Library
Harry needed, more than ever before, a library.
If Harry had twenty-four hours in a library and no headache, he just knew he could figure out where Jonathan's brother was. It was a problem that kept playing in his mind over and over through the whole day.
Will was somewhere, somewhere that he could manipulate his mum's house, respond to messages. Will could talk to Harry through colorful lights, he wasn't with Them.
So where was he? Another dimension? What did that mean?
Harry wanted to ask El about it, he wanted to ask her what project she had been a part of. The problem he had was Hop. Hop had been following Harry around and kept looking at him and talking to him.
Hop was half the reason Harry's head ached, he was sure of it. The other half was the questions Harry couldn't answer, the guesses he had no clues for.
How was Will manipulating muggle electronics? How was he there but not there? Was he already dead? Did poltergeists appear instantly after their death or did they spend time invisible?
If Harry had a library then he could research it all. It was fascinating, just the sort of thing that Harry would have spent days learning about with Theo.
Why had they been so interested in the paths of tornadoes and hurricanes? Why didn't they ever wonder about dimensions of magic and poltergeists?
El would know, Harry wanted to talk to her about it.
Harry bid his time, shook his head when El kept glancing at him. When Hop was gone, Harry planned on talking to her. Siri returned home not long after Hop drove Harry home, but she seemed as distracted as Harry was.
Hop told them all to sit for dinner, he wanted to talk to them all. It wasn't anything interesting, just ‘house rules' that Harry mostly ignored.
Be home by nine on weeknights? Where would Harry go? Harry was pretty sure he was told that once a week he was supposed to make dinner and do the dishes, but he tuned Hop out in favor of thinking more about Will Byers.
Where was he? Where was Will at? Could he still be alive? What were dimensions? Were there pockets of magic curled up around the world where nobody could see them?
Could a muggle be a poltergeist? Could they control one? Could a poltergeist burn up a telephone but make lights blink for messages?
Why didn't Harry have a library? Why couldn't Harry go to Hogwarts for one day, just long enough to check out fifty books? Maybe - maybe long enough to see Theo, ask him to help him solve another mystery.
"I think that the Cerberus on the third floor is guarding something," Harry said. He dropped a stack of books on the table in front of Theo and he grinned. "We should figure out what it is."
Harry didn't care about house rules, Siri could tell him about it later, he cared that there was magic Harry didn't understand being used. Harry didn't understand it, wouldn't understand it. Not until El told him what it was - if she knew.
El didn't even get to go to Hogwarts, El was born and raised in her cage. But El had the eleven on her arm, she was the subject for Project Dimension. As much as Harry knew about Project Echo, about the search for immortality and rebirth, El had to know something about dimensions.
"El, you don't have to do homework, but can you read?" Hop was still going on about rules and expectations, even if Harry wished he would go away. "I can grab you some books—"
Harry wasn't the only one at the table who jolted when the black radio clipped to the shoulder of Hop's uniform suddenly let out an ear-splitting shriek of noise. Hop's hand flew to his belt, shutting off the noise, then he clicked the little button on the side of his shoulder-radio.
Hop set down the slice of pizza he had been halfway through to talk, "Chief Hopper to base, what's going on?"
Siri looked at Harry and he shook his head, he had no idea what that was about. He was curious about why Siri had been so quiet since she returned home though. Maybe Harry shouldn't have been relying on her to tell him the rules, she had barely talked all afternoon. She didn't feel sad, but distracted somehow.
Maybe Siri found her own mystery, her own list of unanswered questions.
"Chief, the state boys called. They - they've got a body, Chief. It fits the description of the Byers boy."
Hop was out of his seat in an instant, Harry jumped up as well.
The Byers boy? Will? They found him or his body?
"Stay here," Hop told them all, quickly pulling his coat and boots back on. "Nobody leaves tonight, got it?"
"They found a body?" Siri asked immediately. "Is it Jonathan's brother? Can I go with you? Should you call their mum?"
"Sounds like it, I don't know, no, and no." Hop was in a rush and Harry bit his tongue, waited for him to stop with Siri's questions. "Everyone stay here, I mean it. I'll be home when I can."
"Can I come?"
Siri and El both looked at Harry as if he lost his mind, but he didn't. Harry didn't lose his mind, he just - he thought that Will was alive. A few hours ago, he had been alive. People died quickly, they could die fast, but Will was alive.
Had been? Will had been?
Or had he been dead the entire time? Had Will been controlling a poltergeist from a dimension of magic or was Will the poltergeist?
Hop paused, seemed to consider Harry for a moment.
"Yeah, come on then," he said. "Grab your coat."
"Harry!" Siri stopped Harry on his way to their room. She grabbed his arm and still looked like Harry lost his mind. "What are you doing?" she whispered. "You don't - Har, you don't want to see that."
If Will was dead - if it was his body and not him - then Harry needed to see it, needed to know. So, yes, Harry did want to see.
"I have to," Harry told her, not bothering to whisper. El had followed Siri, Hop knew Harry needed to see. "They had him, Siri."
They did, Will said so. They had him and Will escaped somewhere and Harry didn't know what Project Dimension was, but he knew what Project Echo had been and how it ended.
"More reason for you to not go!" Siri hissed. "It could be dangerous!"
"This could be dangerous…" Siri chewed her lower lip and looked over her shoulder at Ron Weasley. Ron didn't look scared, he looked interested in everything that Harry and Theo found out about Nicholas Flamel and his stone.
"It could be," Harry agreed. It would be really dangerous if someone stole the stone for Voldemort.
"Brilliant. I'm in!" Siri beamed at Harry and Harry beamed right back. He knew she would want to go, Siri loved adventures. "Let me grab Dad's cloak!"
"Oi!" Harry yelled after her when Siri and Ron took off for the Gryffindor Tower. "It was my week with the cloak, you brat!"
"Then don't make your password so easy to guess!" Siri yelled back, her laughter echoing in the corridor behind her.
"Wait a minute, what's that mean?" Theo demanded when Siri and Ron were gone and they were left to wait on them. "Did - Harry! Did your sister break into our dorm?!"
"We broke into hers before," Harry shrugged. "She was probably jealous."
Siri was much older, fifteen and not eleven, but it was her eyes that changed. Siri used to love adventures, she never cared about danger. When Siri was eleven, she was excited by danger and adventure.
It was Them that changed it, changed her.
"I have to," Harry said. He did, Harry had to go. Harry needed to know. "I'll explain later."
Maybe.
Harry wasn't sure he could explain, not without a library. Didn't they used to have money? A whole vault full of money their parents left for them? How could Harry get that and order books with it?
Would Siri let him? Was there even money left or did it get lost when Harry and Siri were taken? What happened to gold without an owner? They didn't have any kids, no other family…
It didn't matter, Harry needed to think about Will, not gold.
But if he had gold then he could get books which would help him answer his questions about Will…
"Be careful." Siri threw her arms around Harry and squeezed for only three seconds, Harry counted. Joyce Byers squeezed him for ten seconds, it had felt like ages. Siri's embrace was over too quickly and then he was blinking and grabbing a coat, blinking and in Hop's car.
Hop turned on the sirens and flashing red and blue lights on the top of his car, making Harry regret riding with him. Harry probably could have walked, it probably wasn't a far distance. Anything would be better than the wailing that Hop's car was doing.
"You have to stay in the car when we get there," Hop said. He had to yell to be heard over the siren and that was no good either, just as bad really. "You can't be at an active scene. Hell, I shouldn't have even let you come with me."
Harry nodded; he probably shouldn't have. It didn't seem like police officers would be allowed to take kids who lived with them to places where bodies possibly were. Harry should have said ‘thank you', but it was all he could do to not close his eyes and cover his ears while Hop drove like a maniac.
They sped through the town, the radio on Hop's shoulder chirped to life a few times with updates that Harry couldn't hear properly. Hop smoked, he smoked so much, and Harry subtly rolled the knob on his door so that the glass window would let some clean air in the car.
"If you'd ask me to quit smoking around you, I'd probably do it," Hop said when he turned the car hard and sped down a road covered in gravel. Little rocks flew behind them and a dirt cloud was kicked up, it was still better than cigarettes.
Harry could tell Hop he hated the smell, that he didn't want smoke in his face and the taste in his mouth. But Hop was the adult - it was his car, his house, his life that Harry and Siri and El were trampling all over. Harry wasn't going to ask him to do something and risk his sister (sisters? El felt like a sister to Harry, they had the same mark, the same life - Echo, Dimension) not having a place to sleep.
So, no. Harry wasn't going to ask him anything. Harry was going to put his face as close to the window as he could instead.
Was it Will's body? Did They - did Will escape and They found him and killed him? Why did they have him in the first place? What use had he been for them? Will was a muggle, non-magical, no magic.
Had he been used for a new project? Was Will another kid who had been playing outside and been taken to a lab, thrown in a cell, tortured and then killed?
Where did they bury the bodies? Where would Harry and Siri have been buried at if they didn't escape?
Where were their parents buried at? Siri would want to be buried with them, Harry was sure of it. It wouldn't have mattered, their bodies would have probably been —
They would have hidden their bodies, burned them until there was no evidence that Harry or Sirianna Potter had ever existed. They were neat, careful, smart. Harry wasn't sure that he and Siri did escape - sometimes he thought They had to have let them leave because They were too clever.
If They killed Will, his body never would have been found.
Harry opened his mouth, planning on telling Hop that, but the car jerked to a hard stop, slamming Harry forward, and Hop was jumping out.
"Stay put," Hop said before he crossed into the mixture of colorful lights flashing in the dark and bodies in uniforms that blended in with the trees.
Harry wasn't sure which it was - stay in the car or stay put? Staying put would mean Harry couldn't leave his seat, staying in the car would mean that Harry could slide over in Hop's seat to get closer to where the clumps of police officers were.
Harry slowly unclicked his belt and started to inch over in the cab. Hop told him to stay in the car first, that was the first rule. Stay in the car. He meant it. He said that. Harry was in the car.
Outside the window, when Harry squinted to see through the fog that filled the woods where everyone seemed to be gathered, were mostly just police officers. A few of them had on the same tan uniform that Hop wore, a few of them wore black uniforms. There were two people in dark blue, their shirts said EMS on the back. The blue ones had a bed sort of thing, a black bed with long legs and wheels on it.
There was a bag on the bed, a zipped up bag that was probably Will-sized. Hop was the one to approach the bed, he said something and one of the people in blue unzipped the bag.
Harry couldn't see inside the bag, but - but he could feel it. Harry could feel the rush of magic from the bag, the magic that knocked the air from his lungs and made him gasp.
Someone screamed, not Harry and not Hop.
Harry's head turned away from where Hop swayed and he searched the opposite direction for who screamed. It took him a minute to find them in the darkness, but standing in a group behind a sign were a group of kids. They were young, three boys - probably Will's age.
The boy who screamed had to be the one that had tears streaming down his face, the boy with the pale skin and black hair. That boy - that boy looked like he had just lost his best friend in the world. He looked like he was maybe 12, maybe the same age Theo would have been when he boarded the Hogwarts Express and Harry never met him there.
Harry would have cried, if he were the one who couldn't find Theo. They were best friends, they had been best friends since their very first night together at Hogwarts. Harry didn't want to see Theo zipped up in a bag and that boy, that boy who looked crushed, didn't want to see his best friend in a bag either.
But Harry didn't think it was his best friend.
Will Byers was normal, non-magical. Harry met him before, he sat beside him in a car. Harry knew Will had been a muggle. Why would his body give Harry a rush of magic? Why would They let his body be found?
They wouldn't, unless They had a reason to.
Harry's fingers twitched and he blinked - he had the door handle in his hand. Hop said stay put, stay in the car. Harry blinked again and the door was open and he had one foot out, one more foot out. Harry made himself as silent as he could, made it so nobody would notice him if he was careful.
There were too many questions, not enough answers - no books, no money for books, no library.
Harry crept slowly from the car toward the bed with the bag on it. The feeling of magic got stronger with every step he took, every footstep forward. At three steps away, Harry was sure that there was more magic than Will inside the bag. At two steps away, Harry wondered what was going on.
When Harry was only one step away, when Harry could see the swollen and discolored face that was exposed inside the bag, it made sense to him.
That body, that golem, was not Will Byers. That golem was Harry - sent to be a distraction, something to help Will be kept hidden away. Siri asked Harry to keep Hop from tracking her down when she left school - They sent a body bloated with water and changed with magic to be found in a sewage drain so that nobody went looking for Will.
And Harry realized then, for the first time since he first wondered about it years ago, what Theo must have been told about his disappearance.
Harry doubled back to the car after he got a good look at the fake-Will. A couple of his questions were answered, but he needed El to answer the rest.
Where would Will be that wasn't with Them, but a place he couldn't get free from? A place where he could control a poltergeist or became one? What was Project Dimension?
"Project Echo…" A finger traced the lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead, left him twisting and turning in the chair he was strapped to. "I've waited a long time for this," the man said. "How did you survive the killing curse? It's fascinating. I have many questions, Harry Potter, and I believe that you are the key to answering them all."
What questions did El answer?
Harry was still wondering about dimensions and echoes when the car door opened and Hop sat back down. Hop seemed older, more weighed down, when Harry looked at him.
"They killed him," he said.
"Er… they didn't," Harry corrected him. "Not yet, anyway."
Harry didn't think Hop actually liked him much, he spent a lot of time ordering Harry to do things he didn't want to do and glaring. It wasn't Harry's fault that Will wasn't the body they found, it wasn't his fault that Will was missing. Harry wanted to help, he did, it - it was an impossible task.
Hop glared then, right at Harry. Harry looked down at the seat between them, focused on the burn marks in the leather, the rips and the stuffing that poked through. It was still neat, being able to see.
"Harry, that boy is dead," Hop said, slowly and loudly. Harry shrank back toward his door, focused hard on the truth of the situation. "You're telling me it was an accident?"
Harry didn't… no, Harry didn't say that. Harry didn't want to say anything, not if it was going to start a fight. Except Will wasn't dead and Hop started talking about taking Harry home so he could go ‘break the news' to Joyce and Harry's breath got stuck somewhere between his lungs and his mouth.
"That wasn't Will!" Harry said, gasping it when he forced the air through his body. "It - that body was dead, it wasn't Will."
"I swear to God…" Hop jerked the car off the side of the road and Harry didn't have time to worry about why before Hop was turning in his seat and pointing at Harry. "Harry, explain. Now. Because if I go tell Joyce that her son isn't dead, I need some fucking evidence. Otherwise, she's going to be holding on hope for the rest of her life."
That didn't exactly seem like it was Harry's problem. But Hop was being loud and Harry didn't actually want Joyce to cry over someone who wasn't her son. Harry didn't want anyone to cry about someone who wasn't actually dead.
Joyce hugged Harry for ten seconds. She would cry over her son for much longer.
"It's magic," Harry tried to explain, in quick and choppy sentences. "Looks like Will, isn't. Nobody looks for a dead person."
Siri. Harry needed Siri. Siri could explain better than Harry could. But that body was a distraction, it was brilliant really. Why would anyone go looking for Will when his body was pulled from a drain? It meant he was still being used by Them; and if he was being used, he was alive.
So not a poltergeist, probably. He could still be controlling one somehow.
Harry wanted ten books on poltergeists and Theo to help him research it all.
Hop didn't seem to understand Harry at first, the way he stared at him with his lips curved downward and his forehead wrinkled. He slowly relaxed though, he slowly breathed in and out in an even stroke.
"They're faking his death," Hop said. Harry nodded enthusiastically, he did understand! "They took a body, made it look like Will, set it up to be found."
Exactly!
"How sure are you?"
Harry was… very sure. Very. Harry knew of kids who died, kids who he had seen once or twice in the lab corridors and never again. They wouldn't have put their bodies in drains - they would have been gone with no one ever the wiser.
"Very," Harry said. "When they kill him, you'll never find his body."
They didn't make mistakes, not really. Siri called it freedom, Harry thought that it was a second part of Their plan.
"Yeah, alright." Hop scrubbed his face with both hands before he pulled the car back on the street and started driving. "So what the fuck do I tell Joyce Byers?"
That also wasn't exactly Harry's problem. He thought Hop should be honest, tell her that Will wasn't dead yet, but he would be soon. As soon as They were done with him, he would be killed. And his body would never, ever, be found.
Maybe he should tell her that. If he wanted to be honest.
Hop didn't take Harry home first, he mumbled a lot about ‘bullshit' and drove Harry directly back to the Byers house. Steve's car was in the driveway, Harry couldn't imagine why.
Harry warily left the car when Hop did, rather preferring to stay in the car but ordered to leave it. There were going to be a load of people inside the house, all probably upset and noisy.
"Yeah, I know." Hop knocked on the door before he acknowledged the scowl on Harry's face. "You're the magic expert though, kid."
Harry was not an expert, he was an experiment. A distinction he didn't get to make before the door was thrown open by Joyce Byers. Joyce Byers who was crying, loudly.
"Hop? Is it…?" Joyce didn't seem able to even finish her sentence before a sob broke through and Harry edged past her to find the feeling that - yeah, Siri was there. So was El.
Siri was sitting beside Jonathan on the couch and had his hand in both of hers. It looked like Siri had been crying too, which Harry hated. El stood in the corner of the room, peering up at the lights, near Steve. Steve didn't look like he had been crying, but Harry got the impression from the room that nobody was especially happy.
"Tell her." Hop followed Harry in the house and had his arm around Joyce's shoulders. He paused when he saw Siri and El, though he only sighed quietly before fixing his gaze and orders on Harry again.
Not Siri, not El - Harry.
"In many more words than you used for me, tell Joyce what you told me," Hop said.
How many more words? Harry couldn't remember how many words he used the first time? If he used the same amount of words, would that work? Did it need to be more than ten extra words?
Everyone was staring at Harry and his fingers were tapping on his leg while sweat dripped on his back.
"Har, it's okay." Siri stood up and walked to where Harry stood. She took one of his hands and squeezed it with a reassuring look and soft voice. "Tell us what happened, Bubby, in however many words you need."
Harry started to look around, at all the people staring at him, and Siri twisted so that it was still her that he was looking at.
"Just tell me then," she said. "Pretend they're not here. It's me and you. Tell me what happened."
Just to Siri? Harry… Harry could do that. Harry could close his eyes, pretend that they were in a cell together; his head would be on Siri's lap, her hand would be on his forehead. Harry could talk then, he could explain without everyone's eyes and expectations of word counts.
"They took Will, the wizards in the white coats. I - I don't know why, he's a muggle. But they took him, for Project Dimension or another project. He can communicate, through the lights. I think - I think he's controlling a poltergeist? I don't know how, I don't have a library."
"That's okay, Bubby. So the White Coats have him?"
"Yes." Harry was sure. "They want people to think he's dead, they want it so nobody ever goes looking for him…"
Did they fake Harry and Siri's deaths? How? A group of muggle policemen could be fooled with disfigured faces made to look like the right person, but - but wouldn't there have been wizards who looked for Harry and Siri? There was that teacher that liked Siri a lot… Professor McGonagall. She would look for Siri and maybe Hagrid too. Maybe even Professor Dumbledore, maybe Ron Weasley's family. They would have all been looking for Siri - they couldn't have been tricked with magic.
How did they do it? What did they tell Theo? How did they do it?
"Harry, what did they do to make people think Will's - that he's gone?"
Harry shook off his thoughts at Siri's question, tightened his grip on her hand, and tried to remember what he was saying.
"They had a body, they made it look like Will. That means he's alive, Siri, he's alive. Because They want people to think he's dead. They - They never would let a body be found. Remember those kids? The other kids? They didn't drop their bodies in sewers, they couldn't. That's messy and it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to let their bodies be found."
"You're right, it doesn't." Siri understood because she always did, she was - Siri was all Harry needed in the world. "So you think that the White Coats still have Will, but they want people to stop looking for him, so they sent out a fake body?"
"The body is real, but not Will," Harry said, breathing easily with Siri there to understand him. "That body was changed, with magic. I could feel it, Siri."
"You're truly brilliant, you are." Siri pulled Harry's hand, pulled him forward so she could hug him again. Harry kept his eyes closed, but he lifted his arms to hug her back.
Because Siri was there, not dead. She was there and she understood and she was safe.