Chapter Four: Take a Breath

Ron had to sit down. His knees still wobbled from being in that Merlin-forsaken place, he was surrounded by Muggle contraptions he never would have dreamed of imagining, and his best friend was stuck on that Merlin-forsaken place. Bloody brilliant.

"What now?" he finally asked.

"We should tell Dumbledore," Hermione decided. "If anyone should know about this, it's him." She could think of no one better to trust with this than the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, himself.

"We don't need to," Aelita said. Where had her accent gone? "He knows of Lyoko, but we don't need to worry him what with Voldemort returning. And I'm sure the Ministry isn't helping, either."

"What happened to your accent?" Ron asked. Hermione rolled her eyes. Oops. He probably forgot about tact again.

"I used a translation spell. It's kind of like what goes on in Lyoko. I hear and speak French, but you hear me speaking English. Eventually, the spell wears off, so I have to actually speak English."

"Maybe we should learn that spell," Hermione commented, her brown eyes shining in fascination. Ron sighed.

"I think you forgot that Harry's stuck on that Merlin-forsaken place."

Aelita shook her head, a small smile on her face. "He'll be fine, so long as he stays in the tower. Did you hear that, Harry?"

"Yeah," the wizard's voice echoed from the computer. His voice was dull and sounded bored. Hermione had almost forgotten his dislike for stagnancy. "I'll stay here."

"We'll be back in a little," Hermione reassured him.

It was at that moment that a loud rumble permeated the silence. The two girls glanced at each other before glancing at Ron, whose ears were bright red with embarrassment. "What? I'm starving."

Hermione rolled her eyes once more. "You're always hungry."

With that, the three left the Room of Requirement and descended the Grand Staircase. They parted after they entered the Great Hall, Aelita weaving past students to the Ravenclaw table and Ron and Hermione taking seats at the Gryffindor table at the other end of the Hall.

"Hey Ron, Hermione," Neville Longbottom greeted. He glanced up and down the table before turning back to them. "Where's Harry?"

Hermione glanced at Ron, who'd already had his eyes on her, likely hoping she'd provide an explanation. She wracked her brains for an excuse. "Harry wasn't feeling well. He's resting in the dorm."

"Well, let's take some food up to him," Ginny Weasley suggested.

"No!" Ron said. After a strange look from Ginny, Ron cleared his throat. "What I mean is… Harry was puking everywhere. I don't think he wants food." Ginny and Neville were so focused on him that they never noticed Hermione sighing in exasperation.

The brunette decided instead to turn her attention elsewhere. Her eyes roamed around the hall before finally landing on Viktor Krum, a student from Durmstrang. She felt her cheeks warm slightly at her memories of the past few months with him. They had been so wonderful, but he was returning to Durmstrang in a couple of days. And while it had been wonderful, there were times that it just didn't feel right. She could almost say that she was content with them staying as friends.

Anyways, it would be quite difficult to maintain a long-distance relationship.

Hermione jumped as a voice tore through her thoughts. "Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, would you kindly tell me where Mr. Potter is?" She and Ron turned in their seats. Professor Dumbledore stood behind them. His long, silver beard gleamed in the candlelight, bringing comforting memories to the forefront of Hermione's mind. His eyes, though, were filled with concern. They flicked between Ron and Hermione, who felt the strong sensation of being X-rayed.

Hermione briefly met Ron's eyes before the redhead turned to Dumbledore. "Harry's not feeling well, sir," Ron explained. "He's in our dormitory."

"Why has he not seen Madam Pomfrey?"

"He doesn't feel that bad."

"Mr. Weasley, why don't you and Miss Granger come to my office and explain?"

Dumbledore knew something was wrong. The two briefly shared a look again before they stood and followed the headmaster from the hall. Hermione glanced briefly at the Ravenclaw table and momentarily met Aelita's dark green eyes. Aelita seemed to get the message and nodded: Ron and Hermione were going to have to explain where Harry was.

Ron fidgeted in his chair. Hermione, who was seated right next to him, seemed more at ease, but he noticed that her hands were white on her arm rests. Ron glanced up and met Professor Dumbledore's gaze. Once again, he felt as if he were being seen through, oh, what was the word, x-rayed by those blue eyes.

"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, has something happened?"

"Well, Professor… you see…"

Harry once more reflexively checked for his watch only to find that, for the umpteenth time, it wasn't there. It was a watch he'd grown rather fond of, too, after only having it for a few months. He'd replaced his rather old and battered one after it had stopped working after the second task, and he hoped he'd see it again once he finally got out of this computer. He sighed once again.

He had to do something. He couldn't just sit around any longer. And asides from Jeremie, he had no company. All of the others had left.

Harry stood from the floor of the tower and approached the edge of the platform. "Hey, Jeremie, what's at the bottom of the towers?"

"Well, there's not really a bottom per say. The data between towers transfers through the bottom of those towers, and it's the same with humans, too."

"Where does it go?"

"Well, it really depends. In each sector, there are ten towers. Nine of these towers connect together to make it easier to traverse the sector while the tenth one, called a way tower, travels between sectors. I don't think you have to do anything special to get to them. Actually, I'm not really sure how you would normally go between sectors. Aelita's never described it to me." Jeremie paused. "…Why?"

"Well, if I'm stuck here, I might as well learn about this place, right?" Hermione would be proud of him, he thought, a little humorlessly.

"Wait a second, Harry, that's really dangerous. What if XANA attacks you? You won't go back to earth if you lose all your life points!"

"Yes, I remember," Harry replied, trying (and failing a bit) to keep annoyance out of his voice. "But I'll stay near the tower, and you can tell me if things are coming after me."

He heard Jeremie sigh. "Okay, fine. But I will need to go back to class soon, so you will need to go back to the tower when that happens."

"I can do that."

Harry stepped closer to the edge. Below it, the blue of the zeroes and ones on the sides of the tower faded to black. He hoped Jeremie was right. He'd never had a fear of heights, and even enjoyed flying. It was just how unknown everything was. Well, from what Harry knew, Jeremie wasn't anything like Malfoy, who would've lied just to get a laugh. Harry took a deep breath, though he didn't need one, steeled himself, and jumped off.

It was a rather strange sensation. On the one hand, he felt as if he was falling, but on the other, he couldn't shake that strange sensation of flying, either. Around him, the ones and zeroes from the tower followed him.

He looked ahead once more and saw a gray circle fast approaching him. His eyes widened in surprise, but before he could react differently, he glided around it, flipped, and landed. It was a platform just the same as the one he'd been on before. Then he remembered the tower from before when he and Aelita had been in that ice region. That tower had a platform just the same as this.

"Okay," Jeremie said, snapping Harry out of his reverie. "You're in the Mountain Sector now. This sector has two levels, like the Ice Sector, but this is connected strictly vertically, rather than by a slide like the Ice Sector has."

"So, if I fly up on a vehicle, I'll go to a different part," Harry recited, making sure he understood.

"That's the idea."

"Right."

"But you're on the upper level right now, so I wouldn't say that it would be a good idea to try to go up any higher."

"Probably not, no." Harry approached the wall of the tower and experimentally put his hand to it. Once again, it was absorbed through, and within a second, he was gazing across rocky, purple mountains; few, sparse paths; and short, lonely trees scattered here and there. The clouds drifting throughout added to the wonder of this sector. "I think I like this one."

"Just be careful on the paths. Bloks can really make it difficult to get through."

"What exactly do they do?"

"They typically stand in the middle of the path, but instead of just lasers, they can also blast fire."

"Oh, well, that's good to know." Harry lowered himself down a ridge and continued on the path. He certainly wouldn't want to meet one of those Bloks in this situation. Or a Krab. Actually, he wouldn't want to meet any of those monsters. "So, how long have you all been doing this?"

"Let's see…" Jeremie muttered. "It's been a little over two years. I was almost twelve when I found the factory and the supercomputer."

"So all of this is just sitting some factory? Don't you have to worry about workers finding out?"

"Actually, not really. This factory's been abandoned for a long time. I'd say for at least thirty years. And then, within the past decade, Franz Hopper came and started building the supercomputer. Sometime after that, he and Aelita went into Lyoko, but we're not sure how long ago that was. Aelita thinks she was eight or nine when they went in, and then she was first materialized last year."

"What?"

"Brought back to earth."

"So, she's been here alone for that long?"

"Not entirely. The supercomputer was off for part of that time, so Aelita, essentially, was asleep. But when I turned it back on, she woke up with it."

"And so did XANA?"

"Yeah."

"So, what about her getting virtualized again?"

"Well, it's a really long story."

"I have a lot of free time."

"Okay, but you're getting the short version. I have to go back to class in about ten minutes."

"So, what do you think XANA wants from Harry?" Ulrich pondered, perched atop the back of the bench. He wanted to relish in their break from classes, but he knew it would only last a few minutes longer.

"Maybe it wants his autograph!" Odd joked, taking another sip from his hot chocolate. "Aelita did say he's famous."

Ulrich and Yumi both rolled their eyes. "It's kind of odd, don't you think?"

"No, I'm Odd." Odd's smile grew wider.

"Really? I never knew that," Yumi responded, sarcasm evident in her voice. "Anyways, maybe it was just because Harry was the first new person in a couple of years?"

"Maybe," Ulrich agreed. "But that still doesn't seem quite right. There's gotta be something else going on."

"And that is all that has happened?" Dumbledore inquired.

Hermione nodded. They had divulged all they could about the past couple of hours' adventures; there was still so much about Lyoko and XANA that they didn't know. Though, Hermione realized, Dumbledore likely knew much more than they realized about the whole situation just as Aelita had told her previously.

"I see. Miss Stones, upon her arrival in her third year, told me all of this in confidence and also assured me that she would not involve other students. Alas, at some time or another, all secrets must be brought to light. Isn't that right, Miss Stones?"

Hermione glanced at Ron and shared a confused look with him before she heard a gasp and a slight shuffle against the door, which creaked open. Sheepishly, Aelita's head poked through. "I-I'm sorry sir, I-I'll just-"

"Would you care for a lemon drop?"

"Uh, no thank you, sir."

"Miss Stones," Dumbledore said, his voice suddenly taking on a more serious tone, "I am quite pleased that more students are aware of your secret. I can assure you that these two and Mr. Potter are willing and able to help you. However, I wish to remind you of their need for safety and the safety of the school as well as your own. Now, I have asked you this before, but I feel the need to again. Has XANA been able to attack the school in any way?"

"No sir, and I think for the same reason as before: Still too much magic for it to function here."

Hermione nodded in understanding. She recalled several Muggle Born first years that would almost panic upon realizing that their cell phones would be unable to work there.

"I remember several months ago that you expressed worry over XANA's ability to get stronger."

"I don't think it'll ever get that strong. Hopefully." Aelita suddenly looked sheepish and moved her gaze to a trinket spinning on the headmaster's desk. "Well, XANA managed a couple of weeks ago to steal the Key to Lyoko from me and escaped to the Internet. I don't think it's quite that powerful yet, though. It still activates towers on Lyoko when it attacks, but I think we will still be able to take care of it."

Dumbledore nodded. "Good. Now, make sure that you three enjoy this lovely summer day. There aren't too many of those at Hogwarts."

"Will do. Thank you, sir."

With that, the three of them left. "I want to check on Harry before we do anything else," Aelita said as they descended the stairs from the headmaster's office.

"Is there any way to go ahead and get him out now?" Hermione asked.

"Unfortunately, no," Aelita answered. "Jeremie needs to find the location of Harry's data before we go back, but even if he has, we have to wait twenty-four hours before we can be virtualized again."

"Why's that?" Ron asked.

Aelita cringed. "Well, Ulrich and Odd accidentally discovered that. There was a XANA attack not all that long after a previous one, and they were both really sick for a day or so after. Thankfully, XANA doesn't have the resources to launch strong attacks until after twenty-four hours. It can do weak ones, but it usually chooses not to."

"Right, so we have to wait until tomorrow, but it has to, as well," Hermione summarized.

Aelita nodded. "We can at least check on Jeremie and Harry, then do what Professor Dumbledore suggested. We've had to learn to relax when we can!"

Original word count of chapter 5: 575

This chapter's word count: 2,477

Shhh don't mind me or how long it's been since I've updated this...