Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 123: Finale
Sitting at the table, the friends and family were having a peaceful dinner.
Ginny had prepared a succulent plate of stew with potatoes, which went very well with the cold weather they were currently having.
"Ouch!" Ginny suddenly flinched.
"Ginny? Is it doing it again?" Harry went to her side.
"Yeah…" she groaned.
"What is it?" Ron looked at his sister with confusion. "Did you get indigestion? I mean, you ate almost as much meat as—"
"It's not that!" Ginny shouted. "The brat kicked me."
Hermione chuckled. "Does he do that a lot?"
"For the past two weeks, he has barely stopped… I can't wait to get it out." Ginny rolled her eyes.
"Is it really that bad?…" Hermione grimaced before exchanging a look with her husband.
"To be honest, I would rather have to fight a dragon than go through this again… wait…" Ginny suddenly realized something. Hermione had only drunk water for the whole dinner. "Merlin's balls, Hermione!"
She lowered her head. "Yeah…"
"Why didn't you tell me?" Ginny asked.
"I just found out last week. I was planning on bringing it up tonight," she responded.
"I thought you didn't want to get pregnant yet," Harry pointed out. "Aren't you working on some crucial project at the Ministry?"
"It was kinda unexpected, to be honest," Hermione confessed. "But it's fine. We will make it work."
"Hey!" Ginny perked up. "If they are born only eight months apart, there is a chance that our kids will go to Hogwarts together."
"That's right! That would be awesome!" Ron exclaimed.
All of a sudden, the group's excitement was interrupted by a booming sound coming from somewhere nearby.
"What was that?!" Hermione covered her ears.
"Are we under attack?" Ron went on full alert.
"Harry… what did you do? That came from the tower." Ginny glanced at her husband.
"Oh, sorry about that. I didn't expect it to create such a reaction," Harry said. "But it looks like it's ready."
"What's ready?." Asked Ron.
"The tower?" Hermione looked outside their window. The tall ivory tower was in clear view, and some kind of smoke was now coming from the top. "What are you working on exactly?" She was a bit worried, because considering the power that Harry could wield, any project involving magic that he worked on could be big enough to require involvement from her department.
"Why don't you accompany me and see for yourselves?" Harry suggested.
"Is it safe?" Ron pointed at his pregnant sister.
"Of course. Come on." Harry helped Ginny stand up and held her arm as they left the house. "I think you are going to like it."
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Harry led them into the tower and unlocked the gate using the palm of his hand.
Once inside, they could only see an empty room with pristine white walls.
"Mmm… where are the stairs?" Ron asked. "How are we supposed to get to the top?"
"Walk over here." Harry went to a slightly raised part of the floor near the center of the room.
Once everyone was standing in the correct spot, Harry used his magic to activate it.
The platform began to levitate while they were on top and flew quickly towards the last floor of the tower.
"Give us a warning, would you?!" Ron was looking paler than usual.
"I was already expecting it. Did you not see the runes around the platform? There was a potent levitating enchantment." Hermione was not fazed in the least. "But you may want to reduce the speed, Harry. It doesn't look very safe, and it's definitely against regulation."
"Never mind that now, Hermione. Something is smoking over there." Ron pointed. "Are we really okay in here? Nothing is going to explode?"
"It's fine," Harry said calmly while approaching the smoking object resting on top of the table. "I just didn't expect the reaction to be this potent. That's all."
"I'll open a window." Ginny covered her mouth while making a gesture with her hand. She activated a mechanism that moved the massive window at the top of the tower, allowing the smoke to clear up.
"What is that? Were you making a potion?" Hermione could now see that the origin of all that smoke had been a peculiar golden cauldron resting on a table.
Harry stood before the cauldron for a moment, peeking into its contents.
"Did it work?" Ginny asked, being the only one here who actually knew what Harry had been working on.
The smile on his face gave her the answer.
"Well… don't leave us hanging. What is it?" Ron asked.
Harry took something from within the cauldron and held it carefully in his hands.
All they could see was that the object in question was emitting a white light, potent enough to illuminate the entire room.
"That's…" Hermione narrowed her eyes. She could feel the intense magic being produced by whatever Harry was holding.
"Ginny, can you bring it here?" Harry requested.
"Sure." Ginny walked to one side of the workshop and unlocked a safe using a single drop of her blood. From the safe, she removed a single object. It was a simple-looking black hat.
"A wizard hat?" Ron noticed. "Hold on… don't tell me that you made another one."
Hermione frowned. "Harry! How could you? Have you forgotten what happened to—"
"No, Hermione. I have not forgotten anything." Harry interrupted her. "But this one will not be like V." He showed them what he was holding.
It looked akin to a small spark of pure light that was pulsating like a heartbeat.
"I still have no idea what that is…" Ron looked at the 'thing' with a baffled expression.
"Is it… alive? The magic feels somewhat familiar," Hermione said.
"It is indeed alive!" Harry said with excitement. "What you are seeing is the first artificial soul ever created."
"You made a soul?!" Ron exclaimed.
"An artificial soul? This is what you have been working on for the past few years?" Hermione had asked him so many times, but he would never give her an answer. "I see now…" She understood it.
"What happened to V will not be repeated," Harry said. "This is an original soul. It belongs to no one but itself and has complete free will. No wizard or witch will ever be able to control him."
Ginny approached with the hat and placed it on the table.
"But…" Harry glanced at Hermione. "I don't think the Ministry would agree with this. They would want reassurances that I cannot give. So…"
"You want me to keep it a secret," Hermione said.
"Do you mind? I'm asking as a friend." Harry knew how strict Hermione was when it came to rules and regulations.
Hermione sighed and shook her head. "You are not leaving me much of a choice, Harry. But… unless you are planning on keeping it locked inside this tower, people will eventually find out about it. Talking hats aren't exactly a common thing."
Harry nodded. "Thank you. That's all I ask."
"Okay, now what? Are you going to shove the soul into the hat, and it will become alive or something?" Ron asked.
"A bit of a rough description but… not an erroneous one." Harry brought the spark of light closer to the hat.
Of course, despite its common appearance, this was far from a simple black hat. Much like V, this hat was an extremely powerful magical artifact, capable of storing and releasing a tremendous amount of energy.
As soon as it was close enough, the soul seemed to recognize the empty receptacle before him and quickly flew inside the hat.
The room became much darker now that the spark was gone. But there was still enough light for them to notice the changes in the hat.
On the front, the leather began to fold in unnatural ways, forming what looked like a face, with two large eyes and a mouth.
A moment later, the hat came to life, under the watchful eyes of everyone present.
The 'eyes' of the hat appeared to move around the room, stopping for a moment on each person until they landed on Harry.
The mouth then started to move, and sounds came out. "Who… who am I?"
"Is it asking for a name?" Ron asked.
"It's a 'He', not an 'it'," Ginny corrected him. "He is alive."
"Have you thought of one?" Hermione wondered.
Harry nodded. "I have." He approached the hat. "You are Arcanum. But we can call you Arc, for short."
"Arc…" the hat repeated. "I like it."
Harry stared at his creation with a smile on his face. V would never be replaced in his heart, but this new creature would now be able to have the choices that his friend never had.
The hat moved its mouth again to speak. "What is my purpose?"
Harry made a gesture with his hand. "Now that… is something that you will need to find out."
THE END.
A.N.: Well, there it is. I hope you guys enjoy the story. It came out a bit shorter than I initially anticipated, but there was little more to add.
I feel like Harry's arc had reached its conclusion after overcoming his troubles and defeating Voldemort, so it was a good point to end it.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and I will see you in my next story.