Chapter Twenty-One: Questions Are Answered
January 2nd, 1985 | Gringotts Bank, London, England
Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass apparated directly into the large hall that made up only a fraction of Gringotts Bank. The Boy-Who-Lived was quick and made his way directly to the goblin teller. The goblin was watching him, and held out its arm to the right. Harry turned, grabbing Daphne's hand as he led her towards the hallway to his left. They were met by another goblin. Griphook. "Lord Potter," The goblin bowed. Harry returned it and followed the old goblin into the office. After Harry and Daphne were seated, Griphook spoke. "Well. How may we help you this evening, Lord Potter?"
"I wished to discuss several matters with you, Griphook. Matters that concern both Daphne and me," Harry closed his eyes, glancing over towards Daphne. Griphook understood at once, having known for some time that Harry could see the souls of the living. Harry examined Griphook and noted that the goblins soul was bright yellow. Once again it was different from any kind of soul he had seen before. It was oddly shaped, appearing almost like a solid sphere with spikes protruding from all angles. It was contained in the chest cavity and didn't go beyond that. "I wanted to discuss the bond that has formed between Daphne and me,"
Daphne froze. "Wait. Bond?"
Griphook removed a small metal circle from his desk, which contained what looked like glass in the center. It was a looking glass. The goblin placed his eye behind the glass, examining both Harry and Daphne. After a few moments of silence, the goblin lowered the looking glass and cleared his throat. He spoke. "It seems that Lord Potter is correct. The two of you have formed a bond. Yet that bond is one that we have never seen before," Griphook reached into his desk and pulled out a large book that he proceeded to slam onto the desk. He then began to flip through pages, thumbing through them before coming to a stop. "There are several bonds that can take place between one's magic and soul. A bond of friendship, commonly formed with your friends. A familial bond, bonds formed from birth or with those you consider family. And then there are the lover bonds. A soulful and magical bond between two lovers who both wish to and are destined to be together. There are two types of these bonds. Rare Bonds and True Bonds,"
"The rare bonds are quite rare, cropping up in witches and wizards only a few times every few decades. But True Bonds are even more rare, occurring once every other century," explained Griphook. "But the two of you don't show any signs of having these bonds. You hold a different kind of bond. A bond created subconsciously by Lord Potter," Harry raised an eyebrow. "Yes. There is no doubt that you created the bond between yourself and Ms. Greengrass. But how? I am not certain. As for what this bond does, I cannot be certain. Though it looks as if it is -"
"Shielding her soul. Yes, I noticed that," Harry spoke.
"Yes. It seems you are quite fond of her if you were willing to create a bond with the sole purpose of protecting her soul," said Griphook. Daphne turned to Harry, and then to Griphook. It was clear that she intended to say something, but the words weren't forming properly. There was an aura of shock and confusion surrounding her, and Harry decided it was best to stay silent. She wasn't him. She didn't have six trains of thought that allowed him to think at high speeds. Daphne was forced to think the way Harry used to. One thought blurred alongside many others. After a minute of concentration and thoughtfulness, Daphne glared at Griphook. "Can we use the bond as means to get married?"
Harry wasn't expecting that. "What?"
"Of course," Griphook replied with a toothy grin. "We could easily confirm this as a True Bond. The claim would be strengthened because your bond has never been seen before. It is a handmade bond, after all,"
"Wait. Hold on. You want to get married?" Harry asked, turning to Daphne. "You're fifteen,"
"And you're fourteen. But you're also Harry Potter," Daphne countered.
"I...well," At the mention of his age, Harry frowned. Daphne adopted the same expression.
"Are you not fourteen?"
"I -"
"Lord Potter has a small secret," Griphook spoke, his grin maddeningly large. Harry shot the goblin a pointed glare, but Griphook's grin only grew wider because of it. Daphne raised an eyebrow, examine Harry closely.
"Well? What is it?" She asked.
"I'm...not technically fourteen,"
"How old are you then? Fifteen? Sixteen?"
"Add three to that,"
"Nineteen?" Daphne's eyes were widened so much that Harry was afraid they might pop, and then they narrowed into a glare. "You can't possibly be nineteen. You were born in 1970,"
"1980," Harry countered.
"Then you would be four!" Daphne exclaimed.
"Lord Potter's secret is an unimaginable one," Griphook said.
"So...you're both four, fourteen, and nineteen?" Daphne asked.
"No. I'm nineteen trapped in my fourteen-year-old body," Harry supplied. At her now dumbfounded expression, Harry launched into his story the same way he planned to tell Dumbledore. His birth, the prophecy, that Halloween night, the Dursleys, Hogwarts, the Battle in the Department of Mysteries, the Veil of Death, Raccoon City, Romania, and then his time in Hawkins. When he was done, three hours had passed, and Daphne complained of a headache. "So yeah. I'm nineteen trapped in my fourteen-year-old body. I feel very odd thinking about marrying you,"
"Yet you don't feel odd when I kiss you. Or when we're in bed," Daphne pointed out.
"I felt very odd at first. But I got used to it,"
"So get used to us being married,"
"Why do you want to get married so badly?" Harry asked.
"Because...because despite knowing you for a week, you're the only person I trust and care about besides my sister. I feel the connection we have. I don't want to lose that feeling. Ever," Daphne explained. Harry sighed. She was referring to the bond. It was tethered strongly between them that Harry felt slightly guilty. Even though his subconscious had done this, he felt responsible for attaching her to him more than either of them thought possible. Daphne continued, her gaze falling on Griphook. "So...you can pass this to help us get married?"
"Any potential marriage contracts within your files will be burned," Griphook replied. Harry raised an eyebrow, before smiling. She had been telling the truth before, but she had an ulterior motive. She wanted to get out of any potential contracts enforced by her parents and the Ministry. It was very Slytherin of her. Harry smiled, and clapped his hands together, drawing their attention onto him. He still had things he needed to discuss. "We can discuss a potential marriage later. For right now, I have a few questions I need to be answered,"
Daphne seemed slightly put off by the change in topic, but nodded alongside Griphook. "Of course, Lord Potter. Ask away,"
"Have you ever heard of The Outside?" asked Harry. "A dimension resting outside of the known Omniverse?"
"I...don't believe I have," Griphook answered, frowning deeply.
"Right. That's fine. I wasn't expecting you to know anything about it," Harry said. "But I know you know something about this," Harry slammed a small piece of paper he had collected onto the table. And on it was a picture depicting an item of great importance. Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. "I have reason to believe that it resides in one of four vaults within this building. The Malfoy Vaults, the Lestrange Vaults, the Nott, and the Crouch Vaults. I would like access to these vaults to seize and eliminate the dark item," Harry explained.
"Dark?"
"A Horcrux," Harry answered.
"Hmm...within the walls of Gringotts," Griphook seemed almost angry. On the verge of tipping over. But then the goblin smiled. "We can only allow access to those with ownership over the vaults in question. However, that will soon be easy with the magical strength you possess. It would not take much for you to obtain unlimited access to all four," The goblin was grinning madly now, his face appearing savage as he looked at Harry. The young-ish wizard wasn't frightened though. He was smiling. He understood at once. Harry had four targets. Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Tiberius Nott, and Bartemus Crouch Sr. were Voldemort's three most loyal followers, with Crouch Sr being the father of a former Death Eater. Harry needed to find them and turn control of their vaults to him. Only then could he search them for the Cup.
"Great. Thank you Griphook," Harry spoke, his smile remaining. He continued. "My last question is this. Do you have any magical artifacts here that have previously been Horcruxes? Anything affected by soul magic?"
"You wish for an item so dark?" Griphook asked.
"I'm testing new fields of magic no one has ever heard of before. I intend to use my soul like a field of study. But don't worry, it won't hurt me or anyone else," Griphook seemed unconvinced. But he nonetheless dug into his seemingly bottomless desk and produced what looked like a book. It was a book. No. It was a tome. Some sort of secret knowledge that had been used by an ancient people. Harry reached across the desk and grabbed the tome, examining it with careful eyes. And after some time, he placed it in his bag and stood to his feet. Daphne looked ready to object, but he spoke. "Feel free to discuss a wedding. I have business in Diagon Alley I need to take care of,"
"Oh. Ok. Stay safe," Daphne replied. Harry smiled, leaning down to place a kiss on her forehead as he moved out of the building. His head was spinning. Everything was moving so fast. Too fast. Things didn't make any sense. He had gotten here, lived here for a year, and then suddenly his world was here. It was different, yes, but it was here. And then he was in the Triwizard Tournament. He was fighting dragons and dark wizards one moment, and then he was kissing a girl he had barely ever talked to the last time around. And now here they were a week later, talking about getting married. Harry couldn't focus on all of the events spiraling around him at once. It was too much. He couldn't get married. Not at fourteen. Not yet. Not for another year or two.
His feet carried him into the center of the Alley, where he took a seat on a bench near Ollivander's shop. He removed the once-infected tome from his bag and placed his hand on the cover. It was blank, and he didn't feel like opening it. Harry merely closed his eyes and peered down at the tome. Its shape was there. He could see it as clear as day. As well as the dead remnants of the pitch-black soul that had once resided within it. His eyes traced the entire tome, scanning it and memorizing its pattern as best as he could. And when he felt he knew it well, Harry pushed himself towards it. But not his whole self. Only a piece of him. He sent himself into the tome, trying his best not to slip all of himself in.
And as he gazed down at the book, it happened. Harry watched as his pure white soul slowly pulsed towards the tome. Its irregular form shaped itself into a solid sphere, with a single needle protruding from it. And that needle grew outward forming into its own sphere roughly ten times smaller within the tome. And when he was satisfied with the amount within the tome, Harry snapped the connection in half. The sphere within the tome remained spherical, while the sphere within him went back to its erratic behavior of reaching out for anything and everything. Harry had done it. He had done it with ease. He had read a lot about Horcruxes during his lessons with Dumbledore, and it was described as a vicious, long, and cruel task.
But the Horcrux Harry had just created had been made in mere seconds. Maybe even minutes. It was amazing. Yet he wasn't done with his experimentation just yet. Harry closed his eyes once again and reached out for the piece of his soul within the tome. He gripped it tightly and pulled as hard as he could. The tome fought back, holding the soul fragment tightly as the person and inanimate object fought. It wasn't a long battle. The fragment recognized itself and jumped from the tome within minutes. It slid back into the erratic soul in Harry's shape, and Harry felt a sense of calm overcome him. He was whole again. That was the problem. He hadn't been whole while it was within the tome.
The most important part was that it worked. The Horcrux experiment had been a successful one. All he had to do now was test an object that had always been clean of a Horcrux. He would try smaller things like a quill, or a normal book. And then he would raise the level to a full person. He would try it on someone dead. But he wanted to test if with the extra souls he had taken from the Outside if he could resurrect dead bodies with new souls, resurrect bodies with their past souls, or create new bodies with new souls. It was all exciting work.
[Exciting] A voice whispered. It was the voice. The voice he had heard in the Outside. [You may speak.]
"How?" Harry whispered.
[Through the link. It is faint. But it is there] Harry closed his eyes. He peered down at himself once more, intent on searching for links. He found several different colors branching off of him. Links tied to people far away. Some were very bright, while others were weaker. He recognized the souls of Daphne, Hopper, Eleven, Will, Joyce, Nancy, and his team at Hawkins. And he recognized the weaker links belonging to Dumbledore, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Max. But amyss the links, he found a single one so faint it appeared almost invisible. But he spotted it. It was gold. Not like the blue, red, and brown he usually saw. Harry reached out, grabbing the link and strengthening it. [Yes. Feel it. Be it] The voice instructed.
Harry felt the connection and was able to trace it extremely far away. So far away that Harry doubted he could see the source of the voice's home in the night sky. The voice existed in this realm and universe. But it was unique. Foreign. The feelings he felt through the connection were almost alien. Alien. [You're an alien] Harry spoke, speaking through the connection for the second time since the Outside. He felt the alien's joy at being recognized. And he almost smiled. It hadn't been offended. Harry would have been.
[I am an alien by your standards, yes. But to me, you are the alien] The voice replied. [You are the first human we have ever spoken to. It is a new experience]
[Yeah. I don't have much experience talking to foreign species either]
[That is very good for the both of us. We learn together]
[Indeed. What is your name?] Harry asked.
[Name?] Harry frowned.
[Your designation. What you call yourself. What other people call you] Harry explained.
[Then I do not have a name. I am the Queen]
[Queen of what?]
[My species. The Formics]
[Right. So you don't use names]
[Names are unnecessary. My hive is me, and I am my hive. We all know each other. My sisters are also me. And I am them]
[A hive. You're a hive-minded species]
[Indeed]
[Interesting. So your followers. They're like ants?]
[Ants...] Harry imagined an ant. A hive queen and her workers. [Ah. Yes. We are much like the species known as 'ants'. Yet we are also different. My sisters and I are the same]
[So you and your sisters share the same consciousness and memories? Yet lead different hives?]
[Only memories. When my sisters act, I remember. When I act, they remember] The Hive Queen explained.
[Hmm...us humans are more complicated than that. We are all like you. We are all individuals, capable of our own thoughts. Only we don't share our memories]
[Truly?]
[Yes. We are each individual, capable of thinking for ourselves. There are no human hives on Earth]
[Earth]
[The name of our home planet. I'm assuming your planet doesn't have a name] Harry guessed.
[It does not] Harry smiled. The Hive Queen cut right to the chase. [Your experiment was dangerous]
[I am aware of that]
[You are aware of some damage, but not all. You are going into dangerous territory. You need assistance]
[You want to help me?]
[Yes. I will contact you soon. Then I will begin to teach you all you need to do to understand and use these new abilities you possess.] The Hive Queen explained. She didn't give him the chance to respond and ended the connection. Harry was left alone with his thoughts, which consisted of the sheer joy he was feeling. He had just spoken with an alien species. Mentally. His mind was racing. He needed to go somewhere and think where he could form good conclusions. He needed to go back to Hogwarts. Harry needed to breathe. And with a spin and a crack, Harry was gone.
February 13th, 1985
Christmas came and went. And the new year had arrived. And with the new year came new challenges. Harry left his job at Hawkins Laboratory, instead deciding to go for a part-time collaboration. He instead focused on his own new company. A company he designed so that he would have free reign over his creations. So while he still held full ownership of everything he had built at Hawkins, he would now be free to come up with increasingly wild ideas that no one in their right minds would approve of. He had named it Marauder Enterprises after his father, Sirius, and Remus. The company was launching its first product launch at the end of the month, releasing its new Holo line of products.
The line would include many holographic display devices with touchscreen capabilities and first-gen hologram tech. The first was the HoloDesk, which was a large tablet capable of acting as a highly powerful computer. They were easily collapsable and came with wall mounts that allowed them to be stationary. Easy for work, school, or a makeshift real desk to hold things. Pretty simple, reliable, and very cheap. The second on their line was the HoloTank. It was a stationary table that also used first-gen holographic technology. It could be used for simple games, watching movies, planning, and map viewing, which made it perfect for both civilian and military use. The two perfect tools to cure boredom. And both were extremely cheap.
Marauder Enterprises wasn't looking for quick money. Harry and his board members knew that the money would come rolling in after the news of their good products broke through the public. Harry was certain they would. Especially given that the other two products were also holo-tech. HoloStills and HoloVideos. The HoloStills were data chips that projected holographic displays of images. They were unbreakable, meaning pictures could no longer be shattered or broken. And the HoloVideos were the same, being portable while the HoloStills were stationary. They were going to sell well, even if the technology behind them wasn't perfect. Harry had only figured it out in early January.
And then February hit, and things were in full swing. Harry was planning his acquiring of the Malfoy, Nott, Lestrange, and Crouch vaults. His relationship with Daphne was going steady, even with her disappointment over the postponing of the wedding. And his progress on his other progress was doing well. The Planetary Defense Ring had been kicked up to 99% efficiency and had been approved by the United Nations on January 27th. Construction would begin sometime in March but would last decades at the speed of the mundane. That meant all Harry had to do was convince the ICW to jump onto the project, and allow wizarding engineers to begin helping the construction. They could take construction down from almost three decades to seven years if all of the unemployed wizards in the world began to work on the ring. That was a good time difference.
And the Dyson Sphere? That project was currently at a standstill. Most of the government's resources were going towards the ring, while almost all of the nations within the U.N contributed their resources and manpower. While it wasn't anything astronomically different seeing as no new nations jumped into the U.N to help, it was still progress. He was hoping that by 2000, he could have the magical and no-maj communities working together on a common task, with no-maj conflicts hopefully coming to a halt as technology began to progress for both sides' benefits. But this wasn't how reality worked. When technology got better, so did weapons. And the Russians would soon learn that the future of weapons was a lot better than the present.
So while the Second Task approached, Harry tried to busy himself the best he could. He continued to hide in the library, studying his books, tomes, and scrolls. Hermione sometimes visited him and the two talked, but their conversations never got as deep as they had the night of the Yule Ball. And she never stuck around long enough for anything more than small-talk. He was sure something had happened that he hadn't exactly caught or understood. She seemed distant compared to before, but Harry wasn't worried about it. If something was wrong, Hermione was smart enough to come and talk to him about it. So Harry decided to just ignore it and focus on everything else. Like the two new occurrences in his life. The Horcruxes. And the lessons from the Hive Queen.
The lessons hadn't started yet, but he and the alien female creature had been talking quite a lot in the past couple of weeks. The two often discussed the differences and similarities between Human and Formic societies and cultures. There weren't that many similarities, but the few that were there were quite interesting. And the differences were interesting as well, letting Harry see things from a different point of view. And the Hive Queen was learning as well. She was learning how to understand things in the way a human mind would, and how to communicate with humans without shoving a barrage of images into their brains. One of the more unpleasant things that Harry had discovered after continuing to strengthen their bond.
And the hunt for Horcruxes had turned out well enough. They had cataloged seven Horcruxes. The diary, the ring, the Cup, the Diadem, the Locket, Will Byers, and Voldemort's new pet snake Nagini. Neville had destroyed the diary in his second year. Harry and Dumbledore had discovered the Diadem of Ravenclaw in the Room of Requirement, and Slytherin's Locket had been found in some shelf in Grimmauld Place. Because Sirius hadn't broken out of Azkaban to protect Harry in his third year, the man was still in the prison. Something Harry had to figure out soon. He still had awful memories about his own Sirius Black. But this wasn't his Sirius. This Sirius hadn't been in Romania for a decade. Hadn't been poisoned by Heisenberg and Miranda. Only...Dementors.
Harry had been able to use his newfound power to manipulate his soul to safely remove Voldemort's soul fragments from the two heirlooms. He had then torn the fragments apart and consumed their deceased life force, his own white soul expanding further than it had before. With three of seven taken care of, Harry and Dumbledore were confident that the next three were easily obtainable. One was Will Byers, who was easily reachable. The fourth was in one of those four vaults. And the sixth - the ring - was in the Gaunt Shack. They could wait to get the seventh in the graveyard. Then Harry could kill Tom right there at his resurrection sight. No need for a smear campaign from the Ministry. No need for Umbridge at Hogwarts. Everything would go differently.
As for the diadem and locket, Harry had decided to keep them. The locket had been given to Daphne, only after being heavily inspected for extra curses and layered with a hundred protective spells. And the diadem had been kept by Harry himself. He was trying to find a way to return the magic that had once been within it. The magic enhances the intelligence and wisdom of anyone that wore the diadem. It had been deeply suppressed when Voldemort made a Horcrux out of it, but the magic was still there. Harry only needed to yank it out to let it shine like it once had.
So a month and a half after the meeting at Gringotts, life had gotten both increasingly rough, and simpler at the same time. He was busy now, which was good. It helped him focus on important things. So there he was in the library, looking over more books from the Restricted Section. Daphne was in her Potions class, meaning she couldn't join him as she usually did. He was studying bonds. And how he could bond with an inanimate object that contained no soul. It looked like it was impossible, but Harry was certain he could figure it out. It wasn't so much about linking with an object as it was creating something out of nothing. He had pushed his soul into that tome, but he didn't want to do that here. He wanted to create something new within an object. Something free of his influence. A new soul. But he couldn't quite figure it out.
"Harry?" Harry's head shot up immediately, his hand gripping the staff that lay beneath the table. But he immediately released it. It was Hermione. She seemed extremely nervous. She was messing with her hands, nibbling her bottom lip, and there was sweat developing on her brow. He could hear what sounded like faint whispers coming from the corner of the library, but even with his hearing, he couldn't figure out what was being said. He tuned the whispers out and turned his attention fully to Hermione, who had only grown more nervous as his attention wandered.
"Yes?"
"I was wondering. Well, I was thinking actually. I wanted to know if you..."
"If I?"
"Well, Valentine's Day is coming. I was wondering if you..." Harry frowned. Was she doing what he thought she was doing? Harry felt his stomach sink alongside his heart as he thought of it. He wanted to say yes. But then Daphne appeared at the forefront of his thoughts. Her face, her smile. While they hadn't announced their relationship to anyone, they were still together. Hell, Daphne was beginning plans for a wedding in a year or two. Harry couldn't. He wouldn't. Hermione spoke. "I mean, you don't have to. I would understand,"
"I'm...sorry. I'm seeing someone," Harry spoke. Hermione frowned but put a fake smile on her face. She then made an excuse to leave, said goodbye, and left the library. Harry sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. So that was why she had been so distant. She liked him. His head hit the table in frustration as he tried to think of ways to fix this. He could fix this. Harry could fix this. He would fix this.
