Extra - Chapter 278: RECAP!
A.N - This extra chapter is going to be a summary of the important events that occurred since the beginning of the story. I wanted to do this before starting the fourth arc so everyone is more or less on the same page. If you don't feel like you need any reminders, feel free to skip this one.
Arc Zero: Let's begin at the beginning. Our main character originates from an alternate reality where demons invaded the world and destroyed everything. Let us call it Universe 1.
In Universe 1, things were mostly the same as in the 'Original Universe' until around the fourth year. For several reasons, Dumbledore never made the connection between Harry and the Horcruxes. Not knowing that the Boy Who Lived was supposed to die, he took Harry under his wing and trained him the best he could, discovering that Harry had a great deal of talent for Transfiguration.
During the sixth year, Dumbledore still died, killed in a Death Eater ambush, leaving Harry and his friends alone to deal with the rest.
In the seventh year, Voldemort threw an all-out attack on Hogwarts, the last place he needed to control, but this time he had to face a much more prepared Harry.
It was a tough battle, but eventually, Harry came out on top and killed Voldemort after destroying all his Horcruxes, not knowing that there was still one more... him.
Several years later, Voldemort announced his return by killing Harry's new wife, Ginny.
This time, Voldemort was much better prepared. After losing the protection from his Horcruxes, he resorted to a more extreme method. He used an ancient ritual that allowed him to contact a different world...the Netherworld, home of all demons.
The war lasted decades and ended with the destruction of one hundred percent of the earth's surface and almost all humanity. The few survivors had to hide in underground bunkers, protected by both magic and the latest technology they had access to.
After decades of war, Harry made a last-ditch effort to kill Voldemort, who was now nearly invincible thanks to the help of the demons. After a long battle that ended in the deaths of every single soldier who accompanied him, Harry achieved victory and killed Voldemort after destroying the demonic artifact that protected his life.
Due to his injuries, Harry died shortly after. Unknowingly, he had just destroyed the last Horcrux, preventing Voldemort from ever returning.
His death also triggered something else. During his early days, Harry had come into contact with all three of the Hallows and became the Master of them all, even if he did not know it yet. His own death was the last necessary step to fully become the one and only 'Master of Death.'
This title came with privileges but also with obligations. Unlike the rest of the mortals, Harry's soul did not go into the afterlife once his body perished. Instead, it ended up drifting along the river of Limbo until a suitable body became available.
The next time he opened his eyes, he discovered that he was in the body of a younger version of himself.
Arc One: In this arc, Harry learns that he is now in a different reality, which we'll call Universe 2. In this universe, history was very different from what he remembered.
He was born almost a month later, meaning he no longer fit the requirements of The Prophecy to become the Boy Who Lived, leaving Neville as the only possible candidate.
With no one else to choose from, this version of Voldemort focused his attention on the Longbottoms, leaving the Potters and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix to be taken care of by his minions.
After Harry was born and knowing they were still in a lot of danger, the Potters moved to their family's ancestral home. Not only were the protections much stronger, but the only one who knew about the location of this manor was Sirius Black.
They knew there was a traitor in the order, so they didn't dare to spread information about their whereabouts. The traitor turned out to be none other than Wormtail, much to their surprise. Remus had been the one under the most suspicion, so he had preventively left the country.
After Voldemort demanded Wormtail reveal the location of all the members of the Order, Wormtail disappointed him by saying he only knew of a few of the less important members.
But he saved his life by revealing where to find Sirius Black and that he knew how to locate the Potters' main family manor.
Sirius was captured and tortured to death but never gave up a single bit of information about his friends. Thanks to this, James and Lily, along with Harry and their newborn daughter, were able to survive the war and thrive.
Voldemort eventually found the Longbottoms and went to kill them himself. Because of the Prophecy, he thought he was the only one fitting to kill this chosen boy, and his arrogance prevented him from thinking about the possibility of losing.
The Dark Lord killed most of the Longbottom family, leaving only Augusta Longbottom, who survived her injuries, and one of Neville's uncles, who was traveling through Germany at the time.
But when Voldemort went to administer the Killing Curse on the young boy, his spell bounced back to him. Luckily for the wizard, the protections on Neville were not strong enough to completely deflect the curse with its full strength, and Voldemort survived, though his soul and body were greatly damaged, forcing him to flee the scene.
Bellatrix Lestrange, along with her husband and brother-in-law, went looking for their master after he failed to return in time.
They found him in a forest near the Longbottom house, gravely injured and barely conscious.
Voldemort ordered his most trusted followers to take him away from England. He needed time to recover completely and to plan his return.
A few years after this, Wormtail, who was now a fugitive, was found by a group of Aurors. After killing one of them, the rat was able to escape, but his identity as a rat animagus was exposed. Not seeing a better choice, Wormtail decided to leave the country and go in search of his old master, who everyone believed to be still alive.
Arc Two: Remus visits the Potters, and during a casual talk, he mentions something about unusual vampire activity in Romania.
Harry pays a visit to his family vault at the deepest part of Gringotts. While he is there, he discovers the vaults of the Four Founders are right next to his family's. He also spots the vault that belonged to the legendary Peverell family.
When he gets a bit closer, Harry feels a connection with the vault, or at least with some of its contents. There is something in that vault that seems to be calling for him, but he does not have the chance to open it under the strict vigilance of the goblins.
During this arc, Harry learns that some of the Horcruxes are missing from the locations where they were supposed to be. He is unable to find the diary at the Malfoys' house nor the Ravenclaw tiara inside the Room of Requirement.
Strange occurrences are happening at Hogwarts. The castle continues to suffer from tremors, and Harry eventually realizes that the source of those tremors is inside the Chamber of Secrets. He expects to have to fight a basilisk when he goes in there but instead finds much more. After killing three basilisks, he encounters a behemoth-sized basilisk.
With the lives of his sister and her friends at risk, Harry resorts to using a Grand Sorcery that ends up costing him his wand and the 'Seven Array Arkstone' artifact he had previously created.
He only has a vague theory about how this gigantic basilisk came to be, but months later, the truth is revealed with the help of Professor Silverbell, the Chief of the Time Department at the Ministry and the number one expert when it comes to time magic. He is also a tiny gnome.
He calls it a 'Convergence,' a temporary union of two different timelines.
They become connected due to weaknesses in the walls that separate realities. Those weak points occur in locations with very high concentrations of magical particles. When that happens, it becomes possible for things or living beings to cross from one reality to the next, even without their knowledge.
What happened in the chamber was a massive convergence where countless basilisks from countless different realities ended up all trapped in the same one. After they began to consume each other, the protective magical arrays from the Chamber of Secrets ended up acting as the container for an ancient ritual. This ritual enabled the basilisk to become stronger and bigger by devouring its siblings.
By the end of the ordeal, what was left was one massive basilisk that had eaten everyone else, and three lucky survivors who escaped the massacre by fitting through the cracks in the walls.
Professor Silverbell also mentions that these fractures in the walls of reality are only going to get worse until entire universes start to collide with each other, causing the destruction of one…or both. This will continue to repeat until there is only one universe left in existence, as it was originally meant to be before time travel was invented.
The Professor had already predicted that this was going to occur eventually, but something seemed to have triggered the entire multiverse to begin its collapse many centuries before it was supposed to happen.
He also says that unless the 'anomaly' that caused the trigger is removed, the complete collapse of all realities will occur in the very near future.
After hearing this, it does not take long for Harry to reach the conclusion that he is the anomaly in question. Dumbledore promises to find an alternate solution, but Harry knows that this is very unlikely to happen. One day, he is going to have to make a decision if he wants to protect his loved ones.
Arc Three: Harry learns he is now the Master of Death after absorbing the inactive remnants of the Three Hallows and fully awakening his latent abilities. Lord Parkinson, who had been pretending to be the Dark Lord in Voldemort's absence, finally achieves his goal to become the Minister of Magic and begins his plans to have complete control of the country.
Everything is going well until his failed attempt to kill Harry Potter, followed by his next failure, involving the werewolves, trolls, and Death Eaters.
A.N - I think this covers the most important points. But let me know if I have forgotten something and I will add it.