The Stonehenge Solution

by bnj1776

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter becomes despondent and a recluse. He knows that the real problem has not been dealt with, not really. After spending a great deal of time searching for an answer he accepts the only one that will truly work with a broken heart.

3. The future is here

The Stonehenge Solution

03 - The Future Is Here

By Brian N. Johnson

A free fan fiction

(Edited 10/28/23)

Chapter 3 - The Future Is Here

It had been nearly ten years ago this New Year's Eve when the Grand Ritual commenced. Back when a strong and healthy Harry was only fifty.

Nowadays sixty-year-old Harry looks and feels weak, worn, old, and grey. No longer is his hair Potter black. Not one of the Potter family pictures nor paintings he has seen shows anyone else with grey, he is just lucky apparently.

The ritual is still active and may continue for centuries. In movies and such, they might call it a "self-sustaining" engine. But it's the power from the lay lines that keeps the ritual going, so that would be a no.

Harry watched the large screen as the Great Ball in New York was beginning to fall. Soon the news would spread around the world. Never did Harry so want a year to last longer. To hold off stepping into tomorrow. But that would not happen.

While he waits Harry muses he is "playing the lay lines of the world like a fine string instrument." Laughing at himself he is glad no one knows about that silly thought.

Thankfully this last decade had been mostly quiet. There have been conflicts, but not any larger wars. That must be avoided if at all possible he thought. Nothing he could do to stop it anyway.

The Statue is still in place, though Harry worries about how much longer it will be. How many mundane officials know? How fast is that number growing?

Turning his focus back to the large screen, the ball had just landed and the studio switched back to the mundane news anchor.

It took several more minutes of Happy New Year wishes and comments about upcoming stories by the host before he paused with a frown to begin the next story. The world's governments had demanded that this news not be reported until this year, but now the floodgates were open.

The newscaster began, "Ladies and Gentlemen, a disturbing fact has been shared with us by the United Nations today regarding the past decade. A fact that will chill you."

"For many decades warnings of global warming have been in the news as people try to warn us the worst may happen. This would not be special news tonight if I were to speak of climate change again and you'd have likely changed the channel by now."

"Tonight's news is not about the climate and its impending disaster. No, this unfortunate news is about a new disaster. This is not a warning about something that may happen."

He pauses to be dramatic, "According to the UN, this disaster is already happening. As we all know the UN watches over many things around the world. One of these things is how healthy we are. For the most part, people are healthy and this has been slowly improving for decades."

"I'm sad to pass on the news that the UN has noticed something unsettling. The UN is reporting that the world's birth rate is falling."

"All around the world, in every country, the number of children being born each year is declining. We know this happens in war and when food is scarce or poverty is reduced as people choose to work. That is not the case today. No one yet can tell us a definitive why, but the UN has noted several reasons why different areas seem to be impacted. Pollution of one kind or another seems to be the most common cause. Poor-quality air, contaminated water, and contaminated food are the most likely contributors to the lower rates in many communities. There have also many accidents releasing radiation during the last century."

"Unfortunately, this news gets worse. Not only are the birth rates down, but they are going down more each year."

"During our modern history around two percent of couples have typically found that they could not have children."

"Ten years ago that was true, but nine years ago the rate climbed to three percent. Eight years ago the rate was up to four percent."

"Now a further six years later, the infertility rate is expected to reach ten percent. We are facing a true decline in our worldwide population. How will that impact us?"

"With fewer and fewer people working, economies are being impacted including critical services like health care."

"This is going to impact us all as doctors retire and there are fewer and fewer replacements. Our already struggling healthcare systems risk collapse as the number of patients continues to grow as people live longer."

"This has been an ongoing problem in China after their one-child policy for many years. The rest of the world will soon be having the same problems."

"We'll now ask our guest…"

Harry turned the device off. Now the real waiting games begin.

For ten years Harry has asked and asked questions with no answers.

No answers tonight, just an increasing number of questioners.

During every hour of every day, Harry Potter faces his mind asking unending questions about what he has done. So many questions to ask in so many different ways.

- Will this plan work or fail?

- Will the world tear itself apart before the world completes its change?

- Have I saved the right world?

- Will the world attack and doom us all?

- What if they find a cure or some other way to stop my solution?

- How will people behave without an answer?

- There will be frauds out there claiming to have solutions, how will they be dealt with?

- Will violence be the norm against witches and wizards again?

- Will witches and wizards even try to stop harmful actions against nonmagical people?

- Will the world band together against us to leave the planet empty?

- Do I dare to try to stop it?

- Should I tell anyone what is happening?

- Or tell everyone?

- How long will it be before the mundanes put the puzzle together enough to discover that only, quote, odd children, unquote, are growing up to have more children?

- How long will the scientific community take to discover the special gene sequence that is needed from one parent to create a viable zygote?

- How will the existing magical people react when they discover that only stronger squibs and above can still have children unless they are too closely related?

- How long until they notice fewer children with birth defects?

- For those 'pure-blooded' couples who are too closely related, what will they do when they find themselves without children at all?

So many, many questions with no answers.