, you still have not learned? You cannot hope to use the magic we taught you here against me, Mr. Potter, and even if you could, you risk disabling your own ship with the feedback you generate when you cast your spells."
"What makes you think I'm still onboard the ship?" Harry asked, and then he fired off his first spell.
.
Author's Note: The second half of the conclusion will be posted on Friday. I'm currently revising it.
