[Emissary] Chapter 32 - Dimension Travel (Patreon)

Having taken a break from his enchanting work, Harry went to the private gym that Kara had in her large, luxurious apartment and turned on the treadmill. 

Due to being Death’s Emissary, not only did he not age, but his body was also in top condition. He would always remain healthy, young, and fit, without actively taking care of his well-being. That being said, working out provided not only physical but also mental benefits. The release of endorphins would help alleviate his stress, lower his mental fatigue, and improve his mood. 

He was three kilometres into his run, looking at the beautiful scenery of New York City’s skyline through the enormous windows of the room, when Stinky, Kara’s one-eyed orange cat, suddenly jumped on the console of the treadmill. 

“What do you want?” Harry asked, scowling at the orange cat. 

The old cat and the old man couldn’t stomach each other. He didn’t know what the cat wanted. 

When Stinky started meowing at him, Harry pushed him off the treadmill’s console in annoyance. But the cat didn’t give up. It continued meowing, this time even louder than before. 

Fed up with him, Harry turned into his black cat Animagus form to give him an earful. Animagus wizards and witches could communicate with other animals, especially those of the same species as the animals they turned into. 

The things that Stinky told him after he transformed, however, made his annoyance at him vanish, and he quickly turned back into his human form before leaving the gym, following the orange cat who started running ahead of him. 

⁂

When he entered Astrid’s room, the little girl was sitting curled up, crying with her face buried in her knees. That’s why Stinky had called him over. The old cat was intelligent enough to understand that Astrid was hurting, but he didn’t know how to comfort her. 

Harry sat on the edge of the bed next to her and touched her shoulder while asking gently:

“Astrid? What happened? What’s wrong?”

Her eyes were puffy, and her face was red and wet with tears when she looked up at him. He wrapped his arms around her, embracing her comfortingly to his chest before saying:

“Whatever it is, you can talk to me. Dad is always here for you, no matter what.”

She started crying even harder at his words. 

“Astrid? Talk to me, angel,” Harry said worriedly. 

“Are you really my dad?” she asked through her sobs. 

“What brought this on? Of course I am!”

“Someone from Cadmus contacted me. . . he told me you’re not my dad. . . he said that I don’t have any parents. . .”

A pit appeared in Harry’s stomach at her words. He had dreaded the day when Astrid learnt the truth. It was not something that he had wanted to keep secret from her forever, but he had hoped she would not find out about it until she was a little older, until she was mature enough to understand. 

He glanced at the laptop screen while he hugged the crying little girl, caressing her soft hair gently. 

‘Roger Williams. So that’s your revenge, huh?’ he thought, his heart slowly but steadily filling with killing intent.

He honestly didn’t know what he was supposed to do at that moment. He may have lived for hundreds of years, but that did not make him all-knowing. He had never been in a situation like that, having to comfort a little girl who happened to be a clone. 

“What he said was the truth,” Harry said eventually. 

Astrid tried to break away from his embrace and shouted through her sobs: 

“You lied to me!”

But he did not let go of her. He tightened his embrace on her. Fortunately, the girl had controlled her strength; she had not used her Kryptonian powers to push him away. 

“What he said was the truth,” he reiterated, “but I didn’t lie to you either. You are my daughter, Astrid.”

Surprised and confused by his words, she looked up at him. 

Harry felt his heart breaking for her as he used his thumb to softly wipe her tears away. 

“From the moment I found you at Cadmus, I knew I couldn’t leave that place without you. If I had left you behind and focused on Doomsday, I could have defeated him eventually. But I couldn’t leave you. I wanted to save you, and I did. And, in turn, you saved me too after he injured me. We both saved each other that day.”

“You see, Astrid, I was cursed by someone to never have children of my own. I’ve only known you for a few weeks, but I care for you as if you were my own. I rescued you. I gave you a name. And I adopted you. You are my daughter, and nothing anyone says will ever change that.”

The girl averted her eyes and buried her face into the crook of his neck as she cried. 

“How-, how do I know you’re not just saying that?” 

He broke the embrace and cupped her small face in his hands to make her meet his eyes. 

“I can show you. I could take you inside my mind and let you feel my emotions, my thoughts, and my feelings. Do you want that?”

Astrid nodded at him through her tears. 

Harry leaned down and touched his forehead against hers. 

Involuntarily, Astrid’s eyes closed, and she found herself being pulled into Harry’s mind, watching a memory through his eyes. 

It was the memory of when he found her inside Cadmus’ secret laboratory. She felt his surprise at seeing her appearance for the first time and his resolve to rescue her and even sacrifice himself to protect her from Doomsday, taking a powerful hit for her sake. 

Memories flashed in front of her eyes as though she were in a dream. She experienced Harry’s feelings of joy at seeing how clingy and affectionate she was. She felt Harry’s happiness every time she jumped into his arms to hug him. His emotions while he was casting magic spells, conjuring various animals and flowers to entertain her, were transmitted to Astrid too. 

She understood then that Harry truly viewed her as his daughter. That he had never looked at her as though she was a mere clone. That he treasured every moment that he spent together with her. He didn’t just tolerate or accept her. He adored her. To him, she was the cutest girl in the world. She was his little angel. 

When the spell broke and Astrid’s consciousness returned to her own body, the little girl jumped into Harry’s arms and hugged him tightly. 

“I’m sorry, dad. I’m so sorry.”

“Ow, ow!” he cried out from the superhuman strength she was using to squeeze his neck. “You’re going to kill your poor father at this rate, and you’ll feel even sorrier after that.”

She snorted with laughter through her tears as she lessened the strength of her arms around his neck. 

They stood like that for a long time, until Astrid had no more tears left to cry. But Harry did not mind it. He climbed into the bed with her and sat her in his lap. She laid her head on his chest, smiling as he caressed her hair softly. 

“You know, there is a way for you to become my daughter biologically too.”

She looked up at him, her blue eyes widening. 

“How would that be possible??”

Although she was only one month old, Astrid’s learning speed was like that of a supercomputer; a Kryptonian’s brain couldn’t be compared to that of a human. She understood the meaning of his words, hence why she was so confused.

“It’s a magic ritual,” Harry explained, smiling at her. “Back in the world I come from, some aristocratic families in the Wizarding World used to perform this ritual when they could not give birth to any children of their own; they would adopt other children and perform a Blood Adoption ritual so that they would continue the family line.”

“Whoa. . . can magic really do anything? I’m so envious!”

He ruffled her hair playfully. 

“You’re a Kryptonian. You have nothing to be envious of.”

“Yes, I do! You can make flowers, birds, snakes, puppies, and anything else you want! You can also become invisible, read minds, teleport. . . and many other amazing things!”

“Oh, shush. You, Kryptonians, are so powerful, it’s unfair. Your mom could probably twist me like a pretzel if I made her mad.”

Astrid giggled, and Harry started laughing with her too. 

“So that's why you’re always treating me so nicely?” came a third voice from the door of the bedroom. 

It was Power Girl, who had just come back from Justice League work. She was standing with a hand on her hips, smirking at him teasingly. 

“Yep, that, and a few other reasons. . . that cannot be mentioned in polite company. I shan’t speak lest I sin.”

The joke was lost on Astrid, but Kara burst into laughter. 

“As shameless as ever,” she said, shaking her head as she walked to the bed. “Come on, don’t hog Astrid all to yourself! Make some space for me too!” 

“No, she’s mine!” Harry shouted and turned with his back, covering Astrid completely, away from Power Girl’s reach. 

She squealed and laughed as her parents fought over her, but, in the end, try as he might, her father couldn’t do much against her mother’s Kryptonian strength, and he got yanked out of the bed and sent flying. 

Instinctively, Harry turned into a black cat when he got thrown out and twisted his body to land on his feet. Cats always land on their feet. 

A silence that you could hear a pin drop was heard before Astrid exploded:

“Ohmygoshyoucanturnintoacat!”

She flew out of the bed, and, before Harry could react, he found himself picked up by Astrid, who proceeded to squeeze the life out of him. 

“Astrid! You’re squishing him!” Kara said through giggles, but the little girl was overwhelmed by how cute his black cat Animagus form was. Her envy for Harry’s magical abilities only soared from that incident. 

Harry meowed and struggled with all his might to get out of her arms, but it was to no avail. In the end, he gave up and just let Astrid smother him as much as she wanted. 

⁂

Several days passed since the drama and the bonding moment between Harry and Astrid. The weekend was finally here, and Harry intended on keeping his word. 

“Can’t believe it didn’t cross my mind to do this when my arm was shattered. I wouldn’t have had to spend several days scouring Themyscira’s forest for magical plants and brewing a half-baked potion that hurt like hell. . .” Harry muttered dejectedly. 

Kara laughed and pecked him on the cheek. 

“It just goes to show how much you care about our little angel.”

Now that Kara was off from work and also informed the Justice League that she may not be available in the next two days, she, Harry, and Astrid prepared themselves for an interdimensional trip. 

Seeing as it was September, Kara was super excited about dressing up in her autumn outfits. She rarely went out nowadays; she was either at work, wearing formal office outfits as a no-nonsense female CEO was supposed to, or doing hero work, wearing her Power Girl costume. She rarely had the chance to show off her outfits. 

Kara smirked when she came out of the dressing room, and her superhearing picked up the sound of Harry's heartbeats quickening. But, to much to her surprise, his instant response was:

“No Way!”

“Huh?!” Kara said, thrown off by the discrepancy between his bodily reaction and his words. 

“We’re going to go into a world where people dress and act like they did 100 years ago. Everyone will stare at you like at a zoo. You can’t go around like that!”

“You’re kidding!”

When Harry just stared at her, she whined in a manner that nobody would expect Power Girl to act like:

“Aww, come onnn, Harry! So what if they stare? Who cares?”

She had a body to die for, and she was never ashamed of showing it off.

“You might even get stopped by the patrolling Aurors for public indecency if you walk around like that!”

“I’ll just beat them up if they have a problem with it.”

In all fairness, her outfit was not that indecent. It was rather simple, consisting of a pair of beige thigh-high boots and a tight sweater dress that hugged her hourglass figure like a second skin. The main problem with it was the large window in her chest and her big breasts nearly popping out of it. 

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. Sometimes, she was stubborn to a fault. 

“Come on, Kara, when have I ever made a fuss about what you wore? Never. I love your style too. But we’re going to a society stuck in the Victorian era. I just want to do our business there, take what we need, and be on our way without any complications or attracting unnecessary attention.”

She let out an annoyed huff. 

“Fiiine. Party pooper.”

She disappeared back into the dressing room with her super speed and came out once again, only two seconds later, wearing a different outfit. . . or that was supposed to be the case. 

“Really? It’s literally the same! No, it’s even more eye-catching!” he burst in exasperation. 

It was an outfit similar to the first one, but the sweater dress was a deep red colour now, and she was wearing black stockings together with her beige thigh-high boots.

When Kara started laughing, he realised that she was messing with him on purpose this time. 

“Alright, the third time is the charm,” she said and stuck her tongue out at him childishly before disappearing into the dressing room with a blur of speed again. 

Two seconds later, she came back wearing another sweater dress-

‘How many sweater dresses does she have?’

It was a white sweater dress with a slightly smaller boob window, and it went down to her mid-thigh, where a diagonal slit revealed her long, smooth, athletic legs. It was a dip hem dress—the type of dress that was longer at the back and shorter at the front. 

The outfit was completed by a pair of black ankle boots and a pair of round golden earrings. She still looked gorgeous, but it was a more stylish dress, an outfit that was less in-your-face kind of sexy. 

“Well, what do you think?” Kara asked, posing confidently with her hand on her hip. 

“You’ll die if you don’t look sexy for one day, won’t you?”  

She giggled as she walked toward him with a sway in her hips.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her lips to his in a chaste kiss. 

"It is a compliment. You're breathtaking."

He wrapped his arms around her slender waist, pressing her body against his as he ran his hands gently over the curve of her hips and back. He was just barely holding himself from turning their chaste kiss into something more passionate.  

He broke the kiss and smacked her ass lightly, greatly enjoying the way his hand bounced back from the elasticity of her toned cheeks. 

Kara grinned at him teasingly. She would never get tired of seeing how deeply her beauty was affecting him. 

“Mom, dad! Are you ready?” came Astrid’s voice from outside their bedroom. 

Harry stole one more kiss, pecking her on the lips, before letting go of her. 

“Yes, come in.”

“Finally! I thought I’d have to wait for you for 2 hours!” the girl said in chagrin, putting her hands on her waist for further emphasis. 

Astrid was dressed in a pretty outfit too, in a child version of her mother’s. She was wearing a burgundy sweater dress, black stockings, and grey boots. 

“Come here, you little monkey!” Harry said, snatching her and bringing her up in his arms. She was just too cute. 

“Dad! You’re wrinkling my clothes!” she said, trying to pretend that she was annoyed. 

“Oh, no! If only there were a magic spell that could straighten out your clothes!” 

At this retort, the little girl couldn’t hold a straight face anymore and started giggling. 

“Okay. Time to go. You girls got everything you need?” Harry asked.

“Yes.” 

Kara hugged his side tightly, and Harry also wrapped his arm around her. With Kara at his side and Astrid in his arms, they were ready to go. 

“Let me do it! I want to do it!” Astrid said when Harry was about to activate the Portkey. 

He smiled at her enthusiasm. For some reason, the little girl just loved travelling by Portkey. He gave her the empty bag of chips that he had turned into a Portkey. 

Astrid took the Porkey and said the activation word:

“Stinky!”

The space twisted, and their bodies disappeared into thin air. 

⁂

A few moments later, the three of them found themselves inside an extremely large hall, in the middle of over 20 people who were wearing superhero costumes. 

Momentarily, all of them were in shock, and Harry took advantage of their stupor to quickly cast a shielding charm around him and his family. 

“Who are you?”

“Identify yourself right away!”

After getting over their surprise, the hero-costumed people immediately surrounded them from all sides, brandishing their weapons or making various elemental abilities appear in their hands. 

“We’ve come in peace,” Harry said. “I need to speak to Lex Luthor or Martian Manhunter.”

Naturally, his words went through one of their ears and left through the other. They couldn’t take what he said at face value after he infiltrated their headquarters and suddenly popped out of nowhere in their midst. 

Luckily, Martian Manhunter happened to be inside the building, and his voice rang from the speakers installed in the room. 

“Everyone, don’t worry. I know them; they are not villains. They are my guests.”

His words stopped the heroes from attacking them, and, a few moments later, Martian Manhunter’s immaterial body flew down through the ceiling, appearing in front of them. 

“J’onn! Long time no see!” Kara said happily, and she walked to him, taking him in her arms. 

“Long time, indeed!” the Martian replied, showing a rare smile. 

Harry also came when Kara let go of him and shook the Martian’s hand. 

“How has this world been treating you?” Harry asked. 

“Better than I could have ever imagined,” J’onn said. “But let us go together upstairs. Lex Luthor is present as well. I am sure he would be happy to see you. None of this would have been possible without your help.”

⁂

“Emissary! Had I known you would come, I would have organised a welcoming party!” Let Luthor said, smiling as she shook Harry’s hand with both hands. 

“You look healthy, Mr Luthor.”

“None of that Mister with me. Call me Lex. You’re far older than I am anyway, aren’t you?” Luthor joked. 

“You can also call me Harry,” he said, chuckling. Then, he introduced his family to him.

“You probably know her already; this is Kara Zor-L. She is my fiance.”

Kara almost choked on her spit, looking at Harry wide-eyed as she shook Lex Luthor’s hand.  

“And this is my daughter, Astrid.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr Luthor,” Astrid said shyly. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, young lady,” Lex Luthor said amiably. 

Glancing at the little girl who was hiding behind her mother’s skirt shyly, Luthor asked:

“Does time flow differently on your Earth? When did you get a daughter so big?”

“It’s a long story.”

The four adults spent the next hour catching up. Harry and Powergirl told them about the situation on their Earth, about Cadmus’ assassination attempts, about the deaths of Rocket Red and Animal Man, and about the newly created ARGUS organisation too. 

In exchange, Martian Manhunter and Lex Luthor informed them of the current situation of their dimension too. 

“You’re not the only one who got engaged,” Luthor said. “J’onn here already has a set date for his wedding.”

“That quickly?!” Powergirl blurted out in surprise. 

J’onn smiled, not bothered by her reaction. 

“Rose and I have connected on a deep level from the first day we met, back when the Justice League came to this dimension for the first time,” he explained. “It’s exceedingly rare for two minds to be so in tune with each other. We fell in love from the first moment our minds met telepathically. There is no meaning in waiting.”

“The mass media is talking up a storm about it,” Lex added. “They find it hard to believe that the daughter of the president of the United States would fall in love with someone out of the blue and marry him a few months later.”

J’onn and Luthor told Harry and Kara about the situation of the Crime Syndicate too. Superwoman and her Made Men were still bound by her Unbreakable Vow, working on the side of Justice, but everyone else was imprisoned, even Ultraman, the other dimension counterpart of Superman. 

“It’s an era of peace like we haven’t known in forever,” said Lex Luthor. “Nowadays, there are barely any armed robberies or organised crimes. Most of our problems are of a political nature now, with the rest of the world being worried that the USA and the Justice League are too powerful. It’s mostly mind games and diplomacy.”

“But Lex is unmatched in this field,” J’onn said, smiling. 

“With all that being said, what brings you here, Harry?” Luthor asked. 

“I need your help with something,” he said directly, not beating around the bush. “That device with which you travelled between dimensions, is it still working?”

“Yes, though only J’onn and I have access to it. Everyone else thinks it was destroyed,” Luthor said honestly. “Why do you need it?”

“I’m looking for a dimension where the counterparts of my people exist. An Earth where the Wizarding World I come from exists. It’s for the sake of my daughter.”

Harry didn’t go into detail, but Lex Luthor did not doubt his words. Even if Harry were to tell him a lie, after everything that he had done for him, Luthor couldn’t even think about turning down his request. That’s because Harry’s actions had literally saved Luthor’s world. 

A few minutes later, Luthor and J’onn led the three of them to a secret room of the Justice League's headquarters on the moon.

“This is the controlling device,” Luthor said as he handed Harry something that looked like a remote control with a round antenna. 

“Unfortunately, the quantum trigger was lost when you destroyed the QED bomb on Earth Prime. The amount of charges you have is limited. You can only cross dimensions four times. You will have to find another source of energy to recharge it after that. The intensity and-”

“Um, it’s probably better if you talked to Kara about the specifics. Technology and I don’t mix well,” Harry said.

While Luthor and Kara started talking about the teleporting device and other complicated scientific subjects, Harry took Astrid (who had been remarkably quiet and patient until then) and started exploring the room, glancing at the various futuristic tech stored in there. 

⁂ 

Two hours later, Harry, Kara, and Astrid appeared in the middle of London, in a side alley, with a great flash of light. 

The leisurely trip through a magical world that Kara and Astrid had been expecting turned out to be a disappointment because this was the fourth dimension that they were visiting, and they had yet to find an Earth where the Wizarding World existed. 

Not wanting to drag the two girls around with him for no reason, Harry went to check the usual magical places in London by himself, casting wide-area-of-effect Revelio Charms and even launching eye-catching magical fireworks in the skies above London in order to catch the eyes of the Ministry of Magic. 

Unfortunately, this fourth world was a bust too. 

Imagining the crestfallen look on both Kara’s and Astrid’s faces, Harry felt bad for them. 

‘Can’t be helped. There’s nothing I can do about it,’ he thought. 

There was an infinite number of Earths, an infinite number of realities. In the end, finding an Earth where the Wizarding World existed was not that different from winning the lottery. 

He was about to Apparate back to where the girls were waiting for him when he felt the air becoming extremely cold and the rooftop of the building he was standing on freezing all over as though he were at the South Pole. 

Understanding what was about to come next, Harry became tense. 

A cold chill travelled down his spine, and he felt two bony hands touch his shoulders from behind. 

“I’m starting to feel hurt, Harry. You’ve been quite neglectful of me lately, haven’t you?”

That raspy, inhuman voice made him break into cold shudders. 

“Death. Is there something that you need me to do?” 

Death took their hands off his shoulders and flew around him, stopping in front of him to face him. 

‘Fortunately, it’s the grim reaper appearance,’ Harry thought in relief. The human girl appearance was creeping him out far more than this inhuman, grim reaper look. 

“I don’t need anything from you. You’re the one who needs something from me.”

“. . . But I didn’t call for your aid.”

“Don’t you want to find a dimension where the Wizarding World exists?” Death asked.

“Thank you, but I’d rather find it by myself.”

Death laughed. 

“Harry, Harry. . . that little trinket that your friend gave you is quite marvellous for a mortal, but you may spend a lifetime scouring the Multiverse for an Earth with the Wizarding World, and you may still not find it.”

When Harry didn’t reply right away, Death came to sit on the edge of the building’s rooftop next to him, as if they were pals. 

“I’m not your enemy, you know?” Death began. 

“Could’ve fooled me,” Harry muttered. 

“You’re never going to let go of that meteorite incident, are you?” Death said, sighing. 

At Harry’s deadpan stare, Death raised their hands. 

“Fine. I admit, I did cross the line back then. But I am trying to make up for it.”

“So that’s why you want to help me? No ulterior motives?” Harry said sceptically. 

In Death’s eyes, the past, the present, and the future were one. Death could not predict Harry’s future actions because he was their Emissary, but they could easily influence or manipulate Harry with their knowledge, like when they got Harry killed with a meteorite. 

“I gave you my word that I would never try to get you killed again, didn’t I? I am not a human. I don’t lie,” Death said, sounding as though they felt insulted by his suspicions. “I told you before, you and I are entwined for eternity. You are my precious Emissary. Since we’ll be together for aeons, is it not better for us to get along?” (1)

“No hidden side effects? No hidden prices? No hidden agenda?” he asked one last time. 

“Let’s just say that you being close to your newfound family works in my favour,” Death said uncaringly. 

“You’re just hoping that they’d kick the bucket and that I’d trade my life for them, aren’t you?”

Death chuckled in amusement. “Please. We both know you’re a hopelessly loyal fool with a saviour complex. Even if you aren’t blood-related, if something were to happen to that little girl - Astrid was her name? - you’d trade your life for hers regardless.”

Harry couldn’t find a retort against that.

“. . .Fine, you win.”

“I knew you’d see my way,” Death said and a tear appeared in the space in front of them. “This portal will take you to an Earth where the Wizarding World exists. I’m not asking you to do anything over there. Whether you get involved or not with anyone or anything in that world is entirely up to you.”

Harry glanced at Death’s wraith-like body and then at the shadowy crack in space. 

“Thank you, Death,” he said before stepping through the portal and vanishing from view. 

Once he was gone, Death let out a chuckle. It was a cold, raspy laughter that would make anyone tremble with anxiety but if Harry were to hear it, he would recognise the fact that Death sounded happy. It was a chuckle of satisfaction. 

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂

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(1) It happened in Chapter 14