Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Unlikely
April 30th, 1997
“And what does the future have in store next for the visitor from another world?” questioned the horcrux.
“That depends,” Harry said softly. She sat in one of the higher rooms, where Riddle’s bedroom was in her world. Against the wall and on the floor, but she didn’t pay it much attention.
“Do you worry that something will go wrong?”
“Of course.”
“So is that why you have not said goodbye to them?”
“Do you think that it will work?”
She couldn’t see the horcrux, but she felt as though it nodded to her. “The theory is sound.” It paused. “It is plausible. It is possible. Therefore, it will happen. Do not panic.”
The idea was that souls were important. Souls were distinct, even where they were doubles. Harry and Harry were Harry, but they were not totally identical. She had seemed strange and subtly out of place to the horcruxes, because her soul was not exactly the same as the Harry from this world. And if there was a difference between them then there should be some difference between any two Harrys that were distinct enough in their histories for it to matter.
The idea was that souls in a universe could be affected by a force outside their universe. She was living proof of that.
“So we’re gaming the universe, then,” she had asked Flitwick after he explained his thought process.
“I don’t follow you.”
“Like… We’re breaking all the rules that aren’t there. The ones that would make sense to be there, but they’re not, and if this were a game of Pass the Dragon then the bouncers would be escorting us out just for thinking about pulling a stunt like this.”
“Then that is exactly what we are doing, Harry.”
“We’re going to need even more power than I thought.”
They were going to have to touch the cosmos with a comb so fine-toothed it would look like a solid sheet. But it could work, just possibly.
“What if universes are distinct from each other in ways as minute as souls are?”
It had begun to look that way.
“What if there was a correlation between the differences between universes and those between souls?”
It just might be possible.
“What if we could knock out the two of you and you would just… gravitate to where they belonged? Like magnetism and staves and… things.”
“Poles, you mean. Magnetic poles, not staves.”
Flitwick wasn’t the world’s authority on magnetism. But that wasn’t the best part anyway. That wasn’t what was going to get them kicked out of the Pan-Universe Gaming Hall. Not quite.
“What if,” she had asked in turn, “what if we could do that everywhere in our metaphorical bubble of multiverse space?”
The idea was that it didn’t matter if they failed here. They were going big. The Field was going to hit every displaced Harry and Harry. It didn’t matter if it didn’t happen here because, if all genuine possibilities would be realized, then so long as it could actually happen somewhere it would. Some Harry out there would make the Field work and everyone would go home.
“Except the ones whose doubles died,” Ginny noted after she learned what was being planned.
“That’s… probably not very likely.”
“”But it’ll still happen somewhere. Would there just not be a switch, or would they maybe be sent back and be dead and not have a body?”
“So far, your Harry is still alive.”
“But there will be Ginnys out there whose Harry won’t be coming back. Can’t I be a sad for them?”
But Harry was still a tiny bit afraid that something would go wrong. Or perhaps she was afraid of what she might be leaving behind.
“Our deal,” the horcrux reminded her. “The payment for my cooperation.”
Harry nodded and set the box down on the floor. It opened before her eyes, as if being touched by invisible hands. The eye was there, the eye that was a horcrux.
“You think you can handle that thing?”
“I will break the soul fragment into smaller pieces and eat them over time, long enough that I can retain my sense of self and not be swallowed up in turn.”
“Alright then. Have fun. Don’t… Don’t kill anybody.”
“You should go,” the horcrux said. “It’s almost time for you to make the switch.”
Harry didn’t look back.
This was the other Harry’s problem now.
“And what does the future have in store next for the visitor from another world?” questioned the horcrux.
“That depends,” Harry said softly. She sat in one of the higher rooms, where Riddle’s bedroom was in her world. Against the wall and on the floor, but she didn’t pay it much attention.
“Do you worry that something will go wrong?”
“Of course.”
“So is that why you have not said goodbye to them?”
“Do you think that it will work?”
She couldn’t see the horcrux, but she felt as though it nodded to her. “The theory is sound.” It paused. “It is plausible. It is possible. Therefore, it will happen. Do not panic.”
The idea was that souls were important. Souls were distinct, even where they were doubles. Harry and Harry were Harry, but they were not totally identical. She had seemed strange and subtly out of place to the horcruxes, because her soul was not exactly the same as the Harry from this world. And if there was a difference between them then there should be some difference between any two Harrys that were distinct enough in their histories for it to matter.
The idea was that souls in a universe could be affected by a force outside their universe. She was living proof of that.
“So we’re gaming the universe, then,” she had asked Flitwick after he explained his thought process.
“I don’t follow you.”
“Like… We’re breaking all the rules that aren’t there. The ones that would make sense to be there, but they’re not, and if this were a game of Pass the Dragon then the bouncers would be escorting us out just for thinking about pulling a stunt like this.”
“Then that is exactly what we are doing, Harry.”
“We’re going to need even more power than I thought.”
They were going to have to touch the cosmos with a comb so fine-toothed it would look like a solid sheet. But it could work, just possibly.
“What if universes are distinct from each other in ways as minute as souls are?”
It had begun to look that way.
“What if there was a correlation between the differences between universes and those between souls?”
It just might be possible.
“What if we could knock out the two of you and you would just… gravitate to where they belonged? Like magnetism and staves and… things.”
“Poles, you mean. Magnetic poles, not staves.”
Flitwick wasn’t the world’s authority on magnetism. But that wasn’t the best part anyway. That wasn’t what was going to get them kicked out of the Pan-Universe Gaming Hall. Not quite.
“What if,” she had asked in turn, “what if we could do that everywhere in our metaphorical bubble of multiverse space?”
The idea was that it didn’t matter if they failed here. They were going big. The Field was going to hit every displaced Harry and Harry. It didn’t matter if it didn’t happen here because, if all genuine possibilities would be realized, then so long as it could actually happen somewhere it would. Some Harry out there would make the Field work and everyone would go home.
“Except the ones whose doubles died,” Ginny noted after she learned what was being planned.
“That’s… probably not very likely.”
“”But it’ll still happen somewhere. Would there just not be a switch, or would they maybe be sent back and be dead and not have a body?”
“So far, your Harry is still alive.”
“But there will be Ginnys out there whose Harry won’t be coming back. Can’t I be a sad for them?”
But Harry was still a tiny bit afraid that something would go wrong. Or perhaps she was afraid of what she might be leaving behind.
“Our deal,” the horcrux reminded her. “The payment for my cooperation.”
Harry nodded and set the box down on the floor. It opened before her eyes, as if being touched by invisible hands. The eye was there, the eye that was a horcrux.
“You think you can handle that thing?”
“I will break the soul fragment into smaller pieces and eat them over time, long enough that I can retain my sense of self and not be swallowed up in turn.”
“Alright then. Have fun. Don’t… Don’t kill anybody.”
“You should go,” the horcrux said. “It’s almost time for you to make the switch.”
Harry didn’t look back.
This was the other Harry’s problem now.
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