Change
June 27th 2169
Musutafu, Japan
Red Bean Coffee House
A week since they arrived in this world, and Harry was still getting used to how… colorful it was.
Luna, Neville and Teddy had come down with a fever almost as soon as they touched down. Harry had barely managed to get the four of them settled into a hotel room before they became completely unresponsive.
For one terrifying night, Harry had wondered if he’d just killed his last friends and godson, if maybe this world was toxic to magic users and his body was fighting it off because he was more powerful than them.
Thankfully, one by one they woke up in the morning, groggy, sore and irritable, but no worse for wear.
In his rush to get them somewhere safe, he hadn’t been paying much attention to the people of their new world. He’d shoved a gold bar into the hand of the hotel manager, and asked for their penthouse for however long that much gold would buy.
The manager had looked at him like two heads-
-though he soon learnt that that wasn’t such an outlandish possibility in this new world-
-then accepted the gold bar gingerly and had his staff help Harry get Luna, Neville and Teddy into their Emperor Suite.
He hadn’t been paying attention to the quality of the hotel, but in hindsight, Harry was lucky he’d stumbled upon one of the most expensive hotels in the city, since they accepted the gold with hardly a glance, and moved quickly and smoothly to accommodate their eccentric new guest.
Anyone else would have probably attempted to rob them, or at least called the authorities to remove them.
They didn’t exactly look inconspicuous with their basilisk hide armor, 2 unresponsive teenagers, an unresponsive baby, and one nearly hysterical teenager with what appeared like godlike power.
(Honestly, every day without a squadron of police and heroes coming to gently ‘remove him’ was a constant surprise)
“1 sugar 2 cream for Harry!” A bright blue skinned barista called, her curly green hair floating around her as if she were underwater.
It was only 7 years in the magical world that allowed Harry not to gape at her, even after a week of seeing similar sights everywhere he went.
“Thank you” Harry shot her a quick smile, and accepted the coffee.
Harry deftly ignored the phone number written on the napkin she handed him, and stepped out onto the street.
Harry was still getting used to this new world, especially the attention that people seemed to pay him.
They had travelled both dimension, time and location.
They had arrived in this new world’s version of Japan, almost 200 years later than they’d expected.
The magic of this world was different. Rougher. Wild.
A quick trip to Scotland had shown where Hogwarts should have been, there were only ruins now. If magical people had ever existed in this world, they were long gone now, whatever had caused the 'Dawn of Quirks' had mutated this worlds magic into quirks.
Quirked people were much more numerous than magical humans had been back home, with the majority of the earths population having a quirk, but like non-human magic users, their abilities were more restricted. Like DNA, no two quirks were identical, there were similar types, but even identical twins had slight variations.
As far as they could tell, this ‘Dawn of Quirks’ was caused by an Event, a diversion point from the Prime timeline, which, in this case, caused spontaneous evolution in the human race. Millennia of changes happening without warning. At first, these quirks were rare, but within a few generations, the majority of the human population had them.
Unsurprisingly, this period of history was a series of long and bloody hate wars. ‘Normal’ humans had called quirks abominations, religion had gotten involved, and all it had taken was one peaceful-protest-turned-riot to set the world on fire.
Officially, the wars had ended as quirked people began to outnumber quirkless people.
But Harry had learnt to see the shit under layers of gold, and could see that the discrimination had only shifted.
People with ‘villainous’ or ‘useless’ quirks were treated like dirt, those with mutant quirks were treated like freaks, and the quirkless… They were treated like prey. It made Harry so angry that he saw red. He had left one world behind because of a prejudiced society and corrupt government, only to walk into another.
They hadn't escaped the effects of the changed magic.
Luna, Neville and Teddy had all been noticeably changed by the magic. They still had their magic, Harry could feel it under the surface of their skin, but their would take years of careful study to open themselves up to their magic, and even still, there were some areas of magic that might be closed for them forever.
They had also discovered that they’d developed abilities similar to the quirks of this world.
Teddy, unsurprisingly, was a shapeshifter, and Neville had some sort of ability with plants. It was Harry and Luna where things got… Weird.
June 22nd 2169
Masufatu, Japan
The Golden Rose Hotel
The Emperor Suite
Two days since arriving in their new world, Harry registered the feel of this worlds native magic.
In the back of his mind, he'd registered the magic of this world was different, but it wasn't until the others fevers finally broke that he registered the feel of the foreign magic, which buzzed like an angry hornet against his skin.
It felt like Harry's magic and this worlds natural magic was completely out of tune, like two asynchronous harmonies playing at the same time, and both harmonies were fighting to overpower the others, the sound getting louder and louder until it was all Harry could hear. It was only once Harry registered that the others magic, once their fevers broke, now also resonated with the new worlds magic that he realized what was happening.
This new worlds magic had changed the three of them, altering their harmonies to resonate with this worlds wilder magic, but while their magics had crumbled under the weight within minutes, Harry's was still resisting even days later.
The change was inevitable, Harry knew, but there was nothing he could do but wait for the fever to hit him.
"I've never been able to See so clearly" Luna marveled as she looked at something around Harry that Harry couldn't see.
Luna had explained her Sight weeks ago, but Harry still could hardly believe it. Luna was a Seer, who, contrary to popular misconception, didn't always necessarily see the future. Luna could always See into the astral realm, which isn't constrained by time or space.
She could see all the odd, and frankly terrifying, creatures that lived there. These creatures weren’t meant to be Seen, even just having Luna describe them was unsettling, and it only made Harry respect her strength of character even more. Luna’d named and given these nightmarish creatures funny stories as a child to dissociate from their… unsettling appearances. How they reacted to people would tell her things about what people were feeling, which is what made her so perceptive.
But that was a benign effect of her Sight, the true danger to her sanity had come from her ability to Dream about the branches of Yggdrasil, which connect every time to every universe. Yggdrasil showed her visions of possible futures, but she could never control what she Saw, and Seeing too much frayed on her mortal brain.
But now… She could interact with the astral creatures, they would do things for her, which had a multitude of horrifying and disturbing effects. Luna could See the Branches of Yggdrasil whenever she wanted, Looking for specific events or people. Eventually, she hypothesized, she believed she could even walk amongst them, achieving instant teleportation across the multiverse.
Luna’s quirk was the kind of powerful, dangerous and terrifying ability that this world would call ‘villainous’ without taking even a second to get to know Luna’s gentle personality.
"But your okay?" Harry asked anxiously, and she held her hands out for him, Harry took them and found himself focusing on the feel of her magic beneath her skin.
It was both similar and different, Harry could feel the wellspring of Luna's native power, cool, vast, and calm, but with hidden depths, the same as she'd always had, with a faint wispy feeling of Other that Harry knew was attributed to her Sight. But the connection to Other was stronger, and the Other permeated Luna's magic like it was one and the same.
"What does this mean?" Harry asked, deeply concerned, and Luna gave him a serene smile, deep knowledge in her eyes as she looked at Harry.
"It doesn't have to mean anything: my magic is changed, not gone. It will be okay, Harry, we will all be okay" Luna said firmly, and Harry pulled in a shaky breath as he let the tension bleed from his shoulders.
Harry looked over at Neville, and accepted Teddy into his arms, the nearly 2 month old had been fussy and irritable since waking up, and feeling Harry's agitation had only made that worse.
Teddy pressed his face into Harry's neck, squirming for a moment, then relaxed against Harry's skin. Love burned so brightly inside Harry's chest it was a wonder he didn't glow with it, and Harry cradled the back of Teddy's head gently as he held the infant against the skin of his neck.
As a metamorphmagus, Teddy had always been sensitive to peoples magic and seemed to instinctively know when his favorite people were near, and how they were feeling. He'd been sensing Harry's anxiety since they'd woken up, and had refused to settle since, so Neville had been trying to sooth him while Luna calmed him down.
"Sorry, buddy" Harry sighed, gently pressing his cheek against the top of Teddy's head, but the infant was already asleep, exhausted from the chaos of the last few days.
"Have you figured it out yet?" Neville asked quietly, and Harry sighed.
"No, my magic is fighting the change, and I have no idea how it'll turn. Luna and Teddy's quirks are based on preexisting abilities, and you've always had a green thumb, I can't think of what quirk I might get" Harry said, and Neville and Luna exchanged an unsettling look.
"Well... If the change takes magical power into consideration... We could have a problem" Neville said grimly, and Harry looked between them questioningly.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked warily, and Luna sighed.
"The three of us," she motioned at herself, Neville and Teddy "have some of the most powerful quirks this world have seen, but your much more powerful than us, Harry. Its possible your quirk will reflect this" Luna explained, and Harry felt a migraine brewing behind his eyes.
"Okay, no offense, I get you, but Neville has plant powers and Teddy is a shapeshifter. Those seem like pretty normal abilities in this world" Harry said, and Neville's lips quirked in amusement.
"Neville converts raw energy into plant growth, his limits are far beyond anything anyone in this world has seen, and he's not limited to mundane plants. He'll be able to mutate plants on a whim, giving them human intelligence, making them spit acid, making them fireproof... The potential is nearly limitless, without taking his own knowledge of magical plants" Luna explained, and Harry's eyes widened, and he looked at Neville in a new light, Neville shot him a grin, his eyes reflecting green, and Harry huffed on a laugh.
"Okay, point made" Harry smiled, and Luna shot Neville a warm look, then turned to look at a sleeping Teddy.
"And Teddy is less than 2 months old, excepting mutant quirks, most kids don't get a quirk until at least 2 or 3 years old. Like Neville and myself, he pulls raw energy to transform, rather than his own energy. His quirk isn't touch or sight activated, it's not even a blood quirk, which are the most powerful transformation quirks, nor is he limited to human shapes" Luna explains, and Harry sighed tiredly.
Harry had noticed that Teddy was no longer limited to partial shifts or human shapes; he'd turned into a kitten shortly after he'd woken up this morning. He still couldn’t hold those changes for more than a few minutes, but Harry was already dreading the terrible twos with a toddler that had the ability to grow wings.
"So, what do you think my power will be?" Harry asked, and Luna's eyes went cloudy, as if she'd suddenly turned blind, and her face went slack.
"I... I can't... I can't see you" Luna murmured, her tone confused, and then she blinked, and her eyes had returned, but she continued to look perplexed.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked, and Luna looked closely at him.
"I mean that as of 5 days from now, I can't see you, I know your there, but the details are... murky. Its as if you've gone somewhere I cant See" Luna said apologetically, and Harry sighed.
"At least we know when it'll happen" Harry said, and neither of them looked any happier than him about the uncertainty.
June 27th 2169
Masufatu, Japan
Downtown
And that brought Harry here.
He'd kissed Teddy goodbye this morning, telling himself that it wouldn't be the last time he saw his godson, hugged Luna and Neville, and spent the day away from the hotel.
Whatever happened when Harry got his 'quirk', he wouldn't take any chances with their safety, and promised to return as soon as he knew it was safe.
That was 7 hours ago, and Harry had been monitoring the buzzing of his magic, growing quieter and quieter by the second, he'd slipped away from the crowds and made his way down a mostly deserted street when suddenly...
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Obnoxious as the buzzing had been, it wasn't a physical sound, but it was 2 pm on a busy Saturday afternoon in a busy metropolis. There should be the hum of electricity, cars honking, people yelling, doors slamming.
Life.
But there was nothing.
"Hello, Harry" a smooth voice said behind him, and Harry's eyes squeezed shut, his heart dropping down to his feet, but he steeled himself and turned around, his chin held high as he met bottomless dark eyes.
"Hello, Death" Harry murmured, and the figure merely smiled.