Author's Note: Hello everyone... I'M BACK!!!! Yes, it's true, after a long foray onto the roads of life I've once again found my way back to the realms of FanFiction, thanks to J.K. Rowling and the seventh Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Needless to say I was disappointed with a variety of things I believe she did wrong but instead of rewriting the book I've decided to write the next one!
Oh, hush. I know that the description for Harry Potter 7 was the 'last and final installment', and I know J.K. Rowling herself said that there will be no more Harry Potter books (although I think in a couple of years she'll be bored enough that there will be)--and that's precisely why I'm writing the next book!
Although, technically this book wouldn't be called Harry Potter 8 because I refuse to write any more about his exploits. It's on to his kids for me! Anyway, this first chapter is pretty short just because I wanted to set things up a bit... and also because I wanted to beat a lot of the other aspiring writers to the punch. So anyway, on to the Summary and Disclaimer thing...
Summary: It's been 19 years since Voldemort's downfall, and all of the remnants of his evil are thought to be wiped up. But somewhere out there someone has been working behind the scenes, building his own private Dark army, and now is the time for his attack. Mission Number One: Get Harry Potter and his friends out of the picture. This fic will likely center on his kids, for those of you who really care.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or his friends. This should be obvious, because if I did I wouldn't be posting my work on FanFiction, that's for sure! All OC's are mine though so keep your filthy hands off!
Ginny kissed Albus good-bye.
"See you at Christmas."
"Bye, Al," said Harry as his son hugged him. "Don't forget Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday. Don't mess with Peeves. Don't duel anyone till you've learned how. And don't let James wind you up."
"What if I'm in Slytherin?"
The whisper was for his father alone, and Harry knew that only the moment of departure could have forced Albus to reveal how great and sincere that fear was.
Harry crouched down so that Albus's face was slightly above his own. Alone of Harry's three children, Albus had inherited Lily's eyes.
"Albus Severus," Harry said quietly, so that nobody but Ginny could hear, and she was tactful enough to pretend to be waving to Rose, who was now on the train, "you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."
"But just say— "
"—then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won't it? It doesn't matter to us, Al. But if it matters to you, you'll be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account."
"Really?"
"It did for me" said Harry.
He had never told any of his children that before, and he saw the wonder in Albus's face when he said it. But now the doors were slamming all along the scarlet train, and the blurred outlines of parents were swarming forward for final kisses, last-minute reminders. Albus jumped into the carriage and Ginny closed the door behind him. Students were hanging from the windows nearest them. A great number of faces, both on the train and off, seemed to be turned toward Harry.
"Why are they all staring?" demanded Albus as he and Rose craned around to look at the other students.
"Don't let it worry you," said Ron. "It's me. I'm extremely famous."
Albus, Rose, Hugo, and Lily laughed. The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son's thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him…
The last trace of steam evaporated in the autumn air. The train rounded a corner. Harry's hand was still raised in farewell.
"He'll be all right," murmured Ginny.
As Harry looked at her, he lowered his hand absentmindedly and touched the lightning scar on his forehead.
"I know he will."
The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.
He turned and, taking Ginny's hand in his, walked back over towards where Ron and Hermione were standing. Smiling, he opened his mouth to quip at Ron, but another voice interrupted his train of thought.
"Avad—"
Harry spun around, his wand already out and aiming a counter-curse. In the years following Voldemort's death there had been so many attempts on his life by Death Eaters and other Dark followers that his body had become trained to react to the Killing Curse without thought.
"Stupefy!"
Unfortunately for Harry, though, the Killing Curse had merely been a clever ruse. The Stunning Spell went straight on course and nailed the man who had tried to murder Harry, but while he had been reacting two other figures had stepped out of the rapidly clearing crowd, shouting simultaneously.
"Confringo!"
"Expulso!"
The Blasting and Explosion spells weren't aimed at Harry or his friends, though; they were aimed at an innocent family across the platform from them. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were already reacting, two of them yelling Protego!, Hermione casting the same spell silently. The force of the combined Shielding Spells was so great it deflected the malevolent ones cleanly off and, unspent, they sped on to their new target—Harry Potter.
He had enough time left after Stupefying his opponent to realize what was happening, but only just.
"Protego!"
But the spell was too late. It deflected the Blasting Curse only to the ground in front of Harry, where it unleashed its awesome energy. The two spells exploded within seconds of each other, the first ripping away Harry's shield and the next blowing a huge portion out of the platform, propelling Harry up into the air.
Searing heat surrounded Harry, unbearable pain. With a heavy thud he hit the ground and, already trying to pick himself up, and looked around.
Curses and spells were now passing back and forth in such staggering numbers that it was nigh impossible to see from one end of the platform to the other. Parents, many of them raised in the time of Voldemort's downfall and the ensuing struggle for power, had finally reacted, their wands now out and firing off a valiant defense against the attackers. In just moments the train station had gone from a pristine picture of hope and happiness to a ruinous, burning area filled with death and flames.
Someone was screaming his name, screaming it loudly enough that it penetrated the buzzing in his ears.
"HARRY!"
It sounded like Hermione, but something was horribly wrong with her voice—it had a strange echoing quality to it, as if it were reaching him through a long tunnel. His vision seemed to be tunneling too, now that he thought of it.
At the end of the tunnel Harry saw his wand. He grabbed for it quickly, but missed by such a great distance he didn't even see his hand pass near it. He tried again, with the same result. Was he that dizzy? Harry looked down at his arm, to discover that it wasn't there any more. Now that he looked, most of the right side of his body was torn and burned pretty badly.
"HARRY!"
Now Ginny's voice was joining the din. He heard all of his friends screaming spells as well as his name. With a detached sort of curiosity, Harry decided he'd have to get up sooner or later to find out what the odds against him were. Picking himself up with his left arm, he looked around.
Smoke covered the ground like a luminous fog, lit up here and there by multicolored jets of light or explosions. Screams permeated the air, the scent of death and burnt flesh joining the sweat and other smells that signified great magical battle. Harry saw a body fly through the smoke in his direction, hitting the wall behind him and slumping down, apparently unconscious.
A heavily cursed and transfigured shape loomed out of the fog after the body and Harry quickly dove for his wand, grabbing it with his left hand. Coming back up he snapped a Stunning Spell at the thing, unsure whether it was friend or foe, then took off running in the direction of the greatest explosions.
"Expulso!"
Pivoting towards the sound of the spell, Harry had just enough time to raise his wand uselessly before he saw the spell hit him square in the chest. His own flesh, blood, and bone splattered into his face and the area around him.
Harry looked down into the cavity that used to be his chest. He thought he saw his lungs and his liver, but where his heart was supposed to see he saw only spurting jets of blood.
He fell into his own crimson puddle, his life fading already, feet away from another body. A body he thought he recognized.
"Ginny?"
"Ginny!" He did recognize the body. It was Ginny, his Ginny, lying cold and dead on the ground in front of him!
"GINNY!"
Harry began to drag himself across the ground towards where Ginny lay, thinking that if he could just get over to her in time, he could do something, he could save her…
But Harry was dying too quickly. He slipped in his own blood and found himself in a prostrate position, horrible pain radiating from his head. His vision was tunneling quickly now, soon to join the hearing he no longer had. He turned his head to face Ginny and reached out his hand to her, the right hand made up only of phantom pains.
Harry's last thought was that though this was nothing like the quick and painless death he had had years ago, though the pain he was experiencing was now past the realm of the imaginable, at least he would die with such beauty in his sight.
And then Harry was no more.
Author's Note: Love it? Hate it? Bored? Just need a friend? Please review and tell me what you think! I even accept Flames because it proves that someone read my story and cared enough to tell me. Review or I'll summon Voldemort from the grave and set him on you!