Chapter 22 - 22 Harry Potter Vs Time and Space

Once they got inside Harry said, "Alright, pick something you want for Christmas Dinner."

Rory said, "Anchovy pizza."

The Doctor said, "Fish fingers, and custard if you have any."

Amy sighed and said, "I'm not hungry."

Harry set up a table and took some of the prepared dishes from him inventory. Plenty of meals were easier to make in larger servings than small ones so he had hundreds of different dishes in his inventory.

"Ok, dinner's ready," he called out less than a minute later.

They came in to find a table plated with three slices of handmade anchovy pizza, a plate of hand breaded beer battered fried fish fingers and homemade from scratch custard, a bowl of freshly chopped caesar salad and chips, and a plate of chicken alfredo where Harry sat down. In the center of the table was a steaming teapot and Harry was pouring out four cups of tea from it.

Amy said, "Ok, that was too~ fast."

Harry shrugged and said, "Magic."

When Amy saw that the place left for her wasn't empty, she decided not to complain as the salad did look delicious. Harry had enough experience cooking to know what 'I'm not hungry' translated to when it came to women and food.

The Doctor dipped the fish fingers into the custard and said between bites, "So you live on your own?"

Harry took a sip of tea before answering back, "That's right. I'm emancipated. So you got a plan yet?"

Rory said, "What happened to the Tardis? I mean I get that we crashed and those carri-... things.. started chasing us. But where did they come from and why did we crash?"

Amy said, "The lights went off right, is the Tardis broken?"

The Doctor gave a slightly pained smile and said, "Not broken Amy, dead. The Tardis will never move again."

Rory said, "What? How?"

The Doctor let his head drop and said, "The Tardis is powered by the universe it was built in. Those Carrionites shifted the course of the Tardis into another universe. This is London, 2006, but not your London 2006."

Amy said, "They shifted the course? But how can they do that?"

"It's my fault," he ġrȯȧnėd. "They were sealed in a magic ball when Shakespeare reversed the spell that was supposed to free them. I kept the ball in my Tardis but it was a ball they made. It's been about two hundred years since then and I suppose they came up with a way to not only free themselves but drag me down."

Harry said, "So these Carrionites use magic? One of them said their spell led them to what they crave. Another tried to snatch one of my hairs. How does their magic work and if they dragged you here what is it here that they want?"

After finishing another fish finger the Doctor said, "Their magic works on Quantum Mnemonics, the right word in the right place at the right time."

Harry said, "Sounds like hacking." Harry wondered if a hair from his head was like a password to access his data.

The Doctor nodded and said, "A bit like that yeah. Their whole species save those three were banished to the deep dark, the emptiness beyond the void."

Harry thought that sounded exactly like the Dark Dimension.

"As for here, well, I'm not sure. I suppose there must be something here they really want."

Harry said, "Well, this reality does overlap with a few others and one of them happens to be a dimension beyond time and death called the Dark Dimension. Maybe those Carrionites came here because it would be easier to open a door here and free the rest of them?"

The Doctor made no effort to hide his surprise. "Well, that could be it, yeah."

Harry set his cup down and said, "And if the Carrionites are hackers of the universe, then we need to do something soon. Some computers are easier to hack than others and I doubt this universe is harder to hack than yours is. Once they get familiar enough with the operating system of this universe, they could become very powerful very quickly."

"Oh, yes, that could be bad," he said as he pieced together the realizations.

Amy said, "If you're a wizard, do you have any ideas?"

"I don't use hacks. I know how to write programs that affect the universe and how to overwrite existing programs. Unless you have a book on Universe Hacking 101, I wouldn't know where to begin."

Amy and Rory simultaneously looked at the Doctor who said, "Well, there might be something in my Tardis. But I don't think-"

Harry interrupted, "I'm a very fast reader. Where is your Tardis?"

Rory said, "Across from the intersection of St Martin's ave and Barking rd."

Harry questioned, "You parked a spaceship in the middle of London?"

This brought a smile to the Doctor's face, "Yes I did."

After finishing supper Rory got up to head to the door but Harry said, "Where are you going?"

"Umm, to the Tardis?"

Harry got up and moved to the living room and started circling his hand. A portal of rust colored sparks opened and showed a blue police box on the other side. Harry asked, "That's your Tardis?"

Amy said, "Oh my god that's real magic!"

Harry smiled and said, "That's nothing." He threw the portal forward where it swallowed the Tardis and vanished, but now there was a police box in Harry's living room.

Harry sensed a large amount of dimensional energy from the box, far more than any artifact or relic he had ever seen.

Amy opened the door to the phone box revealing only a dimly lit space within. "Come on," she said.

Rory and the Doctor walked into the box and Harry followed shortly behind.

The space inside ended up being much larger than the exterior. But it was more than that. The space itself was different. Pocket dimension maybe. Nope, definitely.

Harry said, "Nice pocket dimension."

Amy saw the Doctor frown at the lack of excitement and patted his shoulder. "Not everyone is going to be flabbergasted Doctor."

Rory asked, "So where is the book?"

The Doctor answered, "In the library."

"And where is the library?"

Amy answered for him, "Next to the swimming pool."

"Right, of course. Next to the swimming pool. How could I have forgotten," Rory plainly stated.

Harry felt the space change and the door closed behind them.

"The Doctor comes for his Tardis," echoed voices from the darkness.

"A constant of the universe it is, any universe it seems."

"So easy a trap to set. And you've brought dinner with you, how lovely."

Harry paused the world and walked around a bit. He'd never been inside a pocket dimension, much less a pocket dimension created in another universe. The dimensional energy around him didn't respond to the energy in his heart palace meaning he couldn't use it. The space itself was also clean of almost any other type of energy save Time Energy which he still had a long way to go before he could use it.

The witch things weren't in the room, they seemed to be echoing their voices from elsewhere. Maybe they wanted to direct the group?

The Honorary Doctor said they didn't exist in the physical realm meaning they were basically projections. Technically that's what a hacker was. A hacker didn't exist in the computer he was hacking, but usually somewhere else. Their presence in the computer was virtual. So how do you stop a hacker? Security, firewalls, and passwords would hold one back, but not truly stop them.

The only way to stop a hacker was a counter hack. That was going to be a problem. Sorcery didn't work here and Harry already suspected using Exotic energy magic in a pocket dimension containing what looked to be a spaceship that could travel through time might not be the brightest idea. Luckily he had lots of stuff in his inventory.

Harry unpaused and took four swords from his inventory, "Alright, everyone gets a sword."

Rory said, "wh-where did you get that?"

Amy grabbed two swords and passed one to him.

The Doctor said, "Ah, swords, love a good sword. Not sure what good it'll do us though."

Harry said, "They're more useful than glow sticks. Let there be light."

At the command phrase the swords started glowing, shining light all around the rooms.

The Doctor smiled and said, "Oh that's cool."

Amy swung it around and said, "I feel like a Jedi."

Harry nodded, "They were kinda the inspiration."

Amy looked surprised and said, "This earth has Star Wars?"

Harry nodded and said, "Yeah, I wonder if it's different from yours though."

Amy smiled and said, "Ok, we're so having a marathon once this is over."

The Doctor said "Library's this way, let's go." He raised his glowing sword and ran down the hall with the others following.

The halls filled with chanting as they reached further into the ship. The same set of lines, over and over.

"~Blood and magic leads the way~

~Darkness ends the final day~

~Twist and crumble minds shall fall~

~Bend and shatter mortals all!"

Amy said, "Doctor, what are they doing?"

"Nothing, let's go," he lied easily.

Amy recognized the lie but didn't question it. Harry figured she was used to it. Harry knew what they were doing, of course. He could feel it. It wasn't even a bad idea. They intended to change the laws of the pocket dimension into a giant computer virus then crack the whole thing open. The virus would infect the dimensional energy of the whole earth faster than anyone could possibly stop it.

The virus, or spell as it were, would strengthen their own power while driving mortals insane, all over the world, all at once.

Of course, it would drive the mortals in here insane long before that point. Luckily Harry wasn't mortal. The others though..

Harry said, "Honorary Doctor, we have fifteen minutes until saturation and an hour until critical mass."

Rory said, "Saturation of what?"

Harry answered, "The witches are filling the space with madness. As the saturation increases it will become harder to think logical and coherent thoughts. Once the space has reached complete saturation, any mortal within the space won't be capable of sane thought."

Amy said, "Ok, that's bad."

Harry shrugged. "Kinda. There are ways around it. Sane thoughts are not always the best, if you don't trust yourself, work on instinct and ignore your own thoughts."

The Doctor said, "Hang on, how can you possibly know that?"

"I read a lot. And my mind is protected from mind magics so get us to the library."

He looked concerned and said, "Do you have a way to read really really really really fast?"

"I do, why?"

"Just making sure. This way."

The chant of the Carrionites continued to echo and they got more and more lost. Since this was a Quest, his map did have a pointer but rather than pointing to the Library, it seemed to be pointing to areas of interest. Harry suspected there may have been several ways to succeed but he could only think of one of them and hoped he knew what he was doing.

To find the Library, Harry occasionally used a nonverbal 'Point me' spell to check for its direction. Harry's map filled in as they went about and using the Point Me spell for triangulation he figured out where the library actually was.

When used wandlessly, the Point Me spell was a purely internal spell so he didn't emit Exotic energy. Sure, he could have ditched the group and went straight for the book, but he needed to get into contact with the space witches again to get a target lock on them or he wouldn't be able to find them for the counter hack. They were luring the group into a trap to eat him so they should be around somewhere. Probably one of those areas of interest.

Each room of the Tardis was unique yet several rooms seemed to be repeats of others. Some were almost identical but according to Harry's map they were in fact in different rooms. Rory started mumbling to himself and Amy told him to be quiet, seemingly unaware that she had been humming a catchy tune for the last three minutes.

Amy said, "Doctor, we're going in circles. We should go in a straight line." She then used the sword to chop into a wall and slice through it. Harry's swords were enchanted with single dimension edge magic that only turned on when used by him or someone he authorized to carry the sword for safety reasons. It could cut through almost anything that didn't have magic defense.

The Doctor said, "Hey hey hey! That's dangerous!"

He then turned to Harry and said, "Do something!"

Harry asked, "Do you have a better idea of getting through a depowered door?"

He lifted a small metal glow stick and said, "Yes, I have this!"

Rory and Amy were hacking through the wall and had just gotten through. Rory seemed to agree with Amy that this was the best idea.

Harry turned to him and said, "Alright, put your sword down." The Doctor did so and Harry said, "Lights out."

Amy and Rory dropped unconscious after being knocked out by their swords.

"Better?"

The Doctor confirmed they were both alright and said, "Alright, now what?"

Harry got a potion from his inventory and fed it to them both.

"What's that?"

A moment later Rory and Amy turned into stone.

"What did you do?!" he accused.

Harry answered, "They'll be fine. We both know the longer they remain here the higher the possibility of permanent damage. The Carrionites won't let us find them until after saturation. I'll turn them back after we're done. We still have a marathon to watch."

The pair continued down the hall and the Doctor quietly said, "Thank you." He was more than aware that the space was not safe for them and was getting worse but he didn't have a better option. If they were stone however they wouldn't be affected.

A few minutes later they came into an open room and one of the Carrionites swooped down and tried to grab the Doctor. He slashed his sword with more skill than Harry thought he had in him and the spectral crow flew to the side.

"Sword and steel shall rust and burn.

To the earth it shall return."

With the call of the alien witch the space changed again and suddenly their swords turned to rust and dirt. Normally the swords would be spell resistant but due to the saturation of the space their hack type spells could break Harry's enchantments.

The Carrionite cackled at the broken weapons and said, "And now for you Doctor."

"Bind his flesh and bones and hearts.

End the fight before it starts."

The Doctor cried out in pain and dropped, grinding his teeth in agony. He wasn't dead but he could no longer move.

The other two Carrionites appeared and one said, "Powerful child, you shall not escape us."

All three chanted, "Mortals rise and mortal fall."

The Doctor shouted, "No! Stop!"

They continued, "None resist the reaper's call!"

*Ping*

[Instant Death successfully resisted due to Instant Death Immunity.]

Harry fell over like a puppet whose strings were cut. A bit theatrical but he wanted to sell it.

The Doctor shouted, "No! How could you!"

The three creatures floated over to Harry, one said, "Freshly cut life force, my favorite."

As soon as one got close enough Harry grabbed it by the arm and swung into the others. He then proceeded to bash it over and over into the floor and smash it into the other two Carronites like something out of a cartoon.

Harry could tell it really wasn't doing anything to them but he used the contact he maintained to get a clear reading of their signature. Mordo wasn't the only one who could use physical contact to absorb or get a read on energy. Harry was tempted to try absorbing their energy but that trick had consequences and he already had another plan so he decided against it.

Harry threw the creature into a wall and grabbed the Doctor still struggling against the spell. He teleported them to the hall closest to the library they passed and he lifted the man over his shoulders and ran to the library. His teleportation wasn't as bad as before when it came to emitting Exotic energy but it would still likely mess with the surroundings. Unfortunately he didn't have time to wait as the clock was ticking.

A few moments later they arrived at the door. The Doctor said, "Oh, you found the library."

Harry set him down and said, "Yes, now please open the door."

He wiggled around a bit and said, "Umm. I still can't move."

Harry reached into his pocket and grabbed the glow stick and said, "How does this work?"

"It works off a psychic command field."

Harry wasn't great with psionic energy but he was familiar enough to give mental commands. The glow stick glowed and emitted some type of autonomous molecularly synchronizing sound frequency. It sent a pitch at the door, recorded and analyzed the echo, then sent another pitch which matched the resonant frequency of the material to physically interact with it. It constantly recorded the echo and analyzed it to determine how the structure moved so it could change how the material was resonating to achieve a specific task. In this case, opening a locked door.

The door opened a moment later and Harry picked up the doctor and set him in a beach chair which was next to the pool. The fact that there were bookcases in the same room as a pool didn't even phase Harry.

He used Point Me to find the book from the shelves and pulled it out. Harry said, "Is this it, the Big Book of Time and Space? It's a bit thin." The book was thinner than most books in Hermione's library.

The Doctor shouted from the beach chair, "It's bigger on the inside," with just a little too much enthusiasm, as if he had been waiting to say that for some time.

Harry flipped through the pages only to realize no matter how many he flipped, the number of pages didn't change on either side of what he was flipping through. He shouted, "Fingers crossed Doctor," and placed the book inside his inventory. The glow stick too. Yeah, he wasn't passing up a chance to learn how that thing worked.

Harry paused and found another chair to sit down. Sitting while paused was uncomfortable as anything he sat on felt like stone. Harry immediately realized why the Doctor had doubts on Harry's ability to read the Big Book. If the space the book took up was not folded in on itself, the book would be thousands of miles long. It was like someone took the full coding of a highly advanced computer's operating system, ȧssigned each individual character a ideographic page and put them all in order in a book.

Not surprisingly, the book was not in english or any language Harry had encountered. This was another reason Harry had been ok with wandering around the ship. He paused in each room to memorize the symbols and already had a decent grasp of the written language. The book itself was also similar in structure to an advanced math textbook or programming text. Full mastery of the language wasn't completely needed to learn the content.

Years passed by in frozen time. Harry would often switch back and forth between analyzing the device he now knew to be called a Sonic Screwdriver and the Big Book of Time and Space.

If translated to english the math would be called Block Transfer Computation. It was basically how to shift one space to another space and how to fit one space into another space through pure calculation. Simply calculating the process of the action would cause the action to happen. Up to this point there was nothing on time travel but Harry had only gotten through the first several hundred million pages. That was a few tens of kilometers for a book that was over four thousand kilometers long.

Block Transfer Computation was funny in that it didn't use base ten or base eight math. It literally used Dimensional energy for units and described how it behaved under different circumstances. Thanks to this Harry was able to get the basics down and even figure out the language the rest of the book was in. A majority of the pictures resembled the mandalas one could create using dimensional energy which Harry was already very familiar deciphering those using Arithmancy. There was also a lot of crossover with Sorcery magic and the shapes and symbols reminded him of Ancient Runes which were some of his better subjects.

At some point Harry's mind lost awareness of the passing moments and simply continued grinding itself through the book. The book itself would be completely unintelligible to most and the rest would burn themselves out trying to read it in a single setting. Literally.

Harry however had an Intellect and Wisdom of 350 a piece, and his scholar path was at 38. With the necklace of the Chosen Path he wore it was bumped to 41. Even the Doctor himself only had a Scholar path of about 32. That meant Harry was four times a better learner than the Doctor was without the Necklace of the Chosen Path equipped. Keep in mind that a man who had six Doctorates would likely have a Scholar Path of 22. In the Richter scale like Path Ranking system, the Doctor was ten times the Scholar of such a man, the equivalent of 60 Doctorates.

On the planet earth there were only about 50 types of Doctorates which showed how much knowledge a man like the Doctor possessed. However even the Doctor would lose out when it came to studying before the Ancient One and Harry had already surpassed her when it came to being a Scholar. The Doctor acquired his knowledge through experience and necessity, not through intensive, monotonous study.

Not that Harry necessarily knew more than the Doctor. The Scholar Path did not measure knowledge accumulated, but the skill one had to learn and teach. It simply meant that Harry and the Ancient One were more skilled at learning and teaching. In sheer volume the Doctor still knew far more than they did as he was a curious wanderer while the Ancient One was a protector and only concerned herself with learning what she needed to better protect the Earth.

Harry lost awareness, his mind shut down all functions except the processing of the book. He neither breathed nor blinked. He had no awareness of the color or feel of his surroundings, he went completely into automatic pilot.

Once Harry finished, the abrupt end caused him to wake up. He realized he had no idea how long he had been paused but he now had full understanding of the book.

Harry looked at a list of pop ups that appeared while he was reading and realized his INT and WIS both increased by 40 points and his Scholar Path actually reached 41. Harry took a few moments to collect himself and turn the rest of his brain back on. He wasn't sure what state he was just in but he wasn't going to complain. He saw the Doctor on the chair near the pool and remembered he was supposed to defeat the space witches. After figuring out a relatively simple plan, he unpaused and said, "Ok, I'm done."

"Was that a joke?!" the Doctor cried from his chair. Block Transfer Computations literally could not be kept in a computer because it would change the computer it was a part of and break it which was why it had to be written in a book to begin with. But this was still the science behind the power of the Time Lords and very, very few ever truly learned it. The only reason the book was there was because a copy existed in every Tardis to reference from if they broke it.

Harry mentally calculated the paths of dimensional energy binding the Doctor and snapped his fingers.

The Doctor found he was able to move again and said, "Oh. Well alright then."

Harry felt the energies in the Tardis, the spell the Carrionites weaved would reach critical density in five minutes and the pocket space would breach, spilling out into the earth space.

He could now feel how the space witches magic worked through the dimensional energy. Harry almost wanted to laugh when he saw how big of a hole their own defenses possessed. No wonder their species was defeated.

Harry focused his intent on the path of the witch's spell and after performing a brief mental calculation shouted into the space itself.

"Light and hope shall seal the way.

Dawn shall break the darkest day.

Right and whole your foes shall rise.

Lost eternal is your prize!"

The space itself shuddered and nearly turned in on itself. The echoing spell from before was replaced by shrieking wails. Harry's didn't just counter their spell. He took all the energy they put into it and reversed it back to the sender. He didn't close out the hacker, he caused their computer to explode in their face.

The Doctor felt the space change and cried out in relief. "You did it. You actually did it!"

Harry was then hug-tackled to the ground.