Cause and Effect, My Love

Chapter 1: What a Feeling

Harry Potter claimed his final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was punctuated with a strange "feeling" in the beginning. Unable to articulate what that feeling was, he ignored it--a ritual he'd undergone many times when he felt the feeling before. The conversation between his friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger proved an adequate distraction. The topic: missing entrepreneurs Fred and George Weasley, creators of the popular Weasley Wizard Wheezes joke shop franchise. They had been missing for two months. Ron and his family did not know where they were nor had they received any contact. Harry considered the Weasleys family; he took a natural interest in Fred and George's whereabouts.

The conversation was too short. The feeling was still there at its death, and he could not think of another distraction besides looking elsewhere. This distraction lead him to see Trinity and the program Argentina Cortez for the first time. They were sitting at the faculty table in the back of the Great Hall. Potter did not have a strong reaction to the two beyond their clothes. He otherwise hoped that neither of them were Death Eaters, or spies for Lord Voldemort.

But before I can continue this narrative, I should explain all I am saying to you. The scene and situation beginning this narrative takes place in a culture unfamiliar to most of my readers. The "magical" community, for many incarnations of the Matrix, had been unknown to everyone except so-called "witches" and "wizards." These people were born with the ability to manipulate or alter certain parts of the Matrix. Through several versions the magical community formed a private society free from infringement by non-magical or antagonistic outsiders and certain programs.

Harry Potter is an important figure in wizarding history. At age one he survived an attack on his parents and himself by Lord Voldemort. Voldemort, a wizard terrorist who rose to power in the 1970's of the final version and later in the 1990's, was bent on achieving immortality by means of different "spells," manipulations, and favors from programs in the Matrix hierarchy. He wanted to eliminate all "Muggles," or people born without "magic," and Muggle-born witches and wizards to establish a pureblood magical society.

Voldemort murdered the Potters at the height of his power. Potter was believed to have survived the attack due to a protective spell cast by his mother before she was murdered. Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of the school at the time, linked Voldemort's motives to a prophecy made about a child born with the ability to defeat Voldemort. This prophecy could have been applied to another wizard, Neville Longbottom; but Voldemort chose Harry as his rival.

Harry faced Voldemort several times during his years at Hogwarts. Most times he barely escaped with his life. The Dark Lord (as Voldemort was called) was still at large during Potter's seventh year. It was expected that Potter would defeat him soon. Hogwarts remained safe through Voldemort's return, yet the school was still vulnerable to spies. Potter therefore had reason to be concerned for the trustworthiness of both new teachers. His first impressions of Argentina Cortez gave him no reason for concern. He did, however, begin to suspect that Trinity was a Death Eater.