Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 1
Ministry of Magic 2001
Car horns echoed in the chilly evening air, their vehicles nearly bumper to bumper. A general feeling of hanging anticipation had been brought to life by the nine-to-five office workers, as was the routine.
It was a light drizzle, the streets slightly reflective with a sheet of water. Umbrellas had begun to litter the crosswalks and, as much as he could tell from the window in his office, there was no panic.
Good.
"Percy, should we be expecting them from the office Floo?" The timbre of his voice upsetting the prolonged silence.
"Yes, Minister. Given the… nature of the meeting Head Auror Robards had suggested for us to use your office credentials. I hope you do not mind, sir." The third oldest Weasley's voice had its usual nasally quality. He had learned to ignore it, for the most part.
"Agreed. Things have been calm for a time now. We do not need to disturb the public in the likely case of someone seeing a story." A sigh escaped him as he went to sit down, his large frame filling the leather chair substantially.
He was worried. He always worried, but this was a worry reminiscent of the dark times fighting Voldemort. Perhaps even worse.
A rush of flames at the back of his office flared, the green tint of the magical conflagration coloring the room temporarily. Folding his apprehension into the back of his mind, he stood to welcome his guests.
"President Quahog, Minister Oblansk, it is nice to finally meet you each in person." His hand shook the hands of both men quickly, urging them to take their seats.
"Minister Kingsley, yes, I can the say the same. There is something about these events that are deeply disturbing. Your and Minister Oblansk's counsel may be the thing to put my mind at ease." The President of the Magical Congress of the USA looked weathered despite his dyed blond hair and silk robes. He did not blame him.
"Of course. Ve in Bulgaria are quite troubled as vell." Oblansk's accent seemed to have improved from the last time he had heard him speak at the 1994 Quidditch Games.
Kingsley nodded in the direction of Percy, watching him leave and activate the enchantments at the doorway. Waiting for the feeling of enchantment magic to fade into the background, he began.
"Now that everything is secure, let's talk." He waved his wand behind him. The giant portrait of Merlin that perennially hung in the Minister's office came to life and the leaders watched as the character moved off-frame.
His teeth clicked against each other as he pondered on how he should start. Perhaps without any fanfare.
Kingsley's low voice came abruptly in the awkward silence, "My advisors state, with a certainty, that it began with this event. The Red Sea Cruise incident. Fourteen British nationals were found dead in the waters of the Red Sea. Taking place two months ago, the Egyptian investigators had found a series of peculiar events that had occurred minutes before the mass death." Kingsley moved his wand in a circular pattern heralding an image of a white cruise ship atop crystal blue water.
"They found with the assistance of cellular metadata that at a certain time, approximately 4:04 British PM, all passenger phones were turned off. The generator atop the ship was estimated to have been turned off in approximately the same time frame." The image morphed into a collection of cell phones on the skyboard floor of the ship.
"The Egyptians were further disturbed to find that the passengers had taken up scuba gear and dove beneath the surface on near empty tanks. There was no sign of coercion. Later magical investigations revealed no curse or hex cast." The British Minister of Magic pointed with his wand at the eerie recording on loop.
Bodies hung in the dark blue water, their pale skin in contrast with the shadows of the sea depths. The faces of the dead were peaceful, as if they had just gone to sleep. But the slightly bloated skin moving in motion with the underwater currents made for a disquieting scene.
A shudder involuntarily went up the British Minister of Magic's spine. It was truly a disturbing image. Waving his wand, he vanished it and watched as Merlin took his rightful position.
The President narrowed his eyes before speaking up, "Kingsley, it was a troubling event but my intelligence agencies have not found any links to this incident and the rest."
The black man's eyes found the blue, strangely piercing eyes of the MACUSA leader, a silent message to get to the point of the conversation. The scene may have had the side effect of amplifying the nervousness accumulated over the past few days.
Coughing into his hand, he continued.
"It is an event that defies all possibilities, just like the rest. Excluding magic considering the lack of evidence, the cruise group did not have any cultist tendencies, nor was there any sign of struggle. Alcohol levels were negligible. Fourteen people swam two hundred feet below the surface and died drowning." His voice had become a harsh whisper near the end.
"There have been stranger things. We are talking about the fact that a number of significant no-maj leaders in the developed world standing up in the middle of a government press conference and starting a massacre before eventually killing themselves!" The President appeared to had fallen back in his chair, weary with anxiety.
Kingsley remembered the news well; his thoughts barely leaving the events in fact. Around the world multiple Muggle men and women in power had inexplicably lost their minds. They had used Muggle weapons to kill a number of reporters before shooting themselves. No sign, magical or otherwise, found to make sense of things.
"Gentlemen, Ve did not come to aggravate our already tenuous grasp on the situation." The Bulgarian watched as both men slowly calmed down, hopeful that it would stay like that throughout the meeting.
"Now, ve know that those poor souls on the ship had a similarity with the muggle government leaders. A similarity in that they had thrown their lives away in a vhim so very opposite of common sense and even the loosest of senses." Both men appeared to be listening, so the Bulgarian continued.
"But these British civilians vere just that. Civilians vith no connection to any leaders that ve know of. A crucial piece of the puzzle is missing here..."
Reaching forward Kingsley pulled a tome from a compartment on his left, its title obscured by the gnarly strips of old leather.
"Now to the heart of why I asked for you both. My advisors found something within this. An ancient legend eerily relevant to these events."
Leafing through the yellowed parchment quickly, his fingers finally grasped at the page in question. His eyes danced across it before he looked at Minister Oblansk.
"This story originated in an Arabian manuscript, conveniently in regions near the Red Sea. The texts were translated by French wizards back in the 19th century and were actually encoded into an English tome by Nicolas Flamel." Kingsley had started to read from the page again, taking a few moments to wave his wand, temporarily duplicating the pages for both men.
"The former Minister, Fudge, had procured a copy of it from a French ambassador before placing it to gather dust in a dark corner of the Ministry, only to be found by an Unspeakable who thought I would find it relevant to the manic episodes." The black wizard turned to the back of the page, a hint of anticipation in his movements.
"Kingsley. What has gotten you in such a mood? This legend, why is it important to the problem?" The American had lost his patience observing Kingsley become entrenched in his findings; his eyes going sharply back and forth between the book and Kingsley.
The British Minister suddenly stopped reading and watched the two men.
"I apologize, but it is quite interesting. It is told from the perspective of an Arabian sailor who had come across a boundary between the sea and an intercepting river. Translators have noted down this was most likely in the Red Sea as sailors in the region frequently told stories of brackish waters." The two seated across slowly became still as their interest grew.
"The sailor and his crew went out to gather fish but found nothing. And as he realized the complete lack of fish in the sea, he began to feel a sense of unease. He described it as a feeling of men crawling beneath the ship's deck." All three shivered at the description.
"The sailor had finally realized he drifted close to the line where freshwater and seawater met, a superstition to Muggles in those times. Terrified he ran to the head of the ship and yelled out to his crew to get the ship ready, but there were no replies. Looking around he found his crew gathered at a corner of the vessel, entranced with the dark line where the sea and river touched." Oblansk finally realized something as his face took a grave expression.
Nodding, Kingsley continued, "Still terrified he forced himself to walk in the direction of the gathering. Once he could clearly see, he found the crew looking down into the water. He noted they were murmuring under their breath but could not make out what they were saying."
"Eventually the sailor looked down into the water as well and a few seconds later, he woke from his bed at home." The American released a breath he did not realize he was holding.
"A nightmare then?" The president asked.
"The sailor had thought it was, but then he later discovered the ship and his crew were gone, never to be heard from again. It ends with multiple scholars placing the blame on mischievous Djinn that usually frequented areas where fresh and seawater met."
"So it vas a Djinn that spirited avay the ship and people. As I suspected. But vat does this have to do with anything? It may be vaguely similar to the Red Sea drownings, vut Djinn cannot control others in such a way." Kingsley waved his wand in response, hovering the tome in the air until both men could make out the pages. A red creature, its body occluded with smoke was displayed. Twisted horns broke through the skull of the monster, warping the face into an abominable smile. Its skin was furrowed in the image, giving the impression of stretched skin. Almost as if their creator rushed to finish them.
"This is an Ifrit, a powerful, almost unheard of version of the common Djinn. The sailor was so troubled he had visited a forbidden house in the village, the home of the local magician. The magician, or wizard, pulled the image of this… monstrosity from his unconscious mind." Kingsley pointed again at the Ifrit.
"...What does this mean exactly?" This time it was the President that asked, apparently perturbed that the story was becoming even more confusing.
"Do you know what Djinn are composed of exactly? The unspeakable that brought this to my attention explained how the most accepted theory is that they are dark matter given form, existing without interacting with normal matter. It is only when fresh water and natural seawater intersect at a specific point in time and space can they extend a fraction of their power on our world, with Ifrits being the most able. And then only when people happen across such a point, can this power do anything significant."
One of Oblansk's bushy eyebrows rose. "Vat does this Muggle science have anyving to do vith brackish vater?"
Kingsley pondered the question before shrugging, "I do not understand it much myself, but it is said that the natural boundary between fresh and seawater is inherently magical, giving a glimpse upon realms beyond our imaginations, something that is similar to the concept of dark matter. The unspeakable believed it was this that gave rise to superstitions near these boundaries and why towns near them are said to have many odd events."
The MACUSA President quickly interrupted, "Magic comes in many forms, and I can readily accept this. But I still do not see how the ship passengers had anything to do with the recent events… unless they were killed by the Ifrits for some reason."
The British Minister of Magic grimaced slightly before waving his wand, animating the tome back to its original position in his desk.
"When the passengers were found dead in such a way, the Egyptian President was pressured to begin an investigation. The investigation led to a temporary ban on tourism in that region, exacerbating relations with the Israeli government. Israeli political parties at the time were establishing their budget for the fiscal year, and with this recent escalation they began to fund the Private Space Agency, Excalibur Almaz, an avenue for them to increase security defenses." Oblansk gasped, his hand reaching for his forehead suddenly.
When he spoke, it was strained, "Vhe first massacre vas vith the Russian Chairman of the Federation Council, who had opposed Excalibur Almaz' use ov underground terrain in Ukraine."
Kingsley nodded, and slowly the Bulgarian began to make the connections. The facts were there, but they were little more than footnotes he and his intelligence people had believed. Many companies benefited from the deaths, thousands even. But to think Excalibur Almaz was the organization in the center of all this. Each politician's death giving it more and more freedom to accomplish its goals.
The wizards were silent for a time until the British Minister spun his wand into a sharp pattern, summoning up a water container for his guests. Drawing water from it and drinking first to alleviate any concerns, they followed suit.
Kingsley spoke hesitantly after quenching his thirst, his thoughts still half formed, "Excalibur Almaz was just one of many that we found on a long list of suspects. But it was not until we extracted more information from a few scientists that worked there did we realize how integral they are to this situation. They are experimenting, attempting to alter existing matter to induce some kind of chain reaction to interact with dark matter."
Oblansk growled, a final understanding coming to him. "These creatures are vanting to invade our vorld are they? Vith this… dark matter, a gatevay can be made. Opening a path from a vorld of Demonic creatures! But how could they from the very beginning see the complicated effect ov their plans?" Those horns and the stretched skin from the earlier image were still on his mind, causing his eyes to cloud over in fear. They were not from the Earth. These things possessed alien thoughts and minds.
"Every scheduled experiment by Excalibur also lines up with the deaths. It seems that each experiment unlocks some power that the Djinn can inflict on this world, leading them more and more to their end goal," Kingsley responded, however, he had taken to glancing at the MACUSA President. There was something strange about his recent reactions.
Before he could say anything, the Bulgarian voiced a concern, "Vho else knows about this? Ve must keep the connection of this Dark Matter and Djinn quiet. A foolhardy Dark Vizard may doom us all."
Kingsley frowned. Only some top level Unspeakables and his Head Auror knew anything in detail, and they already swore oaths. "I don't think we'll have to worry about leaks, as long as we can put an immediate stop to the experiments."
Clap. Clap.
Oblansk and Kinglsey abruptly turned to the clapping MACUSA President, Quahog. He had leaned back in his chair, his face frozen into something different. Something disturbing.
"Gentleman. I would like to congratulate you for being the first ones to solve the mystery. However, as the humans say, 'Too little too late.'" Kingsley exploded into action, his wand waving to activate an alarm but found it slipping out of his fingers in a sharp contrast to his former capacity as an Auror.
Oblansk watched in horror as Kingsley fell over, a silent scream erupting from him. Slowly looking at Quohog, no, the monster in front of him, he could only stare.
"When we discovered the opportunity to encroach upon your lands, we took it with a savage clarity, rearranging what we needed to succeed. Murdering and saving in turn to bring out the best results. We Djinn always know how to get the best results, at least the best results for us…" The Djinn wearing the MACUSA President's face stood up, walking with an inhuman grace around the desk and towards the now gasping Kingsley.
"It was not long before we gained direct control over your world and quickly created a portal to it with the help of Excalibur. But the land was still too… human. It was an obnoxious mockery of our new found control of your leaders. But the solution was clear. Kill them, the pillars to society, in less than reasonable ways and chaos begins to spread. Like a human virus." It picked up Kingsley's glass of water, rubbing the top of it. Poison, Oblansk immediately thought, its effect brought on by the use of magic.
"Too afraid to utter a word? I had thought you would at least put up a fight. But seeing this is quite disappointing." The Djinn gazed at where Oblansk's eyes were looking.
"It was quite simple to put the poison in the container of water. Our bodies are facades, you see. We are all encompassing in a way, hovering over your world as a puppeteer hovers over his puppets, only forming humanoid bodies as roots to our power. We can pluck the strings of your reality, turning fire into ice and water into anti-Magical toxins for example. Though you magical beings are quite irksome in that we cannot affect things within you, your magic resisting earnestly. Otherwise I would have made poor Kingsley over there into an apple." The being's amusement appeared genuine as a strange smile came across Quohog's face, as if the blood behind his cheekbones was flowing into the shape of a smile.
Oblansk could not help but bite into his lips, drawing blood. A facade indeed. He looked into the eyes of the Djinn, and finally whispered, "Vhat do you vant with us? You are beings that can play vith us, and you torment us!? All you look izglad!"
The Bulgarian had started to mutter in agony, his hand grasping at a globe on Kingsley's desk before falling. An attempt at magic finally triggering the poison to eat away at his insides.
"Hmm, I did not see you attempt to cast a spell... Regardless, to answer your question. Why do humans hunt for sport or have factories filled with animals plump for slaughter? You can forgo both, but you do not as it is against your nature. We Djinn are much the same way." Red eyes glowed behind the wet pupils of the fake MACUSA President.
"But before I go and more importantly before you have your eternal rests, Kingsley and Oblansk, I must explain my next actions. As I exit this room into the hall outside, striking out at everyone around me only for it to end in my gruesome 'death', the MACUSA government will be dangerously close to war with your countries. And your replacement Kingsley? Only a few years after your civil war with Voldemort, it will not be an easy transition will it? With you gone and internal forces still vying for control, chaos is soon to erupt." Another 'smile' came to the being's face as he saw the horror reflect in the dying Kingsley and Oblansk eyes.
"Hah. A nice cherry in the top… or is it on top?" It started walking away then, leaving them alone in their final moments. Kingsley reached for his wand with his mouth, his fingers broken from attempting to move earlier against the paralysis his body felt. Only a few more inches and maybe he could write a message or contact him. It was not to be as his heavy frame fell over it, blood leaking from his eyes and ears.
Oblansk watched the valiant effort before succumbing, his last thought on whether or not they were better off dying than experiencing the terror to come.
Somewhere in France, 2002
A black blur moved through the shrubbery before disappearing behind a copse of trees. An unnatural stillness took a hold of the forest before it was broken by a vicious whistling of air.
A group of cloaked beings sprinted across the grounds, their unnatural speed prevalent as they cracked the earth beneath them and crossed the distance in seconds. The silence returned as they disappeared from sight.
Sighing softly, Harry Potter jumped from the branch he was resting on. It was all he could do to not collapse in exhaustion. A feeling that did not seem to disappear these days as running and evading became apart of his life.
Apparition had been a viable method of escape when things began to decay so rapidly, but these things had become skilled in wrapping areas in Space Tracers, a non-Magical method of measuring the instant change of space in one place to another. The unlucky wizards and witches that fell to it numbered in the hundreds, and even then it was only discovered as a non-Magical method after a talkative one boasted about it.
Slowly he ambled his way to a nearby tree, waving his wand around it in a complex motion before jumping into the bark. The Tree Trail charm was a form of transportation akin to the Floo. It connected a network of trees together by their roots, creating a magical pathway from one tree to another.
It was limited in its use, as only charmed trees became a part of the network, and even then only sanctioned trees were safe to really use, but it evaded the Space Tracers as it didn't instantly create space for a person as they exited the tree.
Holding his breath, the wizard grasped his wand before pointing it down, stifling a gasp as he flew beneath the tree and into the roots. Pointing it in a certain direction, he flew through the roots at speeds that blurred his vision, slowly guiding his journey with his wand.
Hours later he found himself beneath a great tree, its branches and leaves hanging over a dilapidated hut. He slowly raised his wand and found himself within its trunk before sliding out of it, as if the bark never existed.
He knocked twice on the worn door, before tapping the door with his wand once.
"Oi, come in already."
Harry grimaced before walking in, wincing as he heard the loud moans inside. It was his Auror team, or what remained of it. When disaster struck and Bulgaria's Muggle government launched a nuclear attack on the United States, a magical response was expected. MACUSA launched its own forces, Muggle and Hit Wizard, to attack both Bulgarian governments. Britain slowly joined in, embittered by the death of Kingsley at the hands of the MACUSA President.
His team was dispatched by Head Auror Robards to France in search of a facility called Ex Labs. Ginny and even Ron begged him not to go, but as the world began falling apart, he knew he needed to do something.
That was seven months ago. Now, Britain had become nearly uninhabitable as nuclear radiation permeated its cities, the Ministry had fallen, and inhuman beings that looked like humans roamed the land. He didn't even know if his loved ones were alive.
'Ginny... She wasn't at the Borrow and I couldn't stay for long to look for her. This damn mission. Is it even worth it at this point?' He thought in disgust, glancing as his teammates fucked one another, before quickly looking away.
After the fall of the Ministry, his team seemed to lose all order. Their team leader, Auror Callum, had taken to drinking and ranting at them. Aurors Lewis and Demelza did nothing but have sex, passing her along to the rest occasionally. And Auror Bravo had taken to glaring at and insulting him everytime he showed his face. Depravity had begun to inflict all of them and their mission goal never seemed further away.
"Stop that, ya' shit," The raspy voice of Bravo said, of course, insulting him.
He glanced at him. He was a dark haired man a few inches taller than six feet. His body filled a large frame with muscles, a testament to his long service as an Auror. The ugly scowl on his face might well be one too.
"Always coming in here looking at us with those eyes. Fuckin' piece of shit. You're not better than anybody here, ya' got that?" He ignored him. He always got like this if he did anything, and backup in the form of his other teammates wasn't coming. They all felt the same; bitter that he couldn't save them from this hell.
"Oi, ya ignorin' me again? Little punk, do us a favor and get lost already." Bravo went silent there, content with muttering under his breath as he turned to watch the coupling.
The green-eyed wizard went to the back of the magically expanded hut, waving his wand over his bed to remove the enchantments protecting it before reapplying them, alongside a sound muffling charm, as he laid down.
To think, he couldn't even trust his teammates nowadays.
It was a number of things really. His stance to continue looking for the facility, not partaking in their mindless actions, and never giving a hint that he would follow them if they abandoned the mission.
A stalemate, so to speak, arose; if they were to leave he would remain, and it would not release them from their guilt and duty. It was the same reason why criminals aren't comfortable working with non-criminals. If everyone does something wrong, then wrong becomes right.
Robards didn't explain much before they lost contact, but the facility was said to be related to the monsters- or what they had begun to call Demons. Contrary to popular Muggle beliefs, these Demons did not relate appearance-wise to the beings rooted in religion, only given the name on account of their hellish behavior.
He did not know what they were exactly, only avoiding combat with them after strict orders following multiple casualties, some from his own team. But he knew they were powerful, not in magical ways as they seemed to have no magic, but in physically lethal ways.
They moved faster than vampires and cars, their muscles almost tensing like tightly wound steel wires. The monsters could jump the distance of a football field, almost flying to their victims. Damage to them regenerated instantly, curses and hexes doing little to hinder them. Reports and rumors indicated that even the infamous Killing Curse failed to kill them.
Charms that trapped them would fail as they 'reformed' in different places. 'Whatever that meant,' the wizard thought, pondering the lack of specifics.
And transfiguration suffered from the same weakness as they could reform right back, to become more lethal with blades of flesh sticking out of them. They could shield their bodies from detection, never giving away a whisper.
He had heard horror stories of how they could even throw fire or transform stone into acid, without magic. Pureblood wizards had started to gather more support before the ministry fell, after a line of thinking that Muggles created these creatures came about, but at this point it didn't matter. A frown etched across his face.
'Nothing mattered in the face of Demons,' Harry depressingly gathered.
In all this time, they had not found one weakness. Wizards fell to them as easy as the Muggles. Maybe if Dumbledore, or even Voldemort was alive they could do something, but now they only had him. Not even Hermione and Ron were here to help, with them being just as missing as Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. Apparently he didn't have anymore luck to spare. A bitter expression crossed his face before he urged it away.
Removing his glasses he put them to the side. Sleep would do him good after a night of extending their tree network a few kilometers. They were getting closer, he could feel it.
Ex Labs, 2003
They all emerged from the trees, each one unnaturally silent, courtesy of silencing charms. All of them followed the tall, lanky man as he ran across the field, waving obscurement charms over the area as they ran.
It was night, the only significant source of light coming from the flashes of lightning in the sky. A large storm had begun brewing, as if the sky felt what their nerved did. Purple and white arcs littered the pitch black sky, quickly followed by rumbling thunder and sounds of cracking whips.
Swallowing, Harry tried not to shiver as the wind picked up.
A looming building sat across them. It was the Ex Labs facility. Large steel fencing surrounded it, and red signs littered the outside. It was clearly the place they needed to be.
Most of it was below ground according to intel, making them anxious as the above surface portion was already so large. Was there enough time to search? The thought circled in everyone's heads.
"Bravo, set up a perimeter. Those bastards likely know we're already here, the dirty rat Lewis talked," His Auror Captain Callum growled, his voice reaching us despite the roaring thunder.
Splitting off from the group, the veteran Auror started work on an Electric Alarm enchantment. Designed to defend a boundary, the charm struck intruders with blue bolts of magic. Electricity did not destroy the bodies of the Demons, but it did temporarily paralyze them.
"Potter! Cover Bravo until we're out." The captain moved on, not waiting for an affirmative as he entered the doors of building. Demelza closely followed after him, her face stuck in a perpetual scowl. She clearly took Lewis' betrayal personally.
Harry waved his wand, casting a charm to make the ground ahead of him and Bravo sticky. With this and the Electric paralysis, he would have enough time to transfigure the ground into cement, which should hopefully keep them trapped until Callum returned.
"You ready for this Potter? Let's see what the so call' Boy Who Lived's got against these monsters when we're not runnin'," Bravo chuckled at his own joke, unaware of the darkening atmosphere.
A vicious pair of lightning strikes shattered against the entrance to the field. White dots scattered across Harry's eyes as he attempted to regain his vision. Time was everything with these things, as the last few encounters where he spent nothing but escaping had shown. He couldn't wait even a second.
Quickly he began to cast in quick succession basic Auror protections around his body. Firstly, the Supersensory Charm. The spell heightened his senses to a superhuman level, depending on the degree of magic he put into it. It would give him a fighting chance when reacting to the Demons' movements and actions. Next he cast the localized version of the Momentum-Reversing charm.
When cast upon opponents their movements came to a stop. Using the localized spell he could slow down and stop lethal kinetic attacks from reaching him. The spell was basic procedure when encountering Muggle policemen or soldiers, as many dead Wizards killed by bullets could attest to unfortunately.
No sooner had he finished the second spell did the smoke from the lightning strikes clear, showing a charred pattern across the ruined grass. A man and a woman stood a few meters away from him, directly atop the sticky surface. Smoke floated up from them, as if unnatural heat was generated in their bodies, but it must have been from their method of arrival.
"How droll. We spend months searching for you rats and then you finally show yourselves?" The woman's voice was condescending, speaking as if she barely considered Bravo and him threats.
The man attempted to appease her, his voice strangely monotone, "Now dear, let us clean this up before they mess with something they are not supposed to. You know how the higher ups are."
Glancing to her left, the woman stared at the man before nodding fractionally. Eyeing her feet on the ground as she moved, Harry anxiously watched her, beads of sweat accumulating on his forehead. The ground beneath her resisted for a half a second before she exploded in Bravo's direction, moving so fast that his heightened senses could only capture the afterimages of her body.
Dirt showered the field as she stomped across it, flickering away from the bolts of electricity triggered by the alarm charm. It was as he watched her that he noticed the shadow in front of him.
Eyes widening he reflexively apparated forwards a few meters, just glanced by the kick the man threw at him from behind. The Momentum-Reversing charm worked in that it reversed fatal non-magical kinetic energy, ignoring slower attacks.
But it did not stop it immediately, only slowly opposing the momentum until the stop occurs. Bullets that traveled at supersonic speeds were stopped quite effectively. It had been hypothesized that against faster bullets or missiles, the charm would not be enough to negate fatalities in time. Modifications were made for a more extensive Momentum-Reversing charm, but the basic Auror charm had been just that, basic. Because of this, the glancing kick, in spite of the charm, broke three of his ribs.
Holding in a groan of agony, he spun in place, vowing to not lose track of the Demon again.
"Oh ho… to be able to survive that kick when no other has, you are a special one," The man glanced at him absently before wrapping his cloak around him and shooting upwards in an arc towards Harry. His eyes betrayed him again as he could only catch the trailing afterimages of the Demon's jump, but it was enough to predict where the monster would be. He waved his wand and conjured a blanket of fire in front of him, before animating the ground to expand upwards into a steep hill.
A haze of heat combusted against the blurry shadow of the Demon, the blaze of Harry's spell enveloping it entirely. Barely balancing himself in the shock of the detonation, Harry forced himself to the ground of the unnatural hill, his own Auror Robes billowing out from the concussion. The seconds passed slowly as dark smoke eclipsed the hill, keeping him unaware of what lay below him.
'Surely it couldn't have been that simple to kill it?' A popping sound interrupted his thoughts and tired of the smoke, he waved his wand to vanish it.
Grotesque. It was the closest thing to describing what he could see at the bottom of the hill. The Demon, once similar to a man, was now a bubbling pile of flesh popping in a disgusting manner. And with the clearing of the smoke, he could now smell it; a revolting grease coating his nostrils that would surely give him nightmares.
Shaking his head he turned to help Bravo with his opponent.
"Ah-ah-ah. I'm not quite done yet." The raspy voice slowly settled to the once monotone sound of the Demon from the beginning. Eyes widening Harry whipped his wand to the side as he twisted and disapparated from his spot on the hill. Roses with thorns bloomed across the field, each one with roots as thick as a man's arm. The roses and thorns swirled in the direction of the hill, grinding against the ground in a tidal wave of friction and barbs.
Harry's thoughts streamed through the apparition, swirling into comprehension, 'I thought it impossible, but it's true! To go from a pile of flesh on the ground to still being alive!?'
He appeared a distance away, watching the now regenerated Demon, clothes and all, stare at his creation. The wave should tear into it, ensorcelling it for enough time that he could prepare some kind of permanent spell. Clearly this thing could not be killed with normal means if it could reform.
Taking a deep breath he began to spell out a Vanishing variant. All intel and his own experience just now point to a powerful regeneration ability. But regeneration would not work if all traces, down to the molecular level, was vanished into non-being. Even non-magical humans could be vanished with great difficulty, and these things were surely non-magical.
His plan shattered as the Demon blinked and lava poured in front of the wave of roses, vaporizing them from a distance. It turned and the lava flowed around it, as if the Demon's manifestation was a pet at its beck and call.
Magic was non-existent in that moment, meaning the rumors were true in this case as well. These things could manipulate reality as easily as wizards could without magic. It was a bitter thought. Magic had been a domain of whimsy and mystery, telling of a fantastical picture beyond the mundane grey. For it to be mimicked to such an extent, he could only feel a sort of loss.
"I do not like doing this as it makes battles too easy but I also do not like my battles to be too boring," intoned the creature.
Silence met its words as Harry wildly thought of a way out of this. He could transfigure the lava with a slight combination of liquid and rock transfiguration. But he cannot imagine affecting such a great mass of it. If even one drop struck him he might be boiled alive. With a slight twitch of his fingers he cast a Flame-Freezing charm, hoping it would at the very least keep him from vaporizing from the residual heat the lava would have.
All he could do in this situation is use shielding and environmental transfiguration to keep abreast of the swirling liquid of death. And with that firm thought, the Demon struck. The lava burst forward as if a puppeteer grasped its strings.
Gigantic shields of iron swirled into being around Harry, each facing a direction outwards. Below him, the ground wrapped around his legs tethering him to the very earth. Furrowing his eyebrows he swept his wand out just as the lava struck his front facing shield.
The intense heat, thankfully Harry thought, could not be felt. But he could see its effect on the shield as it bit through the iron. The river of lava overflowed the shields, splitting around him entirely and more importantly below him. Splatters of lava fell through the gaps between the shields, forcing him to close them entirely. The ground rose as his spell finally took effect, extending him with a hold on his legs.
A pillar of earth flew into the air, slipping out of the overflowing lava. And with Harry came a now hovering gigantic ball of iron, formed from his reinforced shielding and encompassing him entirely. Even his legs, and where the earth connected to them, was covered in the iron shielding.
"Agh!" The sound choked out of him as he breathed in. Fumes from the melted iron and rock had gotten into his lungs. His swaying concentration opened small gaps in his shielding, quickly forcing him to cast a bubble-head charm to grasp back control. The darkness of the inside of the orb was unnerving. Even while seeing his opponent his body tensed in fear, but in this dark void of the unknown he might just collapse from the strain. No sooner did he think that, did his life become much more painful.
A gigantic force struck the side of the iron orb, throwing him against the side and off the pillar. Harry bit back a scream as the scorched iron permeated through, burning his arm black and making ash of the side of his hair. The orb smashed against the ground a second later, warping the iron inwards and breaking Harry's legs.
With a tremendous will power he blinked and levitated himself to the center of the orb, nearly peeling his arm off the side. Tears of agony slipped from his eyes and onto his broken glasses as he tried to manage the pain, but his left arm could not escape his mind. Slowly he pointed his wand at it and cast a numbing and freezing charm before conjuring a tight cast around it. Burns to this extent would be better off handled with healing paste rather than an amateur spell. Gasps of air roiled around the bubble and echoed off the dark inside as he slowly shifted his head in the direction of his broken legs.
His legs could be potentially healed with Episkey, but he risked improperly setting them as it was usually used for minor injuries. However, he had no choice.
Muttering a numbing charm before saying the incantation, Harry heard more than felt as his legs righted themselves. Realizing that he was soaked with sweat, he hurriedly swiped away at his face.
He had hoped the Flame-Freezing charm would protect against all heat, but it looks like it had no effect on hot metal as his charred arm could attest to. But a solution was needed now, or otherwise he would never see Ginny again.
Spinning the tip of his wand, he watched as white light rose out of his wand, illuminating the once pitch black inside. The walls of iron were scorched, and a haze of heat could be seen permeating from them. Blood and skin from his arm was stuck to the left side of the orb. Swallowing with trepidation he looked down at his legs hoping that they didn't heal badly. His exhale of relief was cut off as a loud sound of rolling pressure struck around the orb. The haze of heat intensified and he watched in fear as the iron began to scorch even more.
'Damn, I thought I had a few more seconds!' Furiously, Harry spun his wand forward, watching as a sheet of ice instantly frosted the entire inside of the orb. Steam erupted from the walls in response, but he did not stop to think. He conjured a smaller set of iron shields around him, guiding them as they fluidly wrapped around his body like armor and clothing. Preemptively expecting the ton of weight surely to be added onto him, he cast a widespread feather-light charm.
A crown-shaped metal head formed around the bubble continuously giving him oxygen, as well as darkening his eyesight again. Even his wand was covered, the magic would follow his lead and appear beyond the boundary of his entirely sealed armor. A spell later and ice warped on the surface of the iron, permeating enough that the air inside the bubble began to whiten. Finally, he tapped the top of his metallic head, watching as it turned see through. The light he spelled still floated where he left it, but he could see the original iron orb failing as red cracks of heat glowed throughout.
Frowning in concentration, he focused and waved his wand upwards. In the next instant he disapparated, iron armor and all to the edge of the field. The original iron orb spun upwards out of the flow of lava before forming into a simplistic sword, the red cracks of heat giving it an ominous appearance.
"Tsk, to think you survived that. I would perhaps rank you as the most powerful I have fought on your world." The man-shaped Demon did not seem surprised, but rather bored as it shifted its gaze towards the direction of Harry's reappearance.
"Sadly, you should have used that moment to escape far away. Now you have piqued my interest enough that I won't let you go," a wicked grin etched itself on the once stoic fake man's face, causing Harry to slightly shiver despite himself.
A moment later he heard footsteps. Eyes widening, he watched as the not-woman from earlier ambled her way towards the two of them. Glancing down his hopes plummeted. Her pale hand grasped the hair of Bravo's head, slightly waving it back and forth. The bone of his neck only slightly visible beneath the gruesome wound separating it from his body. He could only think, with a morbid observation, that it was pulled off rather than cut.
"You haven't finished yet? I've been done for quite a while now." It was a mocking voice, an echo of odd femininity tinging the sound.
"This one is different, I enjoy playing with him," the man did not seem fazed, despite the woman's arrogance.
The woman Demon shifted its eyes to its partner. "Hmm, for you to be smiling like that, I want to kill him too."
She turned to look at Harry more closely, cocking an eyebrow at the iron armor surrounding him. Throwing Bravo's head to the side, she stood side by side with her partner.
"A good idea. Let us see how far we can push this one." In a blur, both kicked off the ground, nearly skating across the ground as they warped atop the entire field in dizzying movements.
The man appeared to his right, swinging down against his iron shoulder with an enclosed fist. Harry quickly swung his iron hand to meet the Demon's, blinking as he selectively removed the feather-weight charm on it the instant before it landed. A smash of metal against flesh echoed into the air before Harry disapparated to the right, behind the Demon. He swung both his fists at the Demon's back, repeating the earlier strategy to remove and reapply the feather-weight charm.
Bones in its body clearly shattered as the man-shaped creature was flung meters away in the wake of sharp cracks.
With no time to even catch his breath, thick spikes of steel erupted entirely around Harry's armor, warping and launching out from thin air. The lethal steel struck him everywhere, digging deep into his armor and cracking it throughout.
'Without my armor that would have been the end!' Spelling out a hardening charm on the iron surrounding him, he harshly whispered out a strong banishment at himself, watching as his armor ripped from the pointed ends of the steel in front of him and destroyed the spikes behind him as he flew through the air.
Before he had taken his next breath, water instantaneously appeared around his armor, as if reality itself was bent, and wrapped around the flying iron and himself. Similar to what he saw years ago at the Ministry of Magic when Dumbledore captured Voldemort in a sphere of water, the water flowed around him entirely, keeping him trapped as swirls of pressurized water pushed him into the center of the prison. The woman appeared suddenly in front of the sphere.
"Freeeeze," sang the woman-shaped Demon, her words somehow working their way through the disorienting prison. The water turned white, crackling into an icy prism.
In his armor Harry could only breathe, white wisps wheezing out. The completely sealed armor had kept water and ice from reaching him, but the cold penetrated through.
'Damn- I can't move a single inch to apparate!'
Closing his eyes, Harry focused on an earlier spell. The transfigured sword should still be hot enough to melt through this prison like butter. Seconds later, his assumption was proven right as he was thrown back, steam and pieces of ice falling around him.
"A stubborn one is he?" The woman directed her question to the man walking behind her, uninjured despite Harry's attacks on him.
"Let us end it already. It seems he has already reached his limit."
The man was not exactly wrong. Harry was exhausted, barely able to stand on his sore legs. Gasps of air escaped from him and his eyes had begun to water. His left arm throbbed with a burning pain beneath its cast; clearly his numbing charms had begun to fade as well.
Laying on his knees, the armor slowly began peeling off of him like liquid. Casting his wand he transfigured the iron into duplicates of the sword he originally created, throwing spells on them to harden and strengthen them. In a show of skill, Harry gathered himself and levitated all four of the swords, each pointed at the Demons.
'These things could summon steel and water around me, just like they could summon lava. But for them to be able to do it so close to my body… Why didn't they just manifest anything inside my armor?' He needed to test something.
Slowly standing up, Harry narrowed his eyes. He had to finish this or he would die here. Flourishing his power, Harry twisted his wand in a manner reminiscent of Dumbledore. Instantly, water exploded outwards from a charm, twisting and turning in a whirling flood. The mass of water struck the ground where the Demons once were; peering to the left he watched as both sprinted around him in a blur of dirt and shadows.
"Bombarda!" The curse glanced the woman, but she shrugged off the explosion that disintegrated her arm, sprinting past the explosion's dust and aligning herself with Harry.
Jumping, she flew towards him only to meet his spinning swords; manipulated by a concentrated use of the levitation charm.
The man appeared behind, between his other two swords and swung his fist. A thought from Harry banished the swords downwards, watching as both cut through the arm of the Demon. Gnashing its teeth, the creature kicked upwards, and ripped its injured arm off, throwing it behind. A breath later and the wizard instinctively closed his eyes as the woman nigh-teleported in front of him, catching his cast-covered arm.
'Shit!'
Pure agony exploded from him as his shoulder dislocated, only barely able to escape with an apparition. Meters away he cast a numbing charm as he quickly ducked the sudden appearance of both Demons, watching as they simultaneously kicked where his head was seconds ago. His summoned swords finally reached him, hovering above the three of them.
Throwing his right arm out, lightning licked off his wand and struck both swords. An arc of white blue jumped instantaneously between the iron and struck both Demons, charring their skin black. The impact sent the wizard flying, his dislocated arm haphazardly flopping in the air.
Landing on his back roughly against the torn apart ground, Harry silently cast a large shield charm around his body, expanding it out a few feet from his body in a semi-bubble shape.
'This won't do much against their strength and elemental attacks, but if I'm right, they can't distort reality where magic exists. Otherwise both the lightning and water could have been used against me…' His thoughts were interrupted as the world around him turned white.
Currents of lightning morphed into being right outside the boundary of his invisible magical shield, arcing around the bubble in brilliant gleams of white. The shield reacted to the impacts, pulsating to a violent blue where each lightning strike hit, before collapsing entirely from the force of the attack.
Harry had since appeared far from the attack, watching as an explosion of light and smoke shot out from the impact zone. Luckily, he had taken the time to apparate before his shield failed.
'It looks like I was right. They can only change reality where magic doesn't exist, regardless of how much magic. But going by that logic, if they're within the boundary of my shield then it's possible they can summon lava or something more lethal around me entirely,' Harry bitterly thought.
He had assumed that he could negate their reality warping by expanding his shield to a ridiculous distance, yet that would be useless if they could walk into it and bypass that protection entirely. Better to keep his shield at a size where he could react efficiently.
"Impressive. You were able to find out such a weakness when so many before you failed. Though not many have survived as long as you have either for that matter," a monotone voice echoed out from behind the smoke; two silhouettes were apparent to Harry, but they were different than what he expected. A gust of wind suddenly blew the smoke away, revealing the much changed Demons.
Both were large, towering over their previous heights and bodies. Their skin was gray, dotted with crimson crystals in a disturbing manner. Their heads, stomachs, and arms were covered in a shiny black shell, insect-like in its appearance. Long legs pulsated with some type of fibrous material below the surface, a strange type of muscle Harry blankly observed. Horns grew out from their skills, twisting in what looked like a painful manner. Finally, their faces stayed unchanged, giving a strange picture of human faces attached to monstrous bodies.
'They fit their names more than ever now,' concluded the wizard.
"Our transformations are merely the most efficient shape we have. Speed and strength are both maximized and- " Eyelids open across their entire surfaces, revealing hundreds of red eyes, "-our perception is unprecedented," Both of them had taken to speaking alongside each other, almost as if their minds had meshed together.
A crack in the air suddenly appeared before Harry, slightly beyond his magical shield. Eyes widening, he couldn't help but take a step back.
"What the…!?"
The crack was pure black, as if space itself was breaking. Arms, large and familiar reached out towards him at a breakneck pace.
'They can do something similar to apparition!' Dodging to the left he watched as their arms crashed against the ground, cratering it and shaking the entire field.
Extending his wand, Harry summoned a gigantic beam of green light, shooting it out at the sudden appearance of the Demon man's face.
'Avada Kedavra!'
The man Demon that had emerged from the cracked air was struck, and in response its eyes dulled and body stilled.
'It worked! The rumors were wrong, if I can spread this knowled-' The flesh of the dead Demon sloughed away abruptly, creating a caked puddle of black ichor. A stench of pus filled the air and from the space where once the demon stood, red blood and flesh formed. Then bones, skin, and then finally the demon that he had previously killed formed anew.
Gasping in shock, he stepped back. He knew what the reports said, but to see it with his own eyes. The most infamous and powerful curse in the world was useless.
The raspy voice of the now alive Demon roared out, a tinge of hysteria hidden in its words, "Surprised!? That magic is quite fearsome. Anything it touches dies and that is bitterly true for even us. Our hearts stop, blood congeals, and the brain's activity falls instantly to zero. Yet all this death is dependent on one crucial fact. Anything the green curse touches will be affected… Unfortunately, you have not touched what we truly are just yet."
Harry blinked and watched as the air itself turned a deep purple. The invisible shield around him buffeted away the gaseous substance as it turned the grass black, crinkling it into dead mulch. Everything in sight soon became the same, enclosing his vision with nothing but a landscape of purple death.
The wizard paused, 'Damn it all… They know that shields break when a wizard apparates.' And as he felt the pressure of the gas around his shield increase, even a single second taken to apparate away from the gas-filled environment could prove fatal.
'Vision gone and apparition out of the question, I have no hope of winning this.' He needed to get into the lab, and with any luck Callum and Demelza were able to get what they were sent here for.
With a twist of his wand Harry floated up, his legs drifting back and forth in the levitation. His dark Auror Robes twisted and turned, gathering around his body as if underwater. The sound of his own teeth clenching distracted him, but he retained his focus. This level of magic was unprecedented for nearly any wizard or witch. Quickly his wand tensed downwards, tilting slightly to the left. As if following his wand's direction, he shot up even higher and to the west of where he once was.
"Interesting way of flying, but you're slooow," a breath of sulfuric air smothered his face as the Demonic being held onto the back of Harry's head, his hair trapped in the long fingers of the beast.
Through the wizard's peripheral vision great wings of red appeared to gust the air behind the demon as it floated about him.
'I'm finished!' Panicked thoughts rushed through him, slowly darkening until he could barely breathe. His stomach dropped into oblivion as his own mortality finally showed itself.
'No! There is a way out of this, just think Harry! Think!' He shifted as the being raised him up, dangling him from his head as one would a toy. His shield has since dropped, but fortunately the lack of pressured gas in the air spared him a few seconds.
"A pity, really. To think such fun would end so anticlimactically. But alas, good things must come to an end," the gravely voice grounded into glee as its claws squeezed ever tighter over his head.
A stone spike streaked through the air below them and slashed through the forearm of the Demon, splashing blackish blood across the wizard. The shriek of agony from the beast nearly deafened him, but he had already encased himself within the large earth spire. In a manner defying physics, the spire fell like rain, dripping into the earth like a drop onto a puddle.
The roar of rage above penetrated even the earth as Harry's temporary construct flew through layers of stone and dirt, mining a path directly to the lab. His team all had tracking charms attached to them, and with a quick spell he can key into them. Both appeared to be a few hundred feet below ground, shocking him that the lab could be so large.
'I'm almost there, but I can't risk apparition just yet. I need to see where the walls of the underground lab are.'
No sooner did his thought complete did a wave of orange white swell in front of him, eating instantaneously through his construct and bringing light to the once dark interior.
"Agh!" Biting his tongue he spun his wand to the right, twisting the stone and hollow spire to the side. He could feel more than see the haze of heat that passed behind him as he hurried to animate the stone faster.
His construct sliced across the side of grey and metal walls, setting sparks across its exterior and creating a horrid screeching sound.
'There!' Blindly reaching out, he willed away the stone and touched the bare and hot surface of the metal. In an instinctive moment he apparated forward dozens of feet as horrifying heat suddenly encompassed him entirely.
White light greeted him as he fell across the metal tiles of a long hallway. His skin was red and burned, and his eyes could do little but make out the shapes ahead of him. Touching his face he realized he had lost his glasses somehow along the way.
"Shocked I didn't lose them earlier," Harry murmured, spelling out in a practiced motion a conjuration spell Hermione designed just for him. Glasses, identical to the ones he just lost, though this time fixed, appeared on the ground on account of his dislocated left shoulder. Quickly putting them on, he held in a groan of agony as the skin on his face flared against the metal frame.
He pushed himself off the ground with his good arm, aching as every body part seemed to call for attention. Closing his eyes he brushed away the pain; he had to finish this fast. The tracking spell was still active and his teammates were close. He had been afraid that the Demons behind would follow after him, but they haven't. Strange that they would stop at the boundary of the facility.
Ambling his way forward, he slowly starts running through the hallway and towards where his team should be. Glass windows outside of dark offices met him but he flew down the metal length, ignoring the echo of his feet hitting the ground. The ceiling was covered in copper piping and thick wire, surrounding it in an odd manner. Light backed signs appeared to indicate that this place was a "Dark Matter Generation Wing," whatever that was. Muggle science had never been something he was interested in.
The hallway seemed to slope downwards as his run finally took him to a large door, the metal embedded with the words Dark Matter Generation Chamber and multiple warning symbols. The steel that it was made of was thick from the looks of it, but all indications from his tracking spell led him to believe that he should see them behind it.
Pushing slowly against it, he could see that it was unlocked. A flick of his wand and the door seemed to move by itself, smoothly turning across its massive hinges.
Swallowing, he stepped into the chamber. Blinking in awe, his eyes moved across the smooth dome of metal that the massive room apparently had for a ceiling. His pupils trailed the room, seeing the enormous steel rods in the center. The four rods, or rather pillars, formed a square and at the center was where his attention was truly caught. If a man could capture space, then even that would pale in comparison to the dark orb that floated in the center of the pillars. Its darkness was so unbelievably unique it hurt to look at for too long.
And then he found them. His captain, Callum, and Demelza. They were dead. Empty and dead eyes stared up as they sat woodenly near the side of one of the pillars. Holes perforated their torsos, enough for him to sickeningly make out the metal behind them.
"It was quick. They didn't suffer long before they met their ends," a soft voice broke Harry's stare away from the last of his team's bodies.
The being wore the face and body of a woman. She was beautiful, her hair appearing like spun gold aloft a face of near perfection. Her skin glowed with some inner light and it was all he could do to focus on his surroundings.
"I'm afraid that I had to do it. Life is precious but a few things must be clarified," and finally her eyes. Eyes like that were unnatural. A bright violet so incandescent that it tore apart the illusion in an instant.
Gnashing his teeth Harry roared in anger, "Life is precious!? Well, that's news to me seeing as how all you filthy creatures know how to do is kill!"
It was as if a switch was flipped. The gentle presence and graceful appearance of the Demon twisted into dark miasma. Prey that approach predators feel a sense of death. Their heartbeats quicken and their movements freeze in anticipation of an entirely superior being.
Despite how much he wanted to, Harry could not move. One movement, even blinking, could spell his death in the face of this facsimile of a human. His hold on his wand tightened as he could feel his hands become sweatier.
The woman-shaped Demon had begun to walk towards him, its steps echoing throughout the chamber.
'What do I do? This thing could likely kill me without so much as a glance…' The frustrating thoughts circled his head for what seemed like hours as the Demon slowly approached him.
The Demon whispered out her next words, but he heard them all the same, "As I said earlier, a few things must be clarified. Humans are precious, but they create so much suffering for themselves that it would be right thing to do to put you out of your misery. Death is a nothingness so pure and equal, that even I sometimes long for it."
'No reasoning with this monster, that's for sure.' Glancing to the side, Harry watched the dark orb as it floated between the pillars.
'But I can speak, and that's enough for powerful magic,' making direct eye contact with the source of his terror, Harry mustered up the strength to do anything.
"Maybe I can help you out with that. Baubillious!" Yellow lightning warped into existence as it struck two of the four pillars surrounding the anomaly, scattering sparks everywhere and blinding Harry.
His eyes burned as the flash of electricity he felt hit the pillars grew into the concussive force of a lightning bolt, knocking him back and nearly felling him. Straining his eyes he could make out that his spell completely destroyed a single pillar and seriously damaged another. But as the seconds passed he thought his hurt eyes were playing tricks on him. A haze grew around the orb, distorting the look of things, In the haze he could see flashes of images and colors, some familiar and some disturbing to look at.
The haze quickly grew, wrapping around the entire pillar contraption. Risking a look at the Demon, he was utterly surprised to see it unbothered by his actions, its eyes too pitying for his tastes. It turned away at that point, walking away from the spectacle. Before he could say anything a sound of screeching erupted.
The explosion that followed tore his attention back to the center of the chamber, watching as the orb compressed violently into a disk before blowing up into a huge mass, growing so much and so fast he stepped back.
Panicked Harry apparated back to the beginning, directly upon the grass of the field outside. No sooner had he done that did the entire world shake, throwing him to the ground.
An explosion lit the world on fire as the entire lab disintegrated in a flash of orange fire, cracking the very earth around it. The field in front had begun to splinter as huge waves of fire blew out from newly formed pits in the ground. Shock waves of sound had crushed the trees of the nearby woods into pulp, forcing everything down as a sense of gravity came and disappeared. The wizard had since apparated miles away from the scene, shaking in agony as he only just barely escaped the explosion's effects. Exhaustion had begun to take root in him and his magic barely answered his call.
'I can't take much more of this. Destroying the orb may have been the mission's ultimate goal, but that Demon looked too calm, not even putting the effort into kill me,' the thought ended as Harry watched figures appear from cracks in the air.
'Damn, I forgot they can track apparition!'
Wildly looking around, he found a tree that should be connected to the Tree Charm.
"Well, hello there. I must ask, you wouldn't happen to be Harry Potter, the man who defeated Voldemort, would you?" Twisting around, the wizard flinched at the appearance of the three Demons, the first two from earlier and the one that killed the rest of his team in the Dark Matter chamber. The male had recognized him somehow, despite not being a wizard.
"Ah, you appear surprised that I know you. Well I did not originally, until she pointed it out," the Demon had pointed to the golden-haired woman, almost casual in its movements.
"But it does explain so much. Only a few users of magic could hope to stand against one of us, let alone two or three. And for one to destroy the lab entirely? Harry Potter, your reputation certainly lends to the truth," its tone was almost genuine there, but the small smirk it attempted was easy to read.
"That is enough. Harry here is clearly at the end of his long and drawn out battle. A true rest is what he needs," the golden-haired woman immediately put a stop to the other two Demons, creating an unseen tension. Moving ahead of the two she stared at Harry for a few seconds before her arm changed into a long blade, the metal gleaming with light as flashes of lightning in the sky appeared and disappeared.
"Your efforts were commendable. But ultimately futile. Destroying our original focus of Dark Matter is effectively useless. At this point we have gained enough power that most of us are self sufficient in our collection of concentrated Dark Matter. These worries and responsibilities are all illusions. Severing them is truly the only path to peace," her voice had devolved back to one of gentleness near the end.
The tension that wrapped around her seemed to disappear and perhaps even her eyes began to lighten. In the sky, thunder echoed out as her blade had begun approaching him, enough for him to even see his eyes in the gleaming metal reflection.
'I can't believe I'm hesitating. But not yet, not to these things...' His eyes closed as he thought the incantation and sank deep into the tree, moving away at breakneck paces through the roots of the tree.
"Your little routine there didn't work and now we have Harry Potter on the loose," her eyes did not move from where the wizard had just been, ignoring her comrade's comment.
Turning around she walked away from the two, only pausing to watch the flames of the explosion die out as a shower of rain fell.
"He will die eventually, like all things that I have come across. Now or later, it matters very little to one who seeks true peace," and with that, she disappeared.
Author's Note
Hey! It's nice to be back with a new story. Harry Potter fanfiction is one of my reasons for staying on this site, and I hope I can do the fandom some justice. This story starts off a little slow but I do like action so I hope that tides most of you over until we get to the good stuff. I didn't edit this as much as I should have, so please let me know in a review or PM if I have any errors.
Also, any science-related things in this chapter and future chapters are mostly bullshit. I'm not going to pretend any of it makes sense, but I like to use it in battles and the magic system.
Thanks for reading!