Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Unlikely
April 22nd, 1997
It hit her hard.
It was arguably obvious in retrospect, but it hit her hard all the same.
“Headmaster…”
The necropolis at Hogwarts was ancient tradition. And perhaps a small misnomer. It was not quite so much at Hogwarts as it was very near Hogwarts.
Here was where Severus Snape lay. Where Dumbledore lay, now that his body had been recovered and rid of its horcrux.
Not every headmaster had been buried here. Certainly not every professor, although Harry took some amusement in noticing Binns’ tombstone.
Here she sat, between Snape and some professor she had never heard of. Among the dead. Feeling quite dead herself.
“Headmaster…” she muttered again.
Ginny came from behind and sat beside her in the grass.
“Hey.”
“And?” Harry questioned. The other girl hadn’t come by just to utter monosyllables.
“Flitwick told me… you kind of flipped out.”
And there it was.
Harry let a finger move lazily across the dirt, almost as if she were drawing something. “Maybe.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’ll get your boyfriend back. Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s not why I’m here and you know it. You’re my friend too.”
“Short-lived friendship we’ll have then.”
Harry felt an arm encircle her.
“Let me in. Flitwick wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. But you should really talk to someone about it.”
Harry turned full away from Ginny, almost— but not quite— twisting her body out of Ginny’s half-hug. “My headmaster’s Voldemort.”
“But… he’s not really.”
“He may as well be! And he is! He fucking is, or near enough!” Harry screamed. “We’re… connected somehow. Your Harry and mine. I don’t know how it makes any sense. We have separate souls. We’re just… fumbling around in the dark and trying to find the backdoor out of this and we don’t know a thing, but there’s something that— that binds us together. We’re the same somehow, and so are… and so are Voldemort and Headmaster Riddle.”
Her eyes were wet. They had been wet for a long time.
Knights should not betray weakness.
“It’s like waking up and finding out that your friend was Wolf Shakesheave all along. Oh God… And I…. And I…”
“I thought you knew. I just assumed.”
“And the others wanted to stave it off. I just…. I just thought maybe the Headmaster hadn’t been born here. If another me could be a boy, why did Merope have to love a… a muggle? Or he was dead. I didn’t realize the horcrux had used his own house.”
With Ginny’s arms around her Harry felt like she was being crushed, but the feeling... the feeling was not suffocating.
She closed her eyes.
“And there’s got to be some universe where that Shakespeare guy is… nice? Right? Maybe like William Shakespeare. That’s… not who you’re talking about to begin with, is it? Because he’s a nice bloke in this world.”
“Shakesheave was responsible for enacting genocide in the Prodigal States back in the Seventies. Nineteen-Seventies.”
“Not Shakespeare.”
“Not Shakespeare,” Harry agreed.
“But anyway, look at you,” Ginny resumed. “You’re a girl. The Harry from this world is a boy. But you’ve got the same name. The same parents. Same birthday. We know some of the same people. But our histories diverged before your parents were born. They shouldn’t even be alive. How… How unlikely is that?”
“Very.”
“Then what couldn’t happen?”
“What do you…” Harry trailed off but Ginny went on and said it anyway.
“Everything must be happening. Somewhere.”
“Everything,” Harry repeated.
“Everything.”
“Okay, we have to cut that out now.”
“Everything,” Ginny said, smiling.
“No, really. Very, very seriously,” Harry said. There was a distant quality to her tone. “The initial switch was random, Ginny. We know exactly what your Harry did but we can’t repeat the experiment bit for bit like we thought at the beginning. It would just be another random switch. I’d be wandering until I died.” She paused. “And if every possibility really does exist somewhere, then there’d have to be some version of me that would literally wander for eternity.”
“That’s not good.”
“We needed some way to… wear down the barrier— so to speak— and lock on to your Harry in my body. A signal to pierce through the noise of the multiverse. We were going to have to waste a large amount of energy for that. A very large amount. That’s where blue science was going to come in. And the Rid— the horcrux house. There’s something weird about horcruxes. Well, souls. Hence, horcruxes.”
“And you have that figured out?”
“Mostly.”
“Then where’s the problem?” Ginny asked.
“If every possibility is realized, then there will be worlds where this doesn’t work for one reason or another. In some of them we’re not even going to figure out how to make this work. Even if only physically possible universes exist, all of this is physically possible. It’s going to fail. Somewhere. Maybe here, but definitely somewhere.”
Harry stood. “We need to figure out how to overturn the system. Maybe…” She frowned. “Maybe…”
It hit her hard.
It was arguably obvious in retrospect, but it hit her hard all the same.
“Headmaster…”
The necropolis at Hogwarts was ancient tradition. And perhaps a small misnomer. It was not quite so much at Hogwarts as it was very near Hogwarts.
Here was where Severus Snape lay. Where Dumbledore lay, now that his body had been recovered and rid of its horcrux.
Not every headmaster had been buried here. Certainly not every professor, although Harry took some amusement in noticing Binns’ tombstone.
Here she sat, between Snape and some professor she had never heard of. Among the dead. Feeling quite dead herself.
“Headmaster…” she muttered again.
Ginny came from behind and sat beside her in the grass.
“Hey.”
“And?” Harry questioned. The other girl hadn’t come by just to utter monosyllables.
“Flitwick told me… you kind of flipped out.”
And there it was.
Harry let a finger move lazily across the dirt, almost as if she were drawing something. “Maybe.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“I’ll get your boyfriend back. Don’t worry about it.”
“That’s not why I’m here and you know it. You’re my friend too.”
“Short-lived friendship we’ll have then.”
Harry felt an arm encircle her.
“Let me in. Flitwick wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. But you should really talk to someone about it.”
Harry turned full away from Ginny, almost— but not quite— twisting her body out of Ginny’s half-hug. “My headmaster’s Voldemort.”
“But… he’s not really.”
“He may as well be! And he is! He fucking is, or near enough!” Harry screamed. “We’re… connected somehow. Your Harry and mine. I don’t know how it makes any sense. We have separate souls. We’re just… fumbling around in the dark and trying to find the backdoor out of this and we don’t know a thing, but there’s something that— that binds us together. We’re the same somehow, and so are… and so are Voldemort and Headmaster Riddle.”
Her eyes were wet. They had been wet for a long time.
Knights should not betray weakness.
“It’s like waking up and finding out that your friend was Wolf Shakesheave all along. Oh God… And I…. And I…”
“I thought you knew. I just assumed.”
“And the others wanted to stave it off. I just…. I just thought maybe the Headmaster hadn’t been born here. If another me could be a boy, why did Merope have to love a… a muggle? Or he was dead. I didn’t realize the horcrux had used his own house.”
With Ginny’s arms around her Harry felt like she was being crushed, but the feeling... the feeling was not suffocating.
She closed her eyes.
“And there’s got to be some universe where that Shakespeare guy is… nice? Right? Maybe like William Shakespeare. That’s… not who you’re talking about to begin with, is it? Because he’s a nice bloke in this world.”
“Shakesheave was responsible for enacting genocide in the Prodigal States back in the Seventies. Nineteen-Seventies.”
“Not Shakespeare.”
“Not Shakespeare,” Harry agreed.
“But anyway, look at you,” Ginny resumed. “You’re a girl. The Harry from this world is a boy. But you’ve got the same name. The same parents. Same birthday. We know some of the same people. But our histories diverged before your parents were born. They shouldn’t even be alive. How… How unlikely is that?”
“Very.”
“Then what couldn’t happen?”
“What do you…” Harry trailed off but Ginny went on and said it anyway.
“Everything must be happening. Somewhere.”
“Everything,” Harry repeated.
“Everything.”
“Okay, we have to cut that out now.”
“Everything,” Ginny said, smiling.
“No, really. Very, very seriously,” Harry said. There was a distant quality to her tone. “The initial switch was random, Ginny. We know exactly what your Harry did but we can’t repeat the experiment bit for bit like we thought at the beginning. It would just be another random switch. I’d be wandering until I died.” She paused. “And if every possibility really does exist somewhere, then there’d have to be some version of me that would literally wander for eternity.”
“That’s not good.”
“We needed some way to… wear down the barrier— so to speak— and lock on to your Harry in my body. A signal to pierce through the noise of the multiverse. We were going to have to waste a large amount of energy for that. A very large amount. That’s where blue science was going to come in. And the Rid— the horcrux house. There’s something weird about horcruxes. Well, souls. Hence, horcruxes.”
“And you have that figured out?”
“Mostly.”
“Then where’s the problem?” Ginny asked.
“If every possibility is realized, then there will be worlds where this doesn’t work for one reason or another. In some of them we’re not even going to figure out how to make this work. Even if only physically possible universes exist, all of this is physically possible. It’s going to fail. Somewhere. Maybe here, but definitely somewhere.”
Harry stood. “We need to figure out how to overturn the system. Maybe…” She frowned. “Maybe…”
Sign up to rate and review this story