Prelude: Laws of Motion

"Sir, there are twenty three Aurors attempting to enter your compound."

"Where did they come from?"

X-339's positronic brain whirred before answering. "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Auror Office, and-"

I wiped the engine grease off my hands. "Full defense measures."

The mechanical golem hesitated. "Some of your countermeasures may be lethal-"

"I don't care. If the Ministry officers gets here, I'll be dead anyhow. Besides… If this works-"

"Everything in this timeline will cease to exist," X-339 said. "Very well. Countermeasures at full capacity."

In the background, gunfire erupted from turrets along the corridor. The Aurors were far too close for comfort. My hands flew across dials and levers, and the infernal machine I had spent a decade building groaned to life. Machinery slammed into action, slowly accelerating-

"All systems at critical capacity. Projected...Three minutes left."

My hands shook as I finished the ritual's circle, sealing it with a burst of magic from my wand. The lights dimmed. London experienced a power outage as I drained every joule of electricity from the city. Air distorted with the sheer amount of energy pouring into my summoning circle. The Ministry of Magic had underestimated me.

If my calculations were even slightly off, I would not even realize that I had failed before being ripped into my component atoms. According to my simulations, a temporal seam would blow most of Britain into orbit and kick start a mass extinction event on Earth. The stakes were so high. Too high. But...

X-339 looked up from his readout. "Sir! They're only two rooms away!"

"How long do you think our defenses will hold?"

"A minute, perhaps less."

"No time to lose, then. Input the date and coordinates."

"But-"

I grit my teeth. "Do it! Do it now!"

X-339 turned several dials, setting it at the date, and pulled the final lever into place. One minute left.

"Defensive mechanisms destroyed. Only the doors hold them back."

A massive blast shook the room, but the massive steel doors held. They were buckling, as if being placed under massive stress. I frowned. The door had been so heavily fortified that it should take the entire DMLE at least an hour to get through it.

"How?"

X-339 sighed. "It's Potter. He has the Elder Wand in his possession, and is using it to great effect."

I chewed my lip. "Forget the Three Laws."

"What?!"

"Override 323. Hold back anyone who gets through the door. Anyone. We're already dead."

X-339 resignedly spouted razor sharp blades from his right hand. A massive gatling gun emerged from his left arm. "Roger."

The doors crumpled, landing on the floor of the laboratory with the earsplitting peal of two massive gongs. Through the archway strode Harry Potter, his Elder Wand shining with the ancient might that only a Hallow could possess. Flanking him were twelve Aurors, armed to the teeth. The countermeasures had clearly worked-some of them were clutching wounds. Eleven others had fallen to my defenses. Is it murder if they die in a doomed timeline?

Harry stared. At me, my massive contraption, and ritual circle… "Why?"

I sighed. "I had to, Harry."

Forty seconds left. The remaining Aurors raised their wands at the machine.

"Now," I said.

The Aurors were driven to the ground by a slew of red hot tracer rounds. X-339 unloaded an entire belt of ammunition at a rate of three thousand rounds per minute. Shields buckled, and flesh and bone shattered and sprayed like crushed eggs. The stragglers had been executed almost instantaneously. Harry's shield held, though he had been brought to his knees. Staccato gunfire from my butler kept him at bay, but the power of the Elder Wand could not be matched.

"Master...I can only control him for a few more seconds-"

My hands blurred towards the controls, initializing the start sequence. Gears rumbled, and the summoning circle within the room shone with the eerie blue glow of Cherenkov radiation. Already, we were all being exposed to massive amounts of gamma radiation. My skin tingled and began to burn. Within minutes, we would both die of radiation poisoning...Not that it would matter.

The final rounds from X-339's gatling-gun smashed against Harry's shield, and my butler's tenuous hold on him broke.

Twenty three seconds left.

X-339 blurred forward, its sword hand reaching for Harry's, and-

"Diffindo." Blue streaks crisscrossed my golem's chassis, and my faithful butler exploded into a shower of sparking copper wiring, bolts, plate, and ruined positronic brain. Harry Potter pointed his wand at me, tears streaming down his face. "How could you, Ron?"

Ten seconds left.

"I had to," I replied simply. "For the Greater Good."

Six seconds.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

Harry's face twisted into one of sheer hate. Power curled around his wand, green mist forming into- "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The green bolt streaked towards my chest, halting just above my heart. The ritual began right before the spell connected. Strings of energy wove into my body, pulling and tearing. My surroundings smeared into one sludgy mélange of color, and I felt one massive tug on my navel before my body tore itself into pieces. Ronald Weasley was no more.