Michael Brown

The following week was surprisingly uneventful, all things considered.

my parents, befitting calculating government agents they were, quickly came to terms with the existence of magic, instead focusing on congratulating me, saying that they always knew I was special. To be honest, their apparent readiness to believe in magic made me believe that they already had suspicions and McGonagall's visit was just the first open contact with the illusive Ministry. They also tried to subtly interrogate me by asking if something like that ever happened to me before. I of course said that it didn't, which wasn't even a lie, which seemed to placate them. They were probably worried that the Ministry was influencing me, which would make collected data useless.

In the end they just told me they were proud of me and they were happy I would be able to learn magic. I was sure they would be happy, as various microchips and trackers in my body would no doubt give them a lot of useful data about the Ministry.

As for me, McGonagall's visit gave me a lot to think about, especially the fact that Someone was trying to convince me I was in the Harry Potter world.

This manipulation attempt surprisingly helped me with reducing the number of plausible theories about my existence. Most importantly, given recent events I was almost ready to give up on Reincarnation Theory. After all, it would mean for some reason I was reincarnated in another world, a world from the fantasy book at that. For it to happen some entity would have to create the Harry Potter and then for some reason put me there, which sounded…unlikely. Not impossible, mind you, but it was much less probable than other options.

Surprisingly, the existence of Hogwarts and McGonagall made the Simulation Theory the most probable option at the moment. After all, my brain already possessed the information about Harry Potter from watching the movies and reading the books. It would be easy for Synthetic Overlords to extract my knowledge about it from my mind and recreate the "wizarding world". The only question was if "magic" and "Wizarding world" existed from the start or was it created by the Machines to cover abnormalities in the System? If it was the latter, I was quite impressed as they essentially managed to change bugs into features by introducing magic. Any future glitch would just be "dark force" or "magic of true love".

It wasn't to say I completely gave up on Conspiracy Theory however. It was also possible that my memories were fabricated by either the Government or Ministry. My knowledge was actually an intel gathered by government spies investigating the Ministry, changed into the form of the novel so that my undeveloped mind could handle it. Or maybe it was put there by the Ministry to make me trust them more, turning me into some double spy used to spy on the government. Now that I thought about it, I didn't know if these memories weren't put in my mind during McGonagall's visit. From my perspective I had these memories from my birth, but maybe she just made me think it was the case.

Or maybe the situation was layered and I was in the simulation, but within the simulation there were two Conspiracies, using me as a pawn in their game of shadows? I couldn't reject this as a possibility. Yes, for now it would be safer to assume I was in multi-layered Conspiracy overseen by Synthetic Overlords. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry.

However, despite the fact that I knew I was in simulation, I couldn't really do anything about that at the moment, which was why it was more important to focus on the Conspiracy. Especially as I was about to visit a secret refuge of the dangerous reality warpers, accompanied only by the (almost) confirmed assassin. I couldn't be careless.

It was a Saturday morning when McGonagall, or I guess professor McGonagall now, darkened our doorstep. To be completely honest, I didn't know what to expect from this trip. On one hand, it could just be a little propaganda tour, showing me nice views and happy smiles, trying to convince me that the entire wizarding world looked like that. On the other hand my trip might end up with me strapped to a chair and tortured until I revealed everything I knew or with me being framed for murder and blackmailed into working for the Ministry. I knew that one of these options would come to pass, I just didn't know which one yet.

"Are you ready for your first visit in Diagon alley, Mr Brown?" asked professor McGonagall after exchanging greetings with everyone. Today she was wearing a green robe, most likely a subtle attempt at influencing my mood by using a more lively colour palette. It wouldn't work though, as I recognized her trickery.

"Of course, Professor" I responded with a fake smile on my face. As I knew what danger lurked in her piercing eyes, I wasn't maintaining eye contact, instead looking into the spot approximately two centimeters to the left of her head. It was a rudimentary defence against possible legilimency, meant to minimize the risk of McGonagall invading my mind. It wasn't perfect though, especially as it heavily depended on the knowledge about Harry Potter I possessed being accurate. And let's be honest, chances of that were almost nonexistent. It was quite safe to assume that the person responsible for giving me this knowledge put a lot of false information there, to use my misconceptions for their advantage. For all I knew, legilimency didn't need eye contact and the lie about it being necessary was only there to make me less cautious about their attempts. Still, even the weakest defence was better than no defence at all.

"Splendid" said McGonagall, either ignoring or unaware of my strategy. Then again, if she really wanted to extract intel from me, she could have done it quite easily, so my meager attempts at defending myself were ultimately meaningless. Not that I would stop trying. "Purchasing everything from the list will take some time, so we shouldn't dally. Could you please give me your hand for the moment? Diagon alley is quite a distance away from your house, so we will just apparate there to save time"

I reflexively extended my hand, confused by her words. Apparate? As I was trying to understand what she was talking about, McGonagall took my hand. I didn't even have time to scream as everything went black and I felt immense pressure from every direction, crushing my body and making me unable to breath. I felt my eyeballs being forced back into my head and then...

The sensation stopped and I fell to my knees, overwhelmed and confused by the experience. What happened? As my eyes were still firmly shut I didn't see what was going on around me, but my hands were on the ground, touching the floor. But the surface I was touching didn't feel like the floor in my house...

Gathering my courage I slowly opened my eyes, revealing dark wood planks, so different from the carpet in my living room. What?

"I apologize if the apparition caused you any discomfort. I sometimes forget it's a difficult process to get used to." said McGonagall, as she approached me to help me raise from my knees. Looking around I noticed that I was no longer in my living room, instead finding myself in the middle of a shady, yet oddly familiar pub. Despite the early hour the location was quite crowded, with people occupying most of the tables, eating and talking among each other. Some of them looked quite unassuming, no different from the normal people you could meet during the walk, but some looked just like McGonagall, with pointy hats and long robes, giving the place quite an unusual atmosphere. There was however one thing that all these people had in common, no matter their appearance: they were all looking at me with barely concealed amusement.

As for me, I was watching the scene in front of me with a blank gaze, unable to understand what was happening. Where was I and who were these people? It actually took me a few seconds to connect the dots and grasp the terrible truth. That damned woman teleported us!

I Immediately started patting myself in panic, trying to see if there was any part of me that was missing. After a quick inspection revealed no deformities I gave a sigh of relief, only to realize in horror that it wasn't a possibility of missing bits that was the biggest problem, but the teleportation itself! What kind of teleportation was it? How did it work? Was I just a clone, a mere copy of the original Michael? Did the original die in his house without any warning, anihilated and recreated in this pub, giving me a short, cursed life doomed to end the next time McGonagall decides to teleport us? Or maybe the original Michael was still in the house, unaware that he now has a new doppelganger? Oh fuck, will this end like in Prestige?! Fuck! FUCK! I felt the nausea hit me and I barely stopped myself from puking. Why did it happen? What should I do?!

"Are you alright, mr. Brown? Did the apparition make you dizzy?" Asked McGonagall, most likely noticing my existential dread. I went still, remembering that I wasn't alone. Not good, no matter what happened, I couldn't let her see how afraid I was, as she would surely find a way to use it against me. Even if I was just a clone, my survival was still a priority and giving any advantage to McGonagall would be quite detrimental for my health. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and responded as confidently as I could.

"I'm fine, Professor McGonagall," I said. My voice still sounded a little weak, but I was able to stop it from trembling, which was good. Apparently I still didn't sound completely fine, as she looked at me dubiously, but she didn't press any further. Good, I was safe for now. "I was just startled by this "apparition", as it was quite unexpected. How exactly does it work, professor?" I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, despite the nervousness eating me from the inside.

"Apparition? It's not that complicated, actually. You just take a person from one place and move it to second place, simple. The only difference from, let's say walking, is that the process is instant" she casually responded to my question. The fact that she was so casual about violating the laws of nature was scary, but her answer was...good. She was basically saying that we teleported using a wormhole, which meant that I was still the same person as before the apparition. I couldn't exactly check if she was telling the truth, but I, well, preferred to believe she wasn't lying. Obsessing over the nature of apparition would surely make me paranoid and I didn't want it to happen. I was just happy to know I was still the same person. That knowledge filled me with relief.

"But enough about apparition, we are here to buy supplies for you, aren't we? Currently we are in an establishment named Leaky Cauldron. In the rear of the building there is the main entrance to Diagon alley. There are of course other ways to reach it, but Leaky Cauldron is the most conventional one. I recommend using it during your next visits" said McGonagall, snapping me out of my relief-fueled euphoria. Her words made me realize that it wasn't the time to daydream. If what she was saying was right, I was currently being surrounded by Ministry's enforcers, hidden among the guests. After all, if Leaky Cauldron was the most conventional way to enter Diagon alley, it was also the most guarded one. I suspected that more than a half of the people in the room were actually members of secret police, meant to incapacitate and interrogate any suspicious person entering the premises. Actually, I was quite sure that Leaky Cauldron was a headquarters of the secret police as it was the perfect place to control who was entering and leaving the alley, while also allowing them to spy on other mages without being seen as suspicious. After all, who would suspect a man drinking in the corner to be a government agent listening to your conversation? Well, I would, but other people wouldn't.

Unaware of my thoughts, McGonagall started walking towards the back of the building, still explaining. As I didn't want to make agents of the Ministry suspicious of me, I hurriedly followed her, pretending to be interested in her explanations.

Soon we reached a certain brick wall which, thanks to artificial memories stored inside my brain, made me quite nostalgic and awestruck (which is weird as it was literally just a brick wall).

"This is the entrance to Diagon alley. I know it doesn't look like much, but you just need to press a few bricks and…" McGonagall spoke, taking out her wand and using it to knock on some of the bricks in certain order. It made the wall quickly disassemble revealing the sight behind it.

Diagon alley.

I took a deep breath and entered this accursed hellhole, ready for anything.