Lightning…
"Dad." Harry lazily opened a portal up to stick his head in, grinning when he seemed to scare the skin off his dad. Mum slid off his desk and smoothed down her shirt, acting like she was all prim and proper and not making out with Harry's dad in his office.
Dad didn't seem to mind getting caught acting like a teenager though, he only cleared his throat and then groaned dramatically at the portal.
"Cell phone, kid, you have a cell phone," Dad whined. "Can you use it?"
"It needs charged," Harry lied, portals were more convenient. "I just wanted to warn you that we're going to have a very annoying visitor here soon, best if Vince and Morgan don't come down here for the next thirty-three minutes."
"An annoying visitor?" Mum narrowed her eyes at Harry, as if she wasn't just snogging on a desk. "Who is it?"
"As far as I can tell? It's me," Harry said brightly. "He's dimension traveling, it's brilliant. Don't worry though, he's only curious. But he's also incredibly dangerous and I don't want the kids to get hurt. I'll be up soon, love you!"
Harry pulled his head out of the portal and sealed it closed before Mum had a chance to start any sort of interrogation. Harry didn't have the answers for her anyway, he was lucky that Peter was running late and Harry searched his future out of boredom. If he hadn't, it would have been a real shock when Harry Potter and Fred Potter appeared in his bedroom.
They were from a very interesting world. Harry took some time in his plane to watch their history, see their lives. It had been tragic, horrifying. There were moments of beauty though, so much love and friendship that surrounded that Harry.
Mostly though, there had been chaos.
There were deaths and wars fought with magic that Harry would never have learned if it hadn't been for Strange and Wong. Voldemort had played a different game in that dimension, a smarter game. That Harry never lost a limb, but he lost so many people he loved.
Harry was rather torn between calling him ‘Harry of Grief' or ‘Harry of Chaos'.
"What do you say, Joey?" Harry asked, scratching his dog's head with one hand while his right index finger twirled in the air. "Harry of Chaos? Yeah, he'll like that more."
With that decided, Harry hung a banner up across the back wall of his mini-flat, one to welcome himself and make him feel appreciated.
Also the guy seemed like an arrogant bastard and Harry wanted to show off some. No need to get in a pissing match over magic, Harry had the upper hand in almost every situation. It was Strange's gift to Harry, Harry's responsibility to bear.
Most of the time it was awesome.
It was definitely convenient when Harry was able to foresee any visitors from other worlds. When Wong told Harry to have a good Christmas, Harry was sure that he didn't expect anything truly exciting to happen.
Harry stayed in his recliner with Joey's head on his lap and Tri-Paw'd curled up behind Harry's shoulders. It was peaceful in Harry's little flat, Dad made sure that it would be a comfortable and private enough place that Harry wouldn't feel any need to move out.
And Harry didn't feel any need for it. Neither he nor Peter were in any rush to have kids, they weren't married yet, there was no hurry on moving away from Harry's family. Harry never actually wanted to move out, why would he?
As long as he was there he could see his brother and sister every day, he could spend time with his parents. Sirius lived on their plot of land too so Harry could see him anytime he wanted. It wasn't like Harry's world-saving job paid any sort of salary either, so freeloading off his parents was probably fine.
Dad liked it, Mum liked it, Vince and Morgan liked it.
So Harry got comfortable and pulled his stopwatch from his pocket, the one that Sirius bought him on his seventeenth birthday, and counted down the seconds until his exciting new visitors would arrive.
"Five… four… three…"
Red sparks appeared in the sitting room of Harry's flat, three seconds early. Harry really needed to get his watch adjusted, he depended too much on knowing the accurate time to have a watch that was off even by a second.
"Welcome!" Harry threw his hands up, sending sprays of glittering confetti across the room, as soon as he saw Harry of Chaos and his husband in front of him.
Fred looked almost exactly like Fred Weasley did, they were nearly the same age. There was a weariness to him though, a weight of grief that Fred Weasley didn't know. He also had longer hair - Harry liked it. Maybe he'd mention to Flash that Fred would look great with longer hair.
Harry of Chaos was as wary as Fred was weary. The first place he looked was to the banner behind Harry that welcomed him. That got Harry a little twitch of his lips, a spark of amusement. The second thing he looked at was Harry himself and that was when he lost a few shades of color in his face.
"You've lost a leg," he said flatly, his voice shaking some. "How the fuck did you lose your leg?"
"Ah, it's so refreshing when people have the balls to actually ask me that right to my face," Harry said with a shameless smile. "It's a great story. Please, have a seat! You've traveled so far. Can I get you a drink? A snack? You like treacle tarts, right?"
Harry was definitely showing off when he opened a portal in front of them, something he knew that Harry of Chaos could never do despite his own brilliant grasp on magic. There weren't any treacle tarts in Harry's house, but there were always some at Hogwarts.
"Hello!" Harry smiled at the house-elves in the Hogwarts kitchen and ignored a shriek of surprise from what must be a new elf. The other ones knew Harry and loved him, they weren't shocked at all by Harry's head in their kitchen. "I've got a friend who traveled from another dimension to see me, could I possibly get some treacle tarts? They're his favorite. Oh, and pumpkin pasties for his husband, please."
"DOBBY IS DOING IT!"
Harry watched as Dobby literally fought through the other elves to get Harry, summoning treacle tarts and pumpkin pasties as he ran and elbowed the others. Dobby was beaming from ear to ear when he made it to Harry, but he had what Harry asked for.
"Dobby is doing it for Mister Harry Stark," Dobby said. "Dobby was hoping Mister Harry Stark would be visiting."
"I'm booked tomorrow with a fight in Dravaryn with a shyrax, why don't I come by for tea on the 27th?" Harry offered. "I'd reschedule, but a million dravari people will die if I don't show up."
Dobby bobbed his head understandingly, he was used to Harry's erratic work schedule. "The Sorcerer Surpreme is very busy," Dobby said. "Dobby will be preparing cocoa with cinnamon for Mister Harry Stark's visit!"
"Thanks, Dobby." Harry accepted the trays of treats and nodded politely at the other elves. "Have a Merry Christmas, everyone! Thanks again!"
The Hogwarts elves were really the best. Hermione had no reason to be so hard on them, they were the happiest people that Harry had ever met before.
And he met the Solvanic people before, those were some cheerful bastards.
Harry of Chaos and Fred had taken seats on the loveseat while Harry fetched refreshments and they both accepted a treat after Harry placed them on the coffee table.
"Where were we?" Harry asked pleasantly. "Ah, my leg. It's not that interesting of a story, rather mundane, really. It was injured in a car wreck and it took too long to get treated so it had to be amputated."
Harry lifted his stump and then set it back down on the cushion he kept to rest it on. Harry had time to prepare, he could have put on his prosthetic and Harry of Chaos would never have known about it, but Harry had nothing to hide. Harry of Chaos had experienced amputations before, Harry saw the battle when his best friend lost her arm.
"I think that a gold leg would be brilliant though," Harry said, filling the uneasy silence in the room. It was a trait he got from his dad, that was what Mum said. "Susan's arm is amazing, truly. How is she doing now?"
Harry liked having the upper hand, he was sure it would go very poorly if he hadn't been forewarned of the visit. It was nice to be superior in some ways, the look of begrudging respect that Harry of Chaos had was going to give Harry a natural high for the next week.
"Susan's great," Harry of Chaos said. "She's on a fuckin' holiday with Charlie, isn't she?"
"Ah, she deserves it," Harry said. There wasn't anything to drink within reach and he fixed that with another portal, pulling a coffee pot from Dad's lab and then instantly brewing a pot for Harry of Chaos. For himself and Fred, he portaled water from the refrigerator.
"I don't drink coffee," Harry explained. "It's perfectly safe though, you're welcome to test it. I won't be offended."
Harry was amusing Fred, at the very least. He was pretty sure that Harry of Chaos was warming up to him, but it didn't stop him from testing the coffee a few times before taking a sip.
"I've traveled around dimensions a few times now," Fred said, grinning at Harry. "You're the first person to ever know who I am, who we are."
"That's because I spend quite some time in my dimensional plane, watching other worlds pass around me," Harry explained patiently. "It's my job as Sorcerer Supreme to watch for danger in any dimension." Harry lifted the gold chain he wore, the Eye of Agamotto. "When I pass away and my spirit moves to a new plane, I'll pass the responsibility on to the next Sorcerer."
And Harry had already seen who it would be, who would carry the torch when he died. Harry hadn't met them yet, he didn't know when he would, but they were going to be incredible.
"It's sorcery that you do then?" Harry of Chaos asked. "It's brill."
‘Brill', Harry liked that word. ‘Brill'… it was fun to say.
"Thank you," Harry said, beaming. "It's difficult to learn on your own, but you have an excellent grasp on occlumency and most of it is mind over matter."
Harry spent a few minutes getting Harry of Chaos set up on his journey to begin learning sorcery. Harry would check after they left, but he hoped that it was an unreachable skill for him. There was no reason to hand him more power, not when he had found so much of it on his own.
"Sev'll be pissed if I open one of those portals to bother him," Harry of Chaos said, relaxing on the sofa while he twisted his fingers around, doing the exercises that Harry once started with.
"Isn't that just more reason to learn?" Harry laughed. "I think most of the things you do are to bother that man. I'm shocked he only ever killed you the one time."
Because if it had been Harry? Snape would have happily slit his throat for any of the hundreds of things Harry of Chaos did.
"You've seen it all then?" Harry of Chaos asked. "My whole life?"
"Mhmm," Harry agreed. "Yours and that of your friends, your family. It was… fascinating, really. Your war was so different, the stakes were so much higher for you."
"Harry's a hero," Fred said, as proud as any husband should be. Harry wondered though how much of the grief Fred carried had been caused by his husband, how much darker and less joyful Fred was because of who he tied his life to.
"Well… personally? I think you should have left Dudley alone," Harry said, clicking his tongue in an excellent imitation of Mum. "His daughter is going to have a difficult life. It's going to be a relief for her when Sirius tells her she's a witch."
"His daughter's a witch?" Fred's hand landed on Harry of Chaos's knee when Harry brought up Dudley and there was love between them, so much love with the pain and grief. "That's excellent, Harry's opening a house for muggleborn witches and wizards to learn at, I bet she'd love being around other kids like her."
Harry hummed, not entirely sure that it was a great plan. How was Harry of Chaos's plans of segregation vastly different from Voldemort's? Harry of Chaos wasn't planning to murder off muggleborns or experiment on them, but he did plan to take them from their families and raise them within the culture that he wanted to build.
It wasn't going to devolve into genocide, but it wasn't a precise image of free-will either.
"What else have you seen in the future?" Harry of Chaos asked, a keen light in his eyes, a desire for information that Harry wouldn't share. Harry saw his future, all of their futures.
It was an awful weight to carry sometimes, knowing so much about everyone around him. Harry had seen his dad's funeral, Peter's. There were things that could change, futures weren't always set in stone, but Harry had seen it all.
"Loads of things," Harry said with the same annoying vagueness that Strange used to use on him. "They're always changing though, you have no idea how much things change. Even you two showing up has changed my future for the next seventeen days! It's the butterfly effect."
Harry of Chaos was obviously not happy about Harry refusing to tell him the future, nobody ever was. It wasn't Harry's job to tell them about one possible future, not when it would change the instant Harry shared anything.
Fred didn't seem to mind any though, he was still the same optimistic Weasley that Harry knew.
"We're only going to affect you for seventeen days?" Fred put the back of his hand to his forehead and groaned. "I hoped we would have a lifelong impact!"
"You will on the others," Harry informed him cheerfully. "They'll get worried every Christmas that you might return."
Fred started chuckling about that while Harry's very not dead phone dinged on the table. Harry summoned it to him and saw that the ‘Spider-Tracking' app Dad made showed Peter was only a mile from home.
"Oh, brilliant," Harry said. "My boyfriend will be here in a minute. Don't laugh at his costume, he takes it very seriously."
"Consume?" Harry of Chaos asked. "What sort of costume?"
"He's a superhero," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "An Avenger, he's bloody dedicated to his team. It's ridiculous and dangerous, but Sirius encourages him," Harry spread his hands, "so what can I do?"
"Avengers are… wizards?" Fred asked. "American wizards?"
"They're enhanced individuals," Harry explained. "Sirius leads the team and he's a wizard, of course, but Peter got his powers from a radioactive spider, Hermione's trying to mimic the mutation."
Because Hermione was insane and dangerous and would take over the world one day, Harry had always known it. He was still deciding if he wanted to join her army or take up the Boy-Who-Lived mantle again to fight her dark forces, for old times sake, of course.
Both options seemed like a good time, Harry was going to wait and see what happened. There was a chance that Hermione would marry Ron and then her future as a ruler would never happen. If she kept up her ‘situation-ship' with Gwen though… it was going to be interesting.
"Sorry," Harry apologized when he felt the dip in the mood after he mentioned Hermione to Harry of Chaos. "If it makes you feel better, I didn't even fight in a war, my kidnapper killed Voldemort and then my mentor sacrificed himself to get rid of the horcruxes. Your lot did everything on your own, it was impressive."
"And yet I would have more of my friends if I had a Sorcerer Supreme step up to help," Harry of Chaos complained.
Yes, he would have. Except the Sorcerer Supreme of his world would never have helped him, Harry was sure of it - Strange didn't involve himself in wars that weren't his.
Peter swung through his entrance to their flat before Harry had to say anything else about the wars or horcruxes. Peter landed on his feet and whipped his mask off, grinning cheesily at Harry.
"Hey, babe. What's the deal? Are we… oh." Peter noticed Harry of Chaos and Fred on the couch then and Harry was very proud of his minimal reaction, Peter was getting used to the insanity of living with Harry. "Hey," Peter offered Harry of Chaos his hand first, then Fred. "Peter Parker."
Fred looked at Peter's ‘uniform' very slowly, his lips twitching like mad. It was a little silly, rather bright and very ‘spiderlike', but Harry was a huge fan of his arse in the spandex.
"This is Fred Potter, not to be confused with Fred Weasley who shags our friend," Harry explained. "And that's Harry of Chaos, his husband, of course. They traveled here from another world. Do you want something to drink? I can get a beer from Sirius."
"Yeah, thanks," Peter said. "I'm gonna - uh… pull some sweats on."
Harry didn't bother hiding it when he leaned forward and watched Peter walk away - his arse really did look great in his suit.
"You know who he looks like?" Fred snapped his fingers and looked at his Harry. "Remus! Right? Like a young Remus."
Ugh. It wasn't the first time that Harry heard that, but it was embarrassing each time.
"Is your spider the most annoying person you've ever met in your life?" Harry of Chaos asked. Harry shook his head with a laugh, forgetting how very much Harry of Chaos had disliked Lupin, and he nodded smugly. "Then they've got nothing in common, do they?"
"Thank you!" Harry said, liking him more and more. "Peter's brilliant and Remus is just… ugh."
"Very ‘ugh'," Harry of Chaos agreed. "Except your boyfriend is part spider and that's mental."
It was mental, but the enhanced abilities were dead useful sometimes. Harry told them about the time that Peter saved Morgan from choking when she'd been a baby, all because he heard the second her airway became blocked. Peter was all embarrassed about the story when he returned with a pair of sweatpants and Harry's oversized college hoodie pulled on, but he did save Morgan's life.
"You've got a sister?" Fred asked. "That's great!"
"You're adopted?" Harry of Chaos looked around the room and Harry saw the second he spotted Harry's wall of photos. It had been another great idea of Peter's, to hang up their photos all over one wall. It turned into a huge collage, Harry loved it.
"Nope. James and Lily had a threesome with my dad, Sirius told me about it after Voldemort returned," Harry said. It was sad for him that he didn't have a Tony Stark in his life, Harry's dad was the best thing to ever happen to him.
Harry had seen what life would have been like without his dad, his family… it was bleak. It was hard and all Harry saw in that life had been a lonely boy who never knew what kind of love he'd find in New York.
"Tony Stark?" Harry of Chaos asked, his eyes lingering on one of the larger photos, the one of Harry and his dad together. "You're not the first Harry to have him as a dad."
"I imagine not," Harry said. "My dad's a slag, he spent some time in London. There's one hundred and fourty-two worlds where he's our dad."
"Hm… I prefer Sev," Harry of Chaos said, so loyal to Snape. If Harry had been treated like how Harry of Chaos was, maybe he would have liked Snape. As it was, Harry was thrilled that the man disappeared from the common wizarding world after Loki fired him from Hogwarts.
"Just wait until you meet Harry Winchester," Harry told him. "His dad's a giant asshole, really just Lupin levels of douche baggery. He did die though, but still, absolute jerk."
"I really need to learn sorcery," Harry of Chaos complained. "Fred, we should go home, I need to study."
It was great, making him feel inadequate. Harry saw so many people feeling inadequate around Harry of Chaos, his ego needed knocked down just a single peg or two.
Humility was great for other people to learn; Harry learned all of his during the time when his dad and his friends had to help him take a leak.
"Harry's a genius," Peter bragged on Harry's behalf - best boyfriend ever, really. "Wong said that sorcery is the most difficult branch of magic to learn and Harry's completely mastered it."
"Wong also thinks that Beyoncé is better than Linkin Park though, so I don't take his opinion as fact," Harry added politely. See? Humility.
Harry of Chaos's shoes started to spark then, right on time. Harry was almost disappointed their time was over, it would be a while until they met again.
"You won't tell me anything about the future?" Harry of Chaos asked, begging it in a way that was surely painful for him. "Not one thing?"
Harry considered it, tried to think of something he could share as a Christmas gift that wouldn't alter Harry of Chaos's choices or his future…
"Oh, Ron's going to marry a stripper," Harry told him, sharing an easy grin when that made Harry of Chaos and Fred to laugh. "She's nice though, the perfect kind of wife for him. You'll like her, she swears like Sirius."
"Phenomenal, Mum is going to love that," Fred said happily. "You know, the months I spent making this potion was worth it, just for that."
"I think the sorcery is more important," Harry of Chaos disagreed. He twirled his fingers and Harry was relieved again to know that he could never learn the art. "But I bet Blaise is going to laugh about the dancer."
"Don't mock Ron too much or he's going to change his mind," Harry warned him. "And trust me, Harry, you want to be at that wedding."
"Brill," Harry of Chaos said. He lifted his hand when the sparks nearly hid him from Harry's view. "You might be my favorite Harry yet," he said.
Harry knew that he would stay his favorite Harry all the way until Harry of Chaos realized he wasn't going to pick up sorcery and then Harry of Chaos was going to curse him for the rest of his life.
"Have fun!" Harry said brightly. "Merry Christmas!"
Peter sighed when they left and slid from the armrest of Harry's chair to his lap, pissing Tri-Paw'd off when he nearly landed on her tail.
"What the fuck was that?" he asked Harry. "Your twin is like visiting different dimensions?"
"He's not my twin, he's a much scarier me," Harry grinned. "Poor guy's a psycho, worse than Nat, really. That guy needs years of therapy."
Not that he'd get it, Harry saw that he was going to kill his therapist… Poor Michael, Harry really liked him in his dimension.
"I'm going to need therapy if any of my clones show up," Peter said. "And what did you mean about the wedding? What's going to happen?"
"Oh, it's going to be excellent," Harry said. "Harry's going to get drunk as hell and fall in the wedding cake. His friends are going to mock him for it for the rest of their lives, it's going to humiliate him."
Peter finally cracked a laugh and Harry sat there in perfect contentment, sure of his future and more than happy with his present. Harry of Chaos's visit was a gift to Harry, a reminder that Harry really had everything he ever wanted out of life.
"Come on, Spider-Boy." Harry pushed Peter, only knocking him off his lap because Peter let him, Harry could never move Peter without magic otherwise. "Let's go upstairs and do Christmas, the kids are waiting for us."
Harry's family was waiting for him - his dad and his mum, his brother and his little sister. Harry's future was clear, full of happiness and peace for some time.
And when there were troubled times, Harry would still be thankful that at least Severus Snape never considered him a son.