Harry Potter and The Rise Of A Champion
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Chapter Two: Rise of a Champion
"Hey 'Mione" Ron greeted his girlfriend.
"How was class?" Hermione asked as she settled herself next to her love.
"Same as usual, they all want to help with the war, but the way things are going it looks like it will be over before they reach a level where they'll be able to defend themselves." Ron replied wearily. Ever since Harry had been killed Ron had thrown himself into his studies to keep his mind away from reality, which worked for a time, but when he was confronted by Hermione who had grown worried for her boyfriend he was forced to 'come back' as Hermione had said. Even after Ron began to come back to his senses he still continued with his rigorous study programme so he was prepared for when Riddle (They all took to calling him this now in honour of Harry) struck. After graduating Ron had immediately applied for the defense against the dark arts position so he could teach the students how to hold their own when the time comes. Hermione went through a similar experience as Ron except she was able to help herself out of it, she had been barely responsive in the months after the battle, and only the news of Voldemort's escape and the closure of Harry being buried brought here back to her senses, Ginny however was totally different, she showed no outward signs of the lose except for the initial shock that had overcome them all on the day, and weeks that followed. When asked about why she didn't seem to be bothered by the loss she would always reply that Harry was always with her, and so she was left to her own devices in the castle, helping when it was needed to defend or heal. In the years after the slaughter of Harry and Voldemort's third return many of the witches and wizards on the 'light' side had returned to the castle to help defend it and also keep safe, as a result many new building were added and the wards extended around Hogsmeade so all of the new comers had somewhere to live. Hogwarts now looked more like a small kingdom, with it's mighty walls surrounding a small town.
"Dumbledore thinks that the walls and wards wont hold out much longer." Hermione said
"How far are you with the generator?" Ron questioned
"About another week, I should think. Its hard to get the magic right and to make it run smoothly with the muggle machinery." Hermione explained.
"Well if any one can do it, it's you." Ron said with a reassuring smile to his girlfriend. "Now I'm hungry, what's for dinner" Ron said with a cheeky smile.
"Oh Ron, you and your food, will you never change?" Hermione said with fake exasperation.
"Not on your life" was his reply.
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"Expecto Patronum" Bellowed a powerful voice from somewhere within the murky, cold, desolate depths of the dementors hell. The power commanded by the voice was manifested into the brightest light many of the tortured souls had seen in years, and the warmth that accompanied it was enough to permit some of the closer souls a brief moment of clarity, of sanity and of hope, but like most good things it must come to an end, and the end to this was a most spectacular one indeed. A silver stag manifested itself from the hand of the Harry as he screamed the charm with all the power he could muster.
"Prongs, you made it" Harry panted but prongs did not stay close enough for long enough to here its master talk to it, for it had a massive job to do. Straight away it bounded into the mess that is the inside of a dementor and began causing mayhem to it. Harry could feel after only a few moments the dementor begin to retch, or at least something akin to retch and as soon as the portal opened Harry seized his chance and with the last of his magic and with the aid of the thread that still connected him to his body via his magic core he was away and free.
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"Sir, we have a problem" said a very nervous ministry official, all though he supposed he couldn't really be called that any more, the minister was far past the point of where sanity and insanity meet in the wrong direction, he had suspected that since the hearing the minister had had to attend due to his order to kill Potter, he had been ordered to give in his notice within a period of 30 days by the members of the Wizengamot, especially Dumbledore, but fudge retreated with Potters body taking with him some of the more curious members of the ministry to work on Potter. When the ministry fell they were all assumed to be casualties of the war and no one bothered to look for them, which had suited the minister just fine.
"Well spit it out then, what's wrong with the body this time?" Fudge asked in a short tone.
"It's not the body this time, it's one of the guards, a dementor, it looks as if it's sick sir." He explained.
"Sick? Sick? Dementors don't get sick, where is it?" fudge exclaimed.
"Right this way sir" The official said as he led the minister from his office to where the dementors were guarding over the shell that once was Harry Potter.
"As you can see sir it…" the official began but was cut of as the dementor screamed and unearthly, awful scream that struck fear into the hearts of anyone within a mile radius, even if they didn't hear anything.
"aarrgghh! Shut that god-awful thing up now!" Fudge bellowed over the noise. The dementors racket had made all who heard it fall to their knees in pain and fear, some of the less cowardly were shaking on the floor, having what fudge assumed to be a breakdown. As suddenly as the dementor screamed it stopped and there was silence, as though there was nothing breaking the fragile quietness of the night.
"Thank god" Fudge exclaimed as he got to his feet, but when he looked to the dementor which was now unconscious on the floor his jaw nearly hit the ground, standing before him, in spirit form was none other than Harry Potter. Before he had a chance to do anything however the wind once again picked up, as it had done four years ago and the spirit of Potter looked to be dragged from its standing position wit such force that his feet were lifted into the air level with where his head had been, and then a split second later the spirit was sucked into the body. Potter must have still felt like he was being dragged because the body sprang from the table it had been lying on with great force, but before it could hit anything it was halted in mid air. Again, as had happened four years previous, the variation of phoenix song was heard accompanied by the mini lightning storm, but this time something else happened, in a flash of emerald green Harry's aura was pushed forth and the lightning began striking it, but instead of just being absorbed it remained on the surface, occasionally coming a few centimetres from it, but otherwise it seemed to be just 'swimming' about on it. During the whole thing Potter's face had scrunched up in pain and he was screaming.
"What is this?" Fudge asked as he and the other remaining officials looked on with fear.
"It l.. looks li… like the Tran… transformation for a sorc…sorcerer" one of them stuttered out.
"How is this possible?" Fudge asked, dreading the answer.
"It looks like the tr… transformation was n... n… n… not possible without a soul, and now it has it back…well" The official trailed off.
"We have to stop him then, he's mad, he'll kill us all!" Fudge exclaimed but before he had a chance to even lift his wand, Harry's aura expanded, swallowing the last of his loyal workers, the electricity burning their internal organs while the magic scorching their skin until their was nothing but blood stained bone left, Fudge had barely managed to escape the aura but not the lightning that teased at the surface. As if sensing the closeness of Fudge the lightning jumped off the aura in an arc and connected with Fudge, pumping him with thousands of vaults of electricity, while the impact threw him back towards his office, however he was not in front of the door, or even the wall when he was thrown, but a window, and so he crashed through half way, the impact of the reinforced glass stopping him but not altogether holding out. As he lay there, still twitching a burning, slowly dieing from the impact of the lightning and cooking of his internal organs, the upper half of the glass that he had not hit and that had managed to stay in place finally came loose, and like a guillotine, granted a very jagged one, it sliced through his body, separating his belly and downwards from the rest of his body, killing him.
During the whole fiasco with the ministry personal Harry had been undergoing his transformation from puny, underfed, malnourished and weak little boy, to the physical perfection that he had once been. The small part of his mind that was not affected by the pain was amazed that not only had he started out as a baby again, but it had only taken four years to reach maturity again. 'I wonder if this means that I will always come back looking like this when, or if I die?" Harry wondered. If that were the case then it would mean that he too would be immortal like Voldemort. Voldemort. Harry wondered what had become of that vile being. He was in no doubt that the creature that was once Hogwarts' brightest student was still alive, in one way or another, after all he did reach immortality. For about the thousandth time Harry cursed the minister for doing away with him before he had a chance to finish Riddle off and end that dratted prophesy.
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At the time when Harry escaped the body of the dementor, Dumbledore was sat in his office, planning for the next inevitable attack, one he was sure would spell the end for all those that resided within the boundaries of Hogwarts. There was nothing that could be done unless Hermione got that generator up and running, but she still needed another day or two to complete it.
"Good evening, Albus" Alastor 'Mad eye' Moody greeted as he and the rest of the Order Of the Phoenix arrived in his office.
"Hello everyone, thank you for coming. I fear this will be the last meeting we will hold before the next attack, and if we don't find a way to defend ourselves the last meeting all together." Dumbledore said in way of an opening speech.
"Surely things aren't that desperate, Albus?" Tonks asked
"I'm afraid so, more and more people are deferring over to the death eaters, believing that they are the future, we are loosing more people everyday and the wards will not last much longer, there is only so much I can do for them." Dumbledore explained with a weary look on his face.
"Is'nt there anything that can be done?" Ron questioned.
"There is nothing that I can think off, except for the generator Hermione is preparing, but I fear it will not be operational in time." Dumbledore said and then he looked at Hermione and asked for an update on its completion.
"I'm afraid I've ran into a problem, it isn't anything major, but a problem none the less. It will take about a day to fix and another to complete." Hermione said with tiredness evident in her voice. She had most likely been putting in all of the hours she possibly could to get the thing working in time for the defense of what was shaping up to be the final battle. Just as Dumbledore was about to continue the meeting he was swept off his feet by a surge of power unlike any he had felt before.
"Albus are you okay?"
"Professor, so you need Madame Pomfrey?"
"It isn't the wards is it?"
were some of the quick fired questions directed at him from the assembled group of defenders of the light.
"I'm fine and no it was not the wards, it was a power surge, one unlike any I have ever felt. It was not only powerful, but it had a different taste to it than magic" Dumbledore explained as only a sorcerer could with their extra magical awareness.
"Was it dark, or light?" Snape asked from his dark corner.
"Neither, like I said it was different. If it was Riddle then we are all done for. I want it checked out as soon as possible, no doubt riddle will have felt it also if he was not the one behind it." Dumbledore commanded.
"I'll go" Remus volunteered.
"Me too" Ginny said, stepping forward from the back of the room where she usually occupied.
"Very well then, the origin of it was London, a block or two from where the Leaky Cauldron used to be." Dumbledore told them and with a nod from each the left the office and headed to the portkey room, where they portkeyed to London.
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"Nott" screamed a very serpentine voice.
"Yes master?" Nott said as he entered the room, head bowed.
"I want you to check something out for me, take with you a group of trainees. There was a magical surge from London, not far from where the Leaky Cauldron was. Find out what it was and if possible bring it to me." Voldemort commanded his servant.
"Yes master" Nott said, kissed his masters feet and left the room without turning his back or looking upon his master.
"That power will soon be mine." Voldemort hissed to his snake, Nagini with a rare and abnormal smile.
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Harry woke with a jolt, and quickly looked all around him, taking in his surroundings and making sure that he was not in the dark lords clutches. After the initial sweep of the area the memories of last night came back to him and he looked down to find that he was sitting, naked, on a cold steel table and all around him were skeletons, ashes (from the dementors when his aura got them too) and two halves of a Fudge.
"Holy Shit" Harry mumbled out before he remembered his dream, and that a group of death eaters were on their way. Though Harry was powerful, he didn't intend to fight just yet, he was aching all over and his magic needed to recharge from the transformation. After a quick look around the location Harry located some cloths that were roughly his size and changed and then with a final look around (And a malicious grin towards fudge) he aparated away to Diagon alley where he hoped to floo to Hogwarts. He still had no idea how long he had been gone or what the situation of the wizarding world was, though he would soon find out.
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When Ginny and Remus landed in London they immediately began searching the surrounding buildings (Those that had not been destroyed by 'terrorists' as the muggle prime minister had insisted. Ginny had wanted to come for two reasons, the first being that she was tired of being cooped up in the castle for so long and having Hermione give her pitying looks for not accepting Harry's death, even though she had. She just didn't react as badly as everyone else because while everyone else felt Harry's love leave them when his life did, Ginny did not, of course she didn't know this, she just assumed everyone else still felt it, and everyone else assumed she felt like they did, but was just in denial so they all continued to try and help her despite her reassurance that she was fine and that Harry was still with her. The second reason she decided to come along was because that love she felt was gradually getting stronger and stronger so she wanted to see what it meant and she knew she would find no answers stuck within the confines of the Hogwarts grounds.
"Where to now?" Ginny asked Remus.
"Why don't we try the next block over?" he suggested, earning a nod from Ginny. They searched the next block of buildings that were still standing until Remus stopped them.
"Hold on there Ginny. I've never seen this building before, and I used to come by here frequently. I think this might be the place we're looking for." Remus said as they both approached the emaculatly kept front door. The building looked severely out of place where it was, surrounded by crumbling ruins while it was looking as though it was made not a day ago.
They both krept into the building and through the entrance hall to the main part, but whatever they were expecting to find, it was not the sight that beheld them. There was scattered skepetons all over the place, what looked like a muggle mortuary table that the dead lie on and several magical instaments that Remus had no clue what they did.
"Oh my god, Remus come and look at this" Ginny gasped. While Remus had been looking around Ginny had walked over to the only body that looked like it could be identifiable. As Remus got closer and closer to the body he noticed that it was not a body, only half.
"What in merlins name happened to him, or her?" Remus queeried.
"I don't know, but perhaps the other half of the body is on the other side of this wall." Ginny suggested. Remus nodded and they both went through the door into the tidy office. The other half of the body indeed was on the other side of the wall but it was not on the floor, it was dangling by the thread of its clothes that the glass had failed to cut through,
"Who is it?" Ginny asked, trying to keep her dinner.
"Why do I have to look?" Remus asked nervously.
"Because youre older, because you're a man and because if you don't then ill spill my dinner all over you" Ginny listed, and so Remus, knowing defeat when he saw it relented and moved over to the body to identify it.
"I don't believe it" Remus said moments later, all feelings of sick forgotten.
"What? Who is it?" Ginny asked.
"It's Fudge!" Remus exlclaimed, getting to his feet again.
"But isn't he supposed to be dead?" Ginny asked.
"In case you cant see, he all ready is." Remus said.
"You know what I mean!" Ginny snapped.
"Yes, yes. I know. Come on I don't think we're going to find anything else here, we might as well report back to Dumbledore." Remus suggested and so they both pulled their portkeys out were just about to activate them when they heard voices.
"Hold on" Remus whispered.
"This looks like the place, Our lord wishes for us to find the object or person that caused the surge, fan out all of you and search this place" Said the voice, obviously a death eater.
"Well it looks like it wasn't Riddle then" Ginny whispered.
"Thank Merlin, come on lets get out of here" Remus said and they both activated their portkeys and were gone with a soft 'pop' before any of the death eaters found them.
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"What on earth happened?!" Harry gasped as he took in the crumbling remains of Diagon Alley. Every where he looked there was destruction, the buildings were nothing but borders of foot high walls represented what they once were. Everything was gone, even Ollivanders, all gone. Harry didn't know how long he had been away for, but judging by the state of the alley he knew it was long enough, so resigning himself to fate of Diagon Alley Harry screwed his face up in concentration and for the first time in both this life and his previous Harry changed into his second animagus form, the Quezacotl and in flash of green lightning he was off to Hogwarts.
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Not long after Remus and Ginny had left for the source of the power surge the alarm was raised and everyone was quick to find their posts. Riddle had began his final assault on the grounds. The emergency portkeys were activated and the fighters and some field healers were portkeyed into the battle ground to try and hold off the forces of the dark for as long as they could. There was the usual creatures assembled, but more of them this time, especially of the dead army. They had been modified as Riddle became more efficient in necromancey, they no longer carried death with them, and they were more sentient so they could react better to the battle situation, also they were each charge with some amount of magic, not enough for an unforgivable but enough for a few good goes at some of the darkest spells. There were dementors also as well as the death eaters, the upper class of whom had been gifted with more magic from their Lord, making things harder for the light. Also with the dark forces were a few giants who had strayed from their clans.
"Dear merciful god" Dumbledore whispered as he took in the scene. This was to be the last battle, he knew. They didn't have enough resources or man power to hold them all off for long.
"Alright, listen up everyone, this could very well be the last time we take a stand against Riddle, and it could be the last time any one carries hope for a long time, but even if we fail here tonight, we will be safe with the knowledge that there will always be others!" Dumbledore shouted over the racket the dark forces made as they came closer and closer. Dumbledore speech elicited a cheer from the assembled fighters and for the first time in years they all felt like the battle was worth it, that eventually they would win, even if they were no longer among the living. And so the battle began, the forces of light putting up a fine resistance, killing off dementors with multiple patroni, sending the dead army back to the ground where they came from with reductor and banishment spells to burry them and disarming, or disposing of the death eaters whenever they got the chance. If one were to look on at the battle they would see a sight that inspired hope into the forces of light, for there was a solitary figure that was cutting through the forces with such apparent ease and with such speed that one would be mistaken to believe he were a god. Dumbledore was using all he had against the enemy, wandless and wand magic, the absorbing of free magic and many other little tricks he had come across in his many years to take them out. He was untouchable, whenever a curse was fired at him, it would be absorbed, when ever a dead soldier got too close it was melted by his aura and when ever a dementor was near the Patronus of bees that circled him would attack until it was no more. Things were not looked quite so bad for the side of the light, it seemed that Dumbledore's speech had inspired the 'troops'. The light were not without their share of casualties however, Dumbledore had passed many of his fallen comrades, and each one served to only feed his emotion and thus feed his magic, inflicting his wrath upon any unlucky soul that was to cross him.
Hours passed in a blur, the light side holding off the enemy and slowly but surely pushing them back from the grounds. Each metre that the forces receded served to strengthen the light side, each fallen death eater, giant and dementor feed their hope and each fallen victim fed their magic, until one person took it all away with nothing but his presence. Voldemort was here. They all knew he had to be somewhere near by for the army to be commanded, but they never imagined that he would be so close. All around the battle that had been raging for hours seemed to slow to a silent stop, everyone looked on at Voldemort, waiting to see what he would do, or looking on a Dumbledore, hopping he had something that could help them all.
"Well Dumbledore, here we are again. Only this time I see now boy hero for you to have come rescue you." Voldemort sneered. Dumbledore knew he was in trouble, he could sense that Voldemort had increased his power even more somehow. He also knew that he would not last long in a one on one duel against him because his own magic was being drained by the assault on the wards and also from all of the magic he had done while battling.
"There will always be someone Tom, if not me or Harry, then someone else." Dumbledore said, not allowing any of the emotion he was feeling to creep into his voice or show on his face.
"Maybe there will always be someone to defy me, someone with great power, but never as great as mine. You see since the last time we met I have been doing a little studying. It seems that I have another talent I had not considered, or thought useful before. After that duel with Potter I saw that it had more uses than I thought. So I spent the years practicing with it once I unlocked the power, as well as increasing my own magic power. The result is that now I am unchallenged. No one in this world can stand up to my greatness." Riddle said, with his sneer still in place. As he finished his monolog he raised his hands and something happened that Dumbledore, or anyone else, phoenix member and death eater alike, expected to happen. Shards of ice began shooting out of his hand and collecting into a ball above his head, it grew and grew and grew until moments later it stopped growing and began forming into a shape, the shape of a serpent with wings, and many, many horns, fangs and other pointy bits.
"Now attack!" Voldemort bellowed and the ice creature swooped over the crowd, shooting off large icicles from its underbelly as if flew over the light wizards. Many tried firing spells at it but nothing seemed to be working.
"Put up physical shields, transfigure anything you can to cover yourselves, now!" Dumbledore screamed at his army.
"It's no use old man, the elemental animals never get tired, it will continue assaulting until there is nothing left to assault or I command it to stop" Voldemort said with glee. This was it, Dumbledore thought, there was nothing that anyone could do against an elemental creature, his army was dieing and he did not have the power in him to challenge Riddle. It seemed everything was over.
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A/N: There you are, another chapter done. I find it easier to write this fic, I don't know if its because I've been thinking about this part for longer or what. Just don't expect a chapter every day, though I will get one out f I can (Except weekends probably) to those of you who reviewed and actually left something positive, for both last chapter and chapter 18 of rising war thank you, it boosted my confidence in the fic. To those of you who saw it necessary to tell me how much I sucked for killing Harry without even reading the authors note explaining about the sequel then I ask that in future you get your facts straight before leaving a review. I saw absolutely no point in the reviews telling me how much I ruined the fic when all along I have said there will be a sequel, and then for not waiting for everything to be explained before leaving your reviews saying so. If it annoys you so much then simply don't read it.
Until Next Time.
GG