WARNING: Coarse language, character deaths(!!).

Fall-out from the final confrontation with Voldemort; The machines finally go too far in John's universe, having far-reaching consequences…

25: END GAME

It took very little time for news to spread throughout the school, and it rapidly became a festival-like atmosphere, as the displaced population celebrated the downfall of the worst dark wizard since Grindelwald.

Harry, however, did not stick around for the celebrations. It was as if he had up and vanished. He used the floo to travel to the headmaster's office back at the real school, under cover of his invisibility cloak. The castle had certainly become busy, but he had no difficulty avoiding the traffic in the corridors, making his way to the one place he would be assured privacy. The one place that, at this point, only he could get into. The question was, with his nemesis gone, could he still do it? Standing in front of the 'broken' sink in the 2nd floor girls' washroom, he commanded it to open, and was not disappointed, as the sinks separated, revealing the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. He made his way into the chamber, his mind turning over the past few hours' events.

Perhaps he was being a bit selfish, or childish, yet, at the present, he had no desire to deal with the pandemonium resulting from Voldemort's end. Yet, he still felt betrayed at the hand of his mentor. The old man had once again manipulated him horribly. In a way, he had manipulated Snape equally, and for much longer. Perhaps that was another reason the potions master was so bitter—having to answer to not one, but two masters.

The larger question was, 'what now?' Sure, Voldemort was gone. Yet, his Death Eaters were still out there, even with a large contingent of them on under arrest—at least that's what Harry hoped was going on. He hadn't waited around in the Great Hall to observe what happened to them. So what would prevent those still at large from exacting revenge for the death of their master? What was to prevent them from pushing ahead with Voldemort's agenda?

In the end, it would mean some major changes for Wizarding Britain. Travis was absolutely right, their world needed radical change if it were to survive in better shape than being a dark lord breeding ground. That led to another thought: Fudge. What had become of him? Was he still alive, after the Death Eaters stormed the ministry?

Harry realized at this point, the fight was far from over. Even though Voldemort was gone, there was so much yet to do. He hadn't even given much thought to the machines, and their threat. How could he stop their attacks? It would mean a trip back to John's world, that was for certain.

He climbed up on top of the massive bust where he had slain the basilisk in his second year, and sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge. The beast still lay half-submerged in the pool, although it had been well butchered at this point, Severus and Travis having harvested most of its usable parts. 'I just wish this would all be over,' he thought silently to himself.

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It had been several years since the machines had last attempted to penetrate the universe in which John, his friends, and his mother had fled to. Yet, it appeared as though their previous incursion had little effect. So, on this particular day, SkyNET was ready to make another attempt. A larger contingent had been assembled, and now stood ready to travel through a much larger time displacement device. Two Harvesters, each packed with nearly a hundred T-one thousand's, and twelve hunter-killers would be dispatched. One harvester and half the hunter-killers would be sent to the island, while the rest of the contingent would be sent to Scotland, to deal with the original Hogwarts. Only recently had SkyNET actually found the castle, and determined to eliminate it in the past as well.

Just as the hazy sun rose in the east, the time-displacement device was activated, and the large attack contingent was enveloped in it. The result was nothing short of catastrophic, as the device erupted into a cataclysmic explosion.

SkyNET, of course, realized something had gone terribly wrong, but had little time to contemplate the reason, as the massive computer was instantly obliterated. In fact, every intelligent life form, natural and artificial, was within moments snuffed from existence, as the very fabric of time and space was torn quite spectacularly.

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Harry opened his eyes, and realized he had dozed off, still atop the massive bust in the Chamber of Secrets. How long had he been asleep? More important, what had woke him up? A feeling of dread was pooling in the pit of his stomach—something had happened, or was about to happen… something he wasn't going to like. "John," he breathed, and grasped the small pendant around his neck. "Mortality", he whispered, and was whisked away with a hook about the naval.

He fell to the floor at his bed in the dormitory, and was immediately accosted by several people.

"Harry! Where have you been?" Hermione demanded, "You've had us all worried to death!"

"John? Where's John?" Harry questioned, ignoring Hermione's demands.

"I'm here, why? What's wrong?" John offered Harry a hand, helping him to his feet.

"Just… something's wrong, I don't know what… but something… I can feel it."

"You have to be more specific… and where were you?" Hermione persisted.

"I just… had to get away for a time," Harry answered.

"It was most unwise for you to…" Cameron started, but his voice faded, much as he did, until he completely vanished. Harry stared at the spot where the machine had stood, confused, then horrified. "NO!" He exploded, wrapping his mate in a death grip, as it dawned on him what was happening.

"Harry… what?" John demanded, trying to calm him.

"You… it he… NO! I can't lose you too!"

"I promise I'm not going anywhere."

"Harry? Guys, Marcus just vanished," Seamus announced, stepping into the dormitory, "So did two of those machine things."

Hermione understood the implication instantly. "John's universe… it's being reset."

"What does that mean?" questioned Ron, trying to offer Harry support the best way he could.

"It means the timeline's being forced back to the way it's supposed to be."

"How long… how long do I have?" John questioned, his voice barely a whisper.

"It could be a few minutes, a couple of hours, for all I know," answered Hermione. Just then, Minerva stepped into the room. "One of the machines has just vanished from the Great Hall," she announced.

"We know, professor," said Hermione.

"I can't… I can't do this," said Harry, feeling the tears welling up in his eyes. The aged professor also understood what was happening—after all, it was she who gave Hermione the reading materials regarding time travel in the first place.

"You two had planned on bonding, did you not?"

"How—of course," answered Harry, removing his glasses, rubbing his eyes on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Oh! Of course!" It dawned on Hermione exactly what the professor was getting at. "Magically bonding yourselves to each other!"

"How?" questioned John, "I… I don't want to die either!"

"Can you do it, professor?"

"Both of you, hold out your left hands," Minerva instructed. Both Harry and John held out their hands. "Diffindo," she spoke, gesturing with her wand, first at Harry's, then at John's. A gash appeared on both hands. "Separate, and join them together."

"Right," said Harry, as they grasped hands tightly, causing the blood to ooze out from between them.

"Harry James Potter… do you bond your soul to John Connor, from this day onward?" questioned Minerva, gesturing with her wand. A swirl of red and gold magic began to swirl around their hands.

"I do," answered Harry.

"And do you, John Connor, bond your soul to Harry James Potter, from this day onward?"

"I do…" but his voice became a whisper, as he began to fade. The last thing Harry remembered, was a searing pain traveling up his hand, to his heart, and a horrible scream that was his own.

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"This is most improper! You know the rules!" Harry heard a voice exclaim.

"Yet, the boy mustn't suffer another loss of this caliber!" came a second voice.

"And yet we can't just bend the rules on the whim of some little boy who can't take a bit of pain! The adage speaking, 'what does not kill will only make one stronger'," came a third voice.

"NO! This will kill him, I see it in his thoughts," came the second speaker.

"Then perhaps the boy is not as strong as we had hoped he would be," said the third. Did he dare open his eyes? Harry knew he rested on something solid. 'Wood,' he thought, while the argument continued.

They were right. If he lost John… there was no way he would ever be able to continue. Cedric was bad enough. He at last dared open his eyes. Indeed, it was a wood floor, but it seemed to go on forever, a dense fog masking everything else around him.

"Behold, the boy wakes," came a fourth voice. He still couldn't see anyone, and he felt his person. Naked? Defenseless? What did they want? He instantly found himself clothed again, in a dark robe.

"Who… where am I?" Harry at last managed.

"Where are you? Not even we know for sure," came the second voice, definitely a female. She sounded familiar, but yet, he couldn't place from where.

"A most noble gesture toward Mr. Connor, young Harry," spoke a fifth voice.

"I would do anything to protect him."

"So it would seem, even daring to defy the very fabric of time and space itself," came the second voice.

"Yet, surely you must understand the process that has occurred, Mr. Potter?" questioned the first voice.

"Hermione told me, yeah, I know… but…"

"What you are asking is impossible!" the first voice carried on, "The damage done to the realm from which Mr. Connor comes… it is most disturbing the level of damage."

"But… it wasn't my fault—"

"No, of course it wasn't, boy," the fifth voice answered, with a bit of a chuckle, "For the most part you know what not to meddle with, save for this particular incident."

"But you know why! I just can't—I can't live without him," said Harry, his voice barely even. He was shaking like a leaf at this point, knowing all too well he was fighting for his mate's life.

"I do remind the others here, the boy has already lost a love, a most unfortunate tragedy."

"Yet, that was ordained to happen, such are the rules we operate by," pointed out the first voice, cracking like a whip, "What the boy asks is for something which should never have been allowed to happen in the first place!"

"So you would… if you could… just take it all back? Snatch away one of the things that… that helped me get rid of Voldemort? To… to maybe give my world a chance?" Harry shot back, "Who do you think you are anyway?" He was starting to lose it at this point. How dare they!

"You know not who we are, Mr. Potter," came the third voice, "But do realize, we hold far more power than you could ever imagine."

"Why… what are you?"

"We are temporal guardians," came the second voice, explaining calmly, "We take action when things get too far out of sorts, such as what happened in Mr. Connor's realm. Without decisive action, his world would have collapsed in most spectacular fashion, potentially doing damage to your own as well."

"But… can't you just… just make an exception?"

"Do you think you're the first person to make such a request, Harry?" spoke the third voice, "How many realms do you think there are?"

"I don't know, hundreds, maybe?" The second voice let out a chuckle, saying, "It is impossible for you to comprehend, Harry. But requests such as yours are quite common. Now, as far as the circumstances regarding your request, that is another story."

"No, I don't think it is," came the first voice, "Mortal realms playing about with the very fabric of time and space? They must deal with the consequences, it is the simple truth."

"No, nothing is ever that simple, and you know it," hissed the second voice, "I do believe Harry has suffered enough, given what we have seen of his world. He has prevented the nightmare of Mr. Connor's world from penetrating his own. Do you not see? It would have been a repeat, and we would be cleaning up the messes from two realms, not just one! I do believe we might owe Harry a favour here."

"I have to concur with that," came the fifth voice, "Sometimes exceptions must be made, and I daresay, this is one of those times."

"Reluctantly, I too, agree," came the forth voice, also female, "Yet, Mr. Potter must understand there may be consequences to us permitting such a request. Are you willing to accept those consequences?"

"I'll do anything," answered Harry.

"Then, so mote it be," cried the unseen voices. Harry was momentarily blinded by a brilliant flash of white light.

The next thing Harry realized, he was staring at the ceiling of the dormitory, with several people looking over him.

"I've sent for Madam Pomfrey," said Minerva, seeing Harry regaining consciousness.

"Where's John?" At the speaking of those words, there was a loud CRACK, and the boy in question appeared by the door. "Harry?" he exclaimed, rushing to his side.

"I'm fine… fine… everything's gonna be okay now," Harry spoke, sitting up, allowing himself to be swallowed up in a tight hug. Then he thought of something. "Sirius. Where's Sirius?"

"I'll get him," Ron offered, making a quick exit from the dormitory.

"I… I want to at least say good bye," Harry managed.

"And my mom! She—she's gonna disappear too, right?" questioned John. Harry nodded slowly. 'Consequences', he realized, while Minerva simply dispatched her Patronus.

"If your mother and uncle are still with us, they'll meet us in the library, as will Sirius."

Stepping into said library, they found Sirius and Remus already there, as was Sarah. Derek was nowhere to be seen, and Sarah's unsettled appearance told John and Harry all they needed to know.

"Mom… you… you already know… what's happening?" John managed, his turn to become unsettled.

"I know John."

"The machines are gone now, Ms. Connor. Your world's in the process of being set back to rights."

"By how far?"

"Before the machines ever became a factor, I would assume, Ms. Connor," spoke Remus. He too, looked quite upset. It appeared the news had traveled quickly.

"Then I guess I have nothing to fear, knowing your future will be better than I could have imagined," spoke Sarah. Even knowing she was about to die seemed not to upset her. It was clear everything revolved around her son, even now.

"Ms. Connor. I promised I would look after your son, and I still mean it. He means everything to me. It took me a lot to guarantee his survival. I would give my life if that means he would live."

"And I believe you, Harry," spoke Sarah, wrapping both boys in a tight hug. "Thank you. John, I will always love you."

"I… know that, mom. I know." He felt the weight and touch of her grasp fade, as his mother vanished.

"I guess it's my turn, pup," spoke Sirius.

"At least… this time I can say good bye, properly," said Harry, as they too, embraced.

"You've already executed my will here. Use your inheritance wisely. The world is your oyster now, don't waste away on the count of me, or I'll hex your arse off when we next meet."

"I promise I will," said Harry, quietly.

"Good bye, Harry. And Moony, take care of him for me."

"I will, Padfoot," said Remus, his voice broken as he choked back tears. It hurt him as much as it did Harry, as they were losing him for the second time.

"Good bye… Sirius," spoke Harry, his voice barely a whisper, as his godfather again vanished slowly to nothing.

"Harry… I had wondered where you got to." Harry looked up from his tight embrace with John, to see Albus striding into the room. "What has happened?"

"You're the last person… in the world I wish to speak to right now," Harry ground out.

"Whether you wish to hear it or not, there are things I must say to you. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. I know you know that, Harry," spoke Albus, taking a seat at the conference table and conjuring up a cup of tea. He took a sip, then said, "If there had been any other way of us handling the situation of only a few hours ago, I would have gladly done so. Given that, a solution presented itself, and in the end, we did get the result we wanted. What YOU wanted as much as the rest of us, and you have to agree on that point."

"At the cost of my sanity, sir?! To push me into an impossible situation? To scare the fuck out of my partner? What did that gain? My trust?!" Harry let out a laugh, but by no means was he amused. "Look at me! I just lost my godfather—AGAIN! I've been through HELL today! Just maybe… maybe I should have… AAAAAAH!" He let out a roar, sending a blast from his wand that destroyed a desk over by the wall, making everyone flinch.

"Harry. Getting angry isn't going to solve anything," spoke Remus, quietly, taking a seat at the table as well, "Just… come take a seat."

"Come on, let's," John coaxed, pulling Harry over to a seat. Sighing, the boy agreed.

"Better to try and talk about this with some maturity," said Remus, "Destroying the library will get us nowhere."

"I would rather release my anger on someONE, rather than someTHING… but since I cant…" Harry glared at Albus, the anger still coming off the boy in waves. "I'll need to speak to a mind healer. Even better, I think I'll need some time away. My mate and I, just the two of us."

"It would do us some good, Harry," said John, "Now that both of our threats are gone."

"And how did this happen?" questioned Albus. Harry again gave the headmaster a dark look, saying, "The universe reset itself. Or, more like, the temporal guardians stepped in. So they said, anyway."

"Temporal guardians? Indeed, truly powerful entities. Where did you encounter them, Harry?" questioned Albus.

"I don't know where we were… but… before John disappeared, we… we bonded. I argued with them."

"You fought for me?" questioned John.

"For your life," answered Harry, his voice again barely above a whisper, "It was either that, or forfeit my own. My life's not worth it without you."

"Bullshit it ain't!" John crackled, "Dude, you've got all these people here who care for you! How can you say that?"

"I second that, Harry," spoke Hermione, "You can't truly mean that."

"What would you do… if you lost Ron?" Harry shot back, weakly, "Could you go on without him?"

"I… I…"

"I make my point."

"Harry. Promise me something," said John, looking Harry in the eye, "No matter what happens. You will not just give up, just because I'm gone. Dude, you don't know how much it means knowing what you did for me. But that also means you can't just throw your life away! We all have a chance now… a chance for a better life, right? Voldemort's gone, and so is SkyNET, right?"

"I guess."

"Then promise me. Honour your godfather and my mom and Derek and Marcus. They would want us to be happy. So promise me to make the best of it. Because I promise, no matter what, I'll make the best of mine, for as long as you are in my life, and long after. I promise you on whatever magic has touched my soul, and on everything holy." To the surprise of all present, a faint, golden swirl of magic wafted from John's chest, to hover above Harry's head.

"Impossible!" Albus gasped, shock covering the aged wizard's face. Harry sat there, equally stunned. "S-s-so mote it be," he finally managed, and the energy burrowed itself inside of him.

"Merlin's beard!" spoke Remus, "I can't believe what I've just witnessed."

"Neither can I," said Harry, "But… I… I accept his point. I love you, John," he spoke, again meeting his mate's eyes.

"And I love you too, Harry."

"Ah, professor," said Bill, stepping into the room and up to the conference table, Travis in tow. "What's happened?"

"The machines are gone," said Harry, a little more confidently.

"How? When?"

"Temporal guardians intervened."

"So I'm the only person left from my world," said John, "Harry did it somehow… and I'm still here."

"Oh," spoke Travis, as the gravity was not lost on him. "You're okay, Harry?"

"It'll get better. At least this time… I was able to say good bye."

"And do remember, Harry, you will see him again," spoke Albus, "He waits for you, I am almost certain."

"I know so, professor," answered Harry, although his eyes hardened again, facing the headmaster. It was clear he was still beyond angry at the aged wizard.

"So now the real work begins," said Travis, "Without Voldemort, we can actually start making some changes."

"This is very true, Mr. Fisher," said Albus, "And it will be those like yourself who will lead those changes."

"Yeah, a world that can be accepted at face value," spoke Harry, "A world without manipulations happening behind the scenes, moving people about like they were chess pieces. That's how I feel right now."

"And again, I'm sorry it worked out such as it did. But do ask yourself, Harry, could it have been done another way? That is the thought I leave you with, as I do believe I will be needed back in my office." The headmaster rose, then spoke, "I believe you will understand the reasoning behind my actions one day, Harry, and that perhaps then you will be able to forgive me." With that, the headmaster strode from the room.

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AUTHOR NOTES: "Rocks fall, everyone dies…" Not. Anyway, a rather short chapter here, perhaps a little abrupt, but I have presented the possibility of this sort of thing happening in previous chapters (the 'universe' resetting itself, or whatever).

As far as this story goes, I'm just about out of steam with regards to the plot. I do have a couple of ideas to wrap things up, but again, don't expect too much more. It's just about done. Once again, sorry this feels a bit rushed, but I do want to be done with this, and not just leave it as a WIP, like several of my pieces are.

John getting a magical reaction from inside him? No, he's not becoming a wizard or anything like it. That was just a fluke, sort of thing. His bond with Harry, perhaps? But definitely not a 'Muggle-becomes-wizard', such as what's happening in my more recent fiction.