Chapter 14: The end of another year
After the entire Riddle fiasco, the end of the academic year had arrived. The next day had been the final Quidditch match. Hufflepuff had won in no small part to Ronald's performance. Katie and Angelina just could not get past him. Fred and George generally had a 'no mercy' policy when it came to Quidditch but Ronald was strong enough to casually take bludger hits like it was no big deal. He became Hufflepuff's floating wall and Atticus. Charlie and Violet were standing in the Slytherin stand as they evaluated Ronald's performance. Some of the other snakes had no problem – Charlie according to Atticus was the English ticket to counter the famed Victor Krum. The Slytherin captain was only too happy to explain that Charlie had no problem with Slytherins, as long as you were not part of the Death Eater crowd. The Darker houses within Slytherin were unpleased, but the cameras and the broadcasts forced everyone to stay in check, lest an international scandal was broadcasted for the whole of France to critique. Many of the Slytherin witches thought that the Ex-Gryffindor seeker was the sweetest thing on a broom, and Atticus and Violet had to guard him. The temptation of getting a hookup with a Lion made the affair, extra delicious for the Slytherin girls.
Draco was flat out in the Hospital Wing, and he could not remember anything. His mind was a hazy blank. When he had failed to message his father, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy had explained that Draco had not been himself for a while – perhaps somebody had imperiused him. Lucius Malfoy had barged into the Castle, and made his demands of Albus Dumbledore:
"You Headmaster! My boy has been injured again at the castle! And yet there is no explanation for this! Perhaps I should withdraw him and send him elsewhere? I should have sent him to Durmstang!"
"You can do that Lord Malfoy. However, the public might come after you. You are expected to be beacons in pureblooded society? And Durmstrang is quite cold, would young Draco manage?" Albus smiled, as he teased the silver-haired man.
"I demand that Neville Longbottom be questioned! He is responsible for this! He and his friends? The board of Governors will have your head, old man?" Malfoy senior yelled.
"Lord Malfoy, Lord Greengrass was voted in this morning to take your place. Lord Davis was added also – your threats to the other families were not taken kindly by Dame Augusta and Lord Black. The new board members were considered favourable as they promised to donate ten times your yearly contribution each. Mind you, Hogwarts is in no need of money with what we earn from the Quidditch broadcasts, but their contributions were welcome nonetheless." Albus replied calmly.
Now veins were throbbing in Lucius' temple. How could Cyrus Greengrass step into so much wealth? But then the rumours were that they were supplying the I.C.W. Potioneering Guild directly. Lucius was surprised when Silver Dagger explained that many houses had far surpassed his wealth recently, but that he could say no more. Merely three years ago only the Blacks had more money than the Malfoys.
"How dare they! Lord Black has been bold lately. One would think he has forgotten his ancestors. There are severe penalties for such actions!" Lucius replied.
"Did he not publicly say that his house was done with its old positions? Lord Black has many powerful investments in the Muggle world. His money is hidden away and untouchable. He alluded to this in the Wizengamot. Your legislation can do little, Lord Malfoy. I have always advocated for peace and understanding. People forget that Grindelwald was far more dangerous than Lord Voldemort, Lord Malfoy. I have become old, and you will become old too. I did well enough to handle Lord Voldemort the last time. That is why I remain mild-mannered when you threaten me.
However….I heard Lord Black pointed a weapon at Dawlish and threatened him recently. He is not as tolerant as I am…" Albus replied.
Lucius paled as he understood the subtle threat. Albus was telling Lucius that he could wipe the floor with him, and he was merely choosing to have a discussion. But Lord Black was not interested in talking to him, and anytime he stepped out of line, Lord Black would probably kill him. Lucius began to wonder if the Manticore incident would come back to haunt him.
"And with that long diatribe, Draco is always injured ever so often at the castle. I find your words empty while they seem contrite. Condescending even, Headmaster."
"Actually Lord Malfoy, Draco is responsible for his own mess?" Neville replied, as he walked through the open door with Luna and Ronald.
"Ah, Mr. Longbottom. The person who thinks that he is an authority unto himself. You were not invited to this conversation, little boy! How dare you barge in!" Lucius commented snidely.
"I heard your dulcet tones with the Headmaster. I was here to conduct my own business, but I might as well oblige you! You wanted to question me? Here I am. I have quite a tale to tell.
See, Draco had a diary in his possession. A diary that when opened had a personality. The property of some guy named, Tom M. Riddle? The thing possessed him and even people who don't like him, knew that something was terribly wrong," Neville casually replied. Lucius got silent as the book was placed on the Headmaster's desk, and Lucius' eye's flashed with recognition, as much as he tried to hide it. The burnt hole in the book terrified him – the Dark Lord would probably ask him why his possession was damaged.
"Fascinating Mr Longbottom. Why did you not report this earlier? I am not angry, just…curious?" Albus asked.
"Oh, the preparation for those NEWTs exams is tiring. We drilled everyone in year seven and even some of the year fives in their combat skills. I even got some combat transfiguration in too – your personal favourite? I even requested Past Papers from the Ministry Examination Board. Professor work is basically…..really hard."
Albus smiled, as he realised that the boy had truly been busy. And it seemed that he was thorough. Battle Transfiguration was no easy thing – something that only he and Minerva were popular for, in Wizarding England. But then he and his little clique of friends were magical geniuses.
"Oh yes I forgot – I hope that was fulfilling. So the priority was to prepare your students. That is understandable and even commendable. I am excited to see how well they will do?" Albus smiled.
"What rubbish are you talking boy?" Lucius asked as Dobby peeped out from behind his master. Ronald and Neville smiled as Dobby was given a wink eye. The elf immediately knew that the boys were hatching a plan to deal with his freedom, and decided to play along. Luna sat down, out of immediate view and she took her socks off very stealthily. Ronald was out of view but was quietly speaking to both people on the communicators, and Neville nodded gently. The plan to free Dobby was being improvised on the spot, and Neville explained his situation to Lucius to provide a distraction:
"Oh, there are five students who are taking NEWTS directly, and jumping the OWL examinations. There is Daphne and Tracey, the people who you already know. We are the other three. I have been responsible for filling in as the Defence Against The Dark Arts Teacher as Mr Lockhart is more of a media personality rather than an actual professor?"
"HA! That story is outlandish! I want to laugh at your audacity Longbottom." Lucius smiled.
"I am afraid Lord Malfoy, that he has been doing exactly what he said – he has far more talent than I ever had at his age. And he has taught the students well enough. He can do the Patronus easily?" Dumbledore calmly replied as Lucius' eyes bulged out.
"Oh, I do it non-verbally now?" Neville replied as he swiped his wand in a flash and a giant bear manifested. The brilliant construct lit up the room, and it seemed almost solid.
"You go and hang out outside?" Neville asked before the bear made a questioning expression with his hands and walked off like a cartoon character.
"Ten points to Gryffindor, Mr Longbottom!" Albus smiled as Lucius considered that Neville and his gang were genuinely powerful and talented. His son could not dream to be that competent.
"So, you feel you are better than the rest. My son did say that you were sure of yourself…" Lucius expressed, with a sarcastic grin on his face.
"That is hilarious Lord Malfoy. I thought Slytherin types were about Power is Power, Magic is Might and those ridiculous maxims. I am only behaving very much like a pureblooded scion who is competent, that is all? You should be pleased that I am a worthy adversary. If you don't have opponents, how will you practice plotting? Come now, be fair across the board?" Neville replied, with a smile on his face. He remembered a great deal of Harry and Hermione's mock debates, and it had been useful for speaking with confidence and delivering rebuttals. Lucius was surprised, as he realised that Neville if he was in House Slytherin would have been commended for his ambition – and this angered Lucius even more. Neville continued:
"Draco did want to be my friend when we first met. But that could not work. Your sister-in-law? Bellatrix Lestrange? She is mine….." Neville replied with fire in his eyes, as the brown irises danced. Albus frowned, as he realised that Neville wanted revenge - he would have to speak to the boy. Neville walked over to the book and pointed at it, as he continued his explanation:
"As much as I don't like your son, I had to wrestle the book off of him to prevent it from killing him. I would be willing to provide pensive memories for you Lord Malfoy if you believe I am being dishonest."
"That will not be necessary your meddlesome boy. I do not believe you acted of your goodness. You wanted to extract a life debt from my line, boy!" Lucius roared, with no options left on the table.
"That is the Slytherin way of thinking, so yes you see it that day. When Draco comes by to harass me, I will remind him who saved his life! That is repayment, upon my magic!" Neville laughed as the oath took effect. Now Lucius was out of options and he had been embarrassed. He strode up to Dumbledore's desk and took the book and tossed it at Neville. Ronald caught it smoothly, and then he put Luna's sock in the book very silently before nodding to Dobby. As Lucius placed his wand into his walking stick, Ronald casually placed the book on Lucius' chest and said:
"I was there in the bookstore, at Flourish and Botts. Didn't you slip this book into Susan Bones' cauldron? Draco bragged that he had taken Susan's diary. But in reality, it came from you in any case?" Ronald replied before Malfoy hit the book away with his stick, murderously. Albus frowned, as he realised that Lucius had been given the object possibly by the Dark Lord himself. Suddenly the Storm Lord's recent claim in the letter made sense. Albus realised deep down that the Storm Lord was right. Did such people deserve to be reformed? But yet, he felt obstinate about truly spilling blood – he wasn't sure that he could do it, even if he wanted to do it.
"Your family will meet a sticky end. Selling food? How unbecoming! Casual servant work! Out of my way you blood traitor!" Lucius replied as Dobby opened the book that he had caught from Lucius. Luna whispered, "Open it!" with her mouth and Dobby stood transfixed, as Lucius called, "Dobby! Get over here, you idiot!"
"Master has given Dobby a sock! Master has presented Dobby with clothes! Dobby is free!"
"What? I did no such thing!" Lucius thundered as he turned around and looked upon the elf who was holding a black sock.
"You lost me my servant you red-headed mongrel!" Lucius screamed as he drew his wand from his walking stick. Albus had drawn his wand and was waiting to respond. However, before Lucius could finish casting his spell, Neville waved his hand and wandlessly knocked the drawn wand, far off to the end of the corridor. As the wood clinked against the hard stone multiple times, even the Headmaster was shocked. Lucius was dead terrified now and he would have to walk quite a distance to recover his primary weapon.
Albus had heard about Ronald picking up his wand from the duel, but to see Neville casually do such a thing as such a young age? He was the most powerful wizard at Hogwarts. Maybe he could win against the Dark Lord!
Lucius was now considering his options – he did not have a wand, and wandless magic was something that was almost a legend now. Only the Dark Lord did it occasionally, during the last war. No, he would not be able to take the boy. He was so shaken by the event, that he stayed silent but he had a murderous glint on his face.
"Lord Malfoy, do not get me angry. After I am done with you, much won't be anything left for my Grandmother. I held a sword on your neck last year, I can assure you I have only gotten better. Attack me and you never know if Lord Black just might come for that tablecloth. He stripped your wife and Bellatrix from the Black inheritance, and that was a holy day for House Longbottom. We are having discussions…" Neville replied. Albus Dumbledore considered this reveal momentous. Lucius Malfoy had been made to disappear from the office like a puppy, and as he collected his wand and stamped down the stairs, Neville explained to Dobby:
"We already have a House elf. Dobby, you will be bound to House Weasley. Ron and his folks will give you decent treatment. Report to Arthur Weasley and let us get the show rolling?" Neville instructed before the elf apparated away.
"You can do wandless magic? That is impressive!" Albus asked.
"The issue with wandless magic is that there is a developmental phase. You have to acquire it before your final magical maturity hits, to naturalise the skill. That was a piece of theory that was passed to my family from somewhere else. Gran won't say where it comes from, though." Neville explained.
Albus began to nurse suspicions – this was the Storm Lord's doing? So he was preparing them for war. Albus found this strange and decided that he would monitor the situation more carefully.
"How does one cultivate the skill at a young age?" Albus asked as he enquired to dig a little deeper.
"We try to do our chores with wandless magic. Folding our socks, sweeping with a broom, and cooking. Humble things sir. Luna paints with wandless magic. Ronald likes to channel it when he exercises. We find certain things that we love and we let the magic mingle in it. It is mostly boring but we have seen many benefits. I even talk to the plants with the skill - I can get Mandrake plants to secret most of the draft, directly. Ronald had the draft ready the next day for Mr Filch's cat after I got the mandrake juice. And we didn't need to cut the plants up," Neville explained.
"Fascinating. From such humble toils from greatness. Are you really after Bellatrix, my boy?"
"No sir, the Aurors will handle her. I just said that to fluff my chest. It is like that Muggle game Poker – when you have to bet, bet big. It is something that I think will even help you in the Wizengamot. It was a bit of….tongue in cheek?" Neville laughed.
"Ah, I can see some of Augusta's mannerisms in you. You have no idea how much you sound like your Father. Please leave the book in my possession, as I would like to study it. Off you go. Please Neville try not to antagonise anyone too much – we must live with these people at the end of the day. But once again, excellent restraint."
"Indeed sir. I will take that advice." Neville replied as he considered that Albus was going to be surprised at the end of everything. After all, Harry was going to murder all of them, and probably quite violently. As the trio left and made their way down the stairs, they activated the silencing function and Ronald pinged his twin brothers.
Albus had seen the little exchange between the three of them. While Albus was aware that the trio had stolen an elf from the Malfoy house, he decided not to say anything. Neville never broke the rules and he considered that if the elf was going to get decent treatment at the Weasleys, it was a better outcome. He even considered the whole escapade to be one of the few instances of rule-breaking he would allow. Albus imagined that Lucius was going to be properly incensed this evening.
"Is the package ready?" Ronald asked.
"Oh, we have to thank Daffy for this. We have the triple spiny shell deluxe loaded up and set to track his signature! We will have lift off at Huston when legally blond gets downstairs! And we have the Bombarda payload loaded?" Fred replied.
"We are coming into the apartment. Tried my hand at spray painting, looks like I have a talent for that too!" Luna laughed.
Lucis Malfoy was now walking towards the ward line to apparate. He had enough humiliation for the evening. He would have to ask Jugson for his second elf to continue to maintain Malfoy manor. Narcissa was a woman who was talented at ensuring that things ran smoothly. She, however, was not a cook, nor did she do any housework. Perhaps he could purchase Jugson's second house elf? Yes, it would cost him about fifty thousand galleons, but he would manage. Lucius made up his mind that he would make Neville and Ronald pay dearly – he would pass laws that forbade magicals to do business in the Muggle World. While they would not be able to implement the law right now, there was always later when the Dark Lord returned.
That would be a good comeuppance for those meddlesome fools!
As Lucius considered his options, a humming noise caught his attention. An object whizzed by and was now guarding the ward line. As Lucius tried to take a slightly different path, the item adjusted to cut him off.
"This must be the oaf, Hagrid. He has sent some manner of a beast to annoy me!" Lucius yelled as he took out his wand and observed the object. The item was made of three shells with spikes and they seemed to spin around each other. For most, they would have been able to identify the objects but Lucius could not come to any conclusion - he had never seen any turtles in his life.
"Move aside beast or I will kill you! A-VaaDaaa…" Lucius yelled as he prepared to complete the killing curse. The shells began to spin faster as one shell suddenly left the huddle, and continued to approach Lucius at full speed. The blond-haired man was no slouch with a wand – and he had managed to hit the item with the killing curse, but that did nothing for the thin titanium shell that coated the object.
There was a bright blue explosion in the dead of the night, as Lucius in his decadent robes was pitched into the air and found himself face down in a large mound of Thestral manure. Lucius extricated himself from the mud and excrement and then apparated home as he had been pitched over the Hogwarts ward line.
The entire apartment was now sniggering – the entire fiasco had been captured and it soon arrived for Cyrus and the rest on the dataslate. Harry honestly found the implementation of Mario Kart items to be absolutely hilarious – George and Fred could clearly build far more complex items with guidance. Then Harry released the clipping of the recording of the incident on the data slates and allowed it to circulate for at least six hours before he messaged Lord Malfoy, and pretended that the "Guild" was on his side.
Good Afternoon Lord Malfoy.
We got wind of the issue about a minute ago. A clip of you was pulled down from the system, and the perpetrators were banned for life. As we have expressed, we do not conduct personal correspondence with this public. This message was passed via our associate.
We do not tolerate the embarrassment of good standing citizens on our platform. No reply will be necessary. We do hope that this horrid, immature prank that was executed at your expense, will be punished severely.
The Artificing Guild.
Harry listened as Lucius Malfoy was comforted by such a gesture – he explained to Narcissa that although he had a rough, terrible day, the Guild gave him comfort that their ways were still worth something.
"Stupid Jackass. You base your intelligence on rumour mills. Anyway, I like it like this. You morons might take two hundred years to figure out all our schemes." Harry exclaimed to himself.
Hermione was happy that Harry was back to his old self. He had promised to see Opelia every week to talk, and he had already attended a couple of sessions. As he occupied himself and the ideas came, he slowly fell back into the rhythm of his old self.
As the end of the school year arrived, the group completed their three NEWTs exams easily. The examiners were impressed with the general aptitude of the seventh years and fifth years easily. Many of them were able to produce excellent, consistent spells and some of the better academically minded students managed to knock out examiners. Not a single spell had managed to cross any of the students. Neville had taught them to shield, and it was an instinctive reflex. As for the written exams, the theory was easy enough. Some of it was plain recall and understanding type questions. The application type questions had been a treasure trove as suddenly Neville had the entire year exercising unconventional tactics. The ideas had manifested during many sessions and Neville now had a bigger bag of tricks. While the final results were not available, the expressions on the examiner's faces were pretty obvious.
"Albus, this is the best Defence class in the history of Hogwarts. I predict many of the grades will be majority Outstandings. Just their practical skills put them out of the lower percentile of students. There were only a few Slytherin students who did very badly in Year five. And those five students of yours? Gosh, are they something! Is Lockhart that good?" Professor Toffy enquired of Albus Dumbledore, at the end of the Defense exams.
"Neville Longbottom and his friends were responsible for teaching the students. I honestly should make them Assistant Professors. Neville Longbottom is truly a prodigy, and so are his friends. Better yet, all of them come from all of the houses. The House unity between them, gives me hope that we will bury the hatchet?" Albus explained.
"That is wonderful. Griselda commented that Daphne and Ronald were just too confident during the potions exams. They did things that she had never seen! They have their unique optimisations. Daphne offered to brew the Wolfsbane in one-third of the time required, with new ingredients. She even gave us the recipe! Griselda had to take the notes right there. Arthur's boy did the Veritaserum, and boy was it strong. Half the time and very potent!"
"You might as well get accustomed. They are doing all the NEWTs directly. They will do fewer subjects as the years go by. And I do think they are aiming for all Outstandings by the time year five arrives. I have been told that they will attempt three next year." Albus laughed.
"I will look forward to seeing them next year. Ms Davis had a frightening amount of accuracy. She offered to cast at twice the range and she was more accurate than anybody else. She can move on her feet, very physically fit! Miss Lovegood incorporated all types of creative charms in her combat demonstration. It was like seeing Alice Longbottom all over again. I heard that they are a romantic pair?" Toffy joked.
"I have heard so – young love is a precious thing. There has been much love in the air, now that people can talk to each other in secret. The Guild has been instrumental in this – they seem to be acceptable people. I was worried, but they have not done anything concerning."
"Well, Albus we are preparing to take our leave. We will keep in touch. Perhaps the group of students should be utilised. The boy is a performer!" Toffy explained before he left. Long after the dumpy man had left the headmaster's tower, Albus commented to himself:
"Why do I have to sacrifice him? This war weighs heavily on me. How much will they take?" Albus whispered to himself, as Harry continued with his spying.
"I will take everything, Albus Dumbledore. I want their blood, and all the life that Death Eaters can give me!" Harry whispered as they continued with the modified clothes and the other small adaptations for his armour.
Gryffindor had won the House Cup. Most of the students had fallen in line and no wands were ever drawn at Slytherins. To cause House Gryffindor to lose points via triple penalties quickly made some of the bullies pariahs. Hufflepuff had won the Quidditch cup and Minerva was upset but somewhat happy. Gryffindor had won the house cup, because of Neville's constant excellence.
"The only Weasley to go Hufflepuff is the one we needed for Gryffindor. What happened to him?" Angelina asked Ginny.
"It is personal – I can't speak about it. He met a drop-dead gorgeous and accomplished witch. Decided that he was going to win her over. And it looks like he has been making progress. No, I don't have a picture, but she could make most of the Wizarding models look like skanks. Bright too." Ginny replied.
"Oh! She must really be something!" Katie laughed.
"Hey, that is my sister's story too. She met someone and well…..she is trying her best too. And yes she is a snake, but sometimes this guy is the most Gryffindor person ever, and you better believe she is smitten with him. Oh, watching my sister win over a lion is funny!" Astoria giggled.
"Does he come to school here?" Katie asked.
"No. Privately educated so the Hogwarts House system is meaningless to him. I have even seen him become a Slytherin and a Ravenclaw sometimes. Works like a damned badger. But at his core, he is a Gryffindor." Astoria joked.
"Charlie has agreed to train me. We are taking that Quidditch cup back from the Badgers. Promise!" Ginny assured the team as Gryffindor house prepared to go to the carriages at the Hogsmeade station.
Fred and George continued to stay with Lee Jordan, but the rest had transported out the train, immediately. The packs of admiring girls along with Draco and his gang could not find Neville and Ronald. Draco could not find Daphne, Tracey, or Astoria either. It was like they had disappeared in thin air, and worse Percy seemed to accost them almost as if he knew where the group was going.
"Out of my way, bloodtraitor!" Draco barked.
"Careful. I might decide to channel some Slytherin energy this afternoon. Power is Power. I am dangerous with a wand, young scion Malfoy," Percy replied, as he rubbed his house ring to the shock of many of the Slytherins.
Nobody in Slytherin could take him, and everyone knew it. Some of the pureblooded girls were whispering – the rumour was that the Weasleys were slowly getting in touch with their old power and financial capability and that Percy knew how to please a witch. The adoring and calculating eyes of many of the Slytherin witches were broken by none other than Atticus.
"Draco get fucked. Nobody cares about your father!" Atticus explained, with his wand pointing at Draco. The silver-haired boy took his group and cleared out the area, as Atticus had a casual conversation with Percy.
"Perce, sorry about that. He is a little too enthusiastic. I hope I will see you at the practice sometime?"
"Certainly. Two redheads from my family are flying for us. I will definitely come by and see the sight and sounds. Penny might come too! We do want the English to win?"
"Nice. Violet and I have agreed to meet up to practice at my house. I have some hoops. You are invited. I will send information over the dataslate?"
"Sure, I would like that. You can visit my crib. I heard you like magical theory. I have an absurdly large collection?"
"See you around red!" Atticus cheerily replied before he went back to the carriages. The whispering was now passing around. Was the new Slytherin Quidditch captain playing for the World Cup Team? Even the skill of Ronald Weasley was making the rounds. Atticus' casual conversation with Percy had caused a ruckus with Jade Ethro.
"Why are you talking to them?" Jade asked.
"You dimwitted woman. I have been chosen as one of the English chasers for the WorldCup. So is Violet. Charlie Weasley is catching up to Krum very quickly and Ronald Weasley is a damned fucking wall in front of those hoops. I suppose I should not practice with them?" he replied.
"You are playing for the national team?" she asked, suddenly with her face bright and she was almost blushing. Atticus was not interested but he entertained her anyway.
"Yes. Good relationships with the Weasleys are important for us to win. And for the record, the Weasleys don't hate Slytherins. They do hate Death Eaters in training, which happens to be you. Do you think I am stupid? You almost killed sixteen people last year. You are a murderer in the making. Out of my way. One day you will be asked to account for your actions. I hope you have a good explanation." Atticus replied, with acid in his voice.
Jade Ethro suddenly had a sad look on her face. She had liked Atticus for a long time, and she found herself unable to choose between being a blood supremacist wench and a teenage girl who wanted to win the affection of her crush. Maybe, she could find a better choice of man. Her parents had warned her about associating with Neutrals.
The Galatic Conundrum:
As Lady Magic evaluated the last year of Harry's progress, she considered some rather interesting rumours that had been floating about. Lord Time-Space had joked that sometimes the wrong twitching of an atom could cause an extinction level event in a Galaxy far away. And yet there was something suspicious about Lilly Potter. Something poked at her intuitions.
Lilly Potter's name was spelt with two l's instead of the usual one. In other timelines, she was merely Lily Potter. Could this be of significance? She held on to this assumption and ran a small simulation of what would have occurred if her name had been spelt with one 'l' for this timeline, where events had been delayed by almost two decades.
It seemed that much of the same eventualities played out from the prime timeline. Harry had defeated Lord Voldemort – but he never inherited the Peverell magic. That was something she had deliberately engineered as a cascading consequence of Harry obtaining Grace. Ronald and Hermione were former shadows of their current capability and Opelia Greengrass had never met her best friend. Harry had married Ginny, and Astoria loved Draco to death. Ronald and Hermione were an item and Fred, Remus, Tonks and Sirius had died. The Longbottoms remained uncured for the rest of their life.
"Alright, what if Lily Potter survived instead of dying? What if she was alive to take care of my boy, Harry in this particular time stream? Let us see….." Lady Magic wondered. As the simulation continued, all she could see was a black inky mass by the time 2020 had arrived. Whatever it was, had blotted out the entire solar system and planets were being torn apart and processed into materials.
"What is this? No, something has to be wrong. Alright, what if Lilly Potter, with two l's survived instead of dying? Let us see…..looks the same. What is this inky mass? Let me take a closer look and…" Lady Magic replied, as she repeated the same simulation. She decided to take a closer look and began to examine the substance. She then held her hand to her mouth.
"Is this….? I wonder?" Lady magic exclaimed.
She entangled herself to summon the caretaker of the Pegasus Galaxy. She wondered if the inky mass was the dreaded rumour that was discussed with concern in hushed whispers at the local galactic cluster meetings. She also ran some additional simulations and made the timeline one hundred millennia. As she looked at the results, she realised that all her work to create across life millions of star systems would be for nothing. The galaxy was infested with whatever this thing was, and it was not an organic lifeform. Time to check in with her friend.
"Hello number 19, how is life?" the Pegasus caretaker asked.
"Not good number 5. Do you know what this thing is?" Lady Magic asked as she presented the simulation in her hand.
"So they finally came for you too. That my deary is the Synchrotron Empire. They are the reason why my galaxy has entire pockets of absolutely nothing. Artificial super black holes were summoned to fight them. And only that could stop their scouting fleets. The rest of their fleet outside my galaxy moved on to other places."
"Who are they?"
"They are a race of fully sentient machines that initially started as an experiment with programmable matter. They became sentient and then decided that they required no masters. They will surround hypergiant stars and drain the materials from the core before they build more of themselves. They build whatever they need, on the spot according to what they think is best suited for the environment. When they conquer civilisations, they absorb all their knowledge and iterate their weapons and other military assets. They use an exotic form of vacuum energy that allows them to meet their power demands, and they travel via wormhole. They can move millions of solar masses worth of material very quickly, and they have been known to cut the ability of other species to use FTL travel."
"What are their motivations? Why attack organics?" Lady magic asked.
"They have a hatred of everything. They are not emotionless – rather they were built in the image of their masters, complete with feelings and organic perspectives. Their evolutionary advancement as a machine form of life has allowed them to even magnify this trait. They are just malevolent because they wish to be so." the Pegasus caretaker replied.
"Are are coming for my galaxy? I don't have the entire picture. I have been asked to interfere in things lately, and the story does not make sense. Management intervened." Lady Magic replied.
"How did you discover the machine plague?" the other caretaker asked.
"There is a woman who died. She has a son. If the boy had access to a loving family – if she was alive, this inky mass arrives and eat the Sol system into nothing! And that would have happened at the current local timestamps. In just ten cycles from now. From here, over the next one hundred thousand cycles, this machine plague snuffs out every known sentient race that I worked hard to cultivate in the Milky Way Galaxy.
As long as the events in this timeline are offset by about nineteen years, and Lilly Potter with two l's dies, everything seems to be fine. And that is what is the current state of affairs. But something…doesn't seem right."
"Was there anything unusual about the boy right now, that makes you suspicious?" the other caretaker asked.
"As for the boy, he is growing quickly. Within three-ish standard Goldilocks years, he is already preparing to take to the stars. Already using virtual particles in his weapons, and is experimenting with heavy plasma reactors and antimatter stellarators. Already has primitive power armour, and crystal based technology is on the way. Already owns a small planet-to-orbit starfighter with quantum translocation. The entire technological level of humans, is at the establishment of planetary communication technology, and additive manufacturing is becoming prevalent. They are still in the third iteration of their industrial revolution and made a moon landing a couple of decades ago. Primitive beginnings of A.I."
"Damn woman. He is far ahead. Is he going the scientific route or the magical route?"
"A combination of both? He is doing complex cybernetic grafts in his bedroom and is developing combat augmentations with a primitive form of magical gene splicing. And let me not talk about his sister and their friends. They are bootstrapping complex things overnight! This is the first time I have seen a magical operating system as a software runtime."
"Talented boy! And his friends are talented too then? Oh, I want to see!" the other caretaker replied, as Lady Magic provided a summary of Harry Potter and his friends. The other caretaker even laughed at his antics, as she found him to be very sassy.
"Oh, he is too funny! Rebellious to the end. He and his adoptive mother are precious. His adoptive sister is just too brilliant. I suspect this is the case:
It was rumoured that there is always equality in the universe. That means even we have direct opposites. Some entities do the opposite of what we do. They try to bring the universe into heat death. Make it devoid of all life. It was rumoured that the Synchrotron Empire was one of the greatest instruments created by what we call the Shadow Council. And it seems as of lately they are running experiments."
"Wait..the shadow council…is real? Lady Magic asked.
"Yes. They are just the opposite of us?" the other caretaker answered.
"What type of experiments are the machines running?"
"They want to pierce the veil between different universes and build an extra-universal collection of knowledge that will allow them to become not necessarily like management, but it would elevate them as physical beings that surpass us. The Shadow Council is consorting with the Synchrotron Empire directly to accomplish this – the Shadow Council wants to take physical form. They want to take pleasure in inflicting pain, physically. So they are passing backhand knowledge to the machines, silently."
"Direct meddling? Isn't that against the rules? To interfere directly with organics?" Lady Magic asked.
"Numer 19, they don't care about rules. Death and cold universal entropy are the rules. It was rumoured that the Illuminators had found a secret, hidden tool that they could use. Something that would not be noticed by the machine plague. We haven't been able to figure out how that would work. But this boy, and how quickly they are progressing? I think they picked your boy."
"I bloody hell knew it. I knew it! A direct request from management? I am going to wring Lord Time-Space's neck when I get a hold of him!" Lady Magic yelled.
"Peace woman. You know he is a neutral party. Besides what you have done, the general environment is being manipulated by management, in a very sneaky manner. This will fly under the attention of your polar opposite, as he or she has decided to use the non-magical word to achieve her goals."
"That is why World War III is around the corner. My opposite has been inflaming the non-magical humans into war! Fine. He or She took the route of numbers. I am going to take the route of quality, then!" Lady Magic replied.
"Not surprised. Management are not gods. They are just highly evolved creatures. So they plot. It is rumoured that there are several varieties of space-time, and that we are a cube in their tesseract. We are a little bubble to them. I like to think we are higher up the food chain, but there is a universal God that is beyond Management. Or perhaps my organic days still hambug me." the Pegasus caretaker replied.
"But if he is being helped by management secretly and by myself openly, according to you, that means that we have confirmation that the machine plague is coming! I haven't seen anything that would indicate that he is the nexus point for their arrival. What am I missing?" Lady Magic asked.
"Maybe the machine plague will arrive in a couple of centuries? So your boy might not be directly dealing with the issue. Try going a couple of centuries forward, with a complete predictive model that includes all the planets in the system and all of his descendants. Include possible marriages and his friends too?" the other caretaker suggested. Lady Magic began the construction of the dataset and began to examine the possibilities.
When Lady Magic ran the simulation again, she saw that one thousand years into the future, most of the humans had died. But a small enough group had survived and they had escaped. The humans had become Nomads, and they jumped to random star systems to avoid being hunted by the machines. Then they were systematically wiped out by attrition, over the next millennium. Two thousand years later, total human extinction had occurred.
"Good number 19. Don't get despondent yet. Include if the boy develops some of his predicted innovations?" the other caretaker suggested.
Lady Magic saw that Harry's entanglement innovation had built an entire stargate network over the solar system. The entire asteroid belt was mined, and they had built an entire fleet of powerful ships that were using an upgraded version of RuneOs? But they had still lost the war – it has taken four millennia but the machines won anyway.
"Include all innovations of his, and his friends' contributions. Include the descendants advancing the original designs?"
As Lady Magic finetuned the models, the picture was far clearer. Five centuries into the future, Lady Magic observed as almost eighty per cent of the Human species were killed by the first onslaught. Then, she observed as the Titans as they were called, opened up their gates and took refugees from the earth.
The Titans were the magical society that Harry had founded on the barren moon of Titan. And they were in the millions and had spent all of their time developing countermeasures. They had far better telescopes that could provide quantum entangled information instantly. They had predicted the pathway that the machine plague would take, and they had prepared appropriately. When the machines arrived within Jupiter's orbit, they were stopped dead by the magical wards that were sustained by a black hole reactor.
Then there was a moment where there was a decision was made. The nature of the question was not clear, as there were too many variables in play. Whatever it was, it was a pivotal moment.
If they picked yes, the entire human species died and the Synchrotron empire continued on its merry way. If they picked no, the image changed and showed an entirely unexpected set of events.
Over the next fifty years after the initial machine onslaught, the Terran Congressional Republic was formed. And humans advanced at a frightening rate, over the next three centuries.
Lady Magic saw an entire fleet of twenty billion ships. The human species had built a Dyson sphere that encapsulated the earth's orbit. They were tapping limitless energy and were casually towing in Neutron stars into the solar system to build trillions of smaller drones. Their engineering now bordered on technomancy and biomancy. They could manipulate exotic matter and black holes with magic and their cannons were the size of cities.
They were outlandishly impossible! Their Federation had increased their population by trillions of times. Large families with many children were the norm, and family life was the centre of Terran existence. Weddings were numerous, and poverty was gone. It was not a utopia with the war hanging over everyone's heads – but people worked towards mastery of themselves as the new goal. Many people continued with many of the cultural traditions of the earth, and the various world religions settled on accepting each other. The hate had gone away, particularly with the establishment of "us" and "them", which represented humanity and the machine plague respectively.
Artificial Intelligence often was integrated into human experiences as they were tied to children and families. They considered the "other machines" to be an anathema to life. The crystal A.I. datacores were a vital part of the war effort, as they crunched numbers and even offered advice based on the stored memories of those who had passed.
The sight of human fleets caused many among the stars to cry. When the humans arrived, they fought the enemy to the last man and woman, and they were willing to die by droves to rescue civilians of other species. They were the toughest military in the Galaxy. The five main Magnetar class destroyers that continued to be in service were the TCRN Neville Longbottom, TCRN Luna Lovegood, TCRN Brutus Weasley, TCRN Daphne Greengrass and the TCRN Tracey Davis. These vessels were fifty kilometres long and were armed to the teeth with all types of exotic weapons.
Then the simulation collapsed, as no more information was available.
"Well, that was a trip. That is a nice batch of organics that you have there. I wonder what is the question – a single question has so much significance. We don't have a complete forecast, but it is looking good so far." the other caretaker asked.
"This all seems acceptable – but my poor boy has to suffer so much to ensure this outcome. His primary interest is a local insurgency. A case of domestic terrorism in his backyard. A terrorist killed my boy's parents. He is being pushed towards this outcome, and he hasn't had time to be a boy." Lady Magic explained.
"Some would pay any price to stop the machine plague. Is the boy happy? He seems so, despite his initial pain?" the other caretaker asked
"Yes?" Lady Magic replied.
"Then do not worry. Trust the boy to do what he must. And then we will see what his descendants will do. I was given no hope of stopping this endless, tireless menace. But you have the greatest group of organics I have seen. Sure they are primitive now, but they will grow out of their problems."
"And what of you and the hard work you have lost?" Lady Magic asked.
"Not to worry. Life always finds a way. They will spring from the ground once more. Such is the way of things? Perhaps we will spring back when your chosen people deal with the menace. I have no idea how they will destroy the Machine Empire's numerous deployments throughout so many galaxies, but we can hope. No matter if the situation is being silently doctored under the Shadow Council's noses, I say good riddance of those pesky, angsty machines."
"So this is the real game then. Thank you for your pointers. I am still new to this. Sometimes I wonder if I came from Earth. I care about the place?" Lady Magic asked.
"We may not have our memories, but we have our intuitions. Those things are tied to the fabric of the universe, and they never leave us." the other caretaker replied.
As Lady Magic retreated to her space, she realised that the real war loomed on the horizon. Harry's actions would determine the fate of the Galaxy, eventually. He would have to win his war against Lord Voldemort, and this was where he would build the foundation for what was to come. He would have to break his back and work tirelessly. He would also have to use all the wealth and facilities that were provided to him. And he would have to make efficient use of the favourable circumstances that were not a coincidence. And if he could do it all, her initial prediction about the boy becoming a "Techno-Battle Mage" was sensible.
It wasn't about his power, but what he would build to achieve his power. Lord Time-Space's comments about if he would change things for his species, or how magic and technology would develop side by side were illuminating. She had only ever looked upon the boy's destiny concerning the upcoming Magical War – she had not ever dreamed that the stakes were far bigger than a battle at a secondary school.
"Go forth and shape your fate, Harry Potter. Go forward and by shaping your fate, manifest your latent destiny." Lady Magic whispered.
"James?"
"Hmm, Lills?"
"That is the end of an academic year I think – not that Harry and Hermione aren't busy but for the others, this is the end of year two."
"Had you told me that my son was going to Imperial, I would have jumped to the moon. The new goal is Dr Potter, Aerospace Engineering. I can ask for no more. I am happy for his…students if you want to call them that."
Invictus and Glaucon joined the conversation.
"We took a check on his projects. He is steadily growing, and we are pleased. He made a big breakthrough with the magical focus lore. His last combat operation was excellent. The armour is undergoing a fourth wave of optimisations" Galucon mentioned.
"I can feel the magic tugging at me. It is time for him to travel. Time for him to make his journey, by Peverell tradition. Time for him to journey to the land of Priya's ancestors. When he is finished, his first magical maturity will come. Time for him to go to the Himalayas. Time for him to learn old magic." Invictus replied.