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Chapter Nine: Paradoxes:

Hailey dodged a jet of magical energy in the virtually created training room in the Potter Residence. She could barely keep up with her opponent, who just happened to be her brother Harry. The fact that she had a wand, when he didn’t only just slightly evened the odds in her favor. Quickly, she dodged an unfamiliar spell, as it was unwise to put up a shield charm against a spell that was unknown.

She saw Harry off in the distance but she smirked, and quickly turned around, to send a stunning spell in the other direction, right towards Harry, but Harry blocked it as seemiglessly as breathing, a circular ring was sent right towards Hailey. Hailey attempted to dodge, but the ring smartly swirled towards Hailey, wrapping around her arms and causing her to drop her wand. Hailey fell down, defeated, and rather trapped. She squirmed, in an attempt to get out.

“Deactivate,” announced Harry and the room around them disappeared, returning to the basement, revealing that Neville, Ginny, Lily, and Hermione had been watching.

“That was brilliant Hailey,” said Neville as he looked down at her, looking a bit concerned as the circular energy rings disappeared and allowed Hailey to get to her feet, wincing slightly. “You alright?”

“Fine, thank you, just a bit shaken up,” answered Hailey promptly.

“I agree with Neville, that was pretty good,” inputted Hermione and Hailey nodded.

“Yes, Hailey, that was good, I’m proud of you,” said Lily and Hailey smiled at her mother’s words of encouragement.

“Yes, you were really good this time, wasn’t she Harry?” asked Ginny, as she walked over, nudging Harry in the side slightly.

“You learned from your mistakes last time Hailey,” replied Harry in a serious, emotionless tone of voice. “There’s always room for improvement however.”

Harry calmly walked off as Hailey looked a bit crestfallen at Harry’s indifferent assessment of her performance, as she stood in the shadows.

“Now Hailey, from Harry, especially lately, that’s a glowing assessment,” commented Ginny. “You lasted longer against him this time, hell, when we dueled, you beat me, you’re getting really good.”

“Ginny’s right Hailey,” added Neville. “I’m sure Harry’s really proud of you, he just…”

Whatever Harry was, Neville did not say, as Hailey nodded slowly.

“Nice to see one of us is sure about that fact,” replied Hailey in a slightly moody tone of voice.

“Now, Hailey, I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to take this too hard,” cautioned Lily but nothing she said seemed to be getting through to her daughter.

“I’m not taking this too hard,” responded Hailey in an absolutely stubborn tone of voice. “I just need to go for a walk, to clear my head.”

Hailey walked up the stairs, slamming the door hard behind her, as she walked off, with the rest of the group, with a few uncomfortable moments of silence existing before Neville decided to be the one to break it.

“She really puts a lot of stock into what Harry thinks,” commented Neville wisely and their was no disagreement to what he said.

“Mostly because they’re so close,” muttered Lily, as the close relationship between her two children was something she was absolutely pleased with and really wished that she had with Petunia. Truthfully, at one time they were that class, but once Lily had found out she was a witch, they drifted apart, mostly to the fact that Petunia was jealous but also sadly the death of their parents was the final nail in the coffin.

“Harry also puts a lot into how well Hailey does,” inputted Hermione. “If she doesn’t do as well as Harry hoped for he, he takes it like a personal reflection of failure on himself.”

“That sums up everything,” agreed Ginny, as the others looked at her and she sighed. “I’ll go and try to talk to Harry, but I’m not promising anything.”

Ginny walked off, with the others also following her up the stairs, back into the main kitchen of the house.

In a dilapidated house, in a rundown part of the city, lived a man who was once one of the most inept criminals in the entire city, but now thanks to extensive rehabilitation, he had given up his criminal ways. His name was Maxwell Eugene Windsor, the man once known as the clock obsessed mental case known as Chronos. That was behind him, as far as he was concerned, he resolved to never dawn his other persona once more, as his criminal past should just remain in the past.

“What do you mean you’re shutting the power off?” demanded Windsor in an agitated tone of voice. “Yes, I realize I haven’t paid the bill the past three months, but I’m looking for a job, I’ll pay it all, I just need more time, wait, you can’t just shut me off…”

At that second, the dimly lit lights of Windsor’s house faded to black and Windsor cursed, slamming the phone done onto the receiver. Those people at the power company had no sympathy, in fact, no one else did as well. All he wanted was one chance to make everything right, more and more, he wished he had not wished he had turned to a life of crime in the first place, he wished he had not been humiliated by a seven year old version of Harry Potter. Still, what was done, was done, it was not like Windsor could rewind the hands of time.

Windsor fumbled around in the dark, looking for a candle, before thankfully finding one and lighting it, illuminating the area around him. Reaching forward, he picked up the newspaper for this day, before he sat in a rather battered looking chair, just something to get his mind off of his hardships, which was pretty much his entire life. Yet, as he began to thumb through the paper, a rather interesting headline caught the eye of the former self proclaimed Lord of Time.

Physics Professor Let Go Due to Insane Theory, Claims To Have Built a Time Machine.

“What do we have here?” muttered Windsor in glee, as he read through, with interest, as he read the paper. “Winston Fripp, says that through years of extensive study, has created a device that he claims will allow him to travel throughout time, as seamless as breathing, but attempts to get funding to mass produce the belt have proved fruitless. Fripp refuses to disclose location of the prototype, but is rumored to be in his Long Island residence.”

Windsor let the paper drop to the floor, a gleeful expression on his face, he had a second chance in life, to turn back the hands of time, to stop his past self from making a huge mistake. True, he had heard that tampering with time had serious consequences, but Windsor refused to believe such drivel. What could go wrong? He walked over towards a dusty box underneath his table, before he opened it up. Once more, Chronos would live again, to secure a better future for Max Windsor and alter time so that Chronos would have no need to exist.

Hailey walked down the street, deep in thought. Truthfully, she wanted to believe that Harry was impressed with the improvements she made. Granted, she was not as good as Harry was and quite frankly, the chances that Hailey ever would surpass her brother at either magical or ninjitsu were slim to absolutely nothing. Still, would it hurt Harry to give a little positive reinforcement? She was trying hard, doing the best she could and actually being ambitious enough to improve herself.

Hailey stopped, seeing a newspaper lying on the sidewalk. It seemed relatively new, and she picked it up, thumbing through it with some interest. Most of it was the more or less business as usual, but an item caught Hailey’s eye. She read through, the article talking about the lunacy of a physics professor claiming that he had built a time machine. Perhaps she had been hanging around Harry way too much and thus she was able to drawn insane conclusions from what seemed like just mere coincidences, but Hailey wondered if this little article would attract the attention of the self professed lord of time, Chronos. While as far as she knew, he had been rehabilitated, something like that could tempt him back into the life he once had. Perhaps she was being silly, but a quick change of costume was something that Hailey felt necessary, so she could scope out the home of this supposed nutty physics professor, as the address was printed clearly in the paper. She moved into a phone booth, double checking to see no one was there, and walked inside, carefully putting a Muggle repelling charm, along with a privacy charm, before she changed into the Black Phantom.

Outside of the Winston Fripp residence, Chronos tiptoed in, sneaking around and looked right at the gate, which was naturally locked. He removed a clock hand shaped lock pick from his pocket and stuck it into the lock, twisting it and the lock clicked open. Chronos stepped to the gate, before he looked around. A large beeping sound echoed throughout the residence and Chronos paused, before a large laser cannon lifted out of the roof of the home. The lasers lit up and blasted right towards Chronos. Quickly, Chronos threw himself out of the way and the laser impacted into a tree, reducing it to a mere walnut. Chronos dodged another laser blast, a nearby toad being struck and reduced into a tadpole. Quickly, he removed his clock-zooka and aimed it, before he shot a series of clocks right at the laser cannon. It blasted the clocks out of the way but the final clock just managed to get through the defenses. The clock knocked the cannon out, pieces of glass lodging into it and messing it the laser cannon.

Chronos stepped forward and pulled out an alarm clock. Winding it up, Chronos rolled it towards the door, before he threw himself behind the bushes. A large explosion blasted the door open and Chronos rolled inside, before he pointed his crossbow, before he prepared to load a clock hand shaped arrow at him.

“Mr. Windsor, I’ve been expecting you,” commented the voice of Winston Fripp as he walked into the foreground, with a large belt with an hour glass on the front. “In fact, I know this entire scene by heart…”

Chronos threw himself at Fripp but Fripp calmly and fluidly stepped out of the way, causing Chronos to slam himself against the wall, staggering the clock obsessed fiend.

“A fruitless attempt to attack me,” commented Fripp. “Save the trouble old bean, you won’t be able to touch me with my Temporal Wave Belt. It can turn back the hands of time, at least for a few minutes, it’s not stable for any further lengths as of yet, but perhaps in time.”

A smoke bomb burst through the windows, cloaking the area and the Black Phantom quickly entered the area, as Chronos got up.

“You just couldn’t keep your nose clean, could you Windsor?” asked Hailey in an irritated voice before he turned to Fripp. “You’re actually naïve enough to believe he’s actually built a working time machine.”

“I assure you I have,” commented Fripp as he flipped over a metal panel on the back and twisted a knob, seeing the girl’s eyes widen as he was pulled back into time to a few seconds ago.

“You’re actually naive enough to believe that he’s actually built a working time machine,” repeated Hailey, before she slapped her head, it was almost like she just said that, before Fripp reached over to a bust and pulled back to the head, before activating a switch.

“I’d really love to stick around and chat, but I simply don’t feel like finding the time,” commented Fripp and a panel of the wall slid open, to reveal a quartet of robots, they moved towards Hailey, who dodged an attack, before she sprung up and grabbed one of the robots, before flipping him over. A second robot swung his fist but Hailey ducked and the android punched the wall. It would not be denied as it advanced on Hailey, hands raised, but she flung a pair of shuriken at the robot, blowing a hole in its chest and deactivating it. Another one of the robots slammed the back of the head of Hailey, staggering her down.

Chronos turned and made a movement towards Fripp, grabbing Fripp, but Fripp managed to activate his belt, rewinding time once more. This time as Chronos attempted to attack Fripp, he dodged, as one of the robots moved towards Chronos, but Hailey sent a jet of orange light at it, causing it to impact the robot, melting the upper half of its body. Hailey slid underneath the attack of the robot, before several thick grey ropes wrapped around the robots and sent a jet of electricity threw it, short circuiting the robot, dropping it to the ground. The final robot moved towards Hailey, but Chronos winded up the alarm clock, before he threw it at the robot. The robot was blown to bits, with Hailey putting a shield charm up, preventing her from eating the impact.

“Warn me next time!” shouted Hailey in an angry voice but Chronos turned towards Fripp, attempting to get the belt but Hailey watched Fripp reach for the switch. Quickly, she flung a shuriken at Fripp, forcing him to remove his hand from the switch and Chronos had his hands on the belt, but Hailey summoned it from his grips.

“Wait a minute, that’s my time travel device, go steal your own, Black Phantom!” yelled Chronos as he rushed Hailey and attempted to punch her but she casually dodged it, with Chronos tripping over his own feet. Chronos quickly got to his feet and turned to Hailey. “It’s time for you to learn a lesson.”

Hailey tripped Chronos, causing him to fly into a banister.

“This is a dangerous device, I can’t allow this to remain, what if someone competent and dangerous gets their hands on it and makes it work?” asked Hailey, as she turned to Fripp.

“It won’t come to that,” replied Fripp in a defeated voice, as Hailey held the belt in her hand. “There is a missing component that prevents the belt from going back more than a few seconds, this is about as far as I could go, without the universe giving me funding. Perhaps you should give me the belt and allow me to destroy it, I can see now what making it has done to me.”

“No, I’ll destroy it myself,” responded Hailey, who was a bit too smart to fall for that old trick, but Chronos had removed a cuckoo clock from behind his back and sprung it forwards. A bird shot out of the clock and opened its mouth, spraying gas into the room, causing both Fripp and Hailey to cough madly, Hailey managing to put up a bubble headed charm, but Chronos already had his hands on the temporal wave belt, strapping it on.

“Now, time is mine to command!” yelled Chronos in an insane tone of voice, but Hailey sprang up and grabbed Chronos by the arm, attempting to pull him back.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” shouted Hailey, but Chronos had managed to spin the knob on the belt, but much to his horror, it snapped.

“Stupid piece of junk!” snapped Chronos but a worm hole opened in front of them, causing them to be sucked through, at the speed of light, both screaming at the top of their lungs, before they dropped down in the middle of a New York City Street.

Hailey pulled herself up, looking on with horror, as the belt was emitting sparks in every which direction, as Chronos seemed to look around, before he grabbed a young boy by the shirt.

“Quick what’s the date today?” asked Chronos.

“Uh April 21st, 1978,” stammered the boy a bit put out by the insane look in Chronos’s face but Hailey rushed over and knocked Chronos backwards with a punch, causing him to skid to the ground, cracking his goggles, but he just responded by rearing his head backwards and laughing like a mad man.

“What is so funny, Windsor?” demanded Hailey.

“Well, I might have overshot my target, but I can wait until the time comes, so I can reverse the wrong that was done to me,” said Chronos. “You, on the other hand, Black Phantom, are marooned in time without a cause.”

Hailey’s eyes flickered open, as she rushed Chronos but Chronos ran off down the street, laughing madly, the Temporal Wave belt strapped around his waist. Chronos rushed into the middle of the street, as a blind man tentatively crossed the street.

“That time obsessed idiot could not have gotten that far,” said Hailey as she absent mindedly watched a young boy cross the street, with a jar full of turtles in his hand, but a truck barreled down the street.

“OUT OF THE WAY!” yelled a teenager, as he rushed into the street, in an attempt to help the blind old man, knocking the young boy forward, causing the jar of turtles to slip from his grasp. Instinctively, Hailey reached forward and caught the jar of turtles before they dropped to the ground, before handing them to the boy, who ran off, without bothering to thank her.

“You’re welcome!” shouted Hailey sarcastically, before she opened her eyes, realizing what she had done, as she spotted a truck with the letters “TCRI” driving down the street, out of sight and down the street. “Oh son of a…”

A loud honk cut off Hailey, as a rather irritated looking middle aged man drove down the street, looking pissed at the old man being in the center of the street.

“I didn’t just do that, I didn’t just do that, I didn’t just erase them from existence,” muttered Hailey under her breath, wondering what the ramifications were but she saw the glint of the Temporal Wave Belt and it seemed to be humming madly.

“What is with this thing?” asked Chronos before temporal energy burst from the belt, creating the worm hole and began to suck Chronos through. Quickly, Hailey rushed through the hole, both of them, moving through the stream of time, this time moving forward back into the time.

Hailey dropped down, wincing as she hit the ground, with Chronos looking shaken as well.

“Where am I?” asked Hailey, but she looked around, as far as she knew, she was still in New York, but it was very different from the one they left, as there appeared to be no one outside and she did a double take, as she walked into a park across the street and blinked.

In the park was a humongous statue of Harry, maneuvered in such a way that it was watching the rest of the city and quickly Chronos tapped Hailey on the shoulder, before she could figure out what was going on

“I hate to do this, but we’re not alone!” called Chronos with wide eyes as an infinite number of Foot Ninjas dropped down, before they were lead by a very familiar and extremely unwelcome face.

“No,” muttered Hailey as she found herself face to face with what by all indications appeared to be the Shredder or at least someone wearing his armor, this Shredder seemed to be several inches shorter than the one Hailey had remember. Nevertheless, he looked just as menacing, as he pointed his hand forward, signaling for the Foot Ninjas to attack.

Hailey dodged underneath a chain that was whipped towards her face, before swooping down and avoided getting cracked with a staff to the face. She sprung up and bounced off the trees, before she knocked down a pair of the assassins, before she stole out of their katanas. Quickly, Hailey dodged around and swung the weapon, disarming a trio of Foot Ninjas, before rolling underneath and taking out another two with a split kick, but still more ninjas yet came. Hailey vaulted into the air with a somersault, flicking several shuriken behind her back. They all stuck to the ground, blowing holes into the ground and knocking several of the warriors back. Still, there were way too many ninjas as Chronos stood back, out of the way, in an attempt to get the belt to work.

“Stupid thing, work damn it, rewind, fast forward, pause time, DO SOMETHING ALREADY!” yelled Chronos as he shook the belt but other than a few sparks, it remained motionless, as Hailey managed to climb up onto the large statue, before she pointed her wand at the Foot Ninjas, but nothing happened.

“STUPEFY!” yelled Hailey desperately, but nothing, not the merest spark, not the merest flicker from her wand, as the ninjas began to scale up the statue. Hailey cracked one of them right in the face with her foot, before she sliced another in the chest with the stolen katana, before she managed to struggle to lift the ninja up a few inches before she lost her grip, causing the assassin to drop, knocking several of his fellow assassins down, before Hailey dropped down and she came face to face with the Shredder himself.

The Shredder launched his fist right in Hailey’s face, knocking her backwards. Blood dripped down from Hailey’s nose as Hailey pulled herself up, managing to just barely dodge the Shredder’s second assault, before she somersaulted over the top, but Shredder grabbed her by the ankle. Hailey winced as she connected with the ground hard, but she managed to kick off with her free leg, knocking the Shredder right in the face. Shredder dropped to the ground for the briefest second, helmet knocked off.

Hailey pulled herself up and came face to face with the unmasked Shredder. She did a double take, she must have hit her head, because she could not believe her eyes of who exactly was underneath the helmet and armor of the Shredder.

“Okay, this is so wrong on so many levels,” commented Hailey, as Harry advanced forward, with the Foot Ninjas following closely behind.

Hailey dodged an attack, managing to knock one of the ninjas down to the ground. A back handed punch knocked another one of her punch and Hailey felt herself being rather fatigued from the strain of fighting, something that was a foreign concept to her, as she did not get tired that easily. She slid underneath the attack of one of her opponents but she winced as a dart had stabbed her arm. Hailey felt the world around her going all hazy, as she collapsed to her knees, completely dizzied by whatever was in the dart, her stomach queasy, before she passed out.

Harry turned and pointed emotionlessly to Chronos, who looked fearful as several ninjas approached him, grabbing him by the arms and dragging him off, causing him to drop the belt as he passed out. Walking forward, Harry picked up the mysterious belt and draped it over his shoulder, before he walked off to follow the Foot.

Chronos’s eyes flickered open, realizing that he had been stripped of all of his clock based weaponry, and had been placed in some kind of prison cell. Looking up, Chronos attempted to pound on the cell.

“LET ME OUT!” yelled Chronos, who looked absolutely petrified. “I’m claustrophobic! You need to let me out!”

Yet, no one seemed to come, and he caught sight of the Black Phantom, who looked to still be out from being drugged by that dart. Chronos walked over, her breathing was very shallow, but other than that, she offered no movement.

“Well, at least I’ll find out the super secret identity of the Black Phantom,” remarked Chronos as he casually bent down, before he lifted the mask off her face and removed it. His eyes widened in shock, as he stared at the Black Phantom’s unmasked voice. “WHO THE HELL IS THIS PERSON!”

Chronos stepped back, attempting to figure out a way to get out of here, he didn’t really care how, he just hated being in an enclosed space.

Hailey lifted her head off the pillow, still groggy from being drugged.

“What the…” slurred Hailey before she shook her head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs, dried up blood clinging to her nose. “Great, all the people I’m locked in a cell with, I would have to be you Windsor.”

“I’m not too thrilled about the arrangements either,” muttered Chronos. “I need to find a way out of here.”

“I still have my wand, so I should be able to get us out of here” commented Hailey as she got up to her feet, nearly collapsing from the after effects of the dart, as she pointed it to the door. “Alohomora.”

Nothing, not even a spark, Hailey might have just had a piece of wood in her hand, because that was what her wand was right now.

“That Temporal Wave Belt must have done something to my magic,” theorized Hailey, in frustration, as she held onto the wall, feeling a bit dizzy.

“Right, magic,” remarked Chronos as he slowly backed away before turning to talk to no one in particular. “And people think I’m insane.”

Heavy foot steps were heard and Hailey tensed up, ready to fight, even through she could barely stand, as she felt a headache coming on. The door opened as Hailey slipped her wand back into her pocket and the large man mountain known as Hun walked in. Hun reached forward and roughly grabbed Hailey by the arm, pulling her forward.

“He wishes to deal with you personally,” grunted Hun as he dragged Hailey down the hallway, who squirmed and Chronos was locked inside the room behind Hun. “The Shredder’s personal attack dog, his personal assassin, and the head of the Foot while the Shredder takes care of some business in off this planet. So he was put in charge of the Foot, despite the fact that I’ve been here longer.”

“I detect a note of disapproval that you’ve been outranked,” taunted Hailey. “Maybe because the only thing you are fit to run is a group of common street punks.”

“Mind your tongue girl,” growled Hun, as he dragged her down the hallway, and pushed over the door, before he tossed Hailey inside, right at the feet of Harry, who had removed the Shredder armor. At this time, Harry was currently handing the Temporal Wave Belt over to one Doctor Baxter Stockman.

“Naturally, one of my scientific genius could get something like this working, just a few minor adjustments to correct whatever imperfections the fool that created this device had made,” replied Stockman in a slightly intimidated tone of voice, as Harry just stared him down through his cold emerald eyes, not bothering with the slightest hint of emotion. “I’ll get on it right away, no need to thank me of course, heaven forbid you actually speak to anyone.”

“Here she is,” inputted Hun, a bit of disgust evident in his voice, a bit too much for Harry’s likely, as Hailey watched him reach forward and grab Hun around the arm, before twisting him to the ground by the arm, magically burning Hun on the arm. “Let up, let up, I’m sorry I showed you such disrespect…”

With what could be interpreted as disgust at Hun’s show of weakness, Harry dropped Hun to the ground, causing the large man to turn away, so Harry could not see his irritation at being showed up by him again. Slowly, Harry turned to Hailey, who stared back, she looked very worried, this was not the Harry she knew, not at all.

“What has happened to you?” asked Hailey but Harry remained immobile, unmoving, without a word escaping his lips, as if his face was carved out of granite. “What’s happened Harry, say something, breath for Salazar’s sake? What have I done?”

“The boy’s mind has essentially been rewired to be an emotionless assassin and nothing else, one of the Shredder’s better pieces of work I must say,” supplied Stockman casually, as he was discussing the weather, as he made some final adjustments on the belt.

Harry stepped forward, before he picked up a katana and slid it towards Hailey’s feet, before he removed a katana of his own, before he stared down at Hailey coldly.

“Wait a minute, you want me to fight you and if I can somehow beat you, you’ll let me live?” asked Hailey and Harry gave a cold, emotionless nod towards her, as he picked up the katana. “Harry, listen to me, I really don’t want to fight you…”

Hailey shrieked as Harry swung at her, in an attempt to slice her throat with the sword she just barely managed to dodge out of the way. The realization was that she was fighting a losing battle was all too real to the young Potter girl. Harry did not know her in this altered reality, so he had no qualms about holding back and quickly, Hailey rolled underneath another attack from Harry. A desperation punch by Hailey might as well have been leveled against a titanium wall, because Harry effortlessly caught her arm and whipped her over right onto her back. Hailey connected with the ground with a smack and she could barely regain her bearings, before Harry came down from above her, the sword aimed at the top of her head. At the last possible nano-second, Hailey blocked his attack, before she tucked her feet into Harry’s stomach. Using all the leg strength she could muster, she flipped Harry over. Harry landed on his feet and quickly threw a dagger right at Hailey, who just managed to slice it in half before it plunged right into her chest.

Hailey slumped against the wall, breathing heavily, she could not keep this up much longer. Harry, on the other hand, seemed like he could go all day as he rushed at Hailey. Hailey just managed to move out of the way, but Harry’s blade had cut her sleeve. She winced, as blood dripped from the cut that Harry had opened. An uppercut punch impacted Hailey right in the face and she dropped to the ground, dazed, with her weapon

“I’m going to die,” muttered Hailey in a terrified voice, as Harry slowly advanced on her, prolonging the agony. Quickly, Hailey rummaged through her pockets, looking for something, anything to use that could slow her brother down but all she had was her wand, which proved to be absolutely useless, given the fact that she couldn’t do magic. Harry stood on Hailey’s throat and raised the wand. Instinctively, Hailey took her wand and jabbed it as hard as she could into the hand of Harry!

Much to her surprise, Harry stepped back, before he bowed to Hailey and slid the sword back to her. Hailey pulled herself up, and picked up the weapon, she could feel her left eye swelling shut, but she would not give up. Harry, the Harry she knew at least, would not approve of that. Hailey rushed forward, but her opponent casually blocked the weapon attack. Another sword clang and another block, before Harry swiped his blade towards Hailey’s midsection. She gracefully back flipped over the move and landed right behind Harry, before she looked down at Harry, quickly leapt right at Hailey. The katana snapped in half and Hailey was knocked firmly on her arse once again at the hands of Harry. She pulled herself up and dodged an attack by Harry. Quickly, Hailey grabbed the broken blade of the sword and jumped up, hanging onto the support beams from above. Harry followed her up, quickly, as he pulled the deflated warrior to her feet, wanting to put her out of her misery.

In the blink of an eye, Hailey raised the shattered blade and impacted it right into the chests of Harry, stabbing it deep inside as possible. Harry was on one knee and Hailey reared back her foot, before she struck Harry right in the face with a kick. Another kick and Harry’s nose was cracked.

“Sorry Harry,” muttered Hailey as she caught Harry with another kick that rocked him but Harry grabbed her and launched her right off the beams above. Stockman’s eyes widened, as he quickly pulled the belt off the table, as Hailey crashed right through the wood, blood splattering everywhere.

Hailey rolled over, she had never been in such pain, not even when Bellatrix attacked her during her sixth year and Harry dropped down, as Hailey rolled over, to look up at Harry, splinters impaled into her arm and she was barely able to breath because of suffering a multitude of cracked ribs. The fact that she was upset because she thought Harry was a bit harsh to her seemed a bit silly in hindsight. Hailey would rather have cold, harsh, indifference, than be beaten to death, especially by Harry. She could feel it, she was clinging onto life and Harry stood over Hailey, before he dropped his weapon down, much to Hailey’s astonishment.

“What are doing Potter?” demanded Hun as Harry walked over and removed the Temporal Wave Belt from the grasp of Stockman. Before he walked over to and bowed towards Hailey’s deflated form, before he dropped the Temporal Wave Belt right into her hand. Hailey attempted to sit up, as the belt began to glow a golden color, as Hailey felt herself pulled back through another time hole.

Hailey blinked, as she was now watching the kid with the pet turtles preparing to cross the street.

“OUT OF THE WAY!” yelled a teenager, as he rushed into the street, in an attempt to help the blind old man, knocking the young boy forward, causing the jar of turtles to slip from his grasp.

“Sorry kid, but you have to lose your pets, it’s for the best” muttered Hailey under her breath, as she watched the jar shatter, the turtles being swept into the sewers, just like it should have been. Across the street, Hailey saw the TRCI truck swerve and the canister of ooze fly out, right down the sewers where the pet turtles were.

Walking over, Hailey spotted Chronos who stood across her, a smirk on his face but wearing the faulty version of the Temporal Wave Belt as well, with Hailey still in possession with of the repaired and working belt.

“Black Phantom, with this belt, I have the…” remarked Chronos before he looked at her. “When did you get one of those belts?”

“Bye Windsor, your time’s up,” said Hailey as she activated the belt, hopefully returning home to a completely restored future but Chronos laughed in amusement, his amusement was rather short lived as the belt began to sputter, causing him to scream as he was sucked to a rather distorted looking time hole.

On the other end, Chronos landed and he blinked, it right before he would make the first ill fated attempt to rob that gas station.

“Hey, buddy, I wouldn’t do that if I was you and you will be me if you keep it up!” called Chronos but his past self did not seem to hear him and Chronos blinked, he could not see his reflection in the window across from where he stood. He tried to move forward, but his legs were froze as he watched the entire scene of the most humiliating moment, unable to do anything.

Chronos felt a slight tug and he saw the entire scene replay before him once again, as the Temporal Flux Belt began to melt directly into his skin, as he watched his humiliating defeat all those years ago at the hands of young Harry Potter again. Another rewind and Chronos screamed in agony, as he saw the same scene play out once again.

“I’ll get out of this somehow!” screamed Chronos as he watched the scene play out again and would see the worst moments of his life over and over again for the rest of his life.

Hailey returned and the first thing she did, was pointed her wand towards an apple that had fallen around the ground. Quickly, it zoomed towards her hand, it had successfully been summoned and that gave Hailey every indication that her magic had returned, so she had no reason to believe that the time stream had been fixed. Calmly, Hailey draped the Temporal Wave Belt over the fence and pointed her wand at it.

“REDUCTO!” yelled Hailey and sure enough, the time device was blasted to bits, completely destroyed by all repair. Quickly Hailey walked off, making her way home. The night had been long.

Harry walked down the cavernous marble hallway, as he looked around in slight irritation.

“Great this dream again,” muttered Harry under his breath and he saw Ginny standing there, looking rather confused. “Hi, Ginny, fancy meeting you here.”

“Harry, do you know where we are?” asked Ginny, as Harry grabbed her by the hand.

“In a dream, an avenue of fools, this time you’re getting dragged along for the ride,” commented Harry and a pit of flames appeared in front of the two, with a robed figure rising high above them, sitting legs crossed, as he looked down at them, his eyes not visible. “Great, you again.”

“Again?” asked Ginny.

“This guy’s been in my dream every night, I’d rather dream about you to me honest, but this robed guy just stares at me, for what seems like forever, and then bad things start to happen, fragments that don’t make sense,” answered Harry promptly. “Who are you anyway?”

The robed figure remained immobile and Ginny stepped forward.

“Listen to me, you’ve been tormenting Harry and I don’t like that,” said Ginny in a forceful voice. “I want some answers and I want them now, who are you, what are you?”

“The darkness that Harry Potter is unwilling to accept, embrace,” hissed the robed figure and the voice sound all too familiar. “I’ve been always inside him, and one day, he will have to tap into my power.”

“YOU AREN’T REAL!” yelled Harry. “Lies, it’s my conscience trying to beat me up for giving up, but damn it, I did the right thing, I won’t go back.”

“No one’s making you go back Harry,” replied Ginny soothingly, as she glared at the figure.

“You can discount me as just another voice in your head, but I’m much more than that Harry Potter,” commented the robed figure. “I’ve been here for sixteen years, I’m not going away any time soon. I will be a part of you, no matter how hard you try to bury me deep within your subconscious.”

“LIES!” yelled Harry.

“You saw what he was, he became what he was because he accepted me, worked with me to do what he felt was necessary, you must do the same or your friends, your family, even your great love will meet their demise,” remarked the robed figure.

“Who accepted this thing?” asked Ginny but Harry’s eyes were widened, as he stared down the figure.

“It’s not important Ginny, he’s not important, he can’t hurt either of us, I won’t let him,” said Harry quickly, averting the subject.

“Your own inability to do what is necessary for survival is what will hurt both of you, Harry Potter,” remarked the robed figure as he lowered his hood, slit like red eyes visible.

Both Harry and Ginny sprang up, sweat rolling down their face, breathing heavily at what they saw.

“Just a dream, just a dream,” remarked Harry.

“That thing was a bit too vivid to be just a dream!” snapped Ginny, but she shook her head. “Sorry Harry, it scared the hell of me, it said was a part of you…”

“The missing fragment,” muttered Harry, so Ginny couldn’t hear him, before he straightened up. “Ginny, I’m sure everything will be fine, nightmares can’t hurt us.”

“But…” commented Ginny but Harry leaned forward and kissed her to silence her, before he slightly pulled back.

“Everything will be fine Ginny, as long as we’re together,” said Harry as he pulled his bonded into a hug and kissed her once again. “Let’s try to back to sleep.”

“Yes, sleep, like that’s going to be easy,” replied Ginny, but she snuggled into Harry, as Harry wrapped his arms around her, but Harry did not fall back to sleep for quite some time, listening to Ginny’s peaceful breathing for a while until he drifted back to sleep.