I'M SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT. WHILE THE CHAPTER WAS BETAD, I MISPLACED THAT COPY SO HERE IS THE PARTIALLY EDITED ONE. ENJOY
Voldemort could think of one word for his current situation, torture. Pure agenizing torture. The way that Potter was torturing him was unheard of but effective none the less. The heat was unbearable and left him feeling extremely uncomfortable. Not only that but the room had the brightest lights that Voldemort has ever seen before. If that wasn't enough, as time passed, Voldemort lost the comforting feeling of the thing that he cherished above all else, his magic. What was setting him over the edge though was that every time he closed his eyes, he would be assaulted by everyone that he had a hand in killing or torturing, even if he only ordered it, he was punished. With his diminishing magic, the visions were getting worse and worse since he had no way to fight back. Being a powerful Dark Lord meant that he never had to experience torture. Sure he experienced pain before, but never like this or for so long, and he was truly afraid. He was afraid that Potter was going to break him; break him like he has broken many others in the past and that truly scared him.
"Kingsley, how is the council coming along?" Harry asked. They were sitting in an office that Harry commandeered for himself. He decided to leave the most of the development of a new wizarding government up to Kingsley and those that he found to be uncorrupted by Voldemort with only one stipulation; instead of a Minister of Magic or even a president, the government would be run by a council.
Kingsley leaned forward, excitement written all over his face. "It is coming along great! The idea of a council was taken with great enthusiasm and it has been decided to create two: a lower council that will create our laws and to run the government and a high council that makes sure that the lower council is running an impartial and unbiased government. The lower council will have seven seats on the council. Six of the seats will represented by the different departments that will make up our new wizarding society and all those involved in those departments will choose the best and the brightest to represent them. The seventh seat will actually run all of the council meetings and the only voice they will have is if there is a vote and it is tied. That seat will be chosen by a popular vote, in which everyone can vote. The high council will have one seat for each race of magical creature that is involved in the community."
Harry liked what he heard so far. "What of all the magical creatures, besides several ensuring the fairness of the government, what standing will they have in this new government?"
"It has been decided that everyone that wishes to can become a citizen of the new magical society that we are creating. We are still ironing out details but in the end, people should find that becoming a citizen will be for their benefit, even though there will be some duties involved in being one." Kingsley told Harry who was smiling at the end, pleased with what he was hearing.
"That's a great start indeed. Keep me updated with your progress. There is something that you can do for me however; tell the people working you're working with that the military operations are due to begin in the next few days. Master Yoda feels that the soldiers are prepared and have learned to use their Power Armor effectively enough to fight and win the upcoming conflicts."
Now it was Kingsley's turn to smile. "I will let them know. I must say the armor is most effective. I had the chance to see a mock battle and was thoroughly impressed with their capabilities. My question is will you allow us to keep the power armor after the conflict with Voldemort?" Kingsley really was impressed and he hoped that Harry would allow them to keep the new tools. They would be great asset to the new government that was being built.
Harry already thought of this. "Every nation needs a form of defense and that is all that you will be able to do with them. They will be yours to do as you wish in that regard but know that there are failsafe's built in to prevent them from being reverse engineered and used for anything other than defense."
"That is more than satisfactory. I will go and tell the others of what we discussed and will keep you informed of our progress. I do know that you will be asked to witness the creation of the new Ministry's Charter once the threat of Voldemort is dealt with, along with the induction of the new council members."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Harry stood as Kingsley did and shook his hand with a smile on his face. Wizarding society now had a bright future and for that Harry couldn't be happier. Harry sensed that his next guest was approaching his office to come speak to him. "Please tell the person outside that they can come in and I will talk to you later Kingsley."
"I will Harry and thank you for everything." Kingsley stood and offered his hand to Harry to shake.
Harry stood and shook the proffered hand. "No thanks needed but you are welcome."
Harry moved over and sat on a comfortable chair that was facing a couch with a coffee table in between them. There was a tea set on the coffee table and after a touch from Harry, the water was hot. As Harry was fixing tea, Ginny Weasley came in the office. After pausing to see where Harry was, she headed over to the couch and sat down.
"Thank you for coming to speak with me Ginny. I know that I have been here for a few weeks and we really haven't spoken privately, but as I hope you can understand, I have been busy." Harry said as he handed her a cup of tea, took his and leaned back in his seat.
Ginny sipped her hot tea to give her a moment to collect her thoughts on the subject that is Harry Potter. "I will admit that I was really angry at first, and still am in fact but, but I can also see that you are busy and that you are this busy for all of us, not just yourself. What really hurt the most was when you just left the Burrow over the summer, leaving us all to worry since we had no idea where you were or if you were ok."
Harry could see the hurt in her eyes. "I will admit that at the time, me leaving the way that I did might not have been the right decision but you have to agree that no one would have let me leave to do what needs to be done and what needed to be done, I had to do on my own."
"Your right. My family would have demanded that you either stay safe at the Burrow or at the least, take someone with you." Ginny looked down at the omission. She knew how overbearing her family could be first hand.
"Exactly and this is something that I needed to do on my own. If I wasn't alone, what you see happening to the government and the soldiers, wouldn't be happening and we would be on the run from Voldemort." Harry paused to collect his own thoughts. "But I didn't ask you here to discuss the war or Voldemort, I asked you hear to talk about me and you."
"What about us Harry?" Ginny asked quietly.
"I will admit Ginny that I still care for you. Give me a magical oath that you won't repeat what I tell you and I will tell you a secret. I know," Harry held up his hand to stop Ginny from saying anything, "that I can trust you but you have to understand that what you will hear can disrupt all the work that I am doing and I can't allow that risk." Ginny's reaction to what Harry was going to tell her would determine how this conversation went. 'Is she mature enough?' Harry kept asking himself.
"Ok Harry, I will give you your oath. I Ginevra Molly Weasley, swear on my magic that I will not tell anyone anything that Harry James Potter tells me during this meeting, so mote it be."
"So mote it be." Harry replied and the oath was accepted with a quick flash of light, sealing the oath between the two. With the oath taken, Harry told Ginny the entire story of what happened. She sat there staring at Harry in various states of awe and disbelief. When his story was finished, she sat back, winded, feeling as if she had run a kilometer in a dead sprint. She knew that if she wanted to be with Harry, she would have to go with him. It was in the way that he told the story, the way his face lit up like she never seen it before besides maybe when he flew on his broom. Without saying it, she knew that he was asking her if she could leave her way of life, her family, here entire WORLD. Harry's story and what it meant was just too much and after several moments of sitting there on the couch, she suddenly sprang up and ran from the office.
"Well I guess that answered that question." Even though he suspected that things could have ended this way, minus the running from the office, he was still disappointed. He just knew deep down that he had progressed too far and done things so outlandish and hard to comprehend that some, if not most of his old peers wouldn't be able to accept it. And that was ok with him. He didn't want anyone with him except those that could give 150 percent. Hopefully he would have greater success with some of the other people that he was thinking of letting in on his story, in hopes of getting a couple of new recruits. Harry did take the cup that Ginny drank from and had it beamed to the med lab on Camelot, to see if he could get a usable DNA sample. He did have a civilization to restore and any and all DNA samples he had would come a long way, but it wasn't his proudest moment.
Harry and ten selected members of the DA just arrived at the complex that Harry had built on his land. He couldn't very well keep calling it the complex and since it was a multi building facility, so he decided to call it the Potter Campus. The campus was comprised of seven building of a futuristic design. Six buildings surrounded the seventh with walkways connecting all the outer buildings together with all the outer buildings connected to the center tower. Lawns and parks along with sport facilities littered the grounds of the campus, creating a beautiful and serene environment.
He took them on a tour of all the buildings, besides the central tower, showing them all that this facility had to offer, factory, school, hospital, living quarters, everything. To say that his guests were awed, their speechlessness spoke volumes. The next stop of the tour was the most important one; it was located on the first floor of the central tower, and Harry called it the judge.
"Before I answer any of your questions, I ask that you all come up to this orb and place both of your hands on it. I call it the judge since it will judge whether you are qualified and able to handle the information that I will be giving to you next." The judge was an orb that was floating at waist height. It resembled a blue marble that had fissure like cracks all around its surface and through the cracks a white light seemed to glow. Harry created the judge based off of his meeting with Ginny; he didn't want to tell people the entire truth needlessly. This device would not only judge a person's character, the main aspect being how open minded they were, but it would measure their potential as well. "One at a time, please step forward and place both hands on the orb, like the sorting hat used at Hogwarts but significantly more advanced, it will determine whether you stay or if you will leave. Any volunteers to go first?"
Luna stepped up immediately. "I'll go first Harry. Where ever you go after leaving here, I want to go to." Luna smiled dreamily as she stepped up and placed both hands on the Judge. The intensity of the glow from the orb increased as she touched it and lasted for about a minute before the glow died down. When the light faded to its normal intensity, Luna smiled at Harry and disappeared in the familiar light of Harry's transporter system.
"Where did she go Harry?" Dean Thomas asked from the middle of the group.
Harry looked at the nine people before him. "She has been judged worthy and capable of continuing on, should the rest of you pass as well, you will join her. For those that the Judge does not allow through, the Judge will leave you the information that you will need to know in order to return and pass through successfully. Now, who is next?"
Both Neville and Hermione both stepped forward at the same time. "Ladies first Hermione." Neville said to Hermione.
"Thank you Neville." Hermione quickly walked up to the Judge and was beamed away after passing the tests. After her, Neville Longbottom, Dennis Creevey, Dean Thomas, Anthony Goldstein, and Padma Patil also passed the Judge. Hannah Abbott, Colin Creevey, Susan Bones and Ron Weasley ended up not passing, instead they were transported back to Hogwarts and left with the information that they would need if they were to come back and pass through the Judge at a later date.
Harry was pleased with the results. Ron's judgment could have gone either way but he knew that him making it through was slim at best. Luckily for seven that made it, he was about to offer them something that would later take people years to get. He just hoped that they accepted. With a thought, Harry transported himself up to the conference room where the others were waiting for him. He appeared with a flash and the others who were talking amongst themselves stopped and look towards him looking expectantly.
"I'm glad to see that you all made it through the Judge. Now, I would like to know what you all think of everything that you have seen and heard since my return. Anything goes here; feel free to speak of any speculations or any theories."
Being the ever observant Ravenclaw, Padma spoke quickly. "Ok, I would think that the first thing that I think of is the big inconsistencies that you represent. I think that while what you do seems to be magical, I don't think that is truly what you do."
Harry smiled as Padma spoke, liking how observant she was. Neville was the next to speak. "You seem older, more mature and… and confident."
"Good observation Neville." Harry told his friend, still smiling and happy. He looked at Hermione, he was extremely surprised that she wasn't the first to speak and had a far off look on her face, seemingly lost in thought. At that same moment, she looked him in the eyes with a serious look in her eyes. "There are a lot of things that don't add up in the story that you told us at the Quidditch pitch. I think that while you told the truth, it wasn't the whole truth."
Anthony cut in. "Look at what you built here, I mean it looks like something seen on a muggle science fiction show! And that battle suit you built, how could an ancient civilization build something like that; it is not from any wizarding culture that I know of so where did it come from?"
Dean looked Harry in the eye and spoke to him. "I don't know what's going on but I do know that I want to be a part of it. You are always at the center of all the action but I get the feeling that this, I mean Voldemort is no the end of your adventure." Harry was impressed at Dean's statement and his intuition.
"I talked to Master Yoda a lot." Luna said with her dreamy expression nowhere to be found. "From the way that he talks and from what I have seen, I believe that he is not from this planet."
"While I don't know about that, I do agree with all the others. My question is where are you staying, it's not in the castle. And your ability to whisk people through wards at the castle is interesting. I would like to know what happened to Draco Malfoy and…"
"What Dennis here is trying to say, there are a lot of things that don't add up." Neville said easily, interrupting Dennis's rant.
"Ok, all of your questions were spot on, as well as what you observed." Harry got up from the table and started to pace in front of everyone. "The best way to explain it is that when I told everyone that I learned all of the knowledge from my ancestors, who were in fact an ancient civilization, what I really meant by that was that the ancient civilization has a history of millions of years. They were also one of the greatest races that walked the stars in the known universe."
Silence reigned supreme in the room. While they knew that there was something off with Harry, this was not what they suspected. Saying that he went back in the past and studied powerful arcane magics would have been more believable. But this… this was just too outlandish. Harry could see the doubt in their faces; even after all that he has shown them. Finally after several minutes someone managed to speak.
"You're kidding right? This is some type of joke." Padma said shocked while Dean exclaimed, "I knew it!"
"This actually makes sense. In order to travel in space, they had to be technologically advanced and that is why everything you do and create seems so futuristic!" Hermione ended in a high voice, excited at the prospect of the true extent to Harry's knowledge.
"This is so cool! Does that mean that you yourself have a spaceship? Ever been in any space battles?" Anthony asked.
"Yes and yes." Harry answered easily.
"Harry, wherever you go after you are done here, I want to go with you." Luna told him, still exuding the serious demeanor from earlier.
"I thank and welcome you Luna. But so that you know, all of you, I plan to leave not only this world, but this dimension as well, and while I have a way that you will be able to return, you may not be able to visit as often as you will like. Also, my mission is one to fix dome of the things that my ancestors overlooked this will most likely end in conflict. My hope is that you will choose to join me, but the choice is up to you. I can promise this though, you will see and do things that you can't even begin to fathom and if you decide to join me, it will be the biggest adventure and the most informative journey of your lives."
"I'm in." Neville, Dennis, and Hermione said instantly.
"Is there a way that we can see your ship and what we will be doing? I'm very interested but I just want to know all that I can before I accept." Padma asked. Anthony shook his head in agreement with Padma's statement. He was going to accept Harry's invitation, but he too wanted to see what that involved exactly.
"It just so happens that I have a little trip that I need to make. I am going to take anyone that knows the complete truth with me, as well as some others that need a harsh wake up call. Come with me and you will get the answers that you need. Do you all accept?" Harry received nods of affirmation from everyone present. "Good, we leave tomorrow and will be gone for about a week, but to everyone here, it will seem as though only a few hours have passed. Be sure to have your communication devices on you, they will act as a beacon and they will bring you to me when the time comes for us to leave. When we return, I will show those of you that wish to join me and my cause the rest of the facilities here; by then you should have a better idea of what you may see when I do. For now, I will let you all prepare for our trip."
Voldemort's voice was becoming hoarse from the screams that were coming from his agonized face. He lost the feel of his magic and he felt empty and incomplete. Never before has he felt so vulnerable. His torture also went from seeing his victims when he closed his eyes to enduring all the pain and hurt that he inflected on them until he passed out from psychological pain and torment. His will to survive was quickly fading; his wish for death was becoming louder and more insistent. Lord Voldemort has ceased to exist; a broken and still disfigured Tom Riddle taking his place.
Harry was operating the sensors in the war room, displaying the readings on a specific location. It was hours after touring Potter Campus and he was waiting for the next person to show up that would be joining him on his trip; he just didn't know it yet. This trip was to the Babylon 5 dimension to install TDStargate facilities in orbit of his mining outpost. He decided to appear a year after he left so that there would be a sizable quantity of the highly refined Q40 ingots. Not only that but he was curious to see how they were since he last saw them. At the sound of the door opening, Harry glanced up and watched Draco Malfoy walk in.
Harry kept his expression neutral but inside he was slightly impressed. He took the liberty of looking into the digital copy of his consciousness and got to know what made him tick. As it turned out, his childhood while different was just as bad as his own. Lucius Malfoy was a terrible father; he was strict and uncaring, attempting to mold his son into the perfect dark aristocrat that the family was known for. Little did he know, but his son detested a lot of the beliefs that he represented. Unfortunately, Draco couldn't openly defy his father, Lucius's punishments were swift and brutal; pain curses that wouldn't leave a mark were his favorite. So Draco put on the mask burying his true self, and became the prodigal son of his father; behaving in the way that his father would expect him to. That's the Draco that Harry has always known; but now he had a chance to meet the real Draco, one that he knew was a decent human being.
Draco speaking knocked Harry out of his own thoughts. "Well Potter, have you got my mother yet. I will admit that while reading those books you gave me was interesting, it's been two weeks and y mother still isn't here."
"I know she's not here. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with you but now that I do, I will get your mother for you. But I will tell you this one time only; you will listen to me, no questions asked."
"It will be hard to blindly do what you say, old habits and all that but I will try my best Potter. I understand that really, I have no choice in the matter but I would like to have some type of dignity left at the end of the day."
"I can understand that Malfoy, but I can promise you this, I know what type of person that you are behind the mask that you wear so well. You have a lot to offer me, and I you; later today I will show you a small bit of what working with me entails." Harry turned back to the controls, locked onto the signature that he found before Draco arrived and transported the person to Draco's suite. He locked down the suite from the inside and took the liberty of separating the wand from the person as well.
"There, your mother is safe and in your rooms. Her wand is right outside the door and the rooms are locked for her safety as well as yours. Your first task is to make sure that she understands everything that you know about this place and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. Now let's go, there is something that I think you would like to see." For the first time, Harry saw Draco smile for the first time.
"Thank you Potter, knowing that my mother is safe is of great importance to me. See that she stays that way and you will have my loyalty." Draco was sincere in what he said. His mother was all he had and she protected him to the best of her limited ability, but she did try. She would even go as far as take the focus off of Draco when Lucius was feeling particularly malicious.
"Your loyalty isn't misplaced. Just work with me and everything will be great. Now come, you won't want to miss this."
They left the war room and made their way to the nearest transporter. Draco wasn't surprised by the transporter anymore, having been subjected to it multiple times already. Draco was still surprised at the beauty of the architecture of the place. He had no idea where he was but he did know that this was a place of great power, and it was Potter's to command. After exiting the transporter, they made a short walk to a doorway that opened at Harrys command. Once the door was open, Draco heard the most ghastly of screams that he could ever imagine. He looked sideways at Harry and he had a full blown smile on his face at what he was hearing, sending a chill up his spine at realizing he was enjoying what he was hearing.
"What the bloody hell is going on in there Potter. Torture doesn't seem like your style." Draco screamed over the other screams.
"Retribution." Was all that Harry said as he led the way further into the room. Soon they came to a transparent glass wall that cut the room in half. When Draco reached the wall and looked inside, Draco took several quick steps backwards, almost feinting at what he saw; Voldemort was the one in the room, screaming at the top of his lungs. But there was no one else in there so why was he screaming? Draco and Harry stood there, one up close and one from afar, staring at the wizard that majority of the wizarding world feared,
Draco practically shouted, "Can you shut him up or something?" Draco half asked, half demanded. It was probably the worst sound that he has ever heard in his short life.
With a thought, the sound stopped, but both could tell that Voldemort was still screaming in agony.
"Silima, what's the status on Project Puppet Master?"
Silima materialized beside Harry, looking down at Voldemort as she talked. "It is 80 percent complete. His consciousness is rather complex; deleting all the rage and animosity from his subconscious is taking longer than expected."
"Good, just be sure to do a thorough job. I plan to give him a job after the current crisis is solved. I plan to make him the person that brings other megalomaniac wizards to justice throughout the world after the present crisis is solved."
"Oh the irony." Malfoy stated, regaining his composure.
"I must agree with Draco, the irony of your plan is amazing." Silima said with an easy smile, "but on that will truly work."
"So how did you break him?" Draco was truly impressed and knew that he did the right thing by asking Potter for help.
Harry replied with a satisfied smirk on his face. "It was rather simple really. What is the one thing that Voldemort cherished above all else? Most would say his power, but I took that which gave him his power; his magic. I set up a field inside the room that would slowly negate his magic. While that was happening Silima influenced his subconscious to make him believe that every one of his victims was doing to him what he did to them. As he was losing his magic, the visions got stronger; isn't it beautiful."
"I don't know if I would say that it is beautiful but it I do find it morbidly fascinating. He ruined my family and now he is screaming like so many did by his own hand. He represented strength and power, now look at him." said Malfoy.
"Come, we have seen enough, I have to go and prepare for the trip and I bet your mother is wondering where she is." Malfoy's eyes shot wide open, realizing that for the moment, he forgot all about his mother and the fact that she didn't have a clue as to where she was and without her wand.
"I will go and take care of my mother, let me know when we leave for this trip and I will join you. Thank you for showing me this, I will rest easier at night knowing that he isn't all powerful like he wanted us to believe." With that, Malfoy left the room. Harry turned his attention to Silima.
"We will leave once the modifications are made to Voldemort. When you place him back on Earth, make sure that he knows the plan and send a data packet to Kingsley with the plan as well. In the time that we are gone, they should have the first couple of missions completed."
"It shall be done young master." Silima said before winking out of existence.
Harry stayed, looking at Voldemort for several more minutes. Harry was almost finished on his home planet. The campus that he built would carry on when he left. It would be run at first by an AI like Silima until a suitable person could be found to run things. The mining facilities in the galaxy that Harry set up were outputting large amounts of raw materials; Harry used some of those resources to build a facility like he did in Master Yoda's home galaxy. The facility had a couple of slipways for ship construction, a TDStargate for transporting the resources, and a full complement of defensive satellites. Harry used his spynet to locate all space faring societies and their territory and used this knowledge to expand his mining operations without encroaching on their territory. Harry considered himself lucky that there were no highly advanced societies in his home galaxy that could threaten his holdings or Earth. All in all, Harry was happy with his progress thus far. Harry decided to go to the dimension that held his true purpose after he was done with this one; he wasn't done with his search and would still search other dimensions but he wanted to meet his people's allies of old and to begin setting up the needed infrastructure that he would need to complete his mission.
With a last look at the screaming form of Voldemort, Harry turned and left the room, intent to get a few hours of rest.
MY MUSE FOR THIS STORY HAS LEFT ME, I WISH TO CONTINUE BUT DONT KNOW WHICH WAY TO TAKE IT. I HAVE HAD THIS CHAPTER FOR SOME TIME AND DECIDED TO POST IT AS I AM LOST. FEEL FREE TO GIVE IDEAS.