Chapter 11
Harry blinked and looked towards the patrons of the Diner and noticed that everyone seemed frozen. He turned back to the... apparition?
"So... what exactly is happening here?" he asked with a small frown.
"Huh, gotta admit, you're a lot calmer than I thought you would be." Rachel commented, ignoring his question.
"Weird shit happens around me all the time, at some point, I think I just grew numb." Harry responded with a nonchalant shrug.
Rachel giggled at that and looked around the diner herself, she walked around, examining the different people and taking in their appearances. She approached Frank and his dog Pompidou, Harry watched as she sighed and placed a hand on the side of the man's face and gently rubbed the dog's ears before she moved away and walked over to Max.
"So this is the fabled, Max Caulfield." she said with a soft smile.
"Yeah, the very one who caused this whole thing. Why did you do this Rachel?" he asked with a frown. "Surely you don't wish for the destruction of... everything."
There was a moment of silence before the girl turned to face him again, she really was pretty, he could see how she had so many admirers.
"Of course I don't want to see my home-town destroyed, that's the very reason why I chose you."
Harry was taken back by that random declaration. "Chose me? In what way?"
She shot him a look of annoyance. "Come on now, all these capable wizards in the States and I chose the British wizard as my champion? If all of this was just about picking someone who would have done right, then your friend; Johnson over there would have been fine. But I chose you Harry, a lot of circumstances had to fall into place, but in the end, you were the one I chose for this. Think." she urged with a small grin.
Harry frowned again, he slid out of the booth and began thinking, why would she choose him? What did he have that none of the American Aurors had? He was a war veteran; but there could be, and probably many others who were. He was the head of the Potter family, which meant dick in this whole scenario. The only other thing he could think of was... he quickly looked back to Rachel and his eyes widened when he noticed the hue of her form.
"That's right, Mr Master of Death." she said with a large grin.
"But, it's just a title, I don't actually have any control over the entity of Death!"
"True to a certain degree, you're title is more than an intimidation tactic. You're magic is stronger than most, thanks to those little trinkets you carry with you. Harry, did you ever ask yourself; with the way Maxie here, has been using her abilities, how is it that she hasn't completely torn the fabric of the universe apart?"
Harry didn't respond, knowing that she already knew the answer.
"Your magic in the area has been very effective at keeping this reality together for as long as it has. By all accounts, we should've been sucked up into a black hole of unimaginable proportions. But every time you performed magic in the area, you established this as the "main" reality. To be honest, you and Max hopped some many timelines and changed the path of reality so many times, I actually lost count. But that's whatever!"
That was a great point, how did Harry know that they were currently in the main timeline? How could he know that he was the version of himself that arrived at Blackwell on Tuesday and not some different variation of himself that they... another Harry and Max abandoned?
He was broken out of his existential crisis by the sound of snapping fingers in front of his face.
"Now, now, calm down. You're the original, I was just joshin'. Anyway..." he gawked at her casual infliction of a traumatic thought process, and her even more casual dismissal of said thought process.
"Rachel, could you please just... explain." he asked tiredly.
"Fine. Okay, so this is the final dash. Everything from here out will not be great, I- I haven't seen what happens during this part, every time I try to see what happens it just goes dark and I see the ending. Basically, you and Max have one more shot to save Chloe before everything... collapses. Harry when Max first saved Chloe, she set the scales of the universe off, and they've been trying to correct it ever since."
"That makes sense, so... how do we save Chloe and set the universe back into balance?"
"Sacrifice, Harry, someone has to die in order to save Chloe. A life for a life. It's the only way."
"Are you serious? What kind of bullshit..?!"
"Hey, I don't make the rules! I don't like it either, but like I said, there is a happy ending to this..."
Harry was silent as Rachel's words washed over him, how the hell was he to make this happen?! He looked back to Rachel and another thought crossed his mind.
"Hey, how are you here? I know it has to do with the stone, but I didn't call you."
"No you didn't, but there isn't any rule against someone or something else using the stone." she answered with a coy smile.
"The Fae... you trained it that well?"
"You do know Fae are creatures with the full sentience right? They have their own societies, dreams and ambitions, so on and so forth, I didn't train this Fae to do anything, I just asked it to do me a favor."
Harry's eyes widened. "You- you asked a Fae for a favour?"
"Tsk, tsk, not very knowledgeable with magical creatures are we, Mister Potter? To be honest, I'm just lucky I got one that didn't have a pranking streak." she responded with a shrug.
Harry noticed her wince slightly and walked over to her.
"Ah, it would seem as though my time is up. God, no one mentioned how much this would suck when it was time to go back."
"Wait, you're leaving?! But-"
"Harry! You've got this... I know you'll figure it out, you're whole legacy is built around how well you do in a tight spot." Rachel's form started fading slightly and she turned to look at Max one more time.
"She really is pretty, I always thought I could never live up to her. Everyone thought that Chloe had a thing for me; maybe she did, but I was never going to measure up to Max in her eyes. Chloe would tell me all these stories about what they did when they were kids, I mean it was clear to anyone looking; Chloe was in love with Max and I see why. I was a complete stranger to her, and yet, she was with Chloe every step of the way when they were looking for me, it takes a special person to dedicate that much time for someone they've never met, like a real life Hero. I'm really sorry I never got a chance to meet her, but I'm glad Max and Chloe found each other again."
Harry said nothing, but he agreed with what Rachel had said, Max was an amazing person and an excellent friend.
"I'm sorry about..."
"Harry please, I was killed months ago, there is literally nothing you could have done. Don't pull the tragic Hero card on me, please. Just, look after those two, make sure they get out of this and are happy."
"Of course."
"Then ask Victoria out! She deserves a good guy in her life, offset all the bullshit her parents brainwashed her with."
Harry didn't respond, he simply retook his seat in the booth. Rachel laughed at his response.
"I'm not saying immediately, just get to know her, okay? I know you didn't get a chance to with everything going on. But hopefully, once everything is... reset, you'll get it right."
Rachel started fading away and smiled at the British wizard.
"I already know that you'll do everything right, so thank you in advance, Harry Potter. Could you tell my dad that, mom and I love and miss him? Oh and your mom and dad and Sirius and Remus and Dumbledore all told me to tell you that they love and are proud of you. Tonks also said to tell you that you'd better visit Teddy when everything calms down."
Harry was suspended in a moment of shock before laughing loudly. He swore he'd never make use of the stone, the warnings of over exposure leading to insanity was not something he wanted to experience, but in that moment, he was so happy and caught off guard.
"Tell them I love them too, and that I'll definitely see Teddy once everything is set. I also promise to send your message onto your father." he said with a happy smile.
"Good, now then. Goodbye, for good this time."
"Good bye, Rachel Amber."
She smiled at him and eventually faded out of reality. Immediately he was reminded of the severity of the situation when the windows rattled against the force of the winds outside, as well as the mumblings of the many patrons inside the diner.
"Potter? What happened? Where's the Fae?"
Harry looked up at Johnson and shook his head. "I don't know, but we've got to figure out what we're going to do about the Ministry forces."
"I could possibly slow them down. I may be a desk jockey but I have to admit I'm quite skilled with a wand." Johnson suggested.
"They'd kill you."
"If it gets you and Caulfield the adequate amount of time to do whatever the fuck you have to do, it's worth it!"
Harry debated the offer for a moment before looking back to the Ministry official.
"If you die, I don't know what'll happen to you when we go back."
"Then I'd better not die." he responded with a grin.
Harry grinned back and grabbed his hand to shake it. "Good luck."
"I'll see you at the end of this."
Johnson took a quick look around to make sure no one was paying them too much attention before popping out of the diner with a soft pop. Harry stood from the booth and approached Max and Warren.
"You're a fucking wizard?!" he whispered in shock at Harry. "But- like, not really right, you just have some sort of mutation, like the X-Men, or maybe you just have technology that could be mistaken as magic."
Harry slowly looked over at Max, with a look of pure irritation.
"I'm sorry, I had to explain everything to him, and that involved you." she said with a small shrug.
Harry turned back to Warren, "Technically you could say that magic is a mutation, seeing as how non magicals out number us 12:1, but yeah, magic is real, and no it's not technology. I'm sorry but is this going to take long? Max, we have to get a move on."
"I don't really believe in fate or destiny, but after this week, I realize I don't know shit." Warren said with a shake of his head. "I'm so proud of you, Max. How could there be a more important moment in history? And I'm in the middle of it with you? Thank you for trusting me."
"Thanks for being here. Always."
Warren handed Max the polaroid.
"I could use a hug before I do this." Max said in a small voice.
"Me too."
Harry watched the two embrace and chose to ignore the nagging question of what their relationship status was. He knew Warren liked Max, but honestly, Max's preference has always been rather ambiguous to him. He shook his head, now was not the time to wonder about his friend's sexuality.
The two pulled apart and shared a small smile before Max turned to the picture, it looked as though it was taken the night of the Vortex party... could he somehow, help Victoria, it's pretty obvious that if Jefferson couldn't get his hands on Max that he'd target the pixie haired blonde.
"Remember Max, I won't be able to do much seeing as you have to change outcomes before I can materialize."
"Right. Okay, here we go."
The pull happened and Harry felt himself falling once again before the flash of a camera brought him back to his senses. He looked at his hands and true enough they were transparent. Great. He turned to look around and saw a very drunk Warren, a tired Max and War ready Chloe. She was alive. Brilliant!
"We don't have time for this shit. Come on, Max."
"Chloe!" the short brunette cried out before hugging the taller girl tightly.
"Jesus, dude... what is up with you?"
Max began trying to explain, but Chloe's mind was not allowing her to be practical. Harry suspected that they just discovered Rachel's body, that would explain the brash behaviour. Chloe would have made a pretty good Gryffindor.
"Chloe... Jefferson drugged and kidnapped me. I was tied up in his bunker. You have no idea what hell I went through to get back here..."
Harry saw the hard façade of Chloe's mind slowly start to crack as Max's words washed over her. Her body went from rigid and hard to slightly relaxed, as her shoulders loosened and her fists relaxed.
"Oh... Max. I'm- I'm so sorry... I was the one who dragged you into all this shit... Nobody, especially you, should have to go through that... now we have to stop Jefferson... with one bullet."
"Oh my God." Harry groaned as he threw his arms to the sky.
"Harry, shut up."
"Harry?" Chloe asked with a frown.
"Yeah, so turns out that when I go back in time far enough, Harry travels with me, but since I haven't changed anything significant yet, he's trapped in like an astral form until I do." Max explained quickly, "But that isn't the point here, Chloe, I- I can't keep fixing everything, if all I'm going to do is break it, over and over and... I'm afraid I'm fucking up all these alternate realities."
Harry blinked in surprise.
"Wait... alternate realities? What do you mean, Max? What did you do?" Chloe asked with a frown.
"You knew about the alternate realities?!" Harry asked angrily.
Max ignored him for the moment and explained to Chloe the whole incident about when she had gone back in time and stopped the death of her father. Resulting in Chloe becoming paralysed instead.
"Chloe, you- you asked me to end your life..." she finished quietly as a sob escaped her mouth. "And I did... for you. I couldn't- I didn't want you to suffer in any reality or timeline."
"Max... that must've been awful, I'm sorry I asked you to do that!" Chloe responded as she moved forward and wrapped Max in her arms.
"We'll talk about you wilfully ignoring other timelines for a later discussion." Harry told her with a glare. As he turned and saw Jefferson enter the Gymnasium, he ground his teeth in anger at the thought that the man who caused so much pain and suffering was literally a few meters away but he couldn't do shit about it.
"So what's the plan, Max?" Chloe asked once Max had calmed down enough to speak.
Max quickly explained her line of thought, they head back to Chloe's house and wait everything out. They would call Chloe's step-dad; David and explain everything to him, then just wait for Jefferson to be caught. Max also explained that at some point, Chloe will have to tell her everything that's happened over the past few minutes seeing as how since she's currently in the past, the effects of everything will have to catch up to where she is currently. That meant that she won't be the same person for a few hours until the changes they've made ripple their way to where she is in the time stream. Harry also told Max to remember Victoria, and that they should send her a text as soon as possible warning her about Jefferson, even if they had to use his name, he was sure she'd be more responsive if she knew he asked.
"Will you believe me?" Chloe asked as the two began walking away from the party.
"I'll always believe you, Chloe." Max responded as she took her friend's hand and the two walked away.