Chapter Thirty: Finding a Solution

July 29th, 1996

Harry Potter wasn't worried. Not at all. He definitely wasn't covered in sweat and his hair definitely wasn't wet. Harry stood beside Eleven at the very top of the Marauder Enterprises Tower. They were looking up at the Planetary Defense Rings, waiting for Alyssa Truit to give them the word that the firing sequence was ready. Harry prepared himself. The group had changed the plan. Instead of sending the shockwave through a nuclear blast, they would instead fire a highly-concentrated beam of plasma down on Harry and Eleven. While Eleven contained the plasma and kept it from destroying the tower, Harry would use it to strengthen his magical output in order to create a massive 'Protego Diabolica' curse. One that would circle the entire planet.

That way there would be zero chance of planetary destruction, the only potential destruction of cities, and the loss of a few lives. But after a lot of discussions, the group decided that it was necessary for the survival of the planet. And after two weeks of tinkering and a complete change of coding, the Rings were recoded and redirected so that they were positioned directly over Washington D.C. Harry prepared himself for what would happen. His eyes fell on the ring, and he raised his staff high in the air. Eleven raised her hands into the air as well, ready for her own part. Alyssa's voice appeared over the comms. "I'm powering up the Plasma Disrupter now. Get ready. This is going to be a lot,"

The ring's shields - which were always transparent from the inside - lit up in a shade of blue. They then deactivated, and the blue lines spreading across the surface of the ring suddenly grew brighter, rerouting themselves towards the round circle sitting just over the Tower. The circle began to glow brighter, taking on a bright aqua color, before it happened. A bright circular beam of plasma rained down on Harry and El, containing the power of a star. Eleven was quick, throwing up a massive shield that covered the entire city. The plasma hit the shield immediately, spreading out over them. Harry swirled his staff around in a circle, and shouted "PROTEGO DIABOLICA!" A burst of flames shot up, spreading out along the underbelly of the shield.

"Drop it now, Eleven!" Alyssa's voice exclaimed. Eleven did so and dropped the shields. The flames hit the plasma, and despite what any scientist believed merged with it. The plasma and flames dropped down into the city, and Harry watched with anticipation. The combination of plasma and fire hit the ground, spreading out further as Harry pushed his magic out. It was working. A massive wall of flames the size of the tower plowed through Washington D.C, doing zero damage to the buildings. After ten minutes, the wall disappeared over the horizon on all sides. Harry continued to push his magic into the curse, hoping that it was enough to push the flames around the entire planet. Eleven took a deep breath. "Should we head back down?"

"Yes. I think we should," Harry and Eleven slid down the top of the tower, levitating themselves down to the air pad that led inside. They made their way to the Command Room, where the Command Team was waiting for them. Above the HoloTank in the center of the room was a holographic globe, which appeared to be tracking the curse around the planet. It was moving fast. The globe not yet touched by the curse was covered in red dots while the rest of it was spotless. It was working. Red dots were being cleared off the map. Voldemort was being cleared off of the map. Before long, Earth would be theirs again. But only for a short while. This was a temporary fix. Eventually, Voldemort's second invasion force would arrive, and they would have to come up with another solution.

When the globe was clear of red circles, it disappeared and Alyssa shouted in joy, pulling Harry into a hug that he hesitantly returned. When the two separated, Harry was quick to burst her bubble. "While I'm happy that the planet's safe, we can't have things go back to normal. The second invasion force will be here soon. Then a third, and fourth, and fifth. We need to find a way to eliminate the Supreme Voldemort and all of his forces. Preferably at once," Harry explained.

"And how do we do that exactly?" asked Ryan Shields.

"I'm not entirely sure. But it needs to happen, or else we'll be stuck in an endless cycle of constantly cleansing the planet. And eventually, Voldemort will catch on and destroy the rings," Harry replied. "We just need a solution. Something so crazy and impossible that it might actually work,"

"Something like time travel or something," Emelio O'Queen commented.

Harry froze, turning to the man. Time travel. Two weeks before, he had been thinking about how all of this had been his fault. Harry had thought about how he could have continued his search to find a way home and stop Voldemort, potentially stopping his conquest of the Multiverse. That was their solution. Time travel. Something Harry never thought he would think in his life. "Time travel," He whispered. O'Queen's thoughtful gaze turned incredulous, wondering if Harry was crazy. "I time-traveled once before over a decade ago, traveling to meet the Hive Queen. A temporal anomaly caused by my early form of FTL. It sent me two months into the past. So it's possible,"

Graham Hudson looked baffled. "Are you saying that you've not only traveled through time but that you think time travel is the solution to the disaster we're in?"

"We can't beat Voldemort. It's impossible. We're down to four Marine Companies. Only nine of our Knight Squads survived the First Invasion. And there were over seven hundred million lives lost. More than in any war in human history. The Second Invasion will be much worse. We may survive, but we won't live for long. Not with multiple Invasions. We need to end this war quickly if we want to have a chance of surviving. I've already thought of a few possible ideas, but they'll need to be tested. Quickly," Harry explained.

"I'll issue the order to divert all resources to your lab," Shields spoke, turning away as he began to talk into his mic.

"So, what's your idea?" Alyssa questioned, leaning forward against the HoloTank.

"I only have two. Both are extremely difficult and dangerous. Potentially life-ending,"

"That's just great," O'Quinn breathed, turning away to get some fresh air.

That led to only Harry, Eleven, Alyssa, and Hudson at the table, but Harry continued his explanation. "The first is fairly simple. I try to pull myself towards the Aiúa of one of my friends or someone I know that's dead and try to make it back in time in my universe that way. But that relies a lot on chance, luck, and I would have to go alone. My second plan is a lot better. Using a modified Time-Turner, a few Knight Squads and I go back in time in this universe. Once we're there, we use the Veil of Death to get back to my home universe. If we end up at the right time, we can go from there. But if not, we'll make another trip through time using the Time-Turner. From there, we can kill Voldemort before he ever becomes Supreme Leader of the 'Hydra',"

"Right. Sounds easy enough," said Alyssa ironically.

"I never said it was going to be easy. But if we want to put an end to Voldemort and his people, we need to do the impossible. Because possible isn't cutting it," Harry replied. It was decided. Time travel was their solution.


It was Halloween of 1996, and the International Armed Forces had yet to discover a viable way to travel through time. They had tried a few dozen different techniques using Time-Turners, but they were ultimately unsuccessful. So Harry sat with Eleven in his lab within the Marauder Enterprises Tower, with the two pouring all of their energy into the solution for their solution. Eleven was going over their notes for the hundredth time, while Harry sat tinkering with their modified Time-Turner. The team had successfully traveled back in time two years, but that was nowhere close to how much they needed. Their window was 1983 when Harry crash-landed into this universe. A fracture in the space-time continuum that large would help them reach another universe.

So they were forced back onto the drawing board, where they sat for several months. It reached Valentine's day of '97, and they had only managed to get the Time-Turner to go back seven years. Seven years to few. "We miss you, Harry," Daphne spoke. She was nothing more than a holographic image on his HoloTank, a projection of her from Venus. She was lying on her side, wearing nothing but a loose nightgown that showed over her physique. She had grown so much more womanly in the time they'd known each other. As had Hermione. But he couldn't appreciate them from here. Harry was needed 24/7, being unable to spare a few hours to visit his wives. But it wouldn't be fair on everyone else. Knights, Marines, and the survivors on Earth had all lost people in this war. Whether that be loved ones lost in the fighting or those who were taken away in Formic ships. Everyone had lost something.

"I know," He replied, resting his head in his hands as he watched her.

Daphne smiled. "You look stressed. More stressed than I've ever seen you,"

"Voldemort's Second Invasion is crossing over the dimensional rift right now. It's heavily fortified, and there's no hope of reaching it. And our own rift is only halfway complete. A lot more people are going to die before this is over Daph," Harry explained.

"I know. We're trying to help on our end, but there's not much we can do without a physical model," Daphne replied. They couldn't build another Time-Turner from scratch, and it was too dangerous anyway. Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose, inhaling deeply. Pain shot up in his neck and shoulders, and his breath hitched slightly. Daphne's gaze softened, and she sat up. "You need to take a break, Harry. Go to sleep. Spend some quality time with someone that doesn't involve research. You're tearing yourself apart over there,"

"I can rest when the war's over, Daphne," Harry spoke, his eyes falling on the Time-Turner beside him. Eleven was at the other end of the table, still looking over files. She had glanced towards him a few times during his and Daphne's conversation but had refrained from speaking. Daphne raised an eyebrow, before swiping away her end of the connection. The call flipped to Eleven's side, startling her. Daphne gave Eleven a warm smile. "Eleven. Find a way to make Harry get some rest. He seems to listen when you do that puppy-dog eye thing. Hermione and I would really appreciate it," Daphne gave the woman a wink that Harry definitely caught and then disappeared, leaving Harry and Eleven alone.

"The puppy-dog eyes don't work anymore," Harry warned her.

"I haven't tried them in a while. They might," Eleven teased. Harry avoided her gaze as she tried it. Eleven's dark brown eyes softened and grew lighter, her face dropping in a sad frown. "Harry," She whined, trying to get his attention. Harry wouldn't budge. He had beaten her once before many years ago, and he was now drawing from that energy to beat her again. But Eleven was still as stubborn as she had been as a child. She got from her seat and circled the HoloTank, pulling him into a hug from behind, her lips brushing against his ear. "Please?"

Harry wanted to give in. He wanted to spend time with her. To rest. But they were close to hitting the next breakthrough. So close that Harry could taste it. That or he was feeling Eleven's breath on his cheek. But he ignored that and instead turned back to his work. Eleven wasn't done. She pulled her arms up from around him, grabbing hold of his shoulders as she began to slowly unravel some of the knots that had built there. Harry sighed, losing himself in how relaxing it was. Eleven gripped harder, massaging deeper into his shoulder and neck. But Harry had had enough. He pulled away from her and leaned back into his work. "We need to get back to work. We can't be wasting time,"

"But we're not -"

"You can rest if you want. I'm going to stay here and work," Harry objected. Eleven understood at once. He was asking to be alone. She sighed, nodding in understanding and disappointment. After collecting her things, Eleven stepped out of the room, leaving Harry alone. He was thankful, yet as soon as Eleven left, Harry found himself craving her presence. Her help had been the only thing that kept Harry awake and functioning. And without someone to joke around with and bounce ideas off of, Harry found himself slowly falling into a daze. He fell into unconsciousness and began to dream. But the dream was strange. The dream was grey and appeared as if Harry was truly there. As if he was watching himself.

The Harry Potter within the dream was in a small room alongside Eleven, Alyssa, and the Knight's Echo Squad. He was wearing the Time-Turner, which was encased in a bright red case. Everyone was geared up and ready for something. Other-Harry was wearing a suit of armor much more advanced than the Knight's armor. Eleven was wearing a black bodysuit made of unbreakable and weightless steel fabric. Alyssa had gotten into another Marine uniform. And the Echo Squad were all outfitted in heavily armored exoskeletons far bulkier than their standard exosuits. Other-Harry turned to the group. "Despite their fleet, the Formics are losing. The second invasion fleet is pushing against these walls, leaving us with little time. If we want to make this work, we need to do this here and now,"

"We're ready, sir," Alyssa spoke, charging her rifle with an expression of pure determination.

Other-Harry smiled. "Of course, you are," He turned to Echo Squad. "Alright, Echo Squad. You better be on your toes, because this is going to be a bit rough. We're going back to my home universe, and from there we'll jump back to June of 1996. The night my friends and I fought the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Once we kill Voldemort there, we'll jump forward and come back to 1997,"

"That easy?" Knight Reyes asked.

"Hopefully. But we can't be too sure. The jumps are connected to the Veil of Death, so we cannot be certain. The Veil is connected to an infinite number of the universe, so we could end up anywhere," Other-Harry explained. "But don't worry. Eleven and I are confident that this will work,"

"Well sir, that makes me feel a lot better," Alyssa said honestly.

Other-Harry let a grin pass over his face. "Great. Are you guys ready?"

"We're ready," Eleven spoke, nodding. Other-Harry peered down towards the small medallion around his neck, gripping it tightly. A helmet suddenly appeared in his other hand, which he then placed over his head. "Grab onto me," He spoke. Everyone did as they were told and placed a single hand somewhere on his shoulders and arms. After a moment of what looked like concentration, everyone in the room disappeared. With the noise of conversation gone, the real Harry began to hear things. Screaming. Explosions. Gunfire. The sound of warfare occurring outside. It was getting closer. And then it all stopped. Everything went silent, and with a flash of white light, Harry was awake. What the hell?


December 25th, 1996

The device was almost done. All he had to do was finish the bond between the Aiúa and the Aiúa's within the Veil of Death. Once that was done, he could 'jump' back to his home universe and end this war once and for all. And once that was done, Harry was prepared to move into phase two of the plan. After the development of the plan, it was time to enact it. So Harry stood in the center of the IAF Control Room. Around the table were three IAF Command Team - Admiral Hudson, General O'Quinn, and General Shields -, Knight Reyes (Echo-1), Eleven, and Alyssa. He showed them the device he and Eleven had created. "This is the Temporal Displacement Device. Created to transport a group of individuals across space and time...and universes,"

Silence. They wanted him to continue.

"With its use, we should be able to get to my home universe and to a time before Voldemort took over the entire Multiverse. From there, all we have to do is kill him. We do that and he never invades any universe in the future. That simple,"

"Right...and how does it work?" Echo-1 asked.

"It runs off of a Pinch Fusion Core, a modified Time-Turner, some Shadowmancy, a lot of Magic, and an Aiúa bond between it and the Veil of Death. Because the Veil is connected to the Multiverse, it will carry us to another universe," Harry replied. "So to explain, this is the goal. We'll jump to my home universe somewhere in 1996 and then use the Time-Turner to go to June of 1996. There we will kill Voldemort, end his crusade before it begins, and return home and time travel forward to when we left. If all goes well, we'll succeed and a paradox will occur, resulting in the eraser of this timeline. But time works in very mysterious ways, so I'm unsure what can happen. But that's the plan,"

"Sounds foolproof," O'Quinn said sarcastically.

"It has its pros and cons," El defended with a shrug.

"It sounds like a lot of both. Are you sure this will work?" asked Shields.

Harry frowned. "As sure as I can be. But not entirely,"

"How did you come up with this?" Hudson questioned.

"A dream. Or more of a vision really. Set somewhere in 1997. But it didn't look too far away from now," Harry answered. "But we can't leave now. Not after a lot of preparation. We need extra armor and better weapons. If we get followed, we want to be at our best for combat. So we'll spend the next week or two preparing," He turned to Echo-1. "Papa and Tango Squads will be joining you in our own little invasion. You'll be able to use the exoskeleton stocks in the warehouses below to outfit your squads with new equipment, gear, and armor. Take whatever you need," He turned to Alyssa. "Same thing goes. Feel free to access the Marines' stockpile for armor and weapons," To Eleven. "I took the liberty of creating a bodysuit for you that you'll find in your locker. It's made of unbreakable and wandless steel fabric, so you'll be protected in combat,"

"That's convenient. You'll find something in your locker," said Eleven. Harry raised an eyebrow. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was the modified Knight armor he had seen in his vision. Harry thanked her and pulled up the plans for their upcoming trip. If they wanted to pull this off without a hitch, they would need to be fully prepared. So he started off with their current world. He pulled up a map of Maryland, which was home to Voldemort's Second Invasion Force. They had appeared in England and had made their way across the Atlantic to Canada and south toward Maryland. They were a hundred miles out from Washington D.C as well as Marauder Enterprises Tower. They didn't have much time.

"They'll be pushing at us in the next few days, so we will have to defend the tower heavily. But it isn't our priority. Our priority is the mission. Once we're back in my home universe, you can expect a few things. Voldemort, his followers, my younger self, and my friends and colleagues. We're going back to before I fell through the Veil, but we cannot interfere. If I don't fall through the Veil, then I don't end up here. So we need to be extremely careful. Understand?" Several nods. "Good. We leave in exactly two days. Make your arrangements, prepare your gear, and prepare yourself. Because if we fail this, the entire universe is Voldemorts. That means we need to bring our A-game for this,"

"Understood, sir. We're ready," Echo-1 spoke, offering Harry a salute that was quickly returned. People began to file out of the Control Room, leaving Harry, the Control Team, and the rest of the Control Room personnel. Harry's smile faded. "The Formics have surrounded the entire premises with all of their forces. But their weapons stand no chance against a wide-scale magical attack. Voldemort will penetrate these walls within the week. And when he does, our Knights and Marines won't be able to hold him off,"

"So why wait for this mission?"

"We need to be prepared. We won't wait a week, but we need to wait at least a day or two for preparations and rest. This team needs to be at 100% for this task. If they aren't, then everything could go to hell," Harry explained.

"So the mission is this. Defend the planet until something happens," Hudson clarified.

"Yes. That's the mission,"

Shields grinned madly. "Consider it done, Lord Potter,"