Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 332: Revelation and The Greater Good
"That hurt…" Harry complained.
"You deserve it! I want you to tell me straight… what do you think of me?"
"Very well… I'll tell you the truth." Harry got serious.
"But you must keep this to yourself."
"Mmm?..." Daphne tilted her head. "What do you to keep it to myself?"
"The world is ending," Harry told her.
"Huh?...." That was not what she expected to hear.
"Not just this world, but every world in the multiverse is ending," Harry added.
"The multiverse?... You never told me about this. Wait, are you making this up to change the topic?" Daphne asked.
"Of course not. This is very important. At one point in time, there was only one single world, but after time travel was invented, the world began to shatter into fragments that gave birth to different worlds. Each one with a few differences compared to the others."
"Like the world that you came from?"
"That's right." Harry nodded. "That was just one of many."
"And what makes you think that the world is ending?" Daphne was still somewhat skeptical about this and still wasn't sure if this was Harry's way to avoid an important topic.
"Since the moment I woke up here, there have been strange events occurring all over the world. More often in places with large magical concentrations," Harry said.
"You mean like Hogwarts?." A lot of strange things happened at the school. To the point that she already considered them kinda normal occurrences.
"Yes. Or the train station, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley… there are many places like that."
"And what are those strange events exactly?" She still wasn't sure where he was going with all of this.
"Those events are situations where two or more realities get too close to each other, and one reality begins to bleed onto another one. At first, they were small things, like briefly seeing other versions of myself or my friends. But things got more serious at the end of my second year… with the basilisk." Harry explained.
"Wait…" Daphne was getting a bit concerned now.
"You mean that monster was the result of one of those events?" She never got a proper explanation for what happened in her second year.
"What happened in the Chamber of Secrets was the result of countless basilisks from different worlds converging in the same place. This is why Professor Silverbell coined these strange events as 'Convergences.'"
"Who?"
"He is an expert found by the Headmaster to help us figure out what happened. Professor Silverbell is the Director of the Time Department at the Ministry of Magic."
"Time Department?... I didn't even know that existed." Daphne said.
"Not many would… it is part of the Department of Mysteries," Harry said.
"And this professor is the one who claimed that these Convergences are causing the end of the world?"
Harry shook his head.
"All of those events are nothing more than symptoms that point towards the disease. The reason they are happening is because realities are beginning to collide with each other. Once the collision is strong enough, the result will be that one of them will cease to exist. Or even both in the worst-case scenario. This process will continue until only a single world remains… or none."
"Harry… you are scaring me." Daphne frowned.
"I am sorry. I know it's a lot and it's hard to accept. But there may be a way to stop this process. That's what we've been working on."
"And what is the solution?"
"According to Professor Silverbell, the reason for this happening is the creation of too many alternate timelines. There is a limited amount of energy and matter, so when too many worlds try to exist at the same time… it eventually becomes too much, and this chain reaction begins."
"Okay… I think I understand that much." Daphne said. "So we have already reached this critical point?"
"That's the problem… things shouldn't have gotten this bad for at least several centuries from now."
"Several centuries? Then what is causing this now?" Daphne asked.
Harry had a weary smile on his face.
"That would be me."
"Excuse me?" Daphne raised an eyebrow. "You will have to explain that one better."
"Time travel is the main cause of all of this. The more important the changes made, the more damage it causes to the walls of reality. My appearance here has already caused changes that affected the entire multiverse. I became an anomaly large enough to cause an imbalance in all reality, and now everything is collapsing earlier than expected because of that."
"Wait… if you are the one causing it, then this solution of yours…" Daphne could already see where this was going.
"There is only one way to stop this process. And that is to remove the anomaly… in other words… me." Harry said.
"You can't be serious…." Daphne stared at him.
"Dead serious…"
"How much time?" Daphne asked.
"There is no clear answer to that. The Professor said at least a few more years, but the sooner I do it, the higher the chance for this world to survive," Harry said.
"And you are sure that's the only solution?... I mean, have you even tried to look for an alternative?" Daphne was beginning to get furious.
"Daphne, we have b—"
"Don't give me that! You are such a Gryffindor. Don't be in such a hurry to throw your life away!" She shouted.
Harry sighed. He was expecting a reaction like this. That's why he had never told his family and would rather never have to do it.
"I assure you that I am in no hurry to do that," Harry said.
"But you don't even have a guarantee that this would work." Daphne said.
"No, but I do have the guarantee that if nothing is done, this world will end in a few years, and everyone will die. If my death can give everyone a chance, this is for the greater good." He wasn't going to let another world die for his mistakes.
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