Chapter 6
Resistance is Futile
Havoc scanned the snow-covered ground, he felt a light tug on his chest, to touch the bloodstain and breathe its scent, to erase every evidence of his former existence. He kneeled and brushed his hand over the rough surface.
Tingles of magic spread over his hand, a strange sensation of knowing washed over him, as if it were only yesterday he fell onto this very ground and died. His heart strained to beat and his chest constricted. It was frightening, he fell onto his knees and tried to breathe.
His eyesight became hazy and unfocused, as if he returned to the brink of death. He looked up and winced at the intense light above him.
"Maybe it would stop when I got some fresh air?" Havoc mumbled to himself and slowly clambered up the steep rock face of the pit. In a couple of seconds he was standing bare-foot on the cold snow and staring at the white yonder. He then remembered the sharp pain of his treatment by his next of kin, his back burned against the invisible lashes of the metal buckle and leather. His hands stung as the hot iron was pressed and scorched them. His throat went numb from non-existent screaming.
In severe pain, Havoc dragged himself through the snow and could feel tears sting his eyes along with slumbering hatred and rage. He leaned against a nearby tree, it crained itself to embrace him, as if on its own volition; to shield him from the pain and suffering that he was facing once again. Havoc gripped tightly onto the bark and felt it break and fold under his hands. It was rotten, its branches hollow and weak, it creaked as Havoc leaned even more into it, feeling some amount of empathy for the long-dead tree. He couldn't stop the thought how they weren't so different.
His feet became numb as they were buried in the snow and his knees were losing their integrity. He slowly slid down until only his black hair was visible on the surface.
"Revenge, isn't that what you are yearning for?" Rip's voice cooed evily in Havoc's ears, resonating in each and every fiber of his being; it was why he moved on, to get revenge on everyone who have hurt him. His eyes flickered over to the far off Hogwarts Castle and slightly grinned.
"Of course, Rip. Tell Rex we shed blood tonight." a series of shouts resonated in his head, plans, soldiers, preparations.
Rex, of course, was both delighted and infuriated for the sudden plan of storming the fortress above. The main reason that Havoc wasn't healed enough to wear the bulky armor and engage one, let alone dozens of mages that they are sure to confront and kill. Rip, as always being the sneaky minion master, has been working on a strange 'modern' variant of the Overlord armor.
"The armor is double times thinner but forged that it has almost the same strength! Some of the plates are mirrored to deflect spells and has a huge capacity of minions." Rip was barely keeping himself together as he presented the armor that is hanging beside him.
Rex glanced at the small suit of armor and had to hold back a snort. The armor was designed similar to his but apart from it looked flimsy and frail. The plates were strapped onto a black shirt with leather straps , the helmet was smaller and was less intimidating, which was very ineffective when it came to Overlording. The cuirass was a series of leather straps and leather plates, tightly pressed against the chest, the loincloth was a bit longer and less-ragged, acting as something similar as a skirt. The leg guards were just a series of leather straps studded with metal.
"This is unsuitable for a close encounter, Rip. I might suspect you want us both dead." Rex lowly growled. The minion simply smirked and retorted, "Sire, these are civilized times, axes and swords are out of commision, twigs are the hottest weapons there are." Rip barely held back a laughing fit as he saw the red eyes widen by the information. Rip enjoyed to torment the old mannerisms of his Sire.
"This world is...idiotic." Rex simply concluded, he never expected that the twigs the mages and wizards use would actually become mass produced and used as weapons.
"The wizarding world is. You must see the muggle weapons, I have never seen so much destruction in such a bombastic manner." Rip became even more jittery and Rex could only think that the minion was remembering what he saw when these 'muggles' used their weapons.
"But we also have to discuss his latent ability."
Rex's eyebrow rose in question, "Ability? Such as?"
"Overlords can drain magic, right? They can manipulate it, change it and dispense it at will. But what is different in wizards is that they can use it on a more deeper level than an Overlord."
Rex intently listened while still staring at the poor excuse for an overlord's armor.
"But our Sire here is capable of using a wand, the wizard's catalyst! I've taken the liberty of integrating it into the gauntlet. With that, he can manipulate the magic 'inside' a wizard. As long if his will and magic is stronger than the victim's"
Rex nodded, his son was capable to do something similar but in a very crude and inefficient way.
"We shall see if that works as you described it." he simply said and left to tell Havoc about his new armor.
Havoc, to say the least, was actually very happy for the new suit of armor. He fawned over it like some ten-year-old over a piece of sweetcorn. Rex shook his head from his perch that was usually the frame of a door while Havoc was inspecting each and every piece of the armor he was given, Rip must be happy as hell.
"Havoc, can you stop acting like a child and answer me!"
The teen in question stopped at the shout and faced the Overlord, green staring into red. He shivered when he felt the intensity as if almost their very existence hanged in the balance if this didn't happen right now. He didn't even hear the question.
"I didn't hear." He flatly responded.
Rex sighed and repeated his question, "You will stay near me during the entire battle, no separation. Is that understood?"
Havoc returned back to inspecting the armor and simply responded, "Yeah, sure." Rex was somewhat pleased with the response, even by a little. He once again sighed and left the room and back to the great hall where Rip was telling off some random minion who has seemed to have lodged an axe in his comrade behind him.
"Look at the mess, Mucky! Clean it up!" Rip snapped at the dumb-founded minion and smiled the instant he saw Rex stomp down.
"Ah, Sire! Is the armor up to his standards?"
Rex shook his head, "Unfortunately so." he reluctantly confirmed. His stomach slightly clenched each time he saw that thin, paper-thin, armor. Visions of Havoc's blood flowing freely shook him to the core, his own life ebbing away through his blood. But thoughts like these drove him to question about his own life, is it worth living when he lost everything he knew? He wasn't sure what still drove him.
"Sire? You alright?" Rip shook him out from his gut-wrenching visions and meaning of life and was glad that he did. He looked at the minion and gave a sliver of a smile, "I am."
"I am afraid that I have grave news." Dumbledore's old voice cracked in the office where Snape, Remus, McGonagall, Sirius and the other faculty have came to attend the meeting. Hogwarts and its Headmaster has been attacked, and having information that the attacker may have access to the castle anytime called for swift action.
"And what would that be?" Sirius snapped sharply, his mood still venemous since Snape's remark. Even though an entire day passed.
"Sirius!" Remus scolded his husband and directed his attention to their former headmaster. Dumbledore sadly nodded in thanks to the werewolf and began, "As you all know, Harry is still alive."
Everybody sadly nodded in confirmation while Snape only frowned.
"I believe that Snape has some suspicions about what I am about to tell you all."
"That Potter is an Overlord." Snape more stated than asked. The only ones who gasped are Remus and Sirius, everybody had confused looks on their faces.
"Severus! I will have you cursed to hell! How dare you call my son a monster!" Sirius almost flew at the potions master but Remus restrained him in time before the two men were once again pummeling eachother.
Dumbledore's face grew older and weathered. They were slowly losing him as his age started to catch up to him and the grief only catalized the process even more.
"Overlords have been the dark rulers of magic and creatures. They command vast magical powers and have the capability to siphon any type of magic they come across. There is only one Overlord as they go through their bloodline or, by some strange luck, an outsider is given the gift. Harry has obviously gotten the gift and one of the remaining minions have reached him." Dumbledore sighed after his explanation and prepared for a multitude of questions. But they never came. Everyone saw in what a state he was, it almost resembled how Harry grew in power, Dumbledore vained.
"What are you standing around for! We must protect this school and its students!" McGonagall took initiative when nobody would and dispersed the meeting with orders. Harry Potter or not, Dumbledore won't be reduced to such a state because of some boy even though she dearly cared for Harry, she couldn't let him ruin everything Dumbledore has tirelessly worked for.
The faculty went back to their duties, but with constant vigilance, looking for any signs of an impending attack. The students could feel the tension in the air and some of them were starting to cave under the pressure. The first one was the poor boy Neville. Ron understood what he was going through, it felt as if a knife was pressed against your throat constantly, pressing and releasing.
"C'mon, Dumbledore must be doing something about this." Ron barely believed what he spoke. Hermione tried to ask who that knight was but she was denied of talking to Dumbledore for some unknown reason.
"Ron-" Hermione wanted to say something when the castle shook ever so slightly, it was enough to be felt, fear bled into their bones and their breaths hitched in their throats, the knife they all felt was now closing in for the kill.
Havoc grinned as he held a minion in his metal grip, eyeing the weakest part of the dungeon walls. The minion looked at the wall and then at him, realization flashed over the minion until he started to manically laugh. Havoc's grin enlarged and poured power into the small gremlin.
"For the Overlord!" was the last testament of Mucky the brown minion before he collided with the wall and exploded in a burst of magic.
Havoc had never seen such an example of power before, feeling giddy because of it, and readied his blade to draw blood. It was actually a large sword that had a jagged break of its blade.
"Well done, Sire! You are getting the hang of this very quickly." Rip commended. Havoc didn't respond as he focused on the dimly lit halls of the dungeon, his eyes scanning for movement.
Rex stomped past him while a small battalion of brown minions followed from behind, leaving Havoc falling behind in his caution. Rex was quite bold, Havoc thought.
"Coming?" Rex simply asked. Havoc nodded and followed. Everything was calm and Havoc wondered if their entry went unoticed but that thought flew out of his head as he felt the force of a spell wash over him as it bounced off of his shoulderplate. It was a nasty curse, he could feel the intent inside. His head snapped to face the attacker and saw none other than Snape pointing his wand at him.
Rex stepped in front of Havoc to cover the biy and pointed a large iron sword he chose for his weapon towards the wizard, "You will pay for that!"
With a wave, the minions went into a full-out assault, not even thinking of the possible enemies which they might be charging into. Snape simply flicked his wand and the minions were ripped to pieces.
Meanwhile Havoc was powering a minion from behind Rex. He jumped out and almost yelped as the minion was ripped apart just like his brethren.
"I am not that stupid, Potter."
Rex raised his sword in a jousting position and slowly paced into a run, intending to run the offending wizard through. Snape clearly found the tactic to be very reckless and idiotic and simply smiled. He flicked his wand and waited for the cutting to begin.
Rex pushed his shoulder forward and looked intently as sparks flew from the shoulderplate. He felt his shoulder sting as some of the blades bit through. Despite the pain he continued to withstand an onslaught of magical blades until he was a few metres away from the man.
Snape wasn't liking how this was unfolding, the large juggernaut wasn't stopping and seemed impervious to his spells. He even tried to slow him down but the spells were simply drained. He was virtually unstoppable.
"Blast!" he exclaimed and apparated to the Headmaster's office, glad that Dumbledore still hasn't put up the wards. He appeared before the old man who looked very aware of what was happening.
"They are unstoppable." He said and Dumbledore nodded.
"I know. Severus, I am afraid that I need a favor from you."
Snape's eyebrow rose, this wasn't the time for asking favors.
"Go tell Voldemort of our predicament."
Severus wanted to express his disagreement but the old headmaster stopped him as he continued, "This is the only thing we can do."
Snape knew that Dumbledore won't say anything else, the very look that the man possessed shook him. With the Apparation spell on the tip of his tongue, he realized what Dumbledore was doing. Two birds with one stone, they will eliminate each other; but at what cost?
Rex and Havoc reached the hallway that led to the Headmaster's office and were having a tough time reaching it as the faculty had settled there in a last stand, being pushed back by constant charges of minions. The halls were cracked and full of debris but vacant of students. Rex clutched his battered shoulder which looked like swiss cheese from Snape's attacks. Blood steadly dripped down the obisidian armor, forming a small puddle on the ground beside him.
"Let me-" Havoc reached towards Rex but the Overlord backed off. "I am fine." he growled lowly. Havoc sighed and felt a soft rumble echo beside him.
"Sire, the reds are ready." Rip said and a small volcano erupted beside him, spewing red fumes and liquid. Havoc grinned and beckoned forth a small battalion of demonic red minions. They cackled madly while spitting live flames into their hands, ready to be sent to their targets and unleash mayhem.
"Time to do it, Sire." Rip hissed with delight.
Havoc took a deep breath and glanced in Rex's direction and then at his glove that shone brightly. He faced the battalion behind him and ordered them to make a diversion. They saluted and skittered off to find a sutable position from where they could attack.
It was the other hallway which lead into the same junction where the office was. Havoc saw that Flitwick, Trellawney and Sprout went to defend while McGonagall stayed with Sirius and Remus, who eyed him down the hallway. At least now he had a chance.
Havoc stepped out and fluently swayed his hand while keeping eye contact with McGonagall. At first the woman swayed ever so slightly, her mind resisting his attempts of control. Her eyes were wide as her body was being taken over and beads of sweat slowly went down her old face.
"Harry! Stop it, at once!" she commanded and broke free of his hold, her wand pointed and a curse at the ready.
"Hmmm...quite a strong-willed woman. No matter, crush her with your fist as if she were a nut, Sire." Rip recommended.
Havoc nodded in agreement, nobody will stand in his way, and clenched his fist. It echoed like a gunshot, the blast of magic that washed over everyone dazed them and a solid thump echoed a moment later. All that remained of Minerva McGonagall was a charred skeleton, laying between Sirius and Remus. Sparks of ethereal magic danced around the remains as they left it, dispersing into the air.
They stood there in shock, their ears rung from the blast their god son unleashed. Sirius couldn't believe that Harry was capable of turning on them, or even kill someone in such a manner. His heart broke and tears started to roll down his cheeks.
"Harry?" He whispered to the two knights in front of him, two pairs of glowing eyes trained on him. The red ones were cold and hard, but somewhat sympathetic while the green...they gave a look of someone long gone, hard determination was set into them.
The smaller knight walked over to them in deafening silence, the metal boots faintly clacked as they touched the stone floor.
"If you resist, you will face her fate." Havoc simply said and passed beside his former godfather. Rex leaned onto his sword and watched over the still-stunned wizards, some of them cried furiously while others were pale with fear. The intense feeling of betrayal and defeat was evident on their features and Rex felt strangely sympathetic towards them.
"Mourn...weep. You better get used to it, you will be doing it a lot when you see your precious world burn." Rex was sympathetic, but with a twist of course. He looked at the staircase where Havoc disappeared into, thinking what would be smart; to follow or stay. He concluded it would be best to stay when he felt anger flare up at him, Havoc was pissed now.
He was scared how in-tune he was with the teenager's emotions, after some time of constant influence even he started to feel like that. It was a roller coaster for him ever since he was bound with the brat. What scared him even more is that he feels his heart-strings pang with each display of power from the boy.
Havoc stood at the oak table, glaring at the older man behind it. His hands were balled up into fists and the metal gloves creaked from the force. Dumbledore looked at the hate-filled eyes and let out a defeated sigh.
"Revenge isn't the only answer."
Havoc sprung at the words and mauled the table in half, now standing above the older male, ready to rip him apart in an instant.
"You speak of answers, Dumbledore? What about questions? Hasn't that crossed your mind even once when it came to Harry Potter?" Havoc gritted out.
"We couldn't have known what was happening to you, Har-" Dumbledore wanted to say Harry but stopped himself sadly.
"Do you have an idea what pain I withstood? Telling you is pointless, I will have to show you, on a more personal level." Havoc grinned as he started to cut his palm and let blood freely flow from it.
"Magic is interesting, it is everywhere...in us, in our blood. And it remembers, would you know that?" Dumbledore didn't understand what Harry...he wasn't sure who the person before him was, the only name he had now was Overlord. Havoc violently pressed his bloody palm against Dumbledore's forehead and started pouring the memories that were still contained within his blood.
Dumbledore started to violently shake as his mind was flooded by horrible memories. He felt the pain course through his body as he looked at the writhing form on the floor of a basement. Deep gashes were on its pale body, blood slowly dripped all over, making the concrete floor crimson.
Sobs vibrated through his head and intense hatred washed over him.
Suddenly Havoc felt his own mind become flooded by Dumbledore's memories. They were mostly the ones where he was filing papers but then one memory appeared even remotely interesting. He was in the Leaky Cauldron and conversing with a short man who was hidden slightly in the shadows.. The difference between Dumbledore then and now was very evident, the younger version still held a somewhat youthful look.
"Mr. Pettigrew..."
"Albus Dumbledore. You are lucky that I have agreed to meet you here, these aren't safe times." Pettigrew slurred through his two buck teeth. His fingers nervously tapped against the old table, bringing a mug of some alcohol to his lips.
Dumbledore lowered his voice, "I have a favour to ask of you."
The other man stopped drinking and quizzically eyed the older man, trying to determine of what favour he will be asked.
"And what favour can I do for my former Headmaster?"
"A terrible one, but it is for the greater good." Dumbledore's face sunk and looked as if he aged a few decades. Mr. Pettigrew was visibly shaken by the change and was weary to ask.
"I need you to tell where the Potters live to Voldemort. I know you are their Secret Keeper." he looked directly into Pettigrew's eyes, almost pleading. Of course, Mr. Pettigrew couldn't believe what he was being asked to do. He shook his head several times, in hopes that he didn't hear his former Headmaster properly.
"Can you please repeat? Betray the Potters to the Dark Lord? Why?"
"I cannot...the only thing that matters is the greater good."
"And you will have them killed? They trusted you and you ask me to betray them as well? No...I can't, I have to decline." Pettigrew said in resolution but stiffened as he suddenly felt a spell grip tightly around him. "I am afraid I can't let you leave."
"You are insane, Dumbledore. How can you just give someone to that monster?" Pettigrew hissed.
Dumbledore's grip tightened around the Animagus' body and whispered, "Must I force you? I really don't want to but if it is necessary for your cooperation, I will."
Pettigrew's eyes had gone wide, he didn't recognize his former master that sat infront of him, he was replaced by some zealot that would sacrifice everything for the 'greater good'. He swallowed a lump, his own life came first, others later.
"No. There won't be a need for that."
Dumbledore visibly relaxed and dispelled the spell he had over his now-co-conspirator. Havoc stared in shock, he always believed Pettigrew betrayed his parents because Voldemort threatened him. Dumbledore forced Pettigrew to betray them?
Suddenly he was pulled out of the memory and into the real world by a sudden thundering sound. He pulled out his blade in reflex and glared at the new visitors.
"Death eaters." he grumbled while staring into the eyes Lucius Malfoy.
Updated and revised, 07.12.2018
