Chapter 4
Max walked around the kitchen and living room while Chloe and her father; William stood preparing their breakfast. Harry followed looking around the house himself, when he moved to look out of the window or the sliding door in the back he was met by nothingness. A pocket dimension, he assumed, but was it still rooted in reality or was it a completely separate entity?
"Max, this isn't good, at all. This is... You need to go back now." he told her.
"No, I have to save William." she whispered hotly.
Dammit.
"Max, you are literally in a void between time and space, changing anything here could have repercussions that could change everything!" he argued back.
At that moment Harry heard William answer the phone that had been writing for a little while. He seemed to be talking to Joyce.
"No, he's going to get Joyce. I have to stop him somehow." Max said suddenly looking around.
"Have you seen my keys?" William called out to his daughter who was still busy in the kitchen.
"No." Chloe replied.
"Shit, where are those keys?"
"That's a dollar for the swear jar!"
"You mean your college fund! Now where are those keys?"
Harry watched the banter between father and daughter and to be completely honest he wished he could do something to prevent this man from dying and helping Chloe as well, but, he knew he couldn't. Everything that happened had happened, changing it was wildly dangerous.
"Aha! There you are!" William said finding his keys underneath his baseball cap and saying his goodbyes. But before he could leave Harry felt the pull and saw Max's hand outward and time once more rewind, Harry looked around to see everything shaking violently.
"Max stop! You're tearing everything apart!" Harry tried.
When she finally stopped she quickly moved to the cap while Chloe's dad was on the phone and looked around for a place to put them. She walked over to the trash can and dropped them in. Then simply waited.
"If they were meant to be found, William will find them." Harry told her sadly, he was proven to be right when William produced a small device with some buttons, and when he pressed one, they were met with the sound of beeping.
"Aha, there they are. I wonder what my keys were doing there. Okay, I'm heading out. No Max and Chloe wine tasting, you two." he said looking over at Chloe.
"Dad..." Chloe responded with a whine.
"No!" Max called out before once more rewinding.
"Max, God dammit! You have to stop this!" Harry yelled trying again.
"No! I will save him!"
"At the risk of everything else?!"
"I don't care, I want Joyce to be happy! I want Chloe to be happy! I want William to be alive!" she screamed at him before stopping her reversal and walking over to the window. She produced the keys opened the window throwing them out.
"Wait, you had them...? How?"
Max didn't respond and instead waited to see if William would find them with his key finder. A few minutes passed by and nothing. No beeping, nothing. Not a single sound was made by the finder.
"Last time I buy anything from SpyGuy Electronics." Harry heard William mutter. "Joyce won't be happy about this."
"How about the bus?!" Max suggested eagerly. Harry watched in disappointment as she rambled on and on about the benefits of riding the bus.
"Okay, okay. I'm sold, well I'm off to yonder bus stop. Hopefully Joyce will understand."
Harry watched as Max's smile grew and Chloe approached the girl.
"Max, you okay? You've been acting really fucking strange."
"Chloe! I am awesome! We are awesome!" Max responded happily while jumping in joy.
Harry watched as reality folded on it's self and was once more engulfed in darkness. A few moments passed before...
"Hey are you listening, Harry?"
Harry opened his eyes and found himself in front of Ginny.
"What?" he asked looking around.
"I said this upcoming match is going to be really crazy. Apparently the Americans aren't as easy a win as I thought they would be. Or the coach wouldn't be pushing the team this hard." she said with a small laugh.
Harry looked around and saw tall buildings and bustling city streets. "Are- are we in New York?" he asked looking around.
"Yeah, are you okay? We've been here for about a month now." she told him with a small laugh.
"The area of affect stretched this far?" Harry muttered in disbelief. "Or is it because I was there...? Ginny, I've got to go."
"Harry, what are you-"
Closing his eyes he felt for Max's ping and immediately apparated, leaving behind a confused and slightly upset Ginny.
Harry made sure to land a little ways away from Max's position. He found himself landing in the parking lot and was thankfully not seen by the other patrons of the car park and immediately made his way to the girl.
He found her looking massively confused and shocked at her own situation. He walked over to the group; Vortex club members. Jesus, whatever reality they were in now was definitely the furthest from the original.
"Max." he called out as he approached them.
"Harry!" she said quickly standing.
"Oh, hello who is he?" Victoria asked with a small smirk.
"Harry Potter."
"My cousin." Max answered when he didn't provide any more information.
"Why didn't you tell us your cousin was hawt?" Courtney, the short haired girl who reminded Harry of Pansy asked with a quirk of her brow.
"Wait... I've heard that name before..." Victoria said her hand on her chin and giving Harry a curious look.
"Actually, now that you mention it..." Nathan added as he too adopted a look of concentration.
"Doesn't he kinda look familiar too?" Courtney said as she proceeded to eye Harry as though he were a piece of meat.
Harry looked between the girls and turned back to Max. "We have to go." he told her seriously.
"Right." Max agreed immediately standing and moving to leave.
"Wait, Max, you'll text me later, right?" Victoria called out with a smile.
Max nodded and immediately left. The two made their way over to the bus stop but not before seeing Warren holding hands and being flirtatious with Stella, or as Harry thought of her; Padma Patil. Too many similarities in this bloody school.
"Why can't you just pop over there?" Max asked in a whisper.
"Unless you think they'd appreciate us just randomly appearing in their living room, the bus would be a safer bet." he answered shortly.
They waited impatiently as the bus pulled up were about to board when they froze in shock again. David Fucking Madsen was the bus driver?! Just what the hell was going on?!
"Bus passes, please?" he stated Max quickly pulled hers out and showed it to him but Harry didn't... because he wasn't a student in this reality.
"Fuck... wait Max get off the bus. I just remembered something." he told her as his eyes widened with realisation.
"Harry we don't have time-"
"Max, trust me!" he said cutting her off.
After a quick debate she got off the bus Harry grabbed her hand and led her to the parking lot, where there were now a few students, but none of them paid Harry or Max any attention.
"What now?" Max asked impatiently.
"Search Chloe's address." he told her. Getting her phone out she typed in the house number and street name was shown the result.
"Here it is." she showed him.
"Excellent, can you get the coordinates?"
With a nod Max tapped at her phone a few more times until she showed him the coordinates of the house.
"Hold on, it's really unpleasant, but it's fast. Also hold your breath." he told her while presenting his elbow.
"Why would I need to hold my breath?"
"Just trust me and hold on."
Max blinked in confusion for a second before grabbing the arm and experienced immediate discomfort. As if she were being squeezed through a tube. Finally they landed with a heavy thump and were face to face with the door. Max was once more confused until she felt her stomach give a lurch. Rushing over to the plants she emptied her stomach of whatever she had eaten for lunch and looked back at Harry.
"I told you, rather unpleasant, but fast."
Shaking her head at his casual use of the term unpleasant, Max walked up to the door and took a steadying breath before rapping her knuckles on the door. There were a few moments of silence before someone answered the door. Harry and Max had to stop themselves from staring, William stood in the doorway looking healthy and very, very tired.
"Max Caulfield. Back from the hustle and bustle of Seattle, huh? We were worried we'd never see you again." William said with a small smile.
"Of course not... I'd never do that to Chloe." she answered softly,
William nodded before his eyes fell on Harry.
"And who is this strapping young man?" he asked as he extended a hand. Harry immediately grabbed it and gave it a firm shake.
"Hello sir, I'm Harry Potter..."
"Hold on, Harry Potter, as in the English Hero, Harry Potter?"
Harry blinked in confusion before looking over at Max confused.
"I'm sorry, sir?"
"No need to be modest young man. I've heard all about you in the news! The young lad who saved Britain from that terrorist organisation. Yes, yes, no one knew who they were or where they came from, but you, young man happened to stop the leader before assisting police in chasing down the escaped members!"
Harry stared at the man in shock. He knew about Voldemort, how?!
"Didn't think we'd know about that all the way in the States, huh? You are a hero, young man. Though I am curious to know how you know our young, Maxine here." William asked with a small smirk.
"Oh no, I'm just..."
"He goes to school with me, a transfer. Couldn't study back home cause they wouldn't leave him alone." Max answered a little too quickly.
But if William noticed the girl's rushed speech he didn't comment on it. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you young man, and it's great to see you again, Max. But I know I'm not the one you came to see." William said with a smile before turning and yelling into the house.
"Hey Chloe! You've got a visitor!"
He stepped aside and Harry and Max, were eagerly waiting to see the girl. Their eagerness quickly turned sour at what they saw. Chloe rolled towards them, a blanket lay across her knees blocking her legs from the world. Her body held up by a strap attached to the chair she was currently sitting in. Her arms resting on the arm rests showing no signs of movement whatsoever. Harry and Max looked on as Chloe - completely paralysed from what seemed to be the neck down - wheeled over to them in her electric wheel chair and smiled happily at her childhood best friend.
"Oh... Chloe." Max whispered painfully.
"Hey. It's uhh... been a while." Chloe greeted with a smile. A smile, Harry noted that held something else beneath the surface; pain? Sadness? Anger?
"Sorry about that." Max responded with a small smile of her own.
Harry saw Chloe's face to Max's smile and had to stop himself from wincing, Chloe's happy mask slipped for a second and he saw the look of anger, underneath for a split second. Pity, she hated the pity that she saw in Max's eyes.
"Would you two like to come inside to talk?"
"Uhh, dad could Max and I take a walk? You know, maybe go to the path along the beach?" Chloe asked look at William.
"Uhh... I don't know Chloe, it is getting rather late..."
"Sir, would you feel more comfortable knowing I'll be there?" Harry asked cutting the man off.
"Hmm, I'm not sure Harry..."
"Not to sound too confident in myself sir, but as you've said; I took down the leader of a terrorist organisation by the time I was 17. I'm confident I can keep these two safe." Harry responded with a nod of his head.
William regarded Harry for a second, seemingly measuring him up before deflating slightly.
"Fine, but I want you back before sunset." William told them sternly.
"You have my word."
"Ours too." Chloe added shooting Harry a thankful look.
William nodded and helped his daughter out the door before watching her control the chair towards the drive way and roll down before stopping on the pavement, she then turned and rolled to meet up with Harry and Max.
"Don't forget before sunset!" William reminded them.
"Yes dad!" he heard from Chloe, hearing the eye roll accompanied with the shout.
He smiled fondly before walking back into the house and closing the door, hoping that seeing her old friend would lift his daughter's spirits.
-Magic is Strange-
As they walked along the wooden pathway Harry fell behind the girls to give them their privacy while they spoke. Chloe didn't know him in this reality and hoped that Max wouldn't mention his magic or her abilities, that would just be cruel for her friend.
Muggles had a tendency to believe that magic could fix everything, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Magic still had rules, while it tended to bend the laws of physics it couldn't break them or supersede them.
He watched as the two spoke calmly between themselves and turned to look out at the beach. The low hanging sun was gorgeous giving the waves a lovely orange hue, but he couldn't appreciate the beauty of nature when all he saw were the dead whales that had beached themselves.
Nature was still imbalanced, and he and Max were the cause of it. This reality shouldn't exist, Chloe's accident was probably the result of William's survival. An event which should have happened, an event that was instrumental in Chloe's character. And they changed it. Harry turned back to the two and caught Chloe shooting him a look.
"Eww, no it's not like that, get you head of the gutter, Chloe." he heard Max say before Chloe laughed out loud and smiled at her friend.
He smiled at the interaction before he heard Chloe announce that her nose was getting cold and they should head back.
The return trip was less heavy and the conversation a lot more casual they even spoke about some people Harry knew.
"So, this doesn't bother you?" Chloe asked as they trekked back to her house.
"No, not at all, one of my professors from my old school... he was... shall we say one accident away from a wheel chair." Harry responded thinking of Mad-Eye Moody.
"Really? What happened?" Chloe asked curiously.
"What didn't happen? He was an old war vet who trained the new recruits at our government, he's lost an eye, a leg, a part of his nose, his face was all scarred to hell and he was still hunted by extremists who wanted revenge against him from when he caught their family members."
"Jesus Christ. They had a man with a price on his head teach at your school?" Max asked in concern.
"Wasn't the craziest thing that happened, we had an alleged mass murderer break into my school in my third year, weren't even sent home for the rest of the year, the school just hired some security detail for the students, Though the security sucked." Harry informed them with a small laugh.
"That's crazy, dude." Chloe said with a small whistle.
They eventually made it back to the house and Chloe went around the to drive way. When she arrived at the door Harry opened it and helped her enter the house, she was followed by Max who closed the door behind her.
"Mom, dad! We're home!" Chloe yelled out.
"Okay, coming!" they heard William yelled back before he appeared from the staircase. "Welcome back honey. Would you like some help getting into bed?" he asked as he gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek.
"Please." Chloe replied with a nod.
William nodded and followed her to her room, where he then unstrapped Chloe from the chair and gently lifted her before laying her in the bed. He positioned her in a comfortable manner before covering her with her bedsheets and moved the chair out of the way.
He came back with two chairs and asked the other two teens if they would be spending the night. As he didn't know where else to go; Harry nodded and stated that he'd sleep on the floor if Max took the couch. Max agreed to stay and agreed to sleep on the couch.
William nodded and said he'd get them some blankets and pillows before they went to bed. He shot them all one last smile before leaving the room and closing the door.
"This is a pretty high-tech lair." Max commented while looking around.
"Feels more like a high-tech cell. But I am lucky my parents bust their ass to take care of me. I know it's hard for them. I mean they can't even take a walk alone. Sometimes I act like a teenage brat just to give them an excuse to yell at me. Pathetic. I know." Chloe said with a small shake of her head.
"Not at all." Harry said while looking around the room with a sense of anxiety. He really hoped the magic freaking out around technology thing was truly a myth. "This is a hard scenario you're in. I know I'm in no position to talk about how you feel or anything, but I really think you're one of bravest people I've met. Few would have your mindset in your condition." he finished hoping he hadn't offended her.
Max immediately agreed. "Chloe, I can't even imagine how this must be for you, but you're still amazing. You always have been since we were kids." the mousy haired girl placed a tender hand on her friends thigh and smiled sweetly.
"Thanks for coming, Max, you too Harry. Even though we just met today, I think we would've been great friends." Chloe responded with a sad smile then turned to Max. "Can you get my water? I need to get my drink on."
Harry fought to frown at what Chloe had just said. '...would've been great friends.'? What did she mean by that?
"Drink up, buttercup." Max told her softly.
They spoke for a little while longer about Chloe's feelings, her thoughts, her communications with Max, which lead to the reveal that this version of Max had barely seen Chloe at all since she arrived back in Arcadia which was close to a year ago this time. The heartbroken look on the smaller girls face spoke volumes. Chloe suggested they watch a movie; Blade Runner but Harry didn't feel like he had the energy. So instead opted to crash earlier while they enjoyed themselves and could speak for longer.
When Harry left the room he found that it was nearing Midnight and that William had been kind enough to move the table and single sofa to make room for Harry to sleep. When he climbed on to the mattress he almost immediately felt the darkness consume him.
-Magic is Strange-
Winds, rain, thunder claps louder than a dragon roar. These were the conditions Harry woke to. He looked around and found himself on a path, a dirt path that lead to what he assumed was the lighthouse on top of the hill overlooking Arcadia Bay. He blocked his eyes from a vicious howl of wind and decided to make his way up.
He pushed against the wind forcing himself to get to the top of the hill to see just how crazy this storm was. As he continued to move he started hearing something else. Voices. Multiple voices. At first he thought he was losing his mind before he realised that the voices came from near the tower. With new vigour he pushed himself and forced himself to get to the top, as he continued the voices became more pronounced, he could hear what they were saying.
"Give the girl up, this isn't up for negotiation!"
"No, don't you see?! Everything can be fine, everyone can survive!"
Harry continued moving until he reached a tree just behind a small group of people. They all wore trench-coats and fedora's. He blinked at the attire but put it in the back of his mind when he saw one of them holding a wand. Wizards, the whole lot of them... He looked to where the wizards were pointing their wands and was shocked to see... himself along with a blue haired Chloe, a defiant looking Max and a few recognizable others stood behind him.
"Potter, that wasn't the deal!" a voice he recognised yelled over the storm.
"You're right, it wasn't but neither was killing the girl who had this ability!" Harry heard himself yell back.
"This isn't up for debate, Potter! Hand over the girl. Or die!"
"If you really think you lot can take me on... I'd be more than willing to show you that you can't."
There was a sudden burst of light and Harry found himself bolting up from where his head had been.
"Oh! Morning... Bad dream?"
Looking around Harry found himself staring at William before shaking his head clear and remembering where he was, why he was there and how had he gotten there. Right, Max! He stood and said a hasty good morning to William before asking the man if Max was still asleep.
"No, she's up. Saw her not a few minutes ago actually. She went in and joined Chloe. Why don't you go too? We'll give you a shout when breakfasts ready."
Nodding at the man Harry entered the room and for reasons he was unable to explain immediately felt like the atmosphere was way too intense.
"All you have to do is crank the IV up to eleven." he heard Chloe say softly.
A photo album lay on the bed forgotten by the pair, Harry's entry was apparently noticed by Chloe.
"Close the door." she asked, but Harry could recognise it was anything but a request. He walked in and closed the door behind him. Once they heard it click Harry spoke.
"Hey, what's uh... what's going on?" he asked the two girls.
"Can we trust him?" Chloe asked looking over at Max.
Unable to speak Max nodded and Chloe turned to relay to him what she had just told her friend.
"My respiratory system is failing. It isn't getting any better. I don't want to be a burden on my family any more, I don't want them to suffer any more, I don't want to suffer... I don't want things to end this way." she told him, not breaking eye contact.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Harry asked, his brows furrowing in shock and worry.
"I want yesterday and now to be my last memories, I want the last thought in my mind before I go to be that I was surrounded by my friends, that I got see Max one more time. I want to go while I'm happy not while I'm in pain."
"Chloe..." Max tried.
"I'll just drift asleep... dreaming of us, here, together... forever."
Max looked torn, she had fat tears rolling down he cheeks, she turned to look at Harry and as if just realising he was there approached him and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"You can do something, right?"
"Max..." Harry tried.
"No! You can help her, fix her spine so that she can walk again. Please you have to!"
"Max, Harry isn't a doctor and even if he's studying to be one, what do you think he can do?"
"He's a wizard! He can do magic! He can heal your spine, Harry please!" Max said turning to Chloe and revealing his secret.
Harry looked at the bedridden girl who frowned at him.
"Max, magic doesn't exist..."
"It does! Chloe, I know... I know it sounds crazy but please you... you have to trust me!"
Chloe looked to the girl and frowned before turning back to Harry.
"Is it true? Is magic real? Are you a wizard?"
Harry was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. He had two options; lie, and make Max look like a fool in front of her dying friend, which his morality screamed at him not to do. Or come clean and give Chloe hope in something impossible.
Fuck.
Hey all, so I thought I would explain how William knows Harry as it will not be brought up in a future chapter:
The Magical and Muggle world in this reality are rather closely tied, if there are major events happening, A.K.A a Dark Lord attacking wizarding Britain, the Ministry of Magic will inform the Muggle Parliament, as it would affect them as well.
As such, muggles are aware of what happened with Voldemort, just without the magic elements tied to it. So they would be told that a young man, who lost his parents in a vicious Terrorist Attack when he was a baby, assisted the government by not only taking out the head of the Terrorist organisation by 17 but by assisting in arresting those who escaped prosecution.
Almost like the whole Sirius Black situation where the muggles were aware that he had escaped Azkaban.
Just wanted to clear that up for those who were curious about William knowing Harry's past.