Chapter Twelve: The Shadow Pt. II
The Upside Down
"Motherfucker," Harry breathed, trying his best to regain his composure. But he didn't get a chance. The Shadow was towering over him, its red eyes glaring down at Harry's emerald green one. Harry thought of Voldemort and his red eyes and smiled. If he killed this thing, maybe he could make it feel like killing Voldemort too. Bury the hatchet with his universe by getting his revenge on a red-eyed creature. That was the plan. Kill this thing, end the threat, and get home. It had all happened so fast. The sliver of The Shadow that had remained free of El's grasp had grabbed Harry by the wrist. It then proceeded to yank him off of the elevator and through the gate. And now he was alone in the Upside Down with this ugly-looking thing.
Harry sent a banishing charm outward, catching The Shadow's rear legs as Harry was sent catapulting along the grass on his back. It gave him a bit of distance from the creature, something he needed desperately. Getting to his feet, Harry tried his best to think about how he would do this. Despite the lack of ley lines on both Earth and in the Upside Down, Harry still felt magic pouring into him. He still had his shadowmancy, which may or may not work against this thing given its own affinity with shadowcasting. And he was still a bioweapon despite the change in bodies. So he had a lot of options at his disposal, which was good all things considered. He decided he would go with Shadowmancy first, then magic, then try the bioweapon abilities last.
Pressing his hands to the ground, Harry sent his shadows out into every direction with the purpose of creating an army strong enough to fight The Shadow. And to his surprise, he didn't get the usual army of shadow-humans. Instead, five giant shadow-dragons flew out of the ground at high speeds. They immediately began to roar and shoot black streams of fire down onto The Shadow. But they couldn't hurt it enough. It merely regenerated after taking damage, pulling its own shadows through the ground in order to constantly heal. Constructs wouldn't work. And neither would any basic spells. Harry needed to break The Shadow's connection to the rest of the world. Draw it away from its domain in order to weaken it. He needed to go home.
Harry deformed the dragons, sucking their shadows back in before dispelling them once more. He created a large sphere around himself and The Shadow, trying his best to contain the beast. He then thought of home. The Hopper Cabin. The Byers House. Eleven. Hopper. Will. Nancy. Johnathan. He thought of them all and willed himself and The Shadow to go there. But it wasn't working. He couldn't pull it, because The Shadow was pulling back. It had its feet planted to the ground in defiance, with more legs sprouting to hold it still. Harry frowned. If he was going to get the two of them out of here, he would need to get it above the ground. But The Shadow was the size of a skyscraper. There was no way he would be able to hold it for that long.
But he needed to. And so he tried. With a wide swing, Harry cast a cutting curse that severed every single one of The Shadow's legs. It collapsed, inches from the ground when Harry cast a very high-powered levitation charm on it. Once that was done, he sent out shadows to wrap around the beast, who was already trying to raise shadows from the ground to grab it. Harry wouldn't allow it. With a drained yell, Harry threw The Shadow up into the air, banishing himself upwards along with it. As they rose, Harry started over, casting a sphere around them again. He thought of home. Eleven. Hopper. Will. Nancy. Johnathan. The Hopper Cabin. The Byers House. And then everything turned warm. The cold that had been pressed on his neck vanished, and it was suddenly warm. He had done it.
"NOOOO!" A voice exclaimed within his mind. And before Harry could react, a wide leg slammed into his front, sending Harry flying backward into the forest. The only thing that stopped him was two trees. The first one he plowed through and the other stopped him in his tracks. Harry fell to the ground in a heap of clothing and blood. He was coughing red from his mouth, and he swore he probably broke more than a few of his bones. But he willed himself to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth as he slowly moved forward. The Shadow was waiting for him a few hundred yards from the forest edge, visibly angry. A black mist was coming out of its odd-looking nose, and its red eyes were still glaring towards him.
"HARRY!" His head shot towards the left. He spotted the Firebolt-4 a few dozen feet off. Hopper, Eleven, Will, Joyce, Nancy, and Johnathan were onboard. They rushed towards him, with Eleven slamming into him at high speeds. After letting out a pain-filled whimper, she let go and began to examine him. "You're hurt," She noticed.
"Yeah. Son-of-a-bitch threw me through a tree," Harry replied. But with only a small gesture, shadows began to seep into him from the ground, healing all of his injuries. The Shadow visibly stilled. That's right, asshole. I own this world. Harry smiled, facing the creature as everyone joined him to his left and right. He flicked his hand back, watching as four long and high walls sprung out to surround Harry and The Shadow. The others were left behind it. They cried out for him. "Stay behind the wall. I'm going to end this here and now," Harry spoke. It was the dead of the night still, which he planned to use as his advantage. He pulled the darkness of the area into him, using it to push himself beyond a normal height. Twenty feet. Thirty feet. Fifty feet. He was soon the same size as The Shadow, who backed up directly into Harry's barrier. It let out a roar, spinning around as it tried to escape. There was no escape. Harry ran forward, jumping upwards as he drew back his fists. He planned to sock the ugly thing right in the mug.
But The Shadow had other plans. With an ugly roar, it spun around and lashed out at him. It jumped into the air, colliding with Harry as the two fell to the ground with a 'BOOM!'. The entire town shook from the impact, with some trees behind them even falling. The Shadow proceeded to stab Harry in the sides, draining him of his shadows while making its own. The Shadow continued to grow while Harry shrunk until the beast was at least two hundred and fifty feet tall. And Harry remained on the grass, gasping for breath as the beast snarled down at him. It then turned away, using its height to grab onto the top of Harry's shield. It pulled itself up and was about to drop down when Harry shot to his feet.
He cast a summoning charm on the creature and watched with satisfaction as it lost its grip on the wall and shot backward. Once it was close, Harry apparated away to avoid being crushed and took off into the sky. With the power of shadows, he flew, flying high into the air as he looked down at the creature. Grinning to himself, Harry watched as The Shadow slowly got to its feet, continuing to glare at him. It fired several shadows out of its neck, which took the form of over a hundred birds that began to soar towards Harry. He had no intention of letting them reach him. With the flick of his hand, fire burst forward. Harry swirled it around him, spinning in circles as he followed the epicenter of the flames.
After a moment, a distinct figure took shape within the Fiendfyre. It was a Phoenix, just like his Patronus. He worked it around into a tight circle, watching with delight as the birds that tried to enter burned into a crisp. With precision, Harry concentrated the Fiendfyre towards The Shadow. The Phoenix flew forward, flapping its wings as it let out a joyous thrill. And then it hit. At once, fire erupted all around The Shadow, enveloping it in flames as the beast began to scream and roar. After only a few moments, The Shadow had shrunken down to its original size. Once that was set, Harry went for Plan B. He let himself fall to the ground, catching himself with a cushioning charm that let him take off at an easy sprint.
"Protego Diabolica!" He wasn't comfortable with the curse to cast it wordlessly. At once, black fire flew from his palm in a circle around him, only changing when Harry whipped it towards The Shadow. The curse had the desired effect. The fire spread over The Shadow in the span of a few seconds, reducing the beast to nothing more than a tiny worm. It was something else, seeing this thing go from the size of a skyscraper to the size of a small worm. Harry approached it, leaning down to grab it before it tried burrowing into the ground. It tried to attack him to no avail, going as far to squeal and wiggle in his grasp. He ignored the futile attempts to escape and conjured a small bowl. After tossing the worm inside, Harry set it down. "Stay dead, asshole," Harry spoke. With a blinding flash of green, the worm was dead.
November 6th, 1984 | Byers House, Hawkins, Indiana
Harry had been completely exhausted. Even with a new body and a fresh start, the long battle and complex spells used had magically exhausted him. So when he got back to the Byers House, Joyce let him pass out on her bed. And he did just that, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. And when he woke up, Harry was met with an odd sight. Eleven was in the bed with him, her eyes wide open as she watched him sleep. It caught him off guard, and he moved away. She didn't seem to mind, and instead just continued to watch him. "Are...you ok?"
"You left again," El spoke. Harry sighed. He had left again. But it wasn't as if he had intended to be yanked into the Upside Down by that ugly creature. He voiced this to her. "You're going to leave again," El replied.
"I'm not. I'm here for good," Harry defended. He got to his feet. Not feeling like changing, Harry cast a cleaning charm on himself as he got to his feet. El shot to her own, clearly having not been there long if she was so energetic. She sat on the bed, watching as Harry moved into Joyce's side-bath. He conjured a toothbrush and began to brush his teeth, all while being under the watchful eye of Eleven. He finished a minute later and moved back into the bedroom. Harry knew the distrust was deserved, but he also knew she would never see his leaving as he did. To him, he was protecting her. To her, he just left and died without a word. Taking a deep breath, Harry sat down beside her, placing his arm around her shoulder. "I promise. I'm not going anywhere. Except maybe work,"
"Work?" She asked.
"At the Lab. I have a job there," Harry answered.
"The Lab," El repeated. She tensed slightly.
"It's not bad there anymore. We're doing good work there now. We've built ships, cured a few diseases, and are trying to go to the Moon. They don't experiment on anyone anymore," Harry explained. While El visibly relaxed at the explanation, she was still tense and conflicted. "If you want, you can join me sometime and see everything I do. I don't promise you'll understand everything we do, but you'll see that it isn't at all bad," Harry offered.
"Promise?"
"Promise," Harry answered. He planted a kiss on her temple and got to his feet, moving out of the room to leave El to her thoughts. He stepped into the kitchen and found that the doctors had all left. The house was clear of technology, and what could be fixed without special tools had been fixed and restored. All of the kids had gone back to their homes, meaning all that remained in the house were Harry, El, Hopper, Joyce, Bob, Johnathan, Will, Nancy, and Steve. Johnathan and Nancy were asleep on the couch, with Nancy's head resting on Johnathan's shoulder. Steve was asleep in the chair beside them, facing the television as he snored. Will was asleep in his room. Joyce and Bob were sleeping in Johnathan's room. And Hopper had fallen asleep at the kitchen table, his head resting on the table. It was as if the night before hadn't happened. He would think it hadn't, if only for the fact that there was dried Demodog blood on the floor, and a broken window from where the Demodog had been thrown in by El.
"Harry?" Harry turned towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms and saw Joyce standing there. She appeared very tired, her clothes were wrinkled, and her hair was a mess. She stepped up to him, pulling him into a hug that he awkwardly returned. He wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but he couldn't say he didn't appreciate it. Everyone loved a good hug. Joyce pulled away, cupping both of his cheeks as she smiled. "Thank you. For saving them and ending it," Harry smiled through her hands and accepted the second hug that she initiated. He hadn't saved anyone but Will, but he was certain that was more than enough for her to thank him. Though he didn't feel he was worthy of being thanks. Sure, he had killed The Shadow and saved Will, but Eleven closed the gate. She cut him off from his army. She was the one to save the town again.
"I was just doing the right thing, Mrs. Byers," Harry replied.
"Joyce,"
"Right. Joyce," Harry said with a smile. Harry and Joyce took a seat at the table, accidentally waking up Hopper as they did so. And the three merely sat there for a few hours, enjoying a long conversation that had nothing to do with monsters, or shadows, or powers. They talked about everything they'd missed. How Will was doing after everything that had happened the year before. How Joyce met Bob. Johnathan and Nancy getting together. Then Hopper told Harry about El. How she had grieved his death for two months before showing any signs of moving on. She had continued her education using Harry's notes and lesson plans, practicing so often that she could now 'Void-Walk' for almost four hours without getting a nose-bleed. Then Hopper told him of El's latest ability. The power to turn one thing into another. Some form of molecular manipulation. Like transfiguration, only permanent.
It astonished Harry to hear about something so drastically different from El's other powers. Sure, molecular manipulation fell under the sub-set of 'Telekinesis', but this was great. It opened a whole new door into Eleven's abilities. If she could perform any type of molecular manipulation, then that opened the gate to organic manipulation, atomic manipulation, and even galactic manipulation. Eleven may one day be able to even manipulate the strings making up the entire universe, bending things to her will however she saw fit. The possibilities were endless, and Harry couldn't be more proud. "I'm happy that she worked hard when I was gone,"
"Yeah. She followed that book of yours pretty closely. But she got stuck when she reached the end," Hopper explained.
"I hope not for long," Harry spoke, suddenly worried.
"No. She started practicing some things she read about in one of your old science books. She's been using those for a while now," Harry smiled. "What about you? What have you been doing at that lab?" Hopper asked.
"Oh, we've been working on a lot," Harry spoke. "You see, my team is made up of five. Me, Dr. Graves, Dr. Holman, Dr. Salgado, and Dr. Huber. I'm the Senior Director of the Magical Sciences Department, which means everything related to magic and science combined goes through me. Dr. Graves is the Junior Director. Dr. Salgado and Dr. Holman are both Lead Scientists in their fields, and Dr. Huber is a Junior Scientist, having come out of college only last year. We all have different jobs that involve different projects. I'm in charge of planetary defense and energy,"
"And what does that entail?" asked Joyce.
"Well, it's my job to use magic and my knowledge of both future and present technologies in order to build better technology than what I have. So I build everything from nuclear warheads capable of reaching deep space to microchips for computers capable of holding several terabytes of data. My current two projects are the Planetary Defense Ring; a sphere of pure energy designed to protect Earth from any outside collision, energy, radiation, etc. And a Dyson Sphere, which would go around the Sun. It would collect the Sun's energy, and send it here to Earth for us to use,"
"That's possible?" Hopper questioned.
"Surprisingly, yes. The Planetary Defense Ring is only barely possible without magic. But the Dyson Sphere could be made completely in two decades without magical interference. All we need are mirrors capable of orbiting the Sun that could then redirect the Sun's light towards a group of Solar Arrays on the surfaces of Mercury and Venus. Then you put that energy in batteries or nuclear cores and ship those back here for use. But my Dyson's Sphere is different. It still uses mirrors and Solar Arrays, but it also uses two types of structures I developed myself. Solar Distribution Stations and Solar Receiver Stations. The Solar Distribution Stations take the energy gathered by the Solar Arrays on Mercury and catapult the energy out in a single direction using a concentrated runic circle. When the beam of energy hits either Venus or Earth, it'll be hitting a Solar Receiver Station, which catches the beam and distributes the energy through the planet,"
"What does this do for us exactly?" Joyce asked.
"It would provide free energy for the entire planet. That means no more power bills, no more power outages. Energy could be accessible from anywhere on the planet for millions of years. Because only one receiver station powered to max could power Earth for several hundred million years," Harry explained.
"That's...amazing. And how close are you to finishing this?"
"Well, we're at the end of the development stage. We're just waiting for the outpost on the Moon to be set up and operational. Hopefully, by then, we'll have the supplies needed to make the outpost on Mercury. Once both outposts are done, we can start constructing the mirrors, and each Receiver Station on Mercury, the Moon, and one here on Earth. The only problem is that we'll have to send energy directly from the Sun's mirrors to either planet or moon. Because I need to be there to mark the runes within the Distribution Station, they'll be incomplete until we have the outposts settled. And when I have time," Harry explained.
"What would that even look like? Energy in a tight beam," Hopper wondered.
"The runic structure would push it into a tight beam of hopefully blue light, which would travel all the way from the Sun to its destination. In the night, you'd see a bright line among the stars. In the daytime, you'd see a fainter line of light. If it's going to the Moon or directly here to Earth. Well, let's just say it'll be a lot more noticeable," Harry replied.
"How does that work exactly? Wouldn't a beam of pure energy hitting the planet affect the atmosphere or something?" asked Joyce.
"It would normally, but the case is simple. We have two failsafe. One; we direct the beam into the Planetary Defense Ring, which would then redirect it down to Earth safely. Or two; we send the beam towards vessels capable of absorbing the energy, which would then travel down to the surface to fire a smaller concentrated beam into the Receiver Stations. But luckily for us, we would only ever need to resort to the first failsafe. We've calculated the projected orbit and rotations of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the Moon. We've planned over a hundred Receiver and Distribution Stations for each, and we know exactly where to put them for the desired effect. And due to the runic circling around the Distribution Station, they'll only ever activate when positioned in a straight line with its partner Receiver Station. Once they're connected, the transfer begins,"
"This is all a lot of good coming from that Lab," Hopper commented.
"You haven't even heard what my team does," Harry smiled. "Dr. Graves works on the most important project of them all. The Earth Dispersal Project,"
"Earth Dispersal Project? What does that mean?"
"It means this. Dr. Graves is working on starships. Ones far bigger than any vessel humanity has ever created. But the first colonies will start with simple and enlarged Firebolts. The first colony will accompany the outpost on the Moon. The second will go to Mars. Then Venus. If we can do Mercury as well, we'll do it. And once we have those planets filled with humans and other flora and fauna of Earth, we'll spread out. Take starships filled with people in stasis - prolonged sleep where you don't age - and send them beyond our star system in search of more planets. We want to spread out as far as possible. We've established that we're not alone in the Multiverse. The Shadow and I are evidence of that. But if the evolution of life can occur at least once in every universe, then perhaps it can happen twice in one universe. Or three times, or four, or five, or a hundred times. We need to be prepared for when we run into one that's more involved than we are. One with better ships and weapons. Ones who are smarter than us. We want to make sure that even if something happens to us here, or on Mars, or the Moon. Then humanity will live on in those starships that we sent off into space looking for a new future,"
Hopper and Joyce were silent at this. They were moved by his speech, and even more shocked that humanity had progressed more than they thought. Hawkins had created a movement of progression in sciences, and there were dozens of other countries alongside America willing to push things further. They were making a positive change in the world. Harry had fulfilled his goal. Even if Hawkins was shut down tomorrow, there would be millions of other laboratories around the world that would be willing to either fund or continue their work. But that wasn't likely. Hundreds of millions of dollars were being funneled into Hawkins. Most of it went to the Magical Sciences Department and its massive workforce. After all, the P.D.R, the outposts, and the Dyson Sphere weren't going to appear on their own. They needed workers. Drones. Automated vehicles. Functioning computers. All things Harry planned to make before they even started putting together the P.D.R or the Distribution/Reciever Stations.
"What the hell?" At Joyce's voice, Harry snapped himself from his thoughts and followed her eyes to the window. There, a paper airplane flew through. It soared over Steve's sleeping head, before crashing onto the table. It wiggled slightly, before settling down. Harry eyed it for a moment, unsure of what exactly to do. They reminded him of the Ministry of Magic memos. But as far as he knew, there was no Ministry of Magic. He hadn't seen any sign of it in his time in London. And even the Leaky Cauldron was invisible to him. As far as he knew, magic didn't exist here. And yet his reserves continued to cap out and grow. He found it very confusing.
"Well, kid? Are you going to open it?" Hopper asked.
"Open...right," He reached for the paper airplane, picking it up awkwardly as he began to open it. It was blank. Until it wasn't. The paper straightened with the creases disappearing. Then ink appeared. Harry read it out loud quietly. "Dear, Lord Potter. It has come to our attention that you have been selected to participate in the upcoming Triwizard Tournament -" Harry's voice cracked there. He couldn't speak. What the fuck? He continued in his head. '- and we wish to congratulate you on your participation in this most joyous event. We are aware that you most likely were unaware of this occurrence due to your residency in America, but unfortunately, your name has been selected to attend a tournament taking place this year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. While your participation is required by wizarding law and magical contract, you will be allowed to forfeit the first two challenges before participating in the third and last challenge. As another requirement, you will be required to report to Hogwarts School within one week of receiving this letter. Please come to me with any questions. - Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.' Dumbledore. Dumbledore had sent his. What the fuck?
"Well?" Joyce asked.
"I...it's from my school. My school from before. My first life. I thought...I didn't..."
"Wait...so you're not the only wizard?" Hopper questioned.
"Apparently...not," His mind wasn't working. He was in shock. Hogwarts was here? Dumbledore was there? That would mean his friends were there too. He could see Hermione. Ron. Neville. Ginny. Luna. All of them. But they didn't know him. He lived here in America. And according to Dumbledore, he had always lived there. He didn't know that. Had there been a Harry Potter alive before he got here? Or did the timeline recorrect itself so that he was here from the start? Harry couldn't answer any of these questions. Not while his bones trembled. The letter fell out of his hands, quickly being picked up by Joyce. She and Hopper read it together.
"Lord?"
"I...don't know," Harry spoke. And then it happened. Another memo arrived. Harry shakily picked it up and began to read out loud once more. "Dear...Lord Potter. We have been informed that you have been working with the American muggle laboratory known as Hawkins National Laboratory for some time. It has also come to our attention that, you have knowingly broken the Statute of Secrecy on several occasions. While this has been you're only known offense, we will be holding a hearing on the Winter Solstice. Please report to Courtroom #10 within the Ministry of Magic that evening at 5:00 pm in your time. Failure to appear will result in the use of extreme force to ensure you meet your next hearing. Have a good evening. - Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour," That was odd. Scrimgeour had been the Head of the Auror Office before. Not the Minister for Magic.
"A hearing? For using magic?" Hopper asked.
"The experiments at Hawkins. And the magic from last night. But that doesn't make sense. I don't use a wand. And the use of a title leads me to believe I'm legally seen as an adult. Why would the trace still see that I'm using magic?" Harry questioned.
"Trace?"
"A magical enchantment placed on wands back home. Wizards and witches under seventeen can't do magic. If they do, then they suffer legal consequences. But I don't use a wand," Harry explained.
"Winter Solstice. That's on the twenty-first right?"
"Yeah," Harry replied. Then it hit him finally. "I need to go back to Hogwarts in the next week,"
"Is that bad?" Joyce questioned.
"Of course that's bad. If the time is right - which it isn't seeing as the tournaments a decade early - then my friend might be there. But they don't know me. I'll be a stranger there. Just like here," He said sadly. Joyce and Hopper exchanged a glance, which soon fell on the sleeping Nancy. They remembered what she had said the day before about Harry. And it seemed to be true. He truly did feel alone here.
"You're not alone, Harry. However we can help, we will," Joyce spoke. She placed her hand on Harry's. He smiled. That did make him feel a bit better. But he couldn't shake the feeling of sheer panic that passed through him. He would need to leave again to go to the muggle-warded Hogwarts. He would have to break the promise he had made for at least a little while. Maybe he could find a way to take El with him. Find a way to get through the wards, or even break them if necessary. He would find a way to keep his promise. If that was the last thing he did.
