Disclaimer: See Chapter one

Chapter Four

Harry didn't know how much time had passed since he remembered his name. Time had no concept here. In the darkness only one thing counted; how strong he was able to push. He just had to hold IT at bay. He didn't know for how long, or till when. He only knew, that he had to endure it.

But the pressure had been building up. It had increased ever so slowly. Where at the beginning it just seemed to come from above his chest it now encompassed his entire body. Every angle seemed to push, pull and squeeze at his being. A terrible throbbing filled his senses and the pushing became harder and harder with each breath he took.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it ended. From one moment to trhe other the pushing had stopped.

Strange, but not unwelcome. Finally Harry had some calm and peace. The throbbing ended and he could breathe freely once again. Or, whatever the equivalent in this darkness here was. Now he just needed a way to get out of it. If he could manage that he'd be free he hoped. He took a deep breath, and prepared to-

PUSHHHHHHH

With the power of a freight train IT had begun ITs onslaught again. Without warning IT attacked and Harry, stunned by this unforeseen action lost precious ground before he was able to fight back again. With all his might he countered, all thoughts about escaping forgotten. He couldn't spare any distractions while fighting for his very existence in here.

Soon a rhythm began to form; IT would push and pressure and pressure and push, then it would stop. Never for the same amount of time, thus keeping Harry on edge the entire time. Sometimes IT attacked immediately, relentless for an eternity, then IT would stop. But IT would always come back again. Never giving up, always battling for supremacy. And slowly Harry realized to his ever growing horror, that he began to loose. Not all at a time. But a little ground here, a small hesitation there…

He lost his ground slowly but steady. And IT? IT just pushed. It pressured on and on and on and on and on and on. But… he refused to let it win. Refused to let it win even one more inch of ground! So he pushed again. He pressured like he never pressured before and pushed like he never pushed before. On and on he pushed, gaining his ground back rapidly, surprising even IT with his ferociousness.

And then, nothing. He did it. He had conquered IT, banished IT, had won against ITs foreign presence. He rejoiced and was already planning on how to escape the darkness, when something caught his (metaphorical) eye.

There! There was… something. Something small. It was like a light in this godforsaken place. Except it wasn't. He was shrouded in total darkness. And yet this … thing was like a beacon of blackness inside the already pitch-black universe he was in.

He knew he should ignore it. Knew he had to ignore it. If he would, everything would go back to normal. He would have a normal life again. Without danger, without pressure and pushing, without this eternal darkness. But… he couldn't tear his gaze away from it. It was just so… so fascinating. He just couldn't ignore it. Didn't want to ignore it. His curiosity and his caution battled, not unlike he and IT just mere moments prior. But in the end his curiosity won.

Though he couldn't possibly have known it, but there was a proverb, said by an old chieftain, living in the scorching deserts of a faraway land called Shurima:

"Not death is the bane of humanity. Nor is it love, pestilence, war or any of those. The true bane of all living things is the concept of curiosity. Like honey it lures them, like resin it binds them, like hate it consumes them, like destiny it dooms them."

And just this curiosity lead Harry to follow the black light. He conentrated on the dark beacon in this black world, allowing him so escape this world, and thus changing his life, his destiny and his future as well as that of an entire world irrevocably forevermore. And just for a thousand moments, for a sliver of a heartbeat and an eternity simultaneously this enabled him to throw a look behind the great beyond.

And what he saw there shocked him. Delighted him. Pained him. Healed him. Comforted him. Scared him.

The universe was BLACK. Not just black, or black or even black, but BLACK. Utter and impossibly black darkness. Blackness so impossibly impossible black that even his own little dark world flared bright like a sun. Not unlike the other little dark suns he spotted here and there. If he hadn't known the brightness of his own little world, he would have missed them entirely. But his gaze didn't stop there. Farther and farther he gazed. Further and further his view stretched in this dark space, until it caught sight of something. It was focussed on something and he couldn't bring himself to look away from it.

A sun, he realized. A sun in this darkness, just like his own little world. But while his was bright and flaring this one was … it was… it…

If the universe around him was BLACK and DARK and COLD, then this world there was BRIGHT and LIGHT and SCORCHING beyond measure.

And there, around this world it happened. Finally he saw THEM. There were many of THEM. Unmovingly THEY gazed upon this world. Nearer and nearer he was drawn, till one of THEM caught sight of him. And everything exploded in emotion.

ItV

When Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore arrived at Lab 7 five days after having sen Harry's cocoon, for he refused for even one second to believe that Harry was dead or, Merlin forbid, consumed, he didn't know what to expect.

Had he been sleeping these last days he would probably have had nightmares on end about all the possibilities that could lead to a failure of Harry's soon to be extraction. But he had not slept, preferring to run on magical brand of coffee, enervates and even muggle anti-sleeping-pills. The faster he could get Harry out of his misery the better after all.

So he had traveled around, tracked down old friends and adversaries, cashed in favors and even got the help of the fallen angel Kokabiel. Now one might ask himself now why exactly a member of the Cadre of the Grigori and Kokabiel, who is known for his disdain for all the mortal races, would help a "lowly human" the likes of Albus Dumbledore. Now, the reason behind this is fairly obvious; respect.

Yes, Albus Dumbledore was a human, and yes, it is true that normally this fact would have earned him nothing but scorn and disdain when speaking with Kokabiel, so was it also a fact that Kokabiel respected and even admired strength. Such it is no wonder that the man who is widely known as the strongest wizard alive would be able to talk with Kokabiel not quite on even ground, but still more or less normally. Add to this that Albus had even bested the fallen Angel in combat a few decades earlier, and one could say that these two men connected something akin to a friendship. And while their views -especially those on all things war- differed greatly, so were they still connected by a great deal of respect and admiration for each other.

Kokabiels time as one of the 20 Watcher-Angels in the fifth Heaven prior to his fall in which he discovered great a many secrets about astrology, the universe and the different worlds in general also were a great motivation to tag along with Albus to help Harry. After all, when did one get to study a being from the Void the single most dangerous, but also most unexplored world of all?

Well, it's suffice to say that today Lab 7 saw a very exited Kokabiel wandering its halls.

"So", the fallen said. "What exactly do you need me for Albus? While it is greatly appreciated that you informed me of your… find, I still cannot help but ask myself how exactly you thought I could be of assistance here"

As always, Kokabiels manner of speech was impeccable and his words smooth beyond belief.

"Now, now, do my old bones trick me or is it excitement I hear there from you?", Albus asked, eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Well of course it is", Kokabiel replied. "After all you don't get to study the Dimension of Madness every day"

Albus sighed tiredly. "You know, I still wish that you would stop to try and meddle with things we aren't supposed to understand or even know of for that matter"

As much as the Void intrigued him, he still chose to try and ignore it. There was no point in dabbling in knowledge that could and probably would be their end one day in the distant future.

"You know I cannot do this, Albus", Kokabiel said somberly. "Exploring the universe is not just my passion. It is what I was created for. And though He is gone for a long time now, I still cannot change the innermost part of my soul. The thirst for knowledge is as much a part of me as my wings or my light"

"I know, old friend, I know. Still, an old fool can dream, can't he?"

A melodious chuckle escaped Kokabiels throat at this. "Old fool? You've just barely crossed your first century. For me you will always be the little brat you were in your youth"

Albus' eyebrows rose at the mention of the words "just" and "century", but laughed heartily after this. "Still sore that the 'brat' that I'll always be bested you in combat?"

"Pff, you wish, kid, you wish", Kokabiel, though not without a wide and happy smile of his own on his face. "Also, I was severely injured at this time, so maybe I just should demand a rematch so see who really is the strongest"

"You had a cold", Albus merrily pointed out.

"The point still stands", the fallen angel replied.

Albus' eyes twinkled with mirth "So, why don't we do our rematch then? I would love to stretch my old bones once in a while to be honest"

"Well, I am terribly sorry, but my position as a Grigori demands a lot of my time, so I am afraid, our rematch has to wait until I am less busy"

"You just wait and hope I'll drop dead before it comes to that, don't you? Trying to spare you the embarrassment a second time?"

"Trust me, old friend, I have the feeling you will survive all of us grigori if you continue living your life like you do now", Kokabiel laughed, which Albus joining in soon after.

ItV

"So this is him…", Kokabiel mused, roughly 20 Minutes later while mustering the Purplish-brown cocoon. Soft tremors shook it from time to time and it trembled in a slow but steady rhythm. "Truly fascinating…"

"Indeed", Albus answered, standing next to the Angel. Next to him were Dr. Maria Hill, the head scientist of Lab 7, Alastair Creed, Unspeakable in the british ministry of magic, as well as several scientists of lab 7. They all were situated in a rough circle around the table with Harry's cocoon operating most of the machines and equipment during the intervention. They all were completely focussed and ready for probably the most intense operation up to date. For today would be the day when they would be extracting Harry Potter from the cocoon. State of the art equipment was situated next to the table, along with several magical machineries all with the sole purpose of measuring the state of the cocoon, everything with someone situated behind it to control it. From the molecular structure, over the level of magical energy in it till even the air pressure around it, nothing was not monitored. They couldn't afford to leave anything to chance during this operation.

"Does everyone remember the plan?" Dr. Hill asked. A chorus of "yes, Ma'am" and a scoffed "of course" (courtesy of Kokabiel) were the answer.

"Okay then!", she said. "Operation starting in three, two, one, operation start!"

Immediately Kokabiel rose his hand and froze the entire cocoon in time. The machines stilled monitoring it stilled as well, and immediately a team of doctors started to cut it open.

"Remember guys, we only have so much time left, before Mister Kokabiels spell is over. So do not slack!"

Said angel was meanwhile already showing signs of stress. Sweat began to pearl on his forehead and his hands began to tremble.

"What's wrong Kokabiel?" Albus asked. While he knew that freezing objects and especially living things in time his friend shouldn't have that much of a problem with the task. Barely 30 seconds were over after all.

"I-I don't know" The strain in Kokabiels normally perfectly controlled voice was obvious. "Feels like it's fighting or.. Dunno, It's way bigger than it should be"

His arms were visibly shaking by now and his hair was plastered to his face.

"Alastair, now!", Albus shouted. He and Alastair didn't waste a moment of time. They channeled their magical energy and fed it to Kokabiel in an effort to lessen his burden. But as soon as the connection between Albus' and Kokabiels magical cores was forged he felt it as well.

A crushing pressure unlike anything he ever had felt up to date. It tore and pulled and pushed and pressured and ripped and blew and threatened to utterly tear him apart. Nut he held strong. Next to him the strain became too much for Alastair; the man collapsed, foam before his mouth, hair wet with sweat and dry heaving on the laboratories floor.

Magical exhaustion, Albus noted absentmindedly. The Pressure became slowly too much for him as well. His legs were shaking and his hair matted to his head.

At least the spell still holds, he thought. Only the thoughts and concerns for his friend and the effort to ease his burden, holding him upright.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Hills voice rang out.

"We get him out of there!" She shouted, as she and her team pulled something small and purple and so horrifyingly not human out of the cocoon.

Kokabiel and Albus stopped their spells and panted from exhaustion.

"Note to myself", Kokabiel panted "Never try to time-freeze something out of the Void"

Albus wholeheartedly agreed with this and took a look at the thing lying in front of them on the table. A quick ennervate and Alastair, tough exhausted and tired, joined them staring at the live form lying on the table. Its top half closely resembled a human. Pale skin and messy black, hair covered his head. The face looked entirely like the Harry Potter that Albus knew and remembered, but one thing was off. His scar had changed. While it had been a little pale scratch atop his right eyebrow, it now resembled a long, jagged claw mark. It covered his eye completely; no eyebrow or eyelash could be seen. For all intents and purposes his right eye was nonexistent, though a quick test showed that it was just closed. But where the left eye was a completely normal vibrant shade of green his right eye was not. Instead of an Iris or pupil there was just a black slit inside of this horrid purple scar, imbedded in a completely black eye socket, which seemed to pierce your very soul.

The lower half of its body though worried them; it was covered by rough, spiky purplish-brown carapace. Instead of legs just a single long lib was left. It was curled in on itself and 3 pairs of insectoid legs sprouted on equal distance from it. To be frank, it gave Harry (or what was left of him) the appearance of a giant human-larvae-hybrid.

Albus shared a poignant look with the other attending persons and cast a quick ennervate on Harry's still, but nonetheless breathing form.

It was hit by the spell and a shudder went through its body. He opened his eyes, opened his mouth and began to screech.

ItV

This moment would burn itself for all eternity in Harry's memory. Slowly, without a care in the world, one of THEM turned around.

An eye, harry realized. A giant, impossible eye gazed at him. From across the universe and through all realities it saw him, mustered him. Everything was droned out until only he and the eye remained. They were locked in their gazes and a terrible pull originated from the eye. It was nothing like he ever felt before. If IT had pressured him like a train, then the eye was a whole planet in comparison. It was so impossibly old and big and powerful and wise and

PULL

It happened in an instant. One moment he was half in his world and half in THEIRS. Impossibly far away from THEIRS. Then just THEIRS. Before the eye. It mustered him and something hammered away at his mind.

A voice. Or at least, the mental equivalent of it.

YES

It seemed to say.

YOU WILL DO

Then, another one of THEM appeared. And another one, and another one. THEY seemed to talk. Emotions flowed between them and with Harry trapped next to them. HE couldn't move. Couldn't breathe, blink or even think.

A multitude of emotions streamed from THEM it while THEY communicated with Harry accidently at the receiving end.

There was curiosity.

A peculiar mix of hope and resignation.

Then there was rage. So unbelievably strong rage, paired with hatred beyond belief, all aimed at the sun, no, the world before him and behind THEM.

He felt restlessness. And a terrible disturbance. Like something was not right at all. But for the life of it he couldn't get a grip on what exactly it was.

Disdain. So unbelievably great disdain regarding him, and everything that wasn't THEM. And especially regarding the place before him.

He wondered why. A mistake, for suddenly an influx of memories and information assaulted his mind. THEY probably hadn't even realized that he was leeching off of THEIR knowledge. It was so vast anyways, that this tiny sliver of it was naught but a raindrop in an ocean. But even this was enough to send his mind into overdrive. A lot of it was filed away or outright forgotten. But one thing burned itself into his brain. A name. The name of the world before him.

Runeterra.

He calmed down. And he felt THEIR emotions once more.

Something akin to resignation. No, something different. Patience. Such an unbelievably great amount of patience.

He wondered what THEY wanted from him.

Hope, was the answer.

Glee another one. Then a multitude of thoughts too foreign for mortal minds to remember or even understand.

But what shook him by far the most was the apathy. Just could, numb apathy. Like he was irrelevant. And in a way he was, Harry knew that. He, as well as IT, and his world and any worlds and everything except THEM was irrelevant in the long run. For the only thing that mattered were THEM. THEY had already existed before the beginning and would continue to do so even after the end. Like they always had and would always do. It was just a matter of time. Millenia mattered nothing to THEM. THEY perceived centuries like seconds and time was a concept as foreign to them as the internet would be to a neanderthal.

A new feeling spread inside of him at this realization. Despair. Like acid did it burn its way inside of him and left him with nothing but a terrible feeling of hopelessness. In the end, everything he did was for naught. So why did he even fight THEM then?

Why didn't he let them just use them for whatever THEY wanted to do? Wouldn't that be easier? He supposed so. So he waited. Soon the others of THEM went away, till only he and the one of THEM who spotted him remained.

The eye looked at him again.

He looked back.

Something slithered in his vision.

It was dark.

It was twisted and primal and old.

But it was not evil.

No, the opposite.

It was hopeful.

It was restless

It was so full of sorrow.

It was-

BRIGHT BRIGHT BRIGHT

EVERYTHING WAS SO BRIGHT AND LIGHT AND WHITE AND HE SCREECHED AND IT WAS RIPPED AWAY AND HE WAS RIPPED AWAY AND IT HURt SO MUCH SO MUCH SO MUCH SO BRIGHT HE MUSTNT FORGET IT AND MUSTN'T FORGET them AND SUDDENLY HE WAS OUT-

and frantic shouting assaulted his senses. He smelled strange smells and tasted strange tastes and opened his eyes and-

He could see.

He could see!

Finally he could see again!

Even through the blaring pain in the right side of his face he could see!

Faces came into his view. A man, with a big hat and long, long silver shining hair. A woman, brown hair, glasses on her nose and a laboratory coat around her shoulders. A man with pointed ears and glowing red eyes and another man with sunken in eyes and a ragged appearance and a woman and a man and other people and-

His vision began to water as tears filled his eyes. He felt strong hand grab him and pull him out of something. Suddenly everything went cold. Ice cold and shivers shook his entire body. Not before long though he was put into another thing -water- he realized, and he became warm again.

Voices soon began to talk to him. Some calm, some heated some concerned, some afraid. His body shook again, but not due to the cold this time. An unbelievable sadness overtook him. It drew tears in his eyes and sobs into his voice. The voices -no persons- continued asking him questions. At first he couldn't make heads or tails of what they said, but slowly ht stated comprehending them again.

"What happened to you?"

"How did this happen?"

"You are safe, my boy, everything will be alright"

"What did you see?"

And many more of those inquiries.

But he only could repeat one thing over and over again. And no matter how much he cried, no matter, how much he screamed his sorrow into the world, no worlds, it didn't help.

"They are the victims", he whispered, over and over again. "They want us gone and they have the right"

ItV

The scream was nothing like anything Kokabiel had ever heard before. So full of agony and fear, of panic and rage. It teared at his mind, tried to do … something to him, but he squashed that feeling immediately. The other witnesses weren't this lucky. They held their ears, writhed on the floor or stared into the empty air. So Kabiel, as the good and caring fallen that he was, did the only thing he could think of that might help. He summoned a sphere of water and submerged the thing inside of it. And oh joy, the screeching stopped. He receded his sphere and lay the trembling thing down on the table again. It seemed to have calmed down and everyone now rushed to him, taking blood samples, asking him questions, or opted for just plain staring.

But he never answered any of those inquiries. Instead the child, for even in Kokabiels mind there was no doubt that this was just a babe, trapped in terrible circumstances, only repeated two sentences over and over. Even through the sedatives that were later used to calm him down he continued to murmur them.

And even though at this moment Kokabiel couldn't make heads or tails out of those sentences for the life of him, they would burn themselves for evermore into his mind.

"They are the victims. They want us gone and they have the right", the fallen murmured. "Well if this isn't ominous…"

ItV

Welp guys, thats it. Harry made first contact with the watchers, Albus flexes with his supernatural connections and yeah. Thats it basically.

Thanks for reading this chapter, reviews are more than apprechiated and I hope I can keep my muse as flowing as it is right now.

@Viscides: Well, yeah, basically you got it. But trust me, there will be way, waay more than just "yeah Harry has cool ass void powers'n stuff and no drawbacks at all yeah yeah". I'm gonna try and subvert this trope as good as I can. Or rather, Im not sure if void-harry is even a trope xD.

Anyways, I hope you guys stick around and that this chapter wasn't too freaky with all the Void-Universe-Watcher-Stuff.

See ya and till next time,

Halariel out!