Categories > Books > Harry Potter
Harry, Harry, Everywhere
23 reviewsA nice fat plot bunny, tweaking the idea of Multi-verse Harry, and a few favorite stories.
5Original
Harry, Harry, Everywhere
By Dr. T
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A nice fat plot bunny, tweaking the idea of Multi-verse Harry, and a few favorite stories.
*
The Harry Potter canon and characters were created and are primarily owned by She-Who-Must-Be-named, with other rights held by her evil minions. I simply take a Quidditch bat to it all, leaving it bruised, crying, and hiding in the cupboard under the stairs, hoping for Hagrid to rescue it.
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“Where am I?” Harry asked weakly, flat on his back and dizzy.
“That is a question of some philosophical debate, young Harry.”
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but more importantly, it sounded friendly. Harry opened his eyes, and looked up at the face, puzzled. The man was too old to be his father, so Harry had no idea who he might be. He thought he might be too coherent for this to be an hallucination, but he did think there was a fairly good chance if it was not an hallucination of some kind, he was likely dead.
“First of all,” the man said, “you are safe, and at least in the subjective short term, time doesn’t matter very much.”
“Okay,” Harry replied cautiously, still somewhat confused.
The man smiled and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Harry Potter.”
Harry blinked. “You . . . you’re me? From the future?”
“Yes and no. I am Harry Potter; we are versions of each other, but I am not the future you.” He held up a hand to stall questions. “This can get complicated, so let me explain some background. First, there are an infinite number of universes, or at least it seems that way. Some are very different, some have similar time streams, others, well, you get the general idea.”
“I guess.”
“A subset of those infinite universes are ones that develop an earth, and a subset of those evolve people. A subset of those Earths have people with magic. And finally, a small subset of those have magical Harry Potters.”
Harry blinked again, and said, “Okay.”
“How it appears to work is that every year, or what seems to us to be a year, three universes where there will be Harry Potters come in to being. How many there might have been in the past or might be in the future, we don’t know.”
Harry shook his head and asked, “How many. . . ?”
“Do we know of? While, like I said, there are three Harry Potter universes every year. So, for you and two others, this is 1995. For three others, it’s 1996, and so on. Presumably there are currently Harry Potters in 1994 and on back, but that we won’t know for sure until one from one of these later universes shows up. It’s usually only then, or when one dies, that we know for certain, and so far no one from a universe younger than yours has died. For us, you are Harry Potter 120-b.”
“120-b?”
The man nodded.
“So 120-a has already passed through?”
“Actually, no,” the man answered. “Harry Potter-a’s seem to live a fairly standard life. Not necessarily a good one and certainly not an easy one, but apparently the standard one. They all live the exact same life until the spring of 1998, when, during what for them is the final battle, they face a decision, one you are living a variation of right now. So far, every Harry Potter-a, except one, has decided the same way. Over 115 subjective years ago, however, a Harry Potter-a made the other choice.” The man gestured and a younger version came into Harry’s sight. Harry could see that indeed this person looked a great deal like himself, just a few years older.
“Because of the nature of that choice, he wished that it had been possible for things to have been different, and that he could have been better prepared to make that choice. He was informed that, in fact, things were often different for some versions of Harry Potter. While he could not advise Harry Potters in the a-line, he could meet any other Harry Potter who found himself in a similar situation. Meet Harry One-a.”
“Hi!” One-a said cheerfully.
“Hello,” Harry replied weakly.
“Now, once a Harry-a makes the decision to go back rather than stay in the afterlife – again, so far only One-a stayed – they live the same life for the next twenty-odd years. After that, things might change, but unless they somehow die in a manner involving Tom Riddle’s soul, they never know about this place. I am actually a Harry-a from an even earlier universe than One-a. My soul was separated by Voldemort-worshippers and sent into the void in the hopes our former link would be reforged and that when I was dragged back Tom would be as well. So, rather than go back, I stayed here and that left Tom’s soul in hell for good. I’m called Harry Prime or Harry P.”
“Confused yet?” One-a asked.
“Well, I think I understand what you say is happening,” Harry replied, “but it’s a lot to wrap my brain around.”
“It is,” One-a agreed, “but it will get weirder.”
“Harry, remember Riddle’s diary. What he had done was to actually split off a portion of his soul, about a tenth of it. This is done with a very dark ceremony that has to end in killing a sentient being. As long as a small piece of the soul in in existence, the primary piece cannot be sent into death. However, the smaller piece can be sent on by itself, like you did with the diary.”
“Okay, I think I understand, even if it sounds kind of backwards. So Voldemort is mortal now?”
“No,” Harry P answered. “He split off more than one piece. He needs at least 25 to 30 percent of his soul to operate a body. Most loonies who make these soul anchors stop at six, but at least in the a-universes, Voldemort made seven. Also, in all of the a and b universes and nearly all the c ones as well, your scar was one.”
That stunned Harry.
“You were in the Black Lake for the Second Task,” Harry P explained. “You fought a merman for your hostages, and his magical knife cut your scar, breaking that Horcrux. Several Harrys are nearly freezing us in time, slowing us down relative to your time stream, while guiding your body up towards the surface, along with your hostage or hostages. In the a-line, those are Ron and Gabrielle. Don’t worry, they will be safe.”
“And me?”
“That will be up to you, after we talk some more,” Harry P answered. “It will be your decision.” The one time they had talked a Harry into going back unwillingly, it had ended in a huge disaster.
“For Harry-a’s,” One-a went on, “the soul fragment is broken during the final battle, when there is only one other fragment and Riddle himself left. For Harry-b’s, like yourself, the soul fragment is broken at different points in time, but usually still in a way where Harry has a choice to stay in the afterlife, either here or moving on, or returning to life.”
“And Harry-c’s?” Harry asked.
“Ah,” Harry P answered, “As bad as life can be for the a’s and b’s. . . .”
“And life for the b-line have been, at least so far, fairly similar to that of the a-line, especially before Hogwarts,” One-a added.
“Fairly, but not always exact,” Harry P agreed. “We can go into that in a moment. Anyway, life for a Harry-c can be, well, weird, awful, and every great once in a while, not so bad.”
“For one thing, in the a-line, Dumbledore is a powerful but somewhat bumbling manipulative old bastard, who nevertheless means well.”
Harry looked surprised.
“He decided to dump you at the Dursleys without any real oversight or ever even investigating your scar, which at the least he knew was filled with dark magic, while condemning Sirius unheard. He used the Stone to test both your willingness to be led as well as your friendship with Ron and Hermione. He made certain the basilisk didn’t kill anyone while maneuvering you into taking care of it. I would be shocked if he hasn’t kept you ignorant of your heritage and even your finances. He could have gotten you out of the Tri-Wizard in any one of several different ways. How is that for a start? Does any of that sound familiar?”
Harry was stunned by the very idea.
“Now for the b-line, Dumbledore is usually much the same, although sometimes a bit more overtly and selfishly manipulative,” Harry P said. “In the c-line, almost anything can happen.”
“Really?”
Harry One-a nodded. “You b’s have something life-threatening happen which cuts the connection to the soul fragment. C’s, well, of the 117 we know about – three haven’t reached a critical point yet – three were killed by Riddle that Halloween night; seven were killed by the Dursleys at some point before Hagrid arrived; one was killed by Dumbledore because it turned out he was as evil as Riddle; two were starved to death between their First and Second year at Hogwarts; and one, well, she died a very messy death at the hands of Dudley and his gang the summer after her Fifth year.”
“She?” Harry practically shouted, shocked by the idea.
“Out of the 117 c’s we know of, thirty have been females. Twenty-four Harriets and six Roses.”
“Harriets are essentially female versions of you,” Harry P explained. “Roses have red hair and brown eyes instead, and look more like Mum. Although Roses like it even less than Harriets, we still call them Harry number-c, just to keep the lines straight.”
“Harriet?” Harry said, still stunned by the concept. Seeing One-a make a motion, Harry struggled to sit up for the first time. He finally noticed he was in some sort of huge cavern. In the distance, five figures sat around a pentagram, softly chanting, while many others stood just beyond them.
Two slight figures detached themselves from the crowd. Harriet had medium length stiff black hair, while Rose did look like a slightly more angular version of his mother. “Bloody hell,” he muttered.
“Except for one Harriet starved to death, all the female c’s have had truly horrendous deaths,” Harry P growled. Starving to death was of course not a ‘pleasant’ death (few deaths are), but for a Harry Potter, starving to death was one of the least worst fates.
“He acts somewhere between an older brother and a favorite uncle,” Harriet teased, referring to Harry P. “But he’s right. All of us who lived long enough to at least attend Hogwarts, except one, have at least been sexually assaulted, and most fully raped, and that’s how most of us have died.”
“And the one that wasn’t assaulted?” Harry asked.
“She was one of the lucky Potters,” Rose answered. “Hers was a really different universe, where all the genders were switched. At the same time, she managed to come out ahead of the manipulations, prophecies, and Dark Magic. Most of the b’s and c’s don’t do nearly as well as she did.”
Seeing Harry was still somewhat dumbfounded, Harriet stroked his chin with her finger. “Stunned that you’d make such a cute girl, Harry, or are you having day dreams only Pure-bloods should have about their sisters?” Rose giggled at his reaction.
Harry made a face. “A little of the first, but not the second!”
Harry P was pleased the girls were recovering enough from their abuse to tease a fellow Harry, but needed to get things back on track. “Okay, Harry. As interesting the c’s are, especially these two, I need to tell you a condensed version of the life of Harry-a through the Third task. That way, we can see where your life through the Second task might vary and help you get on track for the future.”
Harry nodded, and for the next forty minutes, listened carefully to what the older Harry had to say. When he had concluded, Harry One-a asked, “Do you see any obvious deviations from the usual before the second task? No matter how minor?”
“There is at least one big one,” Harry answered. “Last December, well, I needed to ask someone to the Ball. You said a’s wanted to ask Cho, thought briefly about Hermione and Ginny but they already had dates, and you ended up with Parvati.”
“That’s right,” Harry One-a agreed.
“I never really thought of Cho, because I already knew she was seeing Cedric. I never really thought of Hermione, either, because she’s more like a big sister, and unlike these two,” he teased, gesturing at Harriet and Rose, “I don’t think like a Pure Blood.” The two girls stuck their tongues out at him.
“And Ginny?”
Harry wrinkled his nose. “Fan girl.”
The two Harrys gave their counterpart identical twisted smiles. Harry P admitted, “Yet that’s who we Harry-a’s end up with, apparently willingly.”
“’Apparently’?” Harry asked.
“No Harry-b or c has ended up with Ginny willingly, although she sometimes succeeds in using various potions to do anything from gain her Harry’s attention to outright potion-induced slavery.”
“The latter was a Harry-c,” Harriet put in.
“Molly Weasley is nearly always in on it, sometimes with Dumbledore and sometimes not. Also, sometimes Ron is potioning Hermione as well.”
Harry merely nodded at the warning and explained what had happened to him. “I knew Neville liked Ginny, so I asked him if he was going to ask her before anyone else could. That got him to ask her the next day, so I was safe from her. When I mentioned in the Common Room I would need a date, I could see she wished she had waited. Ron made an ass of himself as usual when she and Hermione said they had dates. Anyway, for whatever reason, she suggested a friend of hers.”
“Luna?” Rose asked before the others could.
Harry nodded. “She’s . . . different.”
“In b and c universes where Harry lives long enough to marry, or at least have a really serious relationship, and where Ginny doesn’t successfully potion him, Harry ends up with Hermione about a third of the time and Luna about a third of the time. The other third has a pretty wide range, although of course we’re not talking about all that many universes.”
“Don’t forget Harry 48-c and 54-c,” Harriet pointed out.
“How could we?” Harry One-a retorted. “The first had a group marriage with both Hermione and Luna. Harry 54-c had one with Hermione, Luna, and Susan Bones.”
“Not all Harrys have a bad life after Voldemort dies,” Harry P agreed.
“Anyway, back to Luna,” Rose urged.
“I asked, and, well, we had a good time,” Harry replied, somewhat shyly.
“Are you two dating?”
Harry nodded. “Ginny isn’t overly thrilled, of course, but at least Luna and Hermione are trying to get along, even though they look at the world so differently.”
“How about Ron?” Harry One-a asked.
“Ron was a real git over my being entered into the Tournament” Harry answered, obviously still a bit unhappy with his first friend. “After the First Task, when he tried to pretend that he had never turned on me, I told him to piss off. He sulked for a few weeks but finally apologized. We’re getting along okay, but we aren’t really mates anymore.”
“So, Luna was your hostage?”
Harry nodded, but then frowned as he remembered what had been said. “Who’s Gabrielle?”
“Fleur’s sister,” Harry One-a explained. “We a’s get to the village first, and see that Cho was Cedric’s hostage, Hermione was Viktor’s, Ron was ours, and Fleur’s little sister was hers.”
“Why would Hermione be Krum’s?” Harry asked.
“They went to the Yule Ball together. What happened in your case?”
“Viktor took one of the Beauxbaton students. Hermione went with Felix Madison.” Seeing the blank looks, he added “He’s a Sixth year Ravenclaw. He’s been helpful in getting the Ravenclaw girls to stop picking on Luna. That got Padma and Cho involved in helping as well.”
“Well,” Harry P admitted, “this is a first!”
“Any positive surprise is good,” Harry One-a agreed.
“Harry, did you even notice the other hostages? Or weren’t they grouped together?”
“They were,” Harry admitted. “I just . . . I just had to rescue Luna, and besides, I would hope they really weren’t in any danger.”
“Well, they weren’t in danger the a-line, although we were gullible enough to believe they were, and so far they haven’t been in any real danger in the b-line,” Harry P allowed. Obviously, at least at times the hostages had been in real danger in the c-line.
“Then why was a merman after me with his knife?” Harry demanded.
“Let me check with the hold team,” Harry P answered. He moved off to the group seated and chanting quietly in the distance.
Seeing this might take some subjective time, Harry changed the subject. “Am I subject to this Prophecy you mentioned?”
“All a’s and b’s are, as are most c’s,” Harriet answered. “Actually, so far, all the c’s but one have been when it was real, although three other times Dumbledore knew it was a false prophecy.”
“Do I want to know. . . ?”
The two girls shook their heads. “No, that was a pretty screwed-up universe, no matter how you look at it,” Rose admitted.
“Before you go, Harry P will place a spell on you which allows you to keep your thoughts to yourself – Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort all know a magical method of invading your head. We’ll also help you come up with a story to tell Dumbledore which hopefully will get it through his thick skull that the soul fragment is out of you, so you need more help than he usually gives.”
Seeing the frown on Harry’s face, Rose put in, “In the a-universes, and most of the b and c ones, the only way Dumbledore knows how to break the soul fragment’s hold on our scar is for us to die. So he sets us up to sacrifice ourselves in the hopes that the fragment is killed but not us. It usually, but not always, works.”
“The advantage of having the soul fragment is that we can die in many ways and still come back, like you’re doing,” Rose explained. “The disadvantage is that Dumbledore conditions us to take that first hit instead of finding some other way to break it.”
“Even worse, he conditions us to sacrifice for damn nearly anything and anyone,” Harry One-a stated. “Hermione once said, well, maybe will say in your case, that we have ‘a saving people thing.’ That mind-set was largely created by Dumbledore to serve his purposes – to save as much of the wizarding world as he can at the cost of our happiness and perhaps out lives. It’s a simplified, dumbed-down version something called ‘utilitarianism’ – the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one in this case, with us being the one. He is sacrificing your life and risking the lives of people like Hermione to try and save as many Pure-blood bigots as he can.”
“But Dumbledore is against that sort of thing!”
“He’s not,” Harriet stated. “He’s against the worst versions of it. He believes that magicals are superior to Muggles, the magically-raised are superior to the Muggle-raised. He’s for the preservation of blood-lines in that he doesn’t want them to die out. He just doesn’t mind mingling new bloodlines with old ones. In fact, he knows that seems to actually strengthen the bloodlines.”
“Dumbledore is a pro-magical bigot, just not anywhere in the same league as people like Malfoy.”
“Go ahead and tell him,” Rose urged.
Harry looked at his slightly older counterpart nervously.
“Well, you know about Grindelwald and his beliefs, right?”
Harry nodded.
“He developed them along with his lover, Dumbledore.”
That made Harry’s eyes goggle.
The other three nodded. “Dumbledore wasn’t willing to go along with the amount of violence to gain their objectives,” Harriet said simply. “That’s what caused them to split apart, romantically as well as politically but their basic beliefs were, and are, the same.”
“So, he really hasn’t changed that much,” Harry One-a said, almost with a snarl. Of all the Harrys present, Harry One-a came closest to disliking Dumbledore the most.
Harry P came back at that point. “We’re not sure why, but it appears as if the merman was more after Luna than he was you. Do you know if you want to die now or go back?” Seeing the look on Harry’s face Harry P added, “You don’t need to decide this instant if you haven’t yet, and if you’re going back you don’t need to leave for a bit, but real time is only slowed down. If you’re going back, we need to make certain you, and Luna for that matter, get back to a fairly safe situation.”
“If you can really give me some help, I’ll go back,” Harry said.
“Determined to find out if Luna ‘loves good’?” Harriet teased.
“Yes,” Harry admitted.
Harriet patted Harry on the head. “Good boy!” She leaned over and staged-whispered, “Most Harrys are fairly unromantic and pretty boring. I’m glad you might do better.”
“Thanks, Harriet,” Harry retorted, letting her hug him a bit.
“What about me?” Rose said with a faux pout.
“Me hugging Harriet, who is a female me, is just narcissistic,” Harry dead-panned. “You look even more like Mum than Ginny, and that would be too weird.”
“Oh, dear,” Harry P put in teasingly, “it seems as if we might have a Marauder Harry. Those are almost as uncommon as the romantic ones are.” He placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Let’s get you all primed and ready to meet your destiny.”
Harry let himself finally get fully to his feet. He looked at the others nervously. “I’ll remember this, right?”
“You will,” Harry One-a agreed. “And, hopefully in the far distant future, if the group is still here when you die for good, you can join us to help other versions of us if you want to.”
“Would I be able to tell anyone?”
Harry P answered that one. “Usually, no. However, we can modify that restriction so that you can eventually tell Luna, if you stay together. And if you do tell her, don’t worry; no one will be able to get it out of her head.”
“I pity anyone who tries to read Luna’s mind,” Harriet agreed. “What helps us allow you to tell her all this is that Luna is even more consistent than Hermione, never mind us, throughout the universes.”
“So, in a nut-shell. . . ?” Harry asked as he stretched.
“In a nut-shell, Ron can only be trusted to be at least a little jealous and lazy, and is not to be really relied on; Dumbledore cannot be trusted with your welfare; Remus is likely wishy-washy while Sirius is usually going to fool around too much and at times think you’re our father, but both usually care about you and your welfare. Hermione, except when her hormones are engaged or at times when she’s sure someone or some book is an authority, will stick with you; Snape is always a sniveling self-serving greasy git, although occasionally a helpful one; Ginny is as likely as not going to potion you; the twins are fairly trustworthy but still prone to pranking; McGonagall is strict and fairly useless outside of class; even when he doesn’t follow his daddy and becomes a Death Eater, Malfoy is always a bigoted twerp; the word of a goblin means nothing, but a signed agreement will be followed to the letter, but not the spirit, of the agreement; Dobby has so far always been loyal; and, if you love and protect her, Luna does love very good!” Harry P summed up. Seeing Harry nod his understanding, Harry P went on, “So far, in every b-universe four soul anchors have been the same: you; the diary; and two artifacts once owned by Slytherin. We’ll tell you how to get them, and tell you the other anchors that have been used. Try not to let Dumbledore screw it up.”
Harriet spoke up next. “Oh, and see if you can’t be declared a legal adult before the Third Task, since they have you competing in an adult-only competition. It should work nearly all the time, but Dumbledore manages to sabotage the process nearly half the time it’s tried. Sirius is usually helpful in arranging that with his Gringotts managers. If you aren’t successful, hire Dobby to protect you during the summer. You might want to hire him no matter what.”
As Harry nodded, Harry One-a asked, “And what did we tell you about what the Third Task should entail?”
“It should be a maze. If it is, ask Dumbledore what touching the Cup should do, as it should freeze Hagrid’s creatures and make the maze and the other traps disappear. Follow the directions you gave me, get to the Cup first, and test it to see if it’s a port-key. If it’s not, touch it. If it is, warn the others if they make it.” Harry frowned. “Won’t the fake Moody try and interfere?”
“He can’t affect things that far inside the maze,” Harry P answered. Had he been able to, Cedric wouldn’t have managed to get to the Cup in the a-universes. “He’ll be upset, but he can’t do anything. You can also reveal he is not really Moody before you go into the maze. If you do it too soon, well, that can cause a real mess.” As two different Harrys who had tried that had found out.
“What if Dumbledore says it’s a portkey to bring the champion out of the maze?” Harry asked.
“Grab it,” Rose stated before anyone else could answer. “If you’re through the maze quickly enough, Pettigrew won’t be expecting you. Stay low, take your hands off the Cup for two seconds so it will reset, and grab it again. But remember, usually in the b-lines, it’s not supposed to be a portkey, and so far, Dumbledore hasn’t lied about it.” Well, he had lied twice, but those were c-universes where Dumbledore was much Darker than any b-line Dumbledore had been, at least so far.
“If somehow you do get caught,” Harry P reminded him, “remember the curse we are going to teach you. It doesn’t need a wand, or to be spoken aloud. That will allow the blood protection to remain active, which will poison that body for Voldemort fairly quickly. Hopefully, however, it won’t come to that!” He gestured and two Harrys came over. They looked to be around 18. “This is Harry 44-b and Harry 37-c. They’ll help you block your mind and teach you the curses and spells you’ll need as well as the cover stories.”
“And then I go back?”
“And then you go back,” Harry One-a agreed. “Hopefully you’ll live a long and fairly happy life. When it’s over, we’ll hope the group won’t still be needed, but if it is, you’re welcome to join us.” Harry shook Harry P and Harry one-a’s hands, and let Harriet and Rose give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then he followed the other two Harrys over towards the Harrys grouped chanting around the pentagram.
“At least this one has a fair chance,” Harry P said softly.
“Did I misunderstand something I overheard a while ago, or did you tell him one lie?” Rose asked.
The two males looked at each other. “I don’t think either of us told a lie,” Harry One-a said. “Why?”
“Just before that last Rose decided to move on, I thought I overheard some talk about a new Harry, and I don’t think this one was him.” The last Rose to come through had been so traumatized she not only could not go back to her life, she had not been ready to move on. This Rose and a version of Harriet had spent nearly a year of subjective time before she had been willing to pass on to her ‘next great adventure,’ just a few days before.
“We didn’t lie,” Harry P replied. “If they weren’t talking about Harry 120-b, they were talking about 120-c. Hopefully we won’t hear any more from him in a while. We won’t likely see him here.”
“I have to partially disappoint you,” a different Harry, Harry 29-b, said, coming over. As anything was learned about a living Harry, one of the Harrys present would be appointed as ‘case-worker.’ In Harry 120-b’s case, it had been Harry (or rather Harriet) 15-c.
“He’s coming?” Harry One-a demanded, shocked. “Or, well, worse?” It was rare to get ‘up-dates’ unless an arrival was on his way, or a particular Harry was fully dead.
“No, this was an actual up-date, because what’s happened might affect a possible future arrival.”
“Is there time to fill me in?” Rose asked. “I really don’t anything about this one.”
“Lots of time,” he assured the group. “To start, this Harry has been, on the whole, a lucky one.”
“Who did get screwed over? When it’s not one of us, it’s usually someone else,” Rose commented.
“Neville,” Harry 29-b admitted. “In his universe, Mum and Alice Longbottom were very good friends so the Longbottoms and Potters went into hiding together. However, Pettigrew was still the secret keeper. When Voldemort and the rat broke in, Frank was out. Dad, Alice, and Mum were killed, and Voldemort tried to kill both toddlers with the same killing curse. It rebounded off Harry, exploding all sorts of knickknacks Alice had decorating the room. The Horcrux actually passed through Neville before attaching itself to Harry. This Harry’s scar was on top of his head. There was a V-shaped cut on Neville’s cheek from the shrapnel flying around, and that’s where the Horcrux passed through. Dumbledore tested it, and it reacted as having Dark Magic. Because it was Dark Soul Magic, and the Soul Fragment that caused it still existed, it always would test for Dark Magic as long as the fragment was around, and then fade away after a few years.”
“So, Dumbledore shows up, tests the Pure-blood, and decides that Neville is the Boy-That-Lived without testing this Harry?” Rose demanded.
“Exactly,” Harry P agreed.
“But since Frank was still alive, Sirius wasn’t thrown in jail without a trial. The aurors hunted the rat down. Neville grew up the hero, and Frank played that into a political career, while Harry was raised by Sirius and Remus. A few more Death Eaters went to prison than is usual, and Neville grew up fairly spoiled. Not Dudley or Malfoy-level spoiled, but still something of a brat, although he and Harry were still good friends.”
“Did Sirius spoil Harry?”
Harry 29-b shook his head. “No, this version of Remus is a bit more forceful than usual. This is a true Marauder Harry, but not a spoiled one.”
Harriet and Rose both winced. “Bet Snape loves that.”
“Snape didn’t get sent to Azkaban, but he wasn’t allowed to teach.”
“That would make any Harry a lucky one!” Harriet said.
“Remus had the Horcrux figured out before Harry’s second birthday. They had some Australian shamans remove it just after his tenth birthday. By the time he got to Hogwarts, if it weren’t for keeping the Parseltongue, no one would have had a clue.”
“So what’s the problem?” Harry P asked, puzzled.
“Neville was entered into the Tournament, and he just drowned,” Harry 29-b replied. “Dumbledore is trying to figure out if that should have happened, as he isn’t totally sure Voldemort was behind Neville’s being entered. In reality, in this Universe the Prophecy was considered fulfilled back on Halloween, 1981. Still, that has brought him to question if the Dark Magic in Neville’s scar was enough to have been a Horcrux, which it wasn’t. So, he’s wondering if somehow both Harry and Neville together were the Horcrux, as it was Harry and Neville who overcame the obstacles to get to the Stone and to beat the Basilisk. In reality, it was Harry who actually did most of it, while Neville grabbed most of the credit. There is over an eighty percent chance that Voldemort will end up asking the same questions. If Harry winds up kidnapped and is somehow linked to Voldemort in some way, we might still see him here.”
As the others pondered the implications, Rose asked, “How did Harry react to Neville taking most of the credit?”
“He was annoyed, but decided that Sirius was right; Harry used Neville as the front man and excuse to get himself out of trouble. And yes, both were in Slytherin.”
“Let’s hope he’s the last,” Rose said with a sigh.
“While I’m stuck here until the end,” Harry One-a reminded her, “you can move on if you want.”
All the others shook their heads at the same time and the same manner. “No,” Harry P said with a small smile the others echoed. “We might not have a ‘saving people’ thing anymore. . . .”
“But we all have a ‘saving Harry’ thing,” Harriet stated firmly.
“No matter what the form,” Rose added.
THE END
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By Dr. T
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A nice fat plot bunny, tweaking the idea of Multi-verse Harry, and a few favorite stories.
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The Harry Potter canon and characters were created and are primarily owned by She-Who-Must-Be-named, with other rights held by her evil minions. I simply take a Quidditch bat to it all, leaving it bruised, crying, and hiding in the cupboard under the stairs, hoping for Hagrid to rescue it.
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“Where am I?” Harry asked weakly, flat on his back and dizzy.
“That is a question of some philosophical debate, young Harry.”
The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but more importantly, it sounded friendly. Harry opened his eyes, and looked up at the face, puzzled. The man was too old to be his father, so Harry had no idea who he might be. He thought he might be too coherent for this to be an hallucination, but he did think there was a fairly good chance if it was not an hallucination of some kind, he was likely dead.
“First of all,” the man said, “you are safe, and at least in the subjective short term, time doesn’t matter very much.”
“Okay,” Harry replied cautiously, still somewhat confused.
The man smiled and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Harry Potter.”
Harry blinked. “You . . . you’re me? From the future?”
“Yes and no. I am Harry Potter; we are versions of each other, but I am not the future you.” He held up a hand to stall questions. “This can get complicated, so let me explain some background. First, there are an infinite number of universes, or at least it seems that way. Some are very different, some have similar time streams, others, well, you get the general idea.”
“I guess.”
“A subset of those infinite universes are ones that develop an earth, and a subset of those evolve people. A subset of those Earths have people with magic. And finally, a small subset of those have magical Harry Potters.”
Harry blinked again, and said, “Okay.”
“How it appears to work is that every year, or what seems to us to be a year, three universes where there will be Harry Potters come in to being. How many there might have been in the past or might be in the future, we don’t know.”
Harry shook his head and asked, “How many. . . ?”
“Do we know of? While, like I said, there are three Harry Potter universes every year. So, for you and two others, this is 1995. For three others, it’s 1996, and so on. Presumably there are currently Harry Potters in 1994 and on back, but that we won’t know for sure until one from one of these later universes shows up. It’s usually only then, or when one dies, that we know for certain, and so far no one from a universe younger than yours has died. For us, you are Harry Potter 120-b.”
“120-b?”
The man nodded.
“So 120-a has already passed through?”
“Actually, no,” the man answered. “Harry Potter-a’s seem to live a fairly standard life. Not necessarily a good one and certainly not an easy one, but apparently the standard one. They all live the exact same life until the spring of 1998, when, during what for them is the final battle, they face a decision, one you are living a variation of right now. So far, every Harry Potter-a, except one, has decided the same way. Over 115 subjective years ago, however, a Harry Potter-a made the other choice.” The man gestured and a younger version came into Harry’s sight. Harry could see that indeed this person looked a great deal like himself, just a few years older.
“Because of the nature of that choice, he wished that it had been possible for things to have been different, and that he could have been better prepared to make that choice. He was informed that, in fact, things were often different for some versions of Harry Potter. While he could not advise Harry Potters in the a-line, he could meet any other Harry Potter who found himself in a similar situation. Meet Harry One-a.”
“Hi!” One-a said cheerfully.
“Hello,” Harry replied weakly.
“Now, once a Harry-a makes the decision to go back rather than stay in the afterlife – again, so far only One-a stayed – they live the same life for the next twenty-odd years. After that, things might change, but unless they somehow die in a manner involving Tom Riddle’s soul, they never know about this place. I am actually a Harry-a from an even earlier universe than One-a. My soul was separated by Voldemort-worshippers and sent into the void in the hopes our former link would be reforged and that when I was dragged back Tom would be as well. So, rather than go back, I stayed here and that left Tom’s soul in hell for good. I’m called Harry Prime or Harry P.”
“Confused yet?” One-a asked.
“Well, I think I understand what you say is happening,” Harry replied, “but it’s a lot to wrap my brain around.”
“It is,” One-a agreed, “but it will get weirder.”
“Harry, remember Riddle’s diary. What he had done was to actually split off a portion of his soul, about a tenth of it. This is done with a very dark ceremony that has to end in killing a sentient being. As long as a small piece of the soul in in existence, the primary piece cannot be sent into death. However, the smaller piece can be sent on by itself, like you did with the diary.”
“Okay, I think I understand, even if it sounds kind of backwards. So Voldemort is mortal now?”
“No,” Harry P answered. “He split off more than one piece. He needs at least 25 to 30 percent of his soul to operate a body. Most loonies who make these soul anchors stop at six, but at least in the a-universes, Voldemort made seven. Also, in all of the a and b universes and nearly all the c ones as well, your scar was one.”
That stunned Harry.
“You were in the Black Lake for the Second Task,” Harry P explained. “You fought a merman for your hostages, and his magical knife cut your scar, breaking that Horcrux. Several Harrys are nearly freezing us in time, slowing us down relative to your time stream, while guiding your body up towards the surface, along with your hostage or hostages. In the a-line, those are Ron and Gabrielle. Don’t worry, they will be safe.”
“And me?”
“That will be up to you, after we talk some more,” Harry P answered. “It will be your decision.” The one time they had talked a Harry into going back unwillingly, it had ended in a huge disaster.
“For Harry-a’s,” One-a went on, “the soul fragment is broken during the final battle, when there is only one other fragment and Riddle himself left. For Harry-b’s, like yourself, the soul fragment is broken at different points in time, but usually still in a way where Harry has a choice to stay in the afterlife, either here or moving on, or returning to life.”
“And Harry-c’s?” Harry asked.
“Ah,” Harry P answered, “As bad as life can be for the a’s and b’s. . . .”
“And life for the b-line have been, at least so far, fairly similar to that of the a-line, especially before Hogwarts,” One-a added.
“Fairly, but not always exact,” Harry P agreed. “We can go into that in a moment. Anyway, life for a Harry-c can be, well, weird, awful, and every great once in a while, not so bad.”
“For one thing, in the a-line, Dumbledore is a powerful but somewhat bumbling manipulative old bastard, who nevertheless means well.”
Harry looked surprised.
“He decided to dump you at the Dursleys without any real oversight or ever even investigating your scar, which at the least he knew was filled with dark magic, while condemning Sirius unheard. He used the Stone to test both your willingness to be led as well as your friendship with Ron and Hermione. He made certain the basilisk didn’t kill anyone while maneuvering you into taking care of it. I would be shocked if he hasn’t kept you ignorant of your heritage and even your finances. He could have gotten you out of the Tri-Wizard in any one of several different ways. How is that for a start? Does any of that sound familiar?”
Harry was stunned by the very idea.
“Now for the b-line, Dumbledore is usually much the same, although sometimes a bit more overtly and selfishly manipulative,” Harry P said. “In the c-line, almost anything can happen.”
“Really?”
Harry One-a nodded. “You b’s have something life-threatening happen which cuts the connection to the soul fragment. C’s, well, of the 117 we know about – three haven’t reached a critical point yet – three were killed by Riddle that Halloween night; seven were killed by the Dursleys at some point before Hagrid arrived; one was killed by Dumbledore because it turned out he was as evil as Riddle; two were starved to death between their First and Second year at Hogwarts; and one, well, she died a very messy death at the hands of Dudley and his gang the summer after her Fifth year.”
“She?” Harry practically shouted, shocked by the idea.
“Out of the 117 c’s we know of, thirty have been females. Twenty-four Harriets and six Roses.”
“Harriets are essentially female versions of you,” Harry P explained. “Roses have red hair and brown eyes instead, and look more like Mum. Although Roses like it even less than Harriets, we still call them Harry number-c, just to keep the lines straight.”
“Harriet?” Harry said, still stunned by the concept. Seeing One-a make a motion, Harry struggled to sit up for the first time. He finally noticed he was in some sort of huge cavern. In the distance, five figures sat around a pentagram, softly chanting, while many others stood just beyond them.
Two slight figures detached themselves from the crowd. Harriet had medium length stiff black hair, while Rose did look like a slightly more angular version of his mother. “Bloody hell,” he muttered.
“Except for one Harriet starved to death, all the female c’s have had truly horrendous deaths,” Harry P growled. Starving to death was of course not a ‘pleasant’ death (few deaths are), but for a Harry Potter, starving to death was one of the least worst fates.
“He acts somewhere between an older brother and a favorite uncle,” Harriet teased, referring to Harry P. “But he’s right. All of us who lived long enough to at least attend Hogwarts, except one, have at least been sexually assaulted, and most fully raped, and that’s how most of us have died.”
“And the one that wasn’t assaulted?” Harry asked.
“She was one of the lucky Potters,” Rose answered. “Hers was a really different universe, where all the genders were switched. At the same time, she managed to come out ahead of the manipulations, prophecies, and Dark Magic. Most of the b’s and c’s don’t do nearly as well as she did.”
Seeing Harry was still somewhat dumbfounded, Harriet stroked his chin with her finger. “Stunned that you’d make such a cute girl, Harry, or are you having day dreams only Pure-bloods should have about their sisters?” Rose giggled at his reaction.
Harry made a face. “A little of the first, but not the second!”
Harry P was pleased the girls were recovering enough from their abuse to tease a fellow Harry, but needed to get things back on track. “Okay, Harry. As interesting the c’s are, especially these two, I need to tell you a condensed version of the life of Harry-a through the Third task. That way, we can see where your life through the Second task might vary and help you get on track for the future.”
Harry nodded, and for the next forty minutes, listened carefully to what the older Harry had to say. When he had concluded, Harry One-a asked, “Do you see any obvious deviations from the usual before the second task? No matter how minor?”
“There is at least one big one,” Harry answered. “Last December, well, I needed to ask someone to the Ball. You said a’s wanted to ask Cho, thought briefly about Hermione and Ginny but they already had dates, and you ended up with Parvati.”
“That’s right,” Harry One-a agreed.
“I never really thought of Cho, because I already knew she was seeing Cedric. I never really thought of Hermione, either, because she’s more like a big sister, and unlike these two,” he teased, gesturing at Harriet and Rose, “I don’t think like a Pure Blood.” The two girls stuck their tongues out at him.
“And Ginny?”
Harry wrinkled his nose. “Fan girl.”
The two Harrys gave their counterpart identical twisted smiles. Harry P admitted, “Yet that’s who we Harry-a’s end up with, apparently willingly.”
“’Apparently’?” Harry asked.
“No Harry-b or c has ended up with Ginny willingly, although she sometimes succeeds in using various potions to do anything from gain her Harry’s attention to outright potion-induced slavery.”
“The latter was a Harry-c,” Harriet put in.
“Molly Weasley is nearly always in on it, sometimes with Dumbledore and sometimes not. Also, sometimes Ron is potioning Hermione as well.”
Harry merely nodded at the warning and explained what had happened to him. “I knew Neville liked Ginny, so I asked him if he was going to ask her before anyone else could. That got him to ask her the next day, so I was safe from her. When I mentioned in the Common Room I would need a date, I could see she wished she had waited. Ron made an ass of himself as usual when she and Hermione said they had dates. Anyway, for whatever reason, she suggested a friend of hers.”
“Luna?” Rose asked before the others could.
Harry nodded. “She’s . . . different.”
“In b and c universes where Harry lives long enough to marry, or at least have a really serious relationship, and where Ginny doesn’t successfully potion him, Harry ends up with Hermione about a third of the time and Luna about a third of the time. The other third has a pretty wide range, although of course we’re not talking about all that many universes.”
“Don’t forget Harry 48-c and 54-c,” Harriet pointed out.
“How could we?” Harry One-a retorted. “The first had a group marriage with both Hermione and Luna. Harry 54-c had one with Hermione, Luna, and Susan Bones.”
“Not all Harrys have a bad life after Voldemort dies,” Harry P agreed.
“Anyway, back to Luna,” Rose urged.
“I asked, and, well, we had a good time,” Harry replied, somewhat shyly.
“Are you two dating?”
Harry nodded. “Ginny isn’t overly thrilled, of course, but at least Luna and Hermione are trying to get along, even though they look at the world so differently.”
“How about Ron?” Harry One-a asked.
“Ron was a real git over my being entered into the Tournament” Harry answered, obviously still a bit unhappy with his first friend. “After the First Task, when he tried to pretend that he had never turned on me, I told him to piss off. He sulked for a few weeks but finally apologized. We’re getting along okay, but we aren’t really mates anymore.”
“So, Luna was your hostage?”
Harry nodded, but then frowned as he remembered what had been said. “Who’s Gabrielle?”
“Fleur’s sister,” Harry One-a explained. “We a’s get to the village first, and see that Cho was Cedric’s hostage, Hermione was Viktor’s, Ron was ours, and Fleur’s little sister was hers.”
“Why would Hermione be Krum’s?” Harry asked.
“They went to the Yule Ball together. What happened in your case?”
“Viktor took one of the Beauxbaton students. Hermione went with Felix Madison.” Seeing the blank looks, he added “He’s a Sixth year Ravenclaw. He’s been helpful in getting the Ravenclaw girls to stop picking on Luna. That got Padma and Cho involved in helping as well.”
“Well,” Harry P admitted, “this is a first!”
“Any positive surprise is good,” Harry One-a agreed.
“Harry, did you even notice the other hostages? Or weren’t they grouped together?”
“They were,” Harry admitted. “I just . . . I just had to rescue Luna, and besides, I would hope they really weren’t in any danger.”
“Well, they weren’t in danger the a-line, although we were gullible enough to believe they were, and so far they haven’t been in any real danger in the b-line,” Harry P allowed. Obviously, at least at times the hostages had been in real danger in the c-line.
“Then why was a merman after me with his knife?” Harry demanded.
“Let me check with the hold team,” Harry P answered. He moved off to the group seated and chanting quietly in the distance.
Seeing this might take some subjective time, Harry changed the subject. “Am I subject to this Prophecy you mentioned?”
“All a’s and b’s are, as are most c’s,” Harriet answered. “Actually, so far, all the c’s but one have been when it was real, although three other times Dumbledore knew it was a false prophecy.”
“Do I want to know. . . ?”
The two girls shook their heads. “No, that was a pretty screwed-up universe, no matter how you look at it,” Rose admitted.
“Before you go, Harry P will place a spell on you which allows you to keep your thoughts to yourself – Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort all know a magical method of invading your head. We’ll also help you come up with a story to tell Dumbledore which hopefully will get it through his thick skull that the soul fragment is out of you, so you need more help than he usually gives.”
Seeing the frown on Harry’s face, Rose put in, “In the a-universes, and most of the b and c ones, the only way Dumbledore knows how to break the soul fragment’s hold on our scar is for us to die. So he sets us up to sacrifice ourselves in the hopes that the fragment is killed but not us. It usually, but not always, works.”
“The advantage of having the soul fragment is that we can die in many ways and still come back, like you’re doing,” Rose explained. “The disadvantage is that Dumbledore conditions us to take that first hit instead of finding some other way to break it.”
“Even worse, he conditions us to sacrifice for damn nearly anything and anyone,” Harry One-a stated. “Hermione once said, well, maybe will say in your case, that we have ‘a saving people thing.’ That mind-set was largely created by Dumbledore to serve his purposes – to save as much of the wizarding world as he can at the cost of our happiness and perhaps out lives. It’s a simplified, dumbed-down version something called ‘utilitarianism’ – the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one in this case, with us being the one. He is sacrificing your life and risking the lives of people like Hermione to try and save as many Pure-blood bigots as he can.”
“But Dumbledore is against that sort of thing!”
“He’s not,” Harriet stated. “He’s against the worst versions of it. He believes that magicals are superior to Muggles, the magically-raised are superior to the Muggle-raised. He’s for the preservation of blood-lines in that he doesn’t want them to die out. He just doesn’t mind mingling new bloodlines with old ones. In fact, he knows that seems to actually strengthen the bloodlines.”
“Dumbledore is a pro-magical bigot, just not anywhere in the same league as people like Malfoy.”
“Go ahead and tell him,” Rose urged.
Harry looked at his slightly older counterpart nervously.
“Well, you know about Grindelwald and his beliefs, right?”
Harry nodded.
“He developed them along with his lover, Dumbledore.”
That made Harry’s eyes goggle.
The other three nodded. “Dumbledore wasn’t willing to go along with the amount of violence to gain their objectives,” Harriet said simply. “That’s what caused them to split apart, romantically as well as politically but their basic beliefs were, and are, the same.”
“So, he really hasn’t changed that much,” Harry One-a said, almost with a snarl. Of all the Harrys present, Harry One-a came closest to disliking Dumbledore the most.
Harry P came back at that point. “We’re not sure why, but it appears as if the merman was more after Luna than he was you. Do you know if you want to die now or go back?” Seeing the look on Harry’s face Harry P added, “You don’t need to decide this instant if you haven’t yet, and if you’re going back you don’t need to leave for a bit, but real time is only slowed down. If you’re going back, we need to make certain you, and Luna for that matter, get back to a fairly safe situation.”
“If you can really give me some help, I’ll go back,” Harry said.
“Determined to find out if Luna ‘loves good’?” Harriet teased.
“Yes,” Harry admitted.
Harriet patted Harry on the head. “Good boy!” She leaned over and staged-whispered, “Most Harrys are fairly unromantic and pretty boring. I’m glad you might do better.”
“Thanks, Harriet,” Harry retorted, letting her hug him a bit.
“What about me?” Rose said with a faux pout.
“Me hugging Harriet, who is a female me, is just narcissistic,” Harry dead-panned. “You look even more like Mum than Ginny, and that would be too weird.”
“Oh, dear,” Harry P put in teasingly, “it seems as if we might have a Marauder Harry. Those are almost as uncommon as the romantic ones are.” He placed a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Let’s get you all primed and ready to meet your destiny.”
Harry let himself finally get fully to his feet. He looked at the others nervously. “I’ll remember this, right?”
“You will,” Harry One-a agreed. “And, hopefully in the far distant future, if the group is still here when you die for good, you can join us to help other versions of us if you want to.”
“Would I be able to tell anyone?”
Harry P answered that one. “Usually, no. However, we can modify that restriction so that you can eventually tell Luna, if you stay together. And if you do tell her, don’t worry; no one will be able to get it out of her head.”
“I pity anyone who tries to read Luna’s mind,” Harriet agreed. “What helps us allow you to tell her all this is that Luna is even more consistent than Hermione, never mind us, throughout the universes.”
“So, in a nut-shell. . . ?” Harry asked as he stretched.
“In a nut-shell, Ron can only be trusted to be at least a little jealous and lazy, and is not to be really relied on; Dumbledore cannot be trusted with your welfare; Remus is likely wishy-washy while Sirius is usually going to fool around too much and at times think you’re our father, but both usually care about you and your welfare. Hermione, except when her hormones are engaged or at times when she’s sure someone or some book is an authority, will stick with you; Snape is always a sniveling self-serving greasy git, although occasionally a helpful one; Ginny is as likely as not going to potion you; the twins are fairly trustworthy but still prone to pranking; McGonagall is strict and fairly useless outside of class; even when he doesn’t follow his daddy and becomes a Death Eater, Malfoy is always a bigoted twerp; the word of a goblin means nothing, but a signed agreement will be followed to the letter, but not the spirit, of the agreement; Dobby has so far always been loyal; and, if you love and protect her, Luna does love very good!” Harry P summed up. Seeing Harry nod his understanding, Harry P went on, “So far, in every b-universe four soul anchors have been the same: you; the diary; and two artifacts once owned by Slytherin. We’ll tell you how to get them, and tell you the other anchors that have been used. Try not to let Dumbledore screw it up.”
Harriet spoke up next. “Oh, and see if you can’t be declared a legal adult before the Third Task, since they have you competing in an adult-only competition. It should work nearly all the time, but Dumbledore manages to sabotage the process nearly half the time it’s tried. Sirius is usually helpful in arranging that with his Gringotts managers. If you aren’t successful, hire Dobby to protect you during the summer. You might want to hire him no matter what.”
As Harry nodded, Harry One-a asked, “And what did we tell you about what the Third Task should entail?”
“It should be a maze. If it is, ask Dumbledore what touching the Cup should do, as it should freeze Hagrid’s creatures and make the maze and the other traps disappear. Follow the directions you gave me, get to the Cup first, and test it to see if it’s a port-key. If it’s not, touch it. If it is, warn the others if they make it.” Harry frowned. “Won’t the fake Moody try and interfere?”
“He can’t affect things that far inside the maze,” Harry P answered. Had he been able to, Cedric wouldn’t have managed to get to the Cup in the a-universes. “He’ll be upset, but he can’t do anything. You can also reveal he is not really Moody before you go into the maze. If you do it too soon, well, that can cause a real mess.” As two different Harrys who had tried that had found out.
“What if Dumbledore says it’s a portkey to bring the champion out of the maze?” Harry asked.
“Grab it,” Rose stated before anyone else could answer. “If you’re through the maze quickly enough, Pettigrew won’t be expecting you. Stay low, take your hands off the Cup for two seconds so it will reset, and grab it again. But remember, usually in the b-lines, it’s not supposed to be a portkey, and so far, Dumbledore hasn’t lied about it.” Well, he had lied twice, but those were c-universes where Dumbledore was much Darker than any b-line Dumbledore had been, at least so far.
“If somehow you do get caught,” Harry P reminded him, “remember the curse we are going to teach you. It doesn’t need a wand, or to be spoken aloud. That will allow the blood protection to remain active, which will poison that body for Voldemort fairly quickly. Hopefully, however, it won’t come to that!” He gestured and two Harrys came over. They looked to be around 18. “This is Harry 44-b and Harry 37-c. They’ll help you block your mind and teach you the curses and spells you’ll need as well as the cover stories.”
“And then I go back?”
“And then you go back,” Harry One-a agreed. “Hopefully you’ll live a long and fairly happy life. When it’s over, we’ll hope the group won’t still be needed, but if it is, you’re welcome to join us.” Harry shook Harry P and Harry one-a’s hands, and let Harriet and Rose give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Then he followed the other two Harrys over towards the Harrys grouped chanting around the pentagram.
“At least this one has a fair chance,” Harry P said softly.
“Did I misunderstand something I overheard a while ago, or did you tell him one lie?” Rose asked.
The two males looked at each other. “I don’t think either of us told a lie,” Harry One-a said. “Why?”
“Just before that last Rose decided to move on, I thought I overheard some talk about a new Harry, and I don’t think this one was him.” The last Rose to come through had been so traumatized she not only could not go back to her life, she had not been ready to move on. This Rose and a version of Harriet had spent nearly a year of subjective time before she had been willing to pass on to her ‘next great adventure,’ just a few days before.
“We didn’t lie,” Harry P replied. “If they weren’t talking about Harry 120-b, they were talking about 120-c. Hopefully we won’t hear any more from him in a while. We won’t likely see him here.”
“I have to partially disappoint you,” a different Harry, Harry 29-b, said, coming over. As anything was learned about a living Harry, one of the Harrys present would be appointed as ‘case-worker.’ In Harry 120-b’s case, it had been Harry (or rather Harriet) 15-c.
“He’s coming?” Harry One-a demanded, shocked. “Or, well, worse?” It was rare to get ‘up-dates’ unless an arrival was on his way, or a particular Harry was fully dead.
“No, this was an actual up-date, because what’s happened might affect a possible future arrival.”
“Is there time to fill me in?” Rose asked. “I really don’t anything about this one.”
“Lots of time,” he assured the group. “To start, this Harry has been, on the whole, a lucky one.”
“Who did get screwed over? When it’s not one of us, it’s usually someone else,” Rose commented.
“Neville,” Harry 29-b admitted. “In his universe, Mum and Alice Longbottom were very good friends so the Longbottoms and Potters went into hiding together. However, Pettigrew was still the secret keeper. When Voldemort and the rat broke in, Frank was out. Dad, Alice, and Mum were killed, and Voldemort tried to kill both toddlers with the same killing curse. It rebounded off Harry, exploding all sorts of knickknacks Alice had decorating the room. The Horcrux actually passed through Neville before attaching itself to Harry. This Harry’s scar was on top of his head. There was a V-shaped cut on Neville’s cheek from the shrapnel flying around, and that’s where the Horcrux passed through. Dumbledore tested it, and it reacted as having Dark Magic. Because it was Dark Soul Magic, and the Soul Fragment that caused it still existed, it always would test for Dark Magic as long as the fragment was around, and then fade away after a few years.”
“So, Dumbledore shows up, tests the Pure-blood, and decides that Neville is the Boy-That-Lived without testing this Harry?” Rose demanded.
“Exactly,” Harry P agreed.
“But since Frank was still alive, Sirius wasn’t thrown in jail without a trial. The aurors hunted the rat down. Neville grew up the hero, and Frank played that into a political career, while Harry was raised by Sirius and Remus. A few more Death Eaters went to prison than is usual, and Neville grew up fairly spoiled. Not Dudley or Malfoy-level spoiled, but still something of a brat, although he and Harry were still good friends.”
“Did Sirius spoil Harry?”
Harry 29-b shook his head. “No, this version of Remus is a bit more forceful than usual. This is a true Marauder Harry, but not a spoiled one.”
Harriet and Rose both winced. “Bet Snape loves that.”
“Snape didn’t get sent to Azkaban, but he wasn’t allowed to teach.”
“That would make any Harry a lucky one!” Harriet said.
“Remus had the Horcrux figured out before Harry’s second birthday. They had some Australian shamans remove it just after his tenth birthday. By the time he got to Hogwarts, if it weren’t for keeping the Parseltongue, no one would have had a clue.”
“So what’s the problem?” Harry P asked, puzzled.
“Neville was entered into the Tournament, and he just drowned,” Harry 29-b replied. “Dumbledore is trying to figure out if that should have happened, as he isn’t totally sure Voldemort was behind Neville’s being entered. In reality, in this Universe the Prophecy was considered fulfilled back on Halloween, 1981. Still, that has brought him to question if the Dark Magic in Neville’s scar was enough to have been a Horcrux, which it wasn’t. So, he’s wondering if somehow both Harry and Neville together were the Horcrux, as it was Harry and Neville who overcame the obstacles to get to the Stone and to beat the Basilisk. In reality, it was Harry who actually did most of it, while Neville grabbed most of the credit. There is over an eighty percent chance that Voldemort will end up asking the same questions. If Harry winds up kidnapped and is somehow linked to Voldemort in some way, we might still see him here.”
As the others pondered the implications, Rose asked, “How did Harry react to Neville taking most of the credit?”
“He was annoyed, but decided that Sirius was right; Harry used Neville as the front man and excuse to get himself out of trouble. And yes, both were in Slytherin.”
“Let’s hope he’s the last,” Rose said with a sigh.
“While I’m stuck here until the end,” Harry One-a reminded her, “you can move on if you want.”
All the others shook their heads at the same time and the same manner. “No,” Harry P said with a small smile the others echoed. “We might not have a ‘saving people’ thing anymore. . . .”
“But we all have a ‘saving Harry’ thing,” Harriet stated firmly.
“No matter what the form,” Rose added.
THE END
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