AN: I don't own Harry Potter or any other story mentioned.
Written: 2/29/12 (Leap Year!)
The Ultimate Crossover
by Kassien
Chapter 4
Before Harry knew it, the end of July had arrived marking what should have been his nineteenth birthday and almost eight months of living in New York City and training with Duncan. Quite a bit had happened since arriving in the Big Apple, and most noticeably he had put on some weight and muscle, filling out significantly in the chest and shoulders especially from all his working out and sword fighting. He had even gone through a pair of quickenings after being confronted by Immortals in town looking for Duncan and had proved himself to be adequately learning and improving from his skilled mentor and friend.
On top of his training with Duncan, Harry had also really progressed in his self study of magic during his free time and had far surpassed a general Hogwarts education and maybe even a Master Level in Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration. He had also really taken to studying and preparing potions as well as introducing Ancient Runes and Arithmancy to his rotation of reading, and had finally gotten around to trying to find his animagus form through meditation. Duncan was a big fan of meditating and finding your center to help control emotions and know oneself when learning sword fighting and martial arts, so it had become a large part of his life here very quickly.
He was currently at a local motorcycle dealer looking for a bike to buy himself as a birthday present since it just wasn't too practical to own a car in the big and crowded city. He settled on a brand new Buell Lightning X1 made by Harley Davidson and had his own signature lightning bolt decorating the otherwise Avada Kedavra green bike. Luckily and not surprisingly after four hundred years on earth, Duncan knew people who provided all the documents Harry needed to legitimately establish his identity and had recently passed tests to drive after fudging his age a bit so he could go into bars and clubs, which wasn't too far fetched with his older look and peppered grey hair.
Harry had more recently taken to visiting these bars and clubs just to see what they were all about, and found that he had an unbelievably high tolerance for alcohol. It was also nice to hang out with people a little closer to his age, and he certainly wasn't going to complain about some of the skimpy and sexy outfits worn by members of the opposite sex. Although he could safely say that he wasn't a big fan of most of the loud bass driving music at those clubs, he certainly didn't mind some of the dancing that went on when he had a hot partner.
When he got back to Duncan's flat eager to show off his new bike, there was a note telling him his teacher was at Joe's getting some information on an Immortal he saw downtown this morning and to watch his head. He was justifiably concerned then, when moments after finishing the note he felt the now familiar tingle of a nearby Immortal and hoped that Duncan had come back earlier than he normally would. It obviously wasn't meant to be a good and peaceful birthday as he heard an unfamiliar voice downstairs in the closed shop yelling for for the Highlander to come out and meet his fate.
Harry thought about either warding the second floor so the Immortal Duncan was out trying to get information on couldn't reach him or he could apparate away to safety, but after he started hearing antiques downstairs being broken he knew he would have to do something. He put on his new dragonhide jacket, a gift from Luna that everyone thought was simply black leather and grabbed his sword before heading down the stairs to the shop to confront the unknown Immortal. The man wasn't too large, but stood about Harry's height at a sturdy six feet and seemed plenty strong and agile enough to give him problems, and had equally black hair and a thin goatee looking to be in his late twenties or early thirties.
"You are not the Highlander," he growled out angrily when he noticed Harry enter the shop from the back room.
"No shit," snapped Harry already in a bad mood for having his birthday interrupted and not wanting to deal with whoever this man was because he obviously wasn't a pushover.
"Watch your tongue boy," snarled the other man which instantly raised the hackles of Harry's anger like no other as that term usually did having heard it enough in his life from his Uncle Vernon. "I am Theodore Cahill, born in Philadelphia in 1745 and I have come for the Highlander."
"I'll give him the message Teddy," replied harry sarcastically and probably somewhat foolishly knowing this man had over two hundred years of experience and was the Immortal Duncan was worried about and didn't seem to be the friendly sort.
"How about I write the message for him with your blood you little shit," snapped the now very angry Immortal as he swept off his cloak and drew his very well made broadsword.
"He rarely reads his messages," smirked Harry drawing his own sword and hoping he had learned enough to survive this fight without blatantly cheating and resorting to using magic since Duncan was very big on honor and wouldn't like that much.
Theodore growled and quickly rushed at Harry with a strong sweep of his heavier sword that Harry met with Gryffindor's fabled sword in a loud clang of metal hitting metal. The fight quickly became very intense and it was obvious to Harry that this guy was good, blending power, speed, and technique much like Duncan did and hoped he would be able to prevail. Within fifteen minutes though, Harry was sporting several cuts, bruises, and even a broken rib or two while his opponent was faring much better although it did seem he was starting to breath heavier.
Knowing he was outclassed but refusing to let this be the end, Harry cast a few wandless healing charms mainly to wrap his broken ribs temporarily and stop his blood loss so he could continue. His opponent was slowly starting to get a little cockier thinking he had already won, and the younger man hoped he could use it to his advantage. Harry made sure to strictly maintain his defense thinking he could tire his opponent further and give him a false sense of security to boost his cockiness and increase the chances of him making a mistake he could exploit.
His plan seemed to work as Theodore began making bigger and sloppier attacks as he tried to finish Harry off in some spectacular fashion, while Harry waited for his chance to counter. A large windup into a particularly powerful overhand swing of Theodore's broadsword gave Harry just the chance a minute later, as the younger man spun away from the potential final blow at the very last moment. His spin brought him to his opponents unprotected side, and he used his momentum from the spin to bring his own sweeping sword to bear on his opponents neck, cleaving off his head with the very last of his remaining strength before collapsing to his knees while the headless body crumpled to the floor beside him.
The power of the quickening hit him like a tidal wave of force that negated his healing charms in the most painful of ways leaving him screaming and his chest burning in utter agony. When it ended he collapsed to the ground next to Theodore's headless body desperately trying to gasp in much needed and very painful lung fulls of air. His vision wavered dangerously as he tried desperately to cling to consciousness, but his fatigue coupled with his many injuries were too great and he felt his lifeblood slipping away from him as his world turned black.
Harry gasped awake what must have been a few hours later to see Duncan and Joe standing over him and Theodore's headless body, with looks of shock and pride in their faces. They obviously hadn't been their too long since everything was exactly how it was when the fight ended and the younger Immortal succumbed to his injuries and died. Duncan just shook his head in shock while pride shown in his eyes as their gazes met, while Joe seemed to be stuck sputtering in almost complete disbelief.
"How are you feeling Harry?" asked a smiling Duncan as he watched his young student regain his bearings, with obvious pride in his voice too.
"Like I just died," groaned a grimacing Harry still with a bit of lingering pain in his body and extra memories still floating around in his head.
"I can't believe you defeated Theodore Cahill," whispered Joe obviously still a bit shocked as he looked at the severed head of the dead Immortal. "I was worried about Mac being able to beat him."
"He came here looking for Duncan, and didn't want to just leave a message and come back," spoke Harry clearer as the pain and memories started to fade into the background.
"Did you have to ruin most of the shop?" asked a still smiling Duncan, as Harry just gave him a halfhearted glare in return.
"Better the shop than me," grumbled Harry as Duncan reached out a hand to help him to his feet and held him for a moment as he regained his balance and was steady enough to stand on his own.
Duncan just gave Harry a proud slap on the back, before telling him it was his mess to fix up and that he and Joe were heading upstairs to share some drinks and for Harry to join them when he was done. Harry hit his sword and himself with a cleaning charm to remove the blood and debris, then transfigured Cahill's body and head into small sticks he then ignited with his wand and afterwards banished the ashes. He then proceeded to cast multiple reparo charms fixing all the broken antiques and damaged cases and tables before cleaning the blood off of everything, gathering up his his new broadsword trophy and ascending the stairs to get some healing potions before joining the others for a few celebratory birthday drinks.
The trio talked a lot about how the fight went down, and then Harry was finally able to show off his new motorcycle, which both men thought fit him very well. After several rounds of drinks, Harry went out to further celebrate his birthday at one of the local bars and didn't come home until late in the night knowing Duncan had given him the morning off of training as a birthday present. Overall, it wasn't too bad of a birthday during reflection of the day, and at least he was still alive to celebrate hopefully many more in the future.
The next few months saw a drastic increase in Harry's sword fighting and martial arts ability to the point where he was beating Duncan almost as often as losing to the older Immortal. He also started to grow a little restless being in the big city, and would seldom take off on his bike for a day or so to drive out into the countryside and explore more of the Northeast United States. Among his magic books, he found a notebook filled with Sirius' notes on charming and improving his own motorcycle and had used it all to outfit his own bike to be similar.
During that time he had also discovered his animagus form which he was very happy with even if being a Thestral was somewhat of an unsettling thing since there were so many negative connotations associated with the magical animal that all revolved around death. He was still in the very beginning stages of working on the change itself, and had so far only managed to change his hands and feet into skeletal hooves but was making progress and excited about it. He hoped within another year that he might be closer to trying for a complete transformation, but was in no hurry as he had discovered a great many interesting books to read as he searched his enormous library of books when looking for information on his animal. He discovered a series of texts dealing with weather based spells and information on elemental magic that he quickly found an incredible interest in learning and mastering.
He was currently writing another letter to Luna wishing her a happy birthday and again thanking her for his own birthday gift, the dragonhide jacket that had just saved his life the again the other day. A rather sleazy and cheating Immortal had shot him in the chest with a handgun as they were preparing to fight, and had approaching his fallen form planing to remove his head while he was already dead. Luckily, the dragonhide had stopped the bullet from piercing his skin and killing him and had only knocked him over from the impact. He was just able to call his sword back into his hand at the last minute and dispose of the cheating bastard with a single swing.
He was sending her birthday letter along with a small package that contained a shrunken and lightened bag of galleons along with his measurements for another jacket, a pair of pants, and boots in the same black dragonhide. He also included in the birthday package a framed photo and an antique muggle music box that was very beautiful. He also requested any books she could find on weather magic or elementals since he had really taken a growing interest in the subject, and sent the package off to her muggle mail box she had for some of the muggleborn subscribers and contributors of the Quibler that they used to keep in touch and hope it arrived before her September 24th birthday.
It took a few weeks until he received Luna's return package, and was real excited to get another jacket, pants, and pair of boots in black dragonhide, and several spell books he had never seen. Her note also gave him a little news on what was happening with everybody including Remus and Tonks getting married as well as Ron and Hermione, while she had just begun dating Colin Creevey who was working as the Quibler's lead photographer. Harry was really happy for her despite the slight sting of pain from her moving on with her life without him, but he knew it was for the best and that she deserved all the happiness she could get as he couldn't be there for her or start a family and grow old with her.
Deciding on trying out his new gear and going for a head clearing bike ride, he said goodbye to Duncan after promising to to be careful and calling him if he decided to stay out all night. Within a few hours he was racing through the country roads of upstate New York at speeds beyond his bike's original capabilities and absolutely loving every minute of it just like when he was on his Firebolt. He came upon and passed a rugged and feral looking man on an obviously custom bike without any thought until he looked back and noticed the man expertly keeping pace with him despite the incredible speed he was maintaining and matched the man's grin as he lead him on an exhilarating chase.
AN: The Highlander sequence is coming to an end soon, and you may be able to guess his next stop by that last sentence and who he just encountered. Enjoy!
