When I walked through the veil of death four years ago, the last thing I had expected, was to land on a moonlike surface and into a one-hundred-foot baldheaded, baby faced man, donned in white, Greek looking robes. He stood towering over me in his galactic figure, his eye's unblinking staring into the vast nothingness of space.
"Couldn't find a stranger place to land up, could ya", I thought to myself. But that's where it got really strange. With my body frozen in place and my careful gaze locked onto him, he casually shrunk down to a more human size. (Actually, to a size not too much bigger then myself.)
Seeing his face up close, I had to admit that he didn't seem so much baby faced as he did old. Not in a cranky grandpa way either. It was an intriguing, kind of serene, timeless old. As if he'd lived longer then the rest of us. He also was the owner the most deep sea-blue eyes I'd ever seen up until then.
Though the pair just stared straight ahead into space as if he was watching something that was incredibly captivating, yet judging by his bored, languid expression, also incredibly boring. Then in an instant, he snapped into focus, his attention directed at me.
In retrospect I didn't really mean to insult him when I asked, "Do you shave your head or does it just not grow?" Thankfully, he decided to ignore the comment, responding instead with a flat, drawn out; "Harry Potter."
Of course at first I was surprised at the fact that he knew my name, but then I thought: "of course he knows my name". "What else would happen to the likes of myself other then a odd, shrinking, bald headed bloke knowing my name!?"
He then continued on. "I've brought you here to make a proposition". Intrigued, my eyebrows narrowed and the grip on my wand loosened — if only just a bit. Maybe this guy won't just be a waste my time.
"What kind of proposition", I asked.
Then after a minor pause, I added; "And what's your name?"
He knew my name. So I only saw it fair for me to know his.
Somehow still keeping eyes unblinking, he responded in a slow manner, seeming a bit unaccustomed to speaking. "My name, is Uatu, Watcher of Earth."
Unsure of what to make of that I asked, "What do you mean, 'Watcher of Earth'?"
"A race of watcher's are we. We watch many of the inhabited planets. One of the watched is Earth".
"Other planets", I asked, slightly perturbed. "Inhibited!?" "Yes, of course", he answered, like I should have known that since I was a little kid. "There are billions of planets across the many galaxies."
The first thing that hit me was the billions. Then that he said many galaxies were inhabited. "Bloody hell", I though to myself. Though out loud I asked, "So what do you need from me?"
The blue in his eyes suddenly darkened losing its former brightness. But only for the slightest moment. Then seeming to have regained his momentary loss of composure, he responded. "To prevent apocalypses and incursions across Multi-verses."
That's where I got thoroughly lost and the thought of "has this guy gone bonkers?", crossed through my brain.
"Incursions and Multi-verses", I repeated.
He in return, frowned, and then muttered some incomprehensible words under his breath. Suddenly his hands glowed, and a long beam of multicolored light —largely dominated by blue — spewed forth.
"This is a time stream", he began, stirring distant memories of Hogwarts lessons. "The last hundred years of the original timeline, in fact".
Then he shifted his fingers and turned his hand. From all along the beam branched out thousands of smaller, similar coloured streaks, and from there even more.
Kind of like a tree with its trunk and many branches, I decided.
He pointed to the branches. "These breakoffs are Multi-verses. A complete universe where different sequence of events have shaped them into their own unique realities."
I frowned, feeling a little more then a just mildly skeptic. But then I thought, if this guy's this dillusional then he must've drank something stronger then anything my world has to offer. And it was with that reasoning that I found myself giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"So your telling me that there are other versions of earth different then one I am from?"
"Precisely", he agreed rather monotonously.
"Okaay", I said. "Fair enough."
"And what are incursions?"
He brought his hand out and made the light zero in on a area of ten branches that streaked out of one larger one.
I peered at the swirling colours of the branched light-streaks. All of them were separated, untouching each other, save for two in the middle that had seemed to have crashed into each other, causing it to look like it had exploded, leaving a cloud of dust (dust!) in its wake.
"This is an incursion", he explained. "Both realities have collided and are therefore hastily collapsing."
I swallowed hard, realization of what I was watching slowly dawning. "What happens to them?"
He stared at me dead in the eye. "They simply cease to exist."
My stomach did a flip. "So everyone just….. dies?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"So you want me to prevent this from happening in other multi-verses", I stated. "So how can I prevent these…. incursions", I asked.
And that is how I learned how to find the first signs of an incursion and how to find its root cause. It's also how I landed up on eight different Multi-verses in the last four years. Countless lives saved. Interesting and entertaining adventures, nothing but minor mishaps. (Except for the one on Multi-verse 420 where there was seven independent causes of an apocalypse. That one was a fucking pain.)
Anyhow, so here I am back on the moon, where the Watcher resides. It's a truly extraordinary place, this little area. The level of gravity and oxygen is almost alike that of Earth, although it defies every bit of sense. The blue area as it's known. (The addition of oxygen here makes it appear in a hazy blue.)
I've just come back from mending my latest Multi-verse. Possibility the shortest and easiest one I've done so far.
"You've done well, Harry", Uatu greets me in my native tongue, his voice echoing soundly from the distance separating us. Apparently he actually does more then just stare once you get to know him. (Although he did eventually reveal to me that he's not just staring into space. He's looking at every version of Earth. His eyes see all of the Multi-verses simultaneously.)
I allow myself a smile. "Thank you, Uatu", I acknowledge, conjuring a mugfull of firewhisky with the Elder Wand. "Care for some?"
He frowns as he strolls toward me in his ever calm, silent footsteps. "It will always be the same answer, Harry. You very well know that".
I smile softly as he reaches hand-reaching distance. "Yah, I know. But I figure you're bound to have a breaking point".
He laughs at that. "How very human you are. Stubborn and unrelenting to the very end."
"Proudly so, may I add", I exclaim.
"And right you are to be so".
We clasp hands, our middle fingers extended into the other's palm and shake firmly. The Watcher's customary handshake.
We unclasp and he spins his heel around. "I'm sure it's quite cold for you out here", he says as he begins trekking toward his residence. "Come inside".
I smirk. Inside. A small four-room house that's largely dominated by heaps of new and old technologies and the such.
Breathing a surrendered sigh, I follow his lead. It's certainly better in there then out here.
"So how are things around the multi-verse", I prompt a few minutes into our walk, feeling unnerved by the echoing sound of my dragonhide boots clashing against the moonrock.
"Not good, I'm afraid", he responds darkly as his 'house' comes into view. "Six sudden incursions across a two hundred year span."
I'm caught in surprise. "How"? "What were the causes?" "I'm uncertain", he says in answer as we reach the outermost door.
The grey metal door slides open as it senses his features. We stride through it and a wave of warmth instantly hits against my cheeks. The room we have entered is plastered by dull, grey walls, and is completely bare. It's definitely the only such room. The only room that isn't occupied by a collection of technologies from extinct species.
My imagination replaces the places that lack furniture. A area on the wall where picture frames would usually line. Where a bed might have been. Where its nightstand would be.
I whip out my wand from my leather holster and I hold on to the image of the fuller room as I conjure a large, lavish bed and a matching night table. My sleeping accommodations. Then pleasant picture frames, a dresser and then a few minor decorations. Then, after a good hard look at my creation — my décor, I you will —I decide to add a comfortable, beige coloured carpet around the room.
I take another long look around the newly decorated room, admiring the finer, minute details of my handiwork.
"You'll be headed out tomorrow", Uatu suddenly announces, disrupting my moment of self-complementry. "You'll be going to earth 864."
I sit down on the bed sinking into the heavy silk covers that cover the mattress. "Why so soon", I ask, curiosity getting the best of me. (I've never been one to overcome the natural curiosities. My day's in Hogwarts can as surely attest to that.)
He stares straight ahead, his eyes strangely focused into the Multi-verse in a way I haven't ever seen him. His eyes dim, taking on a darkened shade of its normal blue, now almost black. That's how I know something's really up.
Then after a prolonged moment of silence, he speaks up. "The four incursions", he relates. "It wasn't a coincidence. The key to it all —the key to stop it— lies at 864, I can feel it." He then snaps back from his stare state and heads for the door. "Sleep well Harry, you'll be needing it."
Silence fills the room as I transfigure my clothes into more comfortable sleep clothes, and it takes no longer then an instant before I'm out cold.
Lingering emotions of fear and adventure of the night's dream leave me bereft of headspace when I awake. My hand instantly goes up to block a streak of light that shines on my face. For a moment I, tense, unable to recall where I am. Then after a minute, I recall my success of ridding of the apocalypse and then Uatu. That's where I am, I conclude. Uatu's museum house.
I sit up just as Uatu walks in through the door. "How was your sleep", he prompts. I let out a stifling yawn. "Fine enough." "Got any good though? I'm absolutely famished!"
He smiles. "You humans always think food as the higher priority." "Well that might be because it is", I counter swinging my feet off the bed and onto the soft carpet.
"Well, yes" he agrees. "But your race makes more of it then most." At that I stay quiet. For one cannot argue in that which he lies ignorant. "Well, in any case, did you get food?"
"The watcher's food is all I have, I'm afraid", he apologises, handing me a bread looking object.
I've tasted it before. It's like a clump of tasteless sawdust. Utterly horrid. But alas, beggar's can't choosers. So
I accept it and down it as fast as my mouth would allow.
When I'm all done, drink (thankfully water) and food, Uatu turns to me. "Have you the deathly hallows in your possession?" "Yes", I respond, unsurprised by his knowledge of it.
"Would you present it in your hand", he requests.
I comply, reaching into my expandable mochpouch. I stare at the completed hallows. The elder wand, of course. The cloak of invisibility. And finally, the resurrection stone.
"When you get to Earth 864, find the right friends. Friends that are loyal. And when in doubt, trust your instincts", Uatu mentors.
Then I'm suddenly caught in a staggering bright light. My eyes instantly shut and a blazing pain of heat stemming from my chest sears through my body.
Then I lose consciousness.