FicWad

-I-I-I-

She heard the door open behind her, heard it click shut, and heard the quiet, hesitant footsteps as the boy ventured further into the room, but she refused to look up just yet. Looking up would break her concentration, and she almost had it...

Then the timer chimed, and she smiled. "Ah, perfect timing. Would you mind getting the cookies out of the oven, dear? There's a mitt by the sink, there."

Soft sounds rang in the kitchen, indicating that the boy was obeying, and she turned her attention back to her work. Now, where was she? Ah, yes... /Leader of Roman slave revolt/, nine letters...

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Startled by the quiet, accented voice, the Oracle finally looked up into the stunning emerald eyes of her guest. Then she saw how the tiny child was wavering under the weight of the tray, and quickly rose from her chair. She grabbed a towel from the counter to protect her hands from the heat of the tray and took it from him, setting it down on top of the stove to cool down.

"There we go." Sending a grandmotherly smile towards the small boy, she resumed her place at the simple kitchen table. "Thank you, Harry."

The child went perfectly still, for a moment looking so much like a startled rabbit that the ancient program felt a pang of guilt for being the hunter. "H-how did you...?"

"I'm the Oracle, dearie. It's my job to know these things." She chuckled dryly, and gestured for him to take a seat. "It's all right, I'm not going to bite. Not like those horrible relatives of yours," she added on a whim, and was rewarded as he sat down with a stunned thump in the indicated chair. "Speaking of which, thank Trinity for me on her handling of the... situation, would you, dear? We really ought to be doing things like that more often."

A minute smile flashed across his face, and Harry began to relax. "Yes, ma'am, I will."

The Oracle nodded. "Good. Now," she fixed him with an intent stare, "how are you? It's never easy, having your entire world pulled out from under you."

Harry looked down towards the table, his almost impossibly messy black hair falling forward to hide his eyes. "I'm all right..." he said quietly, idly tracing a design on the table with the tip of one finger.

"I see..." The Oracle nodded again, though this time more to herself. "And how do you like living on the /Nebuchadnezzar/?"

That got a smile out of him as the boy glanced up at her shyly. "I love it," he said truthfully. "Everyone's really nice, and Neo and Tank showed me how to fly in the simulator."

"Was it fun?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically, and she grinned. "You might want to ask Morpheus about being a pilot when you grow up, then."

"Do you really think so?" he asked her hopefully.

"If it's something you truly love to do, you shouldn't let anyone stop you." The Oracle smiled again as she saw the boy commit her words to heart.

There was a moment of silence, before he suddenly gave her a thoughtful look. "Is this why everyone comes to you? To get advice like that?"

The rogue program laughed. "Mostly, yes. Never mind that they wouldn't need my advice if they would simply stop and consider their problems themselves." She found herself genuinely liking the boy, as much for his perceptiveness as for the besieged innocence he revealed as he giggled at the put-upon tone of her words.

"Well, let's take a look at you," she said as the giggles (which, maybe, she might have taken part in herself) began to fade, and rose from the table. A bit startled, Harry followed her, coming to a stop just in front of the old-seeming woman.

"All right, open wide and say 'ah'," she ordered, taking his face gently in her hands. The Oracle took a moment to look at his tonsils as he obeyed, then swiveled his head from side to side to glance behind his ears. Good, no dirt... it was so rare nowadays to find a child who didn't mind a little cleanliness.

Finally, she turned the boy's face back to the front and gazed into his eyes. There was some confusion there, and she could tell she was making him uncomfortable, but beneath that... plenty of intelligence, courage, and the last vestiges of a fading loneliness.

Satisfied, the Oracle was about to let him go when she saw something odd in the very edges of her peripheral vision. Her breath caught as she reached up with one hand to brush aside the bangs covering his forehead. There, hiding beneath the midnight strands, was a scar.

"Good Lord," she breathed, tracing its distinctive, lightning-bolt shape with her fingers. The name wasn't /a coincidence.../she thought wildly.

"Ma'am? Are you all right?" Harry Potter asked, concerned by the way she had suddenly frozen, her hands still keeping his head in one spot.

The Oracle shook herself out of her scar-induced stupor and let him go. "Y-yes, child, I'm fine." Carefully, she turned and sat back down at the table. "Tell me, Harry, do you see that plaque above the door?"

The boy glanced up at it and nodded.

"It says /Temet Nosce/," she continued. "It's Latin, and it means 'know thyself.' I keep it up there to remind me that nothing in life means more than knowing your own self, because if you don't, then everything you do is based on a bunch of lies and half-truths."

Harry turned his gaze back towards the old woman as she sighed wearily, still staring at the plaque. "Like the Matrix?"

She laughed shortly. "Yes, like the Matrix..." Abruptly she rose again, and strode over to him. Taking the boy by his shoulders, she bent down until their eyes were level. "Harry, I want you to promise me something, alright? Promise me you'll always be yourself."

By this point very confused, Harry nonetheless nodded. "I promise."

The Oracle gave him an authentic smile. "Thank you, my child. Thank you very much." Relieved, she backed off a bit, just in time to hear a knock at the door. "It must be time for you to go." Taking his hand, the program led him to the door.

Her assistant waited on the other side to escort the boy back to his guardians, but before the Oracle let her take him, she turned to him one last time. "Remember, Harry. When you know who you really are, you can do /anything/. Remember. Oh, and take a cookie with you," she said, handing him one. The green-eyed boy accepted it with a solemn nod and smile, and then he was gone.

She waited a full minute afterwards to make sure they were really gone before she sent out a call for the most loyal of her own programs. A draft from behind and the soft sound of a closing door announced his arrival, and she smiled.

"Yes, Oracle?"

"A young boy just left here. You are to protect him as you would me," she ordered.

"Yes, Oracle," the short Asian man said, after the smallest of pauses. "...Who is he?" he asked, curious as to just whom his mistress would consider as important as she was.

The Oracle grinned fiercely, the way a tigress grins, full of confidence, superiority, and most of all, lots of sharp teeth. "He's someone who's really gonna give that monochromatic bastard of an architect a headache."

Seraph nodded with a slight smile. "I like him already," he commented in an accented voice.

"Good. Make sure he and his family leave the Matrix safely. I don't want those damn Agents screwing this up."

The sudden absence of any presence behind her was her only answer. Still grinning, the Oracle turned towards the unfinished crossword puzzle on the table and filled in the answer to the question she'd been working on: /Spartacus/.

-I-I-I-

He liked the Oracle, he really did, but all the same Harry was delighted to be back with Neo and Trinity. They walked on either side of him as they strolled down the busy sidewalk, each keeping hold of one of his hands and at the same time keeping an eye on their surroundings.

Abruptly the boy stiffened, as he felt the same slimy presence he'd felt the day he met Trinity. At first it was a distance away, but then in the blink of an eye, before he could open his mouth to warn his family, it was practically on top of them, and he knew it was watching them.

"Trinity!" he cried, tightening his grip on her hand. "It's an Agent!"

"Wha-" she started to say, surprised, when Neo pulled both of them off to the side and into an alley.

"He's right," the man said shortly. "There was an Agent right across the street from us."

"...Shit." Trinity pulled her cell phone from her pocket and hit the button that would connect her directly with Tank in the real world. "Tank, we need an exit, /now/." She listened for a couple moments, then nodded and hung up. "Alright," she said, gesturing towards a building that flanked the alley. "We've got a tapped payphone in the lobby of that office building."

"There isn't going to be time," Harry said quietly. "It's following us. It's almost across the street."

Frowning, Trinity turned back towards the entrance of the alley just in time to see the Agent step into sight. Then she was being propelled towards a door, along with Harry. "Go," her husband said urgently. "Get Harry out of here. I'll hold him off."

Helplessly she nodded, and kicked in the door. Pulling the boy along with her, she ran inside as Neo walked towards the Agent.

"Well?" he called out mockingly. "Do I have to stand here all day?"

There was no change of expression on the Agent's face, but the program obligingly ran forward. Neo dropped down and tried to sweep its legs out from under it, but failed as it simply jumped over the offending limb.

The move did succeed in preventing the Agent from attacking him right away, though, and the freedom fighter took the opportunity to kick out with his other leg and knock it forward as the kick connected with its back. The Agent rebounded from the alley wall even as Neo rose, its business suit and tie no longer pristine.

The program took a step towards him, obviously intending to attack, and Neo prepared himself. Then it abruptly stopped, staring at something behind him.

A hand fell on the man's shoulder, and he whirled around to see a small Asian man dressed all in white standing behind him. "Go with your family," he said quietly with a smile. "I'll take care of this."

Stunned, Neo could only nod as the stranger moved slowly towards the Agent, and turned to follow his wife and adopted son.

Inside, the building, Harry smiled as he felt a bright, shining presence join those of his guardian and the foul morass that was the Agent. Knowing that everything would be all right now, he put the receiver to his ear, and vanished.