Chapter 21: Endgame
Harry sighed heavily as he dragged himself to the starting line for the maze race. He didn't particularly feel up for fighting Voldy today. And there was always the chance that Voldy was not completely incompetent this time around, and his work on Horcrux destruction charms was a complete waste.
"Cheer up Potter! After this you won't have to worry about that guy anymore!" said Captain, popping out from under his cloak. The cat insisted that it be brought along for the ride.
Harry nodded. There wasn't anything in particular to fear. Except perhaps death. He had grabbed another wand from Ollivander's. He had thought about trying to borrow the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's, but decided it would only make them more suspicious of his actions.
Well at least the prize money would go to great use.
Harry was up to enter the maze first. He faintly heard a voice call out ready set go, before he sprinted into the darkness.
Once he was inside, Harry looked around. There wasn't anything really different about the killer maze. It was still dark, and miserable. Harry looked left and right grimly before marching towards the left.
"Wrong way!" came Captains voice.
Harry grumbled and turned around. This was not going to be very fun.
Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Left, Right, Right, Straight, Right.
Why couldn't just make this a right handed maze or something.
Harry saw some hazy gas ahead. As he approached it started to take form. The bogart turned into Harry's greatest fear again.
"No! Not paperwork again! Gah!"
Harry quickly cast an incinerating charm and continued sprinting.
"Uh, Harry, you just made a fireball..."
"Yeah so?"
"This is a hedge maze! Made of leafy greens!"
Harry's eyes widened as he cast a look over his shoulder. The leafy green was definitely on fire, but the hedges were regrowing as they burned, making the fire worse. And to top it off, the blazing inferno was following Harry as he ran along.
"Ahh!" Harry yelled as he ran for his life. The next thing he knew, everything was upside down.
"Well, at least it's a sign I'm going the right way…" muttered Harry as he did not dare to slow down. He simply had to reverse all his choices, right?
Soon enough, Harry was out of the golden mist that turned everything upside down. Unfortunately though, the next obstacle decided to show itself. The riddle sphinx was found blocking Harry's passage through the maze. He could hear its voice drown out, "First think of the person who lives-"
Wham!
Harry delivered a clean round house kick to the sphinx's head and continued running.
"Ooo, I didn't know you could do that!"
"Well, neither did I!" replied Harry as he just kept running. Up ahead he saw a familiar figure of Victor Krum caught up in a brief duel with Fluer. They briefly glanced to see Harry approaching.
"Move, move! Run!" yelled Harry as he kept sprinting. Seconds later, Fluer and Victor were on his heels also running away from the danger.
"What did you do!?" yelled Victor.
"Why do you assume it's automatically my fault! It could be a maze trap you know!"
"Hm!? Well is it a maze trap?"
"Well, no. You see there was a boggart, and then paper work, and then well…"
As Harry tried to explain, Captain was laughing ridiculously.
'"Hey! Did you try a water charm to put it out!" yelled Fleur from behind them.
"Uh, no. But if you want to turn around and cast that, be my guest!"
Fleur shook her head as she started chanting and making the correct wand movements. She shot a jet of water directly at the flames. The water quickly turned to steam. And the steam had oxygen in it. Seconds later, there was a loud explosion. The three champions were sent flying and ended up in a mess on the ground.
Harry slowly made his way to his feet. Well at least the fire was out. Harry quickly checked to make sure Victor and Fleur were alive, before continuing on his way to the cup.
Harry neared the final stretch, and found himself chased by spiders again. It was always to spiders. Well no matter. Harry sucked up his breathe and dived for the cup, it was now or never.
As soon as his fingers touched the cool metal, he felt the tug at his naval, and he was whisked away to some other place.
Of course it was the graveyard. And Harry was ready for that.
Harry quickly jumped to his feet, ready to dodge any curse that was going to be thrown at him. But none came. Instead there was a clapping sound. It echoed through the graveyard like a phantom opera. Confused Harry looked around. He was very confused at what he say.
Standing before him was Lord Voldemort.
"Well, Mr Potter. I'm glad you could make it."
"But… how? You were…"
Voldemort smirked, "Ah yes, you see I'm not the Voldemort you once knew. I am from the future. But I don't expect you to-"
"You're from the future too!?"
"Wait, what?"
Now it was Voldemort's turn to be confused. He had spent a good bit of time trying to prepare for this moment, and he had calculated a good bit of things, and had to think something would just happen on fate, but he did not expect Harry Potter from the future to show up here.
Just then, Captain jumped out from Harry's cloak. Voldemort was very startled.
"Oh god, not you again! Demon cat!" yelled Voldemort, quickly pulling out his wand and pointing it at the cat.
Harry raised an eyebrow and looked at Captain, "Well, how do you explain this?"
"You see, I thought I could hitch along with the dark wizard that traveled in time before you-"
"Wait before me!"
"Hold on, I'm getting there… Yeah, so I tried to act as an evil cat so I could tag along with him, but I think I took it too far…"
"Too far! You crazy cat, you nearly got me killed twenty times in two days!" yelled Voldemort.
Harry sighed. It didn't matter where this guy was from, the plan was the same.
"Prepare yourself!"
"Hm?" Voldemort turned to face Harry again.
A large circle of glowing blue energy surrounded the area Voldemort was standing. Harry chanted and completed a long series of wand movements, which created images on the floor. Once the transmutation circle was drawn on the ground, Harry finished by pointing his wand at Voldemort. Sparks were now violently flying off of the ground. "Chain Horcrux Destroyer!" yelled Harry.
A large crack of thunder was heard, and the visible effects of the spell were gone as quickly as they came.
"Ha, now you're a mere mortal Voldemort!"
"Hm? Oh you didn't know? And Captain didn't tell you? Hahaha! Oh that's rich. I wonder how long you were working on that spell for! My soul fragments didn't come back with me! I have no horcruxes here!"
Harry stared blankly. Then he yelled in frustration.
"Well, it's still a duel to the death! Bring it Moldy Shorts!"
"Oh I intend to Mr. Potter!"
Both wizards pointed their wands at each other. Harry noticed that Voldemort also had a different wand than before. So they each had two wands. Interesting. Harry was about to fire his first curse when he heard a chuckling from behind him.
Voldemort froze and stared. Harry turned around and found the source of the noise. It was Captain the Cat.
"Well, you see… you guys can't die yet. I need both of you for something."
"What?" answered both wizards.
"Yeah, I kind of use time travelers for my own purpose you know. That's why I made those chocolate frog cards…"
"Wait, chocolate frog cards?"
Harry quickly pulled his out and flipped it over. Sure enough, in the bottom corner, it read "Made by Captain Corp" in small font. Harry looked up and found that Voldemort was also inspecting his card. Wait a minute.
"You have a frog card!?"
"What? Yeah! Of course I do! In fact I grabbed it when my curse reflected off of you and killed me. The second time. Saved my life!"
"Have you figured it out yet?" said Captain, with a wild smirk on the cats face.
"So if a wizard holds his own chocolate frog card… he can time travel? What kind of retarded system is that! I mean, who would be vain enough to carry around their own-"
Harry caught himself and rubbed his temple. Well there were a couple wizards he guessed, considering the insurmountable evidence. Moreover, the situation right now was very surreal, even more so than his time traveling experience. Up until now it had felt like a game, but now there was this unknown factor.
Harry quickly switched his train of thought.
"So what do you need time travelers for anyways?" Harry asked the seemingly innocent question. Voldemort also looked at Captain, wondering exactly the same thing.
"Well, it is quite simple really. For each time disturbance, or change, you caused, it creates a certain amount of flux energy. With each one, however, the flux grows exponentially. At some major turning point, the flux will be too large for the time frame to handle. Makes sense?"
"Sure" said Harry waving his hand. "But that still doesn't explain why you need time travelers." Voldemort nodded and seemed lost in thought.
"You see, all that energy has to go somewhere right? So why not me? I get stronger and stronger for each traveler that exists. But the energy is only released when the traveler dies you see. And two of you happen to be the last two time travelers I need! After the two of you... I'll have enough power to take the void for myself!" Captain had a dangerous smile and began to gather an outrageous amount of energy.
"Um, so what are you going to do to us…" Harry asked nervously. There was something wrong with this situation. Very wrong with this situation.
Crack!
The ground cracked. A faint glow was shining through the small crack in the Earths crust. Or was a crack in something else?
Crack!
The crack grew exponentially till it filled the entire grave field. The eerie white glow filled the area, piercing through the darkness. Captain's eyes were now glowing as a cat's does in the dark. Except it was not the usual whimsical look. It was the eye of beast that was prepared to do whatever it had to get what it wanted.
The small cat mutated.
Its front two paws grew first. Growing out before slamming into the ground, pulling the cat up. The back two followed. They slowly its body morphed into that of a beast. Harry's eyes went wide and so did Voldemorts. That was not of this world. But more frighteningly…
It was not magic either.
Crash!
The ground shattered under the beast's weight. As soon as the three fell through the hole, it was closed up and sealed. Harry landed on a type of ground. It was strange because it was clear. That wasn't it. The room was white and expanded in all directions. Harry looked down.
He was standing on nothing.
There was nothing there. He could walk where he wanted. He felt weightless. He was weightless.
Surrounding him were clocks of various sizes and shapes. There were unique digital clocks that were yet to be invented alongside sundials from ancient history. There were also mirrors that reflected mirages of different moments in Harry's life. Upon closer inspection, Harry found that he didn't recognize some. Perhaps that wasn't a replay of his life, but gates to other dimensions? What was this place!?
Before Harry and Voldemort was a beast of epic proportions. It was roughly five times Harry's size and was menacing in every way possible. And it looked like it had every intention to kill them.
Harry looked over to Voldemort and found that he did not have to stare up at him anymore. In fact, he was back in his older body. Voldemort next to him looked quite different as well.
"Your fate is sealed. Once you two die here, the energy pent up will be released in such a way that even limbo will fall apart. And I will be the one to rewrite the world!"
Harry looked at Voldemort. The two arch rivals were going to cooperate on this one. Harry to save his friends and the world, and Voldemort to save the land he wants to rule. Harry turned to Captain. "You still haven't answered my question. Why are you doing this? Why do you need to take over this place?"
"You don't understand do you? It's useless. I'm immortal! And I have already grown bored of everything. I'm done killing time. Now I will become a omnipotent force! Now let me show you my power!"
Before he could do anything, a bus with flames trailing behind it appear with a flash of light, slamming directly into Captain, knocking the cat over and into a clock on the side. The clock cracked under pressure, but the digital LED did not break. The bus was gone as quickly as it came.
"What the heck was that Potter!" demanded Voldemort.
"That was public transportation in the wizarding world. Also known as the Knight Bus" answered Harry with a smirk evident on his face.
"When I take over the wizard world, I am going to confiscate that. Immediately."
"You do that" was Harry's answer.
The cat was staggering to get back to its feet. Why had the Knight Bus come here after that little gum incident? And who did Captain want to take the void from? The demonic cat had a furious look on its face as it stared at Harry and Voldemort. Then Harry realized something, that stare was not directed at him. Harry slowly turned around.
There stood a strange dog. The dog had a clock as a body that made a slow daunting noise. Runes on Captain's paw began to glow.
"You!" growled Captain.
"What is this!?" was Voldemort and Harry's response.
"I am the watch dog" came the being's answer. Harry had to admit that the dog had a sense of humor if nothing else. The watch dog then spoke to Captain in a booming voice. "You're killing time? Surely you remember our one rule… don't you?" The watch dog slowly smiled with a creepy grin.
Captain snarled and leapt forward. The demonic cat's claws protruded as it raced towards the watch dog. The cat was stopped in midair, as if time itself had temporarily stopped.
"Too soon. Goodbye Captain."
"Noooooooooooooo…"
The runes on Captain's paw began to glow brighter and Captain's body began to wrinkle. Time sped forward as all the millennia Captain had lived finally caught up. In seconds, Captain was reduced to dust. The watch dog turned to Harry and Voldemort. Harry felt a small sting on his hand. He looked to find a rune there, exactly the same as Captains.
"I guess there is a new opening as a guardian of the void. Though only one of you two can win that title…" said the watch dog cryptically.
Harry saw that Voldemort had a similar mark on his hand. Harry quickly drew his wand as Voldemort went for his. "So this is what it has come down to Potter!" said Voldemort.
"Wouldn't have it any other way old chap!" replied Harry.
Harry flicked his wrist to fire off a curse, but nothing happened.
"What!? Hold on a second!" Harry tapped his wand against his hand, before banging it against the ground. "Why won't it work!"
Voldemort laughed historically before raising his own wand. "Goodbye Potter! Avada Kedavra!" and once again, nothing happened.
The watch dog grinned. "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Magic doesn't quite work the same around here! Its more about the emotion rather than the wand or the words."
Harry got up. "Well, muggle style it is then!"
Harry ran straight at Voldemort who was still fiddling with his wand. He delivered a clean jump kick right to Voldemort's torso and sent him tumbling along the ground before he smashed into a grandfather clock. The glass on the clock broke and Voldemort fell through the shimmering darkness.
Harry raised an eyebrow before cautiously following his trajectory to the clock. He turned to the watch dog as if to ask for an explanation.
"Well… This IS the fabric that hold space and time together. You better follow up and make sure he went down for the count and lost his rune, otherwise you might see him in a decade or so unexpectedly!"
Harry grumbled as he slowly stepped into the cavity of the grandfather clock.
Harry found himself suddenly at the edge of some kind of stage. The spot where he had emerged was still shimmering strangely. The sight in front of Harry shocked him though. Voldemort was there too, with his jaw dropped to the floor.
The stage held a young Tom Riddle below a banner that read fifth grade spelling bee. A booming voice came from the other side of the stage as Harry heard.
"Mr Riddle. Could you please spell Knack"
"Could I have the root of the word please?"
Harry didn't hear the rest as he was too busy cracking up. Harry gasped for air as he tried to breath through his fits of laughter. Suddenly Harry felt a sharp blow to his temple as Voldemort throttled him through the shimmering gate again. Harry fell back out the other side in the void again. Harry quickly bounced to his feet as Voldemort re-emerged from the other world. Harry noticed that the glass had repaired itself after Voldemort had left.
"You will never speak of that again!" yelled Voldemort as he dashed forwards.
"Oh sorry, I couldn't hear you. Could you spell that out for me?" Harry muttered as he dodged a low kick. Harry quickly leapt back to put some room between him and Voldemort.
Voldemort was now very annoyed . He closed his eyes and concentrated. Harry looked on, wondering what the dark lord was planning. Harry was astounded though when a green hilted rapier materialized in Voldemort's hand.
"Oh come one that has to be cheatin-" Harry was cut off as Voldemort dashed at him again. Harry leaned back to avoid the first vertical strike. Unfortunately, Voldemort saw his opening and kicked Harry as he was open. Harry stumbled backwards and landed on what felt like another large clock. Voldemort was standing over him and punched him straight through.
Harry emerged at the other end and landed on some type of stone. Harry rubbed this cheek.
"Aw, ouch. I guess I kind of deserved that one. Hmm, where am I?" Harry looked around to find that the room was silent and there were a bunch of people staring at him dressed in medieval clothes. And stranger still was the scene that was in front of all those people on the other side of the room.
Harry saw a version of himself dressed in peasants clothes kneeling before the throne, which had a familiar looking woman sitting on it. Harry raised an eye brow before muttering one word, "Luna?"
Harry quickly used a wandless spell to summon a sword from a nearby knight and turned just in time to block Voldemort who was just coming out of the void. The two exchanged a couple blows before Harry found himself being punched back into the void.
Harry emerged back in the white void. Voldemort seemed as if he had gained the upper had somehow. Harry grimaced and ran over to a nearby clock. Hopefully this one was better, though Harry as he punched the LCD clock and jumped in. In the corner of his eye, Harry saw Voldemort running to follow him.
Harry fell onto some kind of metal floor this time. Harry picked himself up to find himself staring at the back of some sort of alien council. They were large, slug like, and ugly looking, but dressed in tuxedos. What was queer was that Harry saw a version of himself at the front of the room in chains.
"Harry Potter! The high Vogon council finds you guilty of all charges. We sentence you to death by poetry followed by being ejected out the air lock. Any last words?"
Harry found himself twitching at the absurdity of the scene. Harry climbed on top of the table and yelled, "Objection!"
All eyes turned to Harry. The Vogon became extremely confused. The other Harry simply stared up, before commenting, "Where the heck is your towel?"
"My towel!?" replied Harry confused. "Never mind that! That is not the culprit you are looking for. This is!" said Harry as he turned and pointed to Voldemort who had just stumbled into this dimension.
"What? Why are you pointing at me? I'm going to take you down!" said Voldemort. Of course, this only served to solidify his guilt in the Vogon's eyes. Faster than he could blink, Voldemort was quickly over run by a great number of Vogon.
A Vogon across the room felt like he needed to comment, "I think we have to do the paperwork first to bring this man under arrest!"
"Ah yes of course, how could we forget!"
And the next second brought desks in front of every Vogon as they hurried along with their paper work. Voldemort was standing there dazed at what had just happened. Harry climbed down from his table and walked over to Voldemort, before pulling back his arm and delivering a sharp upper cut to the dark lord. Voldemort fell to the ground out cold. Harry noticed that the rune on Voldemort's hand began to disappear, and his began to glow.
The other Harry, across the room walked up to him. "Thank you very much. I wouldn't have made it without you. Now, my friends are waiting for me. I don't know how to thank you, except with this."
The other Harry handed him a small towel that was sky blue in color. He then gave Harry a thumbs up and ran out the door of the room. Harry stared at the towel for a minute before tossing it aside. Harry waltzed back through the gate of the void and ended up face to face with the watch dog again.
"Uhh… hi?"
"Yes… hi indeed."
"So, am I the guardian thing now?"
"Yes, you are the guardian thing now."
"So… I'm going to be blunt. What the heck does the guardian of the void do?"
"Huh? I don't know. Whatever you want. Just don't be stupid, and never, ever, ever, waste time. Oh yeah, and you're immortal now until you give up the seal."
"Uh, so I have to try and make people's lives better or something?"
"Sure, let's go with that. Now… I'm out. Enjoy yourself Mr Potter."
"I'll try to."
And with that the watch dog disappeared. Harry looked around at the white room with infinite clocks. Infinite possibilities. He would never be bored again. Harry found a grin creeping onto his face. Oh the havoc that could be caused and the adventures that could be had.
Harry slowly walked over to a nearby hourglass and put his hand on the time piece. He was the master of his own destiny. And perhaps every other destiny that was out there. Maybe he should be more responsible with this power. Of course, responsibility was relative.
Harry smashed the glass on the time piece and found himself whisked away to yet another dimension.