Harry spent the next twenty minutes explaining everything to Dumbledore from the offer he'd received, his reasoning for accepting it, and the transformation process itself. By the time he finished, the old wizard had gone through three more jam tarts and had developed a slight twitch in his left eye.
"So let me see if I understand this correctly," Dumbledore said calmly as he paced back and forth at a rapid pace in his office. "You received an offer to become a nascent World, decided the risks were acceptable without consulting anyone, and then proceeded to transform your Hun Soul into what you're calling a Heaven-Earth Soul containing multiple Textures, or rather small worlds?"
"That's right," Harry said brightly. "And it worked perfectly!"
Dumbledore rubbed his temples. "Harry, my boy, when you say the risks were 'acceptable,' what exactly did you base that assessment on?"
"Well, my Blessing of Fortune meant that if there were any serious hidden dangers, I would have been highly likely to at least be given the opportunity to avoid them. There's also my Po Soul's stability that should have rejected any changes I didn't want. And really, the offer seemed straightforward enough… become a World with my own laws of reality. What could go wrong?"
"What could go wrong?" Dumbledore repeated faintly. "Harry, you just transformed the fundamental nature of your soul on a massive scale. You could have been trapped, corrupted, or worse!"
Harry waved a hand dismissively. "But I wasn't!"
Dumbledore was speechless. "You realize I'm going to have to run every diagnostic spell I know to make sure you're truly unharmed?"
"I figured you'd want to do that," Harry said. "But first, would you like to see the Human World? I can create a gate right here."
"You want to create a portal to another dimension in my office?" Dumbledore asked slowly.
"Yes!"
Dumbledore opened his mouth, probably to object, but Harry was already reaching out with his Space Authority, establishing the connection between Earth and the Human World within his soul.
A circle of light that was about six feel tall appeared in the middle of the office.
Through it, Dumbledore could see rolling hills covered in green grass, with a forest in the distance and a clear blue sky overhead.
"There we go!" Harry said proudly. "One teleportation gate to the Human World. I can't actually enter it myself with my physical body since that would be like trying to climb inside my own soul, but you can go through if you want."
Dumbledore stared at the portal, then looked at Harry, then back at the portal.
"This is really happening," he whispered to himself. "My grandson has become a world and is casually opening portals in my office."
"It's not that casual," Harry protested. "I had to concentrate quite hard to establish the connection. I suppose it'll get easier with practice."
The old man sighed and started rubbing his glasses. "You're certain it's safe?"
"Completely certain. The Human World has the same physics as Earth. It even has Magic, so it shouldn't feel any different."
Dumbledore approached the portal cautiously, wand still in hand. "And you said you can't enter yourself?"
"Not with my body. But I can condense my Will into a Human Avatar that looks exactly like me. Watch." Harry closed his eyes and focused on his Heaven-Earth Soul. In Heaven, his Human Avatar stepped forward and then shifted, appearing in the Human World instead.
Through the portal, Dumbledore could see another Harry walking toward them from the other side.
This Harry looked identical to the one sitting in the office.
"Hello, Grandpa!" the Avatar Harry called out, waving cheerfully. "Welcome to my world!"
Dumbledore's eye twitch returned. "There are two of you now."
"Not exactly," both Harrys said at the same time. "It's more like I can switch between the two," the true Harry continued. "If I concentrate especially hard, I can manage to control both at the same time… but it's not very practical. My Avatar is also limited to the Heaven-Earth Soul, it cannot roam outside."
"This is going to take some getting used to," Dumbledore muttered.
He stepped closer to the portal, then paused. "What happens if I go through and you lose concentration? Will I be trapped?"
"The gate is stable once established," Harry assured him. "I'd have to actively dismiss it for it to close. And even if something did happen to me, you could always use Apparition to get back to the portal location."
"Assuming Apparition works the same way in your... Human World."
"It should. Same Laws of Magic as Earth, remember?"
Dumbledore took a deep breath and stepped through the portal.
The moment his feet touched the grass on the other side, his eyes widened in genuine shock. He cast a quick diagnostic charm on himself, then another on the surrounding area.
Both spells worked exactly as they should.
But that wasn't what had him staring.
"Merlin's beard," he whispered, slowly turning in a circle to take in their surroundings. "Harry... this is..."
The grass beneath their feet was the most vibrant green Dumbledore had ever seen. The rolling hills were pleasing to the eye, each slope going naturally into the next without a single awkward angle or jarring transition.
The forest in the distance drew his gaze next.
Even from here, he could see that every tree seemed to be in absolute perfect health. The oak trees had thick, sturdy trunks without a single blemish or disease mark, and the birch trees gleamed a pure white as their leaves rustled in a breeze that felt exactly the right temperature.
"This looks like paradise on Earth," Dumbledore said quietly.
Harry's Avatar tilted his head, considering that statement. After a moment, he nodded slowly. "Actually... you're right. I hadn't really thought about it that way."
Now that Dumbledore had pointed it out, Harry was starting to notice things he'd missed before. The small stream that bubbled nearby had water so clear he could see every pebble on the bottom, and those pebbles were all pleasant to look at. Even some of the small fish swimming in the stream had him almost salivating because of how delicious they looked.
In short, it looked like Heaven on Earth.
Harry held up his right hand in front of his eyes and frowned.
He had become a World, yes, but he wasn't just a normal World…
All those prior offers had changed him in many different ways, and if he was the World now, then those changes could affect this place too. The Transcending Beauty offer had pushed him to the top tier of handsomeness and made his body purify itself as his overall power grew.
If that was part of him now, and this World was literally his own Soul...
Everything was interconnected. The purification of his body certainly meant that his Source Soul was being purified as well since the two were tightly linked together. But he didn't operate according to the logic of others who only had one Soul.
No, he had two Souls that originally worked according to the logic of Chinese Mythology.
Both his Source Soul and Heaven-Earth Soul were also connected and could affect each other. If his Source Soul was being purified, then it wasn't beyond his imagination that the feedback of that purification could purify the Heaven-Earth Soul to a degree as well.
Whether it was Heaven or the Human World, both were worlds/dimensions/textures within the 'World' that was his Heaven-Earth Soul.
Naturally they would be affected.
"I think my other powers are affecting this place," Harry said slowly. "You know about the offer that makes my appearance more refined as I get stronger? Since this World is basically me, that refinement is probably applying here too."
Dumbledore conjured a stag and watched it prance through the grass. "That would explain why everything looks so... ideal."
"Which means future offers might improve this place even more," Harry realized.
What if he got an offer related to fertility?
Would the plants here become even more vibrant?
He didn't know, but it seemed likely.
"Harry, I can't detect any difference in the magic between this world and the one we just left."
"That's because it is the same," Harry confirmed. "When I established the Law of Magic for this world, it wasn't some pale imitation. It's the real thing."
They walked together toward the forest, Dumbledore casting occasional spells to test the environment while Harry's Avatar pointed out small critters roaming around the forest.
"Harry," Dumbledore said eventually. "Do you understand what you've become?"
"A World, obviously. With my own Textures and Laws and-"
"No, my boy. Think deeper." Dumbledore stopped walking and turned to face him. "You've become something approaching a deity. You have your own Heaven where souls could theoretically go after death. You can create true life from nothing more than a drop of blood. You can manipulate the flow of time in your worlds..."
Harry did not like where this conversation was heading. "I'm still me, Grandpa. I haven't changed who I am."
"Haven't you?" Dumbledore asked gently. "Tell me, what would stop you from creating a thousand humans right now and forcing them to obey you? What prevents you from declaring yourself a god and demanding tribute from everyone who enters your world?"
"I wouldn't do that," Harry said immediately. "That's not who I am."
"But you could. That's the point, Harry. You now possess power that most beings can only dream of. And power, as I've learned through painful experience, has a way of changing people."
They fell silent and resumed walking, entering the forest proper.
Harry kicked at a fallen log, sending a small beetle scurrying away.
"You're worried I'll become like Voldemort," he muttered.
"I'm worried you'll become like me," Dumbledore replied quietly. "When I was young, I had grand ambitions. I wanted to reshape the world, to create a better society where wizards didn't have to hide from Muggles. I thought I knew what was best for everyone."
Harry looked at him curiously. "What happened?"
Dumbledore sat down on a moss-covered boulder. "I fell in love with a brilliant young man named Gellert Grindelwald. He shared my vision of a world where wizards ruled openly, where we could use our power to rule over the Muggle population. 'For the greater good,' we told ourselves."
"But something went wrong."
"Everything went wrong." Dumbledore's voice was heavy with old pain. "Our grand plans led to a confrontation that resulted in the death of my sister, Ariana. She was caught in the crossfire of a three-way duel between myself, Gellert, and my brother Aberforth. To this day, I don't know whose spell actually killed her."
Harry sat down on the ground nearby, listening intently. He'd never heard this story before.
"That tragedy opened my eyes to the dangers of believing you know what's best for everyone else. Gellert went on to become one of the most dangerous dark wizards in history, all in the name of creating a 'better' world. And I... I spent decades trying to atone for my part in setting him on that path."
"So you think I'll become a dark lord because I have power?"
"No," Dumbledore shook his head. "But the most dangerous tyrants are often those who genuinely believe they're helping people."
Harry went quiet for several minutes, thinking about what Dumbledore had said. The forest around them was peaceful, with birds singing in the trees and small animals rustling through the underbrush. It was hard to imagine this serene place being the foundation of some dark empire.
But then again, Voldemort probably hadn't started out planning to become a monster either.
"What if I don't rule anything?" Harry asked eventually. "What if I just... let this world exist? Maybe establish a permanent gate somewhere and announce that a new world has been discovered. People could come and go as they pleased."
Dumbledore's eyebrows rose. "You'd be willing to give up control of your one of your own worlds?"
"Not give up control exactly. But I don't have to be some kind of god-emperor, do I? I could just be... the person who discovered it."
"That's... actually quite mature of you," Dumbledore said. "Though I suspect it would be more complicated than you think. Someone would need to establish laws, settle disputes, organize the basics of civilization..."
"Then let them organize themselves," Harry shrugged. "This Texture is only the size of London right now, but it'll grow by itself as more people with free will live in it. Eventually it could be huge. Big enough for entire countries. It could even grow to be the size of the Earth itself."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "You know, Harry, what you're describing isn't entirely without precedent. There have been discussions in the International Confederation of Wizards about... alternative solutions to our current situation."
"What kind of discussions?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.
"The kind that happen behind closed doors when people are really worried about the future," Dumbledore said seriously. "Muggle technology has been advancing at a rapid pace. Their surveillance capabilities, their weapons... some of our Divination experts have been having rather disturbing visions."
Harry frowned. "Visions?"
"Nuclear weapons being used against magical communities. Some devices that can share signs of magic to a global audience. Muggles discovering our existence on a large scale and viewing us as a threat to be eliminated." Dumbledore had a grim look on his face. "The Statute of Secrecy has protected us for centuries, but many fear it won't hold much longer."
Harry made a face at the word 'nuclear'. He'd seen Muggle movies with the Dursleys in the past three months that showed their military capabilities. If they ever decided wizards were dangerous...
"So what's the ICW planning to do about it?"
"That's the problem… they don't know. Some want to reveal ourselves gradually and try to integrate peacefully. Others want to strike first and establish magical dominance before Muggles can threaten us or think we can develop new spells to keep hiding ourselves, but it's uncertain whether that's realistic in the long run. A few extremists even suggest relocating entirely, though nobody knew where we could possibly go."
Dumbledore gestured around them. "Until now, perhaps."
Harry's eyes lit up. "You mean this could actually be the right solution? Not just for me, but for everyone?"
"Potentially, yes. Yet it raises countless complications." Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Consider the Muggleborn situation, for instance. What happens to a Muggleborn witch or wizard who chooses to live in your world? Do they abandon their Muggle families forever? Do we allow Muggles to visit, potentially exposing them to the new world?"
Harry hadn't thought about that.
"And if those Muggle families have other relatives? Friends? Jobs? Entire lives built in the Muggle world?" Dumbledore continued. "You're asking people to choose between their magical nature and everything they've ever known."
So it wasn't as simple as just creating a new world and expecting everyone to be happy about it.
"What about making multiple worlds?" Harry asked eventually. "I could create different worlds for different needs. Maybe even one specifically designed for Muggleborn families to transition gradually?"
Dumbledore shook his head, but raised an eyebrow straight after. "That wouldn't work out. But how difficult would it be for you to create more worlds?"
"Not too difficult, actually," Harry said, checking his instinctive knowledge. "The 'hard' part is the initial setup and deciding on the Foundational Laws and Supernatural Laws. After that, as long as I populate it with beings that have free will and individual personalities, the world will grow on its own even if the starting size is very small. I don't need to invest massive amounts of World Power to expand it manually."
"And what about other magical species? Goblins, centaurs, giants... would they be welcome in these worlds?"
Harry almost looked offended at the implication behind the old man's words. "They could have their own worlds if they wanted! Each species could have a world that suits their nature perfectly."
"While preferably still maintaining connections to Earth for those who prefer to stay," Dumbledore considered. "Permanent gates could allow travel between worlds as needed..."
"Exactly! Nobody would be forced to leave Earth if they didn't want to. But for those who do want something different, or safer, the option would be there. And maybe some kind of central world could be established where all magical species can come and interact?"
They sat in comfortable silence after those words, both lost in thought about the future.
Harry found himself imagining dozens of unique worlds growing inside of his Heaven-Earth Soul.
It would be so grand, wouldn't it? Harry was certain that he would become immortal eventually, if he wasn't already after becoming both an Angel and a World, so he was sure that more and more worlds would be created over time.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands…
Couldn't his Heaven-Earth Soul, his very existence, become an entire multiverse of its own?
"There's another consideration," Dumbledore said eventually. "Population. Earth's magical community numbers in the millions globally. Your Human World, as impressive as it is, currently has a population of zero."
Harry tilted his head in confusion. "Why does that matter? I mean, it's beautiful here, but I wasn't planning to move everyone from Earth immediately or anything."
"Think about it practically, my boy," Dumbledore said, conjuring a small chart in the air that showed population numbers. "If you want this to be a genuine alternative for our community, you need infrastructure. Magical Britain alone has more than ten thousand wizards and witches. They need shops, hospitals, schools, government services, entertainment..."
Harry looked around at the empty forest.
He hadn't really thought about that part.
"Right now, if a family moved here, what would they do for work? Where would their children go to school? What happens if someone gets cursed?" Dumbledore continued. "They could go back and forth using the gates, but the long-term goal is to have this world become self-sustaining."
"So I'd need to create an entire civilization first," Harry said slowly. "Not just a world, but a society with all the things people are used to having."
"Exactly. And that brings us back to the question of population." Dumbledore dismissed the chart with a wave. "You could spend years building the perfect magical city, complete with shops and schools and hospitals. But without people to run them, they're just empty buildings."
Harry kicked at a small stone, sending it skipping across the forest floor.
This was getting complicated fast.
"I could create humans, give them full individuality and free will, and they'd be real people with their own thoughts and dreams and personalities," Harry said quietly.
Dumbledore's voice dropped to a whisper. "Harry, that's... that's essentially playing God. Creating sapient life from nothing."
"I know." The weight of that responsibility wasn't lost on him. Harry had been trying not to think too hard about what it meant to literally create people. "But think about it, Grandpa. If I created a thousand people and gave them complete free will, they'd be just as real as anyone born naturally. They'd have their own hopes and fears, they'd fall in love, they'd create art and music and literature. They'd be genuinely alive."
"And they'd probably worship you as their creator," Dumbledore pointed out. "That level of faith and devotion... it would be intoxicating."
Harry felt a flush of embarrassment. That was exactly what he'd been thinking about earlier, just how useful all that faith would be for generating World Power.
Was he really that shallow?
No, he wasn't!
He wasn't planning to create people just to worship him. But if he was going to create new worlds anyway, and those worlds needed populations to grow properly, and those populations would naturally develop some level of faith in their creator... well, that was just a beneficial side effect, wasn't it?
"I wouldn't demand worship," Harry protested, shaking his head vehemently.
"But you'd still know," Dumbledore said. "And that knowledge would affect how you interact with them, whether you intended it to or not."
Harry sighed deeply. "So… what's the alternative? Leave the worlds empty? Only allow Earth-born people to populate them?"
"I don't know," Dumbledore admitted. "These are questions that philosophers and ethicists have debated for centuries, and you're the first person in history who's actually had to face them practically."
They started walking again, deeper into the forest.
Harry noticed that his Avatar body didn't need to breathe the way his physical body would. That was convenient, though he'd need to be careful not to make it too obvious when interacting with other people.
"What do you think the ICW would say if they knew about this?" Harry asked.
"I think they'd either try to control you or try to destroy you," Dumbledore said bluntly.
Harry let out a small laugh. "You know, Grandpa, that means we probably shouldn't tell anyone that this world is inside my soul…."
Dumbledore's mouth twitched slightly. "Yes, I imagine that particular detail might raise some eyebrows."
They walked a bit further before Dumbledore stopped and turned to face Harry directly. "Harry, I want you to understand something. This is ultimately your choice to make. I won't demand anything from you, and I won't try to control what you do with these abilities. You're mature enough, despite your age, and this power... it's yours to wield as you see fit."
Complete freedom to make his own choices should have felt liberating, but instead it gave him a lot of pressure.
What if he made the wrong decision?
What if he hurt people without meaning to?
"What do you want to do, Harry?" Dumbledore asked gently.
Harry took a deep breath. "I want to create magical humans. I could use my Time Authority so that centuries pass here while only days pass back on Earth. I can't appear directly while time is accelerated, but I could provide them with the Hogwarts curriculum books, provide resources for wands by creating the right tree species, ingredients for potions by adding the right magical plants and animals..."
He was getting excited as he spoke. "I could slow time back to normal whenever they face a major crisis, appear as my Avatar to help with whatever problem they're facing, then accelerate time again. Or I could send resources through portals. Maybe even create some kind of... divine miracle?"
The moment he said it, Harry realized how that sounded.
Divine miracle. As if he was planning to play god with these people's lives.
But wasn't that exactly what he'd be doing?
If he created humans and then occasionally intervened to help them, they'd naturally start to see him as some kind of deity. They'd develop religions around him, build temples, offer prayers... and all of that faith would convert into World Power for him.
Was that wrong?
Harry wasn't sure. If he was genuinely helping them and making their lives better, did his motivations matter? And it wasn't like he'd be demanding worship or threatening them if they didn't believe in him. The faith would develop naturally because he was actually helping them.
And if he gave them complete free will, some of them might choose not to believe in him at all.
That was their right, wasn't it?
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he closed it again. Was this the right way of doing things? Harry thought back to those memories from another world where power was everything.
That desolate world where Fiendgods and Ki Refiners fought constantly for resources and advancement.
A brutal place where the strong devoured the weak without mercy.
Those memories from the other world showed him something important. Growth came from challenge. Strength came from overcoming obstacles. Even virtue itself required choices between right and wrong, because without the possibility of making bad decisions, could someone truly be called virtuous?
To create a world without conflict... wasn't possible.
Not if he wanted the people to be real, to have genuine free will and the ability to make their own choices.
People would rebel against a perfect paradise. They'd create their own problems if none existed naturally. And honestly, that might be exactly what they needed to grow as individuals and as a society.
Harry sighed. "I could create divine miracles. I could intervene sometimes in matters with really high consequences... but I shouldn't interfere in their day-to-day lives, should I?"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, clearly interested in where Harry's thoughts were leading.
"If I solved all their problems for them, if I made their lives too easy, they'd never learn to solve things themselves. They'd become dependent on me, always waiting for divine intervention instead of taking responsibility for their own lives. That would breed resentment eventually, wouldn't it? They'd start to hate me for controlling them, even if I was trying to help."
Harry sat down on a fallen log. "Those memories I have from the Healthy Eating offer... they're from a world where conflict was constant. Where people had to fight for everything they had. It was brutal, but it also made them strong. Made them grow."
He looked up at Dumbledore. "I don't want to create a world that brutal. But I also don't want to create a world where people never have to struggle or make difficult choices. That wouldn't be fair to them, would it? They'd never become who they're supposed to be."
"What about natural disasters?" Harry continued, working through his thoughts out loud. "Tornadoes, plagues, accidents, conflicts between different groups... should I prevent all of that? Some of it? Where do I draw the line between helpful intervention and controlling interference?"
The more he thought about it, the more complex it became.
If he prevented all deaths, the population would grow out of control.
If he stopped all conflicts, people would never learn to resolve their differences.
If he provided everything they needed, they'd never develop innovation or creativity.
"I think," Harry said slowly, "I need to be very careful about when and how I intervene. Maybe only in situations where the entire civilization is at risk? Or when there's a natural disaster they couldn't possibly handle on their own?"
He paused, then continued. "And I should probably establish some kind of... divine title or identity that's separate from Harry Potter. If they're going to develop faith in me, it should be in me as their world's guardian, not as some kid from Earth who happened to become a world."
Harry thought about his virtue cultivation, about the way his angelic nature responded to genuinely virtuous acts. About his dedication to mastering firebending. "Maybe something related to virtue and flame? I could appear as a figure of golden fire when I do intervene, someone who represents justice and protection but also the consequences of evil actions."
He paused. "Figuring out a suitable divine title is really difficult..."
What if he chose something too intimidating and people were afraid to approach him? Or what if he picked something too gentle and they didn't take him seriously when he needed to intervene in dangerous situations?
And what about different cultures… would the same title work for everyone, or would he need different identities for different groups?
Actually, that raised another question. Should he create multiple human cultures from the start, or let them develop naturally over time? If he made everyone the same, they might never develop the diversity that innately provoked conflict between civilizations and drove progress.
But they might end up fighting each other constantly in an endless war...
Wait!
Harry slapped himself across the face.
Why was he rushing into creating humans at all?
This place was beautiful, but it was basically empty except for some birds and small animals. No magical creatures, no complex ecosystems, no real life beyond the basics. If he was going to create people and expect them to build a magical civilization, shouldn't the world actually be... magical first?
"Actually, Grandpa, I think I'm getting ahead of myself," Harry said, looking around at the peaceful but rather ordinary forest. "Before I create any humans, I should focus on making this place truly alive. Really alive, not just pretty."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean magical creatures!" Harry said, getting excited about the new idea. "Nemean Lions, unicorns, bowtruckles, nifflers, dragons... I could recreate every magical species from Earth and let them establish their own ecosystems here. Can you imagine how amazing this place would be after many centuries of magical creatures living and breeding and creating their own territories?"
"I could manually expand the world with World Power too," Harry continued, pacing back and forth as his ideas built on each other. "Make it bigger, add different climates and terrains so that all species can thrive..."
He was getting really excited now.
This was so much better than rushing into creating humans he wasn't ready for.
Dumbledore held up a hand. "Harry, slow down for a moment. Let me ask you something important."
Harry stopped pacing and looked at him expectantly.
"You mentioned recreating every magical species from Earth. Tell me, what do you know about the daily lives of Acromantulas? How do they establish their territories? What do they eat besides human flesh, and how much space does a colony actually need?"
Harry opened his mouth, then closed it. He'd read about Acromantulas in his Care of Magical Creatures studies, but that was mostly about how dangerous they were and how to avoid them.
The books didn't really go into all that much detail about their actual lifestyle.
"Or take unicorns," Dumbledore continued. "You know they're pure and beautiful and their blood has healing properties. But do you know how large their territories need to be? What plants they prefer to eat? How they choose mates, or how they raise their young?"
Harry was starting to see where this was going.
"What about creatures from other continents?" Dumbledore asked. "African magical species, creatures from the Americas that you've never even heard of? You spent time in several countries with Nicolas and Perenelle, but did you study their native magical creatures in depth?"
"Not really," Harry admitted. He'd been focused on art and culture during those trips, not magical creatures. "I know some basics from books, but..."
"But books only tell you so much," Dumbledore finished. "Especially when most of them are written for students who just need to know how to recognize dangerous species, not how to actually care for them long-term."
They walked toward a small river that bubbled cheerfully through the forest.
"You're right," Harry said with a small sigh, sitting down near the water's edge. "I don't really know enough about magical creatures to create proper ecosystems for them. I was thinking about it like... like arranging a painting. Put the pretty creatures in the pretty places and everything would work out."
"But ecosystems are incredibly complex," Dumbledore confirmed, sitting down beside him. "Predators and prey, food chains, breeding cycles, territorial disputes... Get any of it wrong, and species start dying out or fighting each other to extinction."
Harry picked up a small stone and skipped it across the water.
"This kind of project," Dumbledore said quietly, "it's best if you had the guidance of experts."
Harry nodded slowly. "You mean like magizoologists?"
"Exactly. People who've spent their entire careers studying these species, who understand not just what they look like or how dangerous they are, but how they actually function as living beings."
Harry threw another stone with some force, this one splitting the river into two.
"But that means bringing other people into this secret. And you said earlier that the ICW would either try to control me or destroy me if they knew what I'd become."
Dumbledore watched the split river water merge back together. "Harry, I agree that we shouldn't reveal that this world is inside your soul. That particular truth is too dangerous to share widely. But nothing can be kept secret forever. At a certain point, we will need to reveal the truth to some people, at least in part."
"What do you mean?"
"If we bring in experts, they will need to know certain things to do their jobs properly," Dumbledore explained. "They would need to know you can recreate species from thin air, just needing a drop of blood to start with. They would need to know you can adjust the time variance between this world and Earth, that centuries can pass here while days go by on Earth."
Harry nodded. That made sense. You couldn't ask someone to help design ecosystems without explaining the basic rules of how the world worked.
"They'd probably assume it's some kind of extremely advanced magical space," Harry muttered. "Like a really sophisticated extension charm. Nobody would jump straight to 'this boy became a literal world.'"
"Precisely. We can be truthful about your capabilities without revealing the full extent of what you've become."
"So who did you have in mind?"
"Newt Scamander is an old friend of mine, and he's a world-renowned magizoologist. I'm sure you've read his work."
Harry looked up in surprise. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? Of course! That book is basically the foundation of modern magizoology. But would he be willing to help? And can we trust him with this secret?"
"Newt has dedicated his life to protecting magical creatures," Dumbledore said. "The opportunity to create entirely new habitats where endangered species could thrive safely on such a large scale... I think he'd be very interested. As for trust, I've known him for over fifty years. He's one of the most honorable people I've ever met."
Well, having expert help would definitely be better than trying to figure everything out on his own...
"What about other experts?" Harry asked. "I mean, Mr. Scamander is brilliant, but he's just one person. Wouldn't we need specialists in different types of creatures? Maybe someone who focuses on marine life, another who knows about underground species?"
"Possibly," Dumbledore agreed. "Though we'd want to be very careful about how many people we bring in. The more people who know, the harder it becomes to maintain secrecy."
"But it's still your choice in the end," Dumbledore continued. "Do you want to bring in experts? Or would you prefer to try handling this on your own?"
Harry stared at his own reflection in the water for several minutes, quietly thinking it over. Part of him wanted to keep this world completely private, his own secret project that no one else could interfere with.
But that was probably his pride talking, not his common sense.
If he really wanted to create something amazing, something that could help magical creatures thrive and maybe even provide a refuge for Earth's magical community someday, he needed to do it right. And doing it right meant getting help from people who actually knew what they were doing.
It also wasn't like it was too great a sacrifice.
Once he learned from the experts, couldn't he apply those lessons to a different Texture, a different world, by himself in the future?
"I want to bring in experts," Harry made his decision. "Starting with Newt Scamander, if he's willing. This is too important to mess up because I was too proud to ask for help."
Dumbledore's face broke into a genuine smile, the kind that made his eyes twinkle behind his half-moon spectacles. "That, my boy, is exactly the kind of wisdom I was hoping to hear. It takes real maturity to recognize when you need help, especially when you have the power to attempt something on your own."
Harry felt a warm glow at the praise, though he tried not to let it go to his head. "So how do we approach Newt? I mean, we can't exactly send him a letter saying 'Hello, would you like to help populate a new world with magical creatures?' He'd think we were completely mad."
"Actually," Dumbledore said, standing up and brushing off his robes, "Newt has seen stranger things than you might imagine. But you're right that we'll need to be careful about how we present this."
They started walking back toward the portal.
Harry found himself wondering what Newt would think of this place.
Would he immediately notice how ideal everything looked?
Would he be suspicious, or just excited about the possibilities?
"What if we started smaller?" Harry suggested. "Maybe invite him to see the world first, let him explore a bit, and then gradually explain what we're hoping to accomplish? That way he can see the potential before we hit him with the more... unusual aspects."
"That's a sensible approach," Dumbledore agreed. "But I suspect Newt will have questions about how this world came to exist almost immediately. He's quite observant when it comes to magical environments."
Harry grimaced. That was going to be the tricky part.
Even if they stuck to the story about it being an advanced magical space, there would be questions about who created it, how it was funded, why it was being kept secret...
Actually, wait.
He had an idea!
"What if we told him it was a joint project between you and the Flamels?" Harry asked. "They're famous for their alchemical work, and everyone knows they've been alive for centuries. If anyone could create something like this, it would be them. And you're Dumbledore, so people expect you to be involved in mysterious magical projects."
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "You want to use Nicolas and Perenelle as cover for your world-creation abilities?"
"Not permanently," Harry said quickly. "Just until we know we can trust whoever we're bringing in. Once Newt has seen the world and agreed to help, we can gradually reveal more of the truth. But for the initial approach, having the Flamels' names attached would make the whole thing seem more... legitimate, I guess."
"I'll need to discuss this with Nicolas and Perenelle first," Dumbledore stated.
They reached the portal back to Dumbledore's office, and Harry dismissed his Avatar, returning his consciousness fully to his true body sitting in the chair.
"So what's our next step?" Harry asked as Dumbledore stepped through the portal.
Harry closed it behind him with a thought.
"First, I'll contact Nicolas and Perenelle to discuss the cover story," Dumbledore said while petting Fawkes. "Then, assuming they agree, I'll reach out to Newt. I'll tell him about an exciting new conservation project that could benefit magical creatures worldwide, and see if he's interested in consulting on it."
Harry nodded. That sounded reasonable. "How long do you think it'll take?"
"These things take some time to arrange properly." Dumbledore paused, then gave Harry a look that was part amused and part sympathetic. "I should warn you, Nicolas and Perenelle are going to be... concerned about the risk you took."
Harry felt his face pale slightly.
He'd been so caught up in the excitement of everything that he'd managed to push that particular conversation out of his mind. But Dumbledore was right. The Flamels had been nothing but kind to him, treating him like family, and he'd gone and transformed the fundamental nature of his soul in such a massive way without even mentioning it to them first.
They were definitely going to be worried. Probably angry too, in that quiet disappointed way that was somehow worse than yelling.
Harry groaned and put his head in his hands. "They're going to lecture me for hours, aren't they?"
"Almost certainly."
"You know what, Grandpa," Harry said, straightening up in his chair, "maybe I should tell them as soon as possible. Get it over with before I lose my nerve."
Dumbledore was about to respond when he suddenly held his nose and took a step back. "Harry, my boy, I think you need to take a shower first. Rather urgently, in fact."
Harry blinked in confusion, then caught a whiff of himself and nearly gagged. He smelled terrible, like he'd been rolling around in a swamp for a week.
His robes were also stained with streaks of black substance.
"What in the world...?" Harry looked down at himself in alarm.
"I suspect," Dumbledore said, still holding his nose, "that you've been expelling impurities from your body, but you were so focused on the transformation that you didn't notice."
Oh. That.
Harry remembered how odd it had been the first time his body purified itself, but this time he'd been completely distracted by the much more dramatic changes happening to his soul.
The physical purification had happened in the background without him even realizing it.
He became aware of other changes too now that he was paying attention to it. Harry's meridians had widened throughout his body because of the removal of impurities, allowing energy to flow more smoothly than ever before. If he had to compare it, what used to feel like narrow streams now felt like proper rivers coursing through his arms, legs, torso, and head. His dantian had expanded, the core reservoir in his lower abdomen now capable of holding more than twice as much chi as before. By his estimation, the amount of time he could sustain flight with firebending had gone from one hour to three hours.
His eyes felt strange as well, though he couldn't quite place what had changed about them just yet.
"Right," Harry said, standing up quickly. "Bath first, then terrifying conversations with the Flamels about my questionable life choices."
Actually, before he had that conversation, he needed to see if he could free Beatrice from her painted prison…
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Harry felt something shift deep within his Heaven-Earth Soul. It felt like the last wall standing in his way had broken down. He could sense new clouds forming in Heaven itself, not the white clouds of World Power, but brilliant golden ones of pure virtue.
This was Virtue Power, and it was being generated because of the fortitude he'd just shown.
Not physical courage in battle, but the much harder kind. The strength to face massive responsibility, to constrain his own power, and to choose the difficult path because it was right. Harry had spent the last hour wrestling with questions that would have been easy to ignore. He could have just created whatever he wanted without worrying about the consequences. He could have made himself the undisputed ruler of his own world and demanded worship from everyone in it.
Instead, he'd chosen to limit himself.
To seek guidance from people who were wiser and more experienced.
To put the wellbeing of hypothetical future inhabitants above his own desires for power and control.
Harry had been suppressing his halo for a long time, keeping it hidden so people wouldn't ask too many questions while he was working at the hospital. But now, as the Third Virtue of Fortitude completed itself within his soul, he found he didn't want to hold it back anymore.
The bright white ring of light behind his head began to change, taking on a golden tinge that grew stronger by the second.
"Harry?" Dumbledore's voice sounded concerned. "What's happening to you?"
Before Harry could answer, he felt something new developing from his back. It started as a warm tingling sensation between his shoulder blades, then grew into something much more substantial. Translucent wings unfurled behind him that weren't quite solid, but they felt as much a part of him as his arms or legs.
"I think," Harry spoke slowly, flapping his new wings, "I just completed my Third Virtue."
Dumbledore's eyes widened as he took in the golden-tinged halo and the angel wings. "Good heavens. Literally, it seems."
Harry couldn't help but laugh at that. The wings responded to his emotions, fluttering slightly with his amusement. He could feel that they were functional too, not just decorative. If he wanted to, he could actually fly with them, though probably not very fast.
"The fortitude you showed just now," Dumbledore said quietly, "in accepting such tremendous responsibility and choosing to wield it ethically... that's what triggered this, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded, not able to hide his grin at finally having wings in his human body as well.
It felt amazing. Not just the physicality of having wings, though that was pretty incredible too. But the spiritual satisfaction of knowing he'd made the right choice, even when it was harder than the alternatives. Harry had always been driven by a desire for power, but this was the first time he'd felt truly powerful by choosing to restrain himself.
"How do you feel?" Dumbledore asked, taking a step towards Harry to get a better look at the wings.
"Stronger," Harry said honestly. "Not physically, though I think I am a bit stronger physically too. But mentally, spiritually... like I'm more myself than I was five minutes ago, if that makes sense."
"It does," Dumbledore agreed, reaching out hesitantly toward one of the wings. "May I?"
Harry nodded, and Dumbledore gently touched the translucent feathers. His fingers passed through them slightly, but there was definitely substance there. The wings weren't entirely physical, but they weren't just illusions either.
"They're not entirely physical, are they? More like... solidified light?"
"Something like that," Harry nodded. He was still getting used to them. The wings felt real to him, but they existed on a slightly different level than his physical body. "I think they'll become more real the more Virtues I complete."
Dumbledore stared at the translucent wings. His expression was caught between wonder and something approaching concern. He rubbed his temples slowly, the same gesture he'd made earlier when trying to process Harry's transformation into a World.
"You'll need to hide those at school." His voice carried a slight tremor.
"Yes, I can suppress them when I need to. It's just... a bit harder now. The virtue cultivation wants to be expressed, especially when I'm making important moral decisions." Harry folded the wings against his back, and they faded away. The golden-tinged halo disappeared as well.
Dumbledore sat down heavily in his chair. He looked suddenly older than his many years. "Harry, my boy... in the span of a single afternoon, you've become a literal World with your own Heaven, gained the ability to create life from nothing, and now you're sprouting angelic wings and a golden halo." He paused and stared at his hands. "I'm beginning to feel rather... inadequate to guide you through this."
Harry felt a pang of guilt seeing Dumbledore look so overwhelmed.
The old wizard had always been his anchor, the one person who seemed to have answers for everything. But now Dumbledore was staring at his hands like they belonged to someone else, and Harry realized he'd been so caught up in his own excitement that he hadn't considered how all these changes might affect the people who cared about him.
"Grandpa," Harry said gently, moving to sit on the arm of Dumbledore's chair. "You're not inadequate. You're the reason I'm making good choices with these abilities instead of terrible ones."
Dumbledore looked up at him, eyebrows raised slightly.
"I'm serious," Harry continued. "Do you know what my first instinct was when I realized I could create humans? I wanted to rush to make entire civilizations. I was thinking about how much faith that would generate, how much World Power I could get from it. I would never force them to worship me, but I was being too impulsive. If you hadn't been here to talk me through it, I probably would have done exactly that."
Harry thought about it more as he spoke. When he'd first felt the rush of becoming a World, when he'd sensed all that potential power at his fingertips, his immediate thoughts had been selfish.
The fact that he'd caught himself and chosen a different path... that was because of everything Dumbledore and the Flamels had taught him over the years.
"And the story you told me about Grindelwald," Harry added, trying his best to reassure his grandfather. "About how believing you know what's best for everyone can lead to terrible things. That's exactly what I needed to hear. Without that warning, I might have convinced myself that controlling people was for their own good."
Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, then reached up to pat Harry's hand. "You give me too much credit, my boy. The wisdom to recognize your own dangerous impulses... that came from you."
"Maybe," Harry shrugged. "But I learned to recognize them because you taught me to question my own motivations. You never just told me what to do. You asked me questions that made me think about why I wanted to do things, and whether those reasons were good enough."
That was true, wasn't it?
Even now, Dumbledore hadn't tried to forbid Harry from creating worlds or demanded that he use his abilities in specific ways. Instead, he'd presented different perspectives and let Harry work through the ethical implications himself.
It was the same approach he'd always taken, even when Harry was much younger.
"Besides," Harry said with a small grin, "I'm still the same person I was this morning. I just have some new abilities to figure out. I'm still going to need advice, especially when I start working with people like Newt Scamander. You know way more about dealing with other adults than I do."
"That's certainly true," Dumbledore said, and Harry was relieved to see some of the tension leave his shoulders.
Harry stood up and walked over to give Dumbledore a proper hug. The old wizard seemed surprised for a moment, then wrapped his arms around Harry warmly.
"I love you, Grandpa," Harry said simply. "And I'm sorry for scaring you with all this world-creation business. I should have talked to you first."
"I love you too, my boy," Dumbledore whispered. "And while I would have preferred you consult me beforehand, I understand why you didn't. Sometimes opportunities present themselves when we're not prepared for them."
Harry pulled back with a grin. "Plus, you have to admit it's pretty amazing. I mean, how many people get to say their grandson literally became a world? That's got to be worth some bragging rights at the next Wizengamot meeting."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Oh yes, I can see it now. 'Cornelius, you think your new tax legislation is impressive? Well, my grandson just created an entire dimension with its own laws of physics.' That would certainly liven up the proceedings."
"You could start a whole new trend," Harry laughed. "All the other Wizengamot members would be pressuring their grandchildren to become cosmic entities just to keep up."
They both chuckled at the absurd image of competitive grandparents trying to one-up each other with increasingly powerful descendants.
"Speaking of important decisions," Harry said, his expression growing serious again, "I really do need to check on Beatrice. If there's any chance my Space Authority can help her..."
Dumbledore's smile faded as well. "Of course. But Harry, you should know that we've already tried everything we can think of. The portrait magic involved is... unusual. It's not just trapping her body inside an extended space within the painting. We suspect Beatrice has been transfigured into the paint itself. Her body has been changed into pigment and canvas, not just trapped behind it."
That sounded horrible.
Harry felt anger rise in his chest at whoever had done this to an innocent girl.
"And untransfiguration isn't working?" Harry asked.
"We've tried everything. It's as if whoever did this found a way to make the change permanent. The magic resists all our attempts to reverse it."
Harry's hands clenched into fists. "I need to see the portrait. Maybe I can teleport Beatrice into my world and back out again."
Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Very well. But Harry, don't get your hopes up too high. I suspect that simply teleporting Beatrice out of her prison won't work if the problem is that she's been fundamentally transformed into paint."
"I know, Grandpa. But I have to try." Harry stood up, then immediately wrinkled his nose at his own smell again. "Right after I take that bath. I can't help anyone while I smell worse than a troll's armpit."
Dumbledore chuckled. "That's probably wise. Take your time getting cleaned up, and we'll meet at the portrait in an hour?"
"Sounds good." Harry headed for the door, then paused. "Grandpa? Thank you. For listening, for giving me advice, for not trying to control what I do with these abilities... it means a lot."
"You're family, Harry," Dumbledore said simply. "And you're becoming someone I'm very proud of. Not because of your power, but because of how you choose to use it."
Harry smiled and left the office.