Summary: When aunt Marge visits the Dursleys after the events of OotP things become too much for the Boy Who lived and he snaps, the power of his dark side that Voldemort helped create on that horrible night fourteen years is unleashed and he decides to fight the war on his own terms, his ultimate goal to create a world where there is no corrupt government or discrimination towards magical animals and half-bloods or muggleborns.
Warning: swearing, angst and tragedy.
Disclaimer:
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by
JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to
Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, Warner Bros.,
Inc. and Sunrise., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or
trademark infringement is intended.
Power
Of
Revenge
Deploy
Harry was walking down the long corridor leading up to Luna's dungeon. He was still a bit cautious even after Luna knew he was coming down, having four thousand bullets shot at you doesn't really create a feeling of safety.
He approached the wooden door that gave entry to the dungeon and pressed on a button next to it.
A stone in the wall disappeared and a black box appeared in its place. Harry tapped it with his wand and put his palm flat on the front of the box, a small iris opened on top of the device and scanned his eyes.
After a few moments a cool female voice spoke up. "Name & password please"
"Harry Potter, 98843784"
"Access denied" the voice said and the box disappeared again into the wall.
"What the…" Harry muttered and banged on the door "Will some body let me in please, Luna, you there." He yelled but he got no reply.
Abruptly he stopped when he heard a strange sound reverberate through the corridor. It reminded him strangely of Aragog but it sounded more metallic.
He listened for another moment or two and shrugged. "You're getting paranoid." Harry muttered and somehow constant vigilance came to his mind.
He banged on the door again and still got no response.
He heard the sound again and faster than the eye could see he had turned in the direction of the sound with his sword in hand, but he couldn't see anything unusual in the brightly lit corridor.
And yet he knew something was there, he could feel it.
He started to walk in the direction he had come from, sword in hand and ready to strike at anything. Beads of sweat were running down his face, he knew he was powerful but last time he had barely gotten out and who knew what Loony Lovegood had come up with this time.
He heard that metallic clicking again and this time it sounded awfully close, slowly he looked upwards.
There it was, straight above him.
The thing leaped down from the ceiling, the blades on its legs glinting in the light and the cannon in its mouth pulsing with power.
Harry jumped up from the ground, sword in front of him and with a roar of defiance he challenged it.
"Why do people always disturb me when I'm in the shower." Luna sighed as she walked towards the door while drying her hair with a towel.
"What is it." She asked the guard sitting behind his desk next to the large reinforced steel door.
"Someone tried to get in but they didn't have security clearance." He informed her.
"Oh, must be Harry, open the door please."
A lot of metallic clicking and rattling was heard as the door was slowly unlocked. A brief ripple of power was felt as the wards on the door were disabled.
The door slowly opened inwards only to reveal a raging battle.
Harry was standing in front of the gate swinging his sword wildly in order to deflect dozens of orange bolts fired in his direction.
Suddenly the bolts stopped and a large metallic spider jumped on top him pinning him on the ground with its body, Harry just summoned his power and threw the spider of him, sending it through the hall.
He summoned his staff and prepared to blast the dawn thing to pieces.
"Stop." Luna yelled and stepped into the corridor, "Alex," she yelled and the spider suddenly stopped moving, the long knives on its legs retracted, it looked like he swallowed the pulse gun in its mouth and turned all of its eyes towards Luna "What did I tell you about attacking everyone in sight," the spider lowered its head and looked a little frightful although it was hard to tell for Harry "get inside immediately, no target practice for you today." The spider clicked its fangs obediently and shuffled inside.
She turned around and saw Harry staring at her with disbelieve. "You gave that thing a name." he asked incredulously.
"Of course," Luna said "how else am I going to address him."
"Using a remote or something, it's not like it's a dog or something."
"It's exactly like a dog only more obedient, he just tends to overdo it, when I tell him to guard the door he attacks everyone coming even near the entire corridor, its just a little bug in the system, we're working on it."
"A little bug." Harry yelled "That," he said pointing towards the gate through which the spider had just gone through "is not a little bug, that's a bloody big spider."
"Isn't it marvellous." Luna said as she looked at the gate through which the spider had just gone through lovingly
"Yeah yeah, it's marvellous" Harry grumbled, he had to admit it, if that thing was able to surprise and almost overcome him it was a good piece of machinery "but if that thing ever comes near me again Garanor can have it as a toy." Harry said and smirked as he saw the affronted look Luna was giving him.
"Umm, by the way," Harry suddenly stammered "you do realise that you're only wearing your bathrobe."
"Uh-huh." Luna nodded and strode back through the door. "Are you coming." Luna asked when she saw Harry was still standing in the hall.
"Are you sure I'm not going to be attacked when I walk through that door."
"Almost one hundred percent." Luna replied and walked on.
Harry gulped and hurried after her and the door closed behind him.
"I thought that that was just a wooden door." He asked her when he looked back at the gate.
"You're supposed to think that." Luna said.
They were now walking through a hall where guns had been placed every three meters on the walls and ceiling.
"You sure are very keen on defensive measures." Harry commented as he eyed the Gatling gun turrets with caution.
"Yes, but it's necessary, if anyone ever finds out on what we're working here they'll definitely try to break in here." Luna said very seriously all of a sudden, Harry had never seen her like this before.
"Would you mind if I ask what you're working on exactly." Harry asked cautiously.
"Of course I don't mind." Luna said in her usual voice.
"Well then, what is it." Harry asked aggravated
"All in due time." Luna said happily and stopped as they approached the end of the tunnel. They were now standing in a white square room with numerous doors on three walls with the entrance to the tunnel taking almost the entire fourth wall.
"Allow me to give you a tour." Luna said and they took the first door on their left.
They entered a room full of screens, computers and people sitting in chairs with their feet all propped up on their desks while talking with their colleagues and drinking coffee. There were seven of them.
Luna cleared her throat and all of a sudden all the men and women in the room jumped to their feet and started working vigorously.
Luna just smiled. "This is our safety control room, they keep an eye on everything that's going on around here and have control over most of the defences." She said addressing Harry.
"So it's these guys that I have to thank for my previous encounter with your defences." Harry asked.
All of them looked down at the ground while muttering apologies.
"Oh well, accidents do happen." Harry said grudgingly.
"That's the spirit." Luna said happily.
"Now come over here Harry, we'll get you a security clearance for this level so that accidents like that don't happen again." Luna said and walked over to a computer.
"But I already have the highest security clearance there is, every computer on this island should let me in." Harry said.
"Every computer except this one." One of the operators said while pressing the keys on his keyboard furiously "Our mainframe isn't connected to the rest of the castle, that way nobody can get in our files unless you manage to get in here, which is not an easy task as you might've noticed so everyone working here has been given a personal security clearance just for entering this dungeon." He explained.
"Alright, that explains it. But why can't anyone remember what they're doing here once they leave." Harry asked.
"It's part of our security, when the people working here leave the facility they leave all their knowledge of what's going on here behind in a modified pensieve, the only thing they remember is that they work here, they're code and their schedule and every time they come back in here a special device remembers them that they have to pick up their memories. The system is the most secure of all the options we considered." Luna explained in that serious voice again.
"Ingenious" Harry said in awe.
"I'm glad you like it." Luna said again in her happy voice.
After giving Harry a security clearance Harry and Luna proceeded towards the laboratory which they passed by quickly, the only thing Harry saw was a lot of people sitting behind computers while typing and discussing vigorously.
Next was the factory.
This was were it all happened
To say Harry was impressed was an understatement, he was awestruck.
Luna apparently found that the space he had created had been too small so she had expanded it to twice the size, making it eight times bigger than the Great Hall.
Large lorries drove in and out of the space transporting molten metal through a tunnel that began at the end back of the dungeon and led all the way up to the mountains where the metal ore was being mined. Next to it was the foundry where the liquid metal was charmed, potions were added, funnelled into moulds and when it had cold enough Runes were engraved into the metal by robots so small that they were almost undetectable by the human eye and later they were activated by a wizard. On the other side of the room was the workshop where the metal was shaped in the right form. Magical equipment like lasers and cutters with accuracies that no muggle machinery could ever hope to accomplish, impossible shapes could be made like making a space inside a solid block of iron without any damage on the outside of it.
Next to the workshop was the assembly plant which was still inactive at the moment, on the other side was the testing area from where loud explosions could be heard from time to time. Next to that stood a large metallic fence in which a dozen of the large metallic spiders where resting peacefully but Harry still thought they looked menacing, even when they're weapons aren't deployed and they're resting. With they're eight shining metal legs, steel body, sharp pincers and eight lenses for eyes they gave Harry the creeps, he didn't think he could handle them in an enclosed space if they attacked all at once.
"Aren't they cute" Luna said as she looked at the metallic monsters with a soft expression on her face.
"Cute, they look more like demons from hell if you ask me." Draco Malfoy said as he approached the duo.
"Yes, maybe, but nobody did ask you, now did they." Luna replied with a smirk.
"You look nice in that bathrobe by the way, Harry" he continued jovially "good of you to stop by, we're doing some tests and I need your cooperation for a moment or two and I have a surprise for you as well." He said while Luna, unbothered by the comment Draco made just smiled serenely.
"Draco," Harry said surprised, "I didn't know you worked down here, I thought you were at the base making our men's life as miserable as possible."
"Neither did I but this surprise we have certainly interests me so Luna asked me to come down here to have a look at it and I do not make our men miserable, if you want to fight than you should be properly prepared." He huffed.
"Training fourteen hours a day is making men's life miserable."
"Yeah yeah, do you want to see what the surprise is or not." Draco said.
"Ok." Harry replied and the three of them made their way to the test area. This area was surrounded by a steel wall for the safety of the rest of the facility as things could get rather nasty in there.
As they entered it a couple of men were setting up a heavy looking weapon that looked like a large bazooka on a tripod.
"What is that." Harry asked.
"It's a new weapon that has been completed today," Draco said "it can be used as an artillery weapon to hit the enemy over great distances, today's the first real test, up until now only simulations have been made on how it will handle." Luna continued "And at the same time we'll be testing a new type of metal we've developed, we've tried countless variations of spells, runes and all kinds of potions to meet the requirements we've set for new projects, the steel on the Ekliptica is a heavy duty variant that was easy to produce, all it had to be was strong, weight wasn't an option as the engines that are being constructed for her should be powerful enough to make her go 60 knots but this new metal is supposed to be ten times stronger, five times lighter, two times more flexible and can endure temperatures of over three thousand degrees." She concluded.
"For what purpose would you need a metal that has all those properties." Harry asked
"You'll see." Luna said. Harry looked at Draco but he shook his head "Don't ask me, I don't know either but it will be useful for shelters and such."
Harry wanted to take a closer look at the weapon but Draco and Luna just ushered him forward into a steel cabin located behind the device.
The room they were now in was a steel box with a window overlooking the test area where the scientists were still setting up the device and behind them stood a steel plate.
They completed whatever they were doing and entered the cabin.
"Everything is set up." They informed Luna.
"Alright, commence the test." She replied.
One of the scientists whipped out his wind and pointed it at the device.
"Contendo" He said.
The next few moments were quite hectic.
The device went off with a loud explosion and was thrown off the tripod, next the steel plate that had been standing at the other side of the area was blown away by an explosion and the shockwave the explosion created hurled the device away and against the glass of the cabin which luckily deflected the blow.
Luna and Draco let out a whoop of joy while doing a dance with their arms entwined.
"It works." Draco yelled.
"It held." Luna yelled
"What are you two so happy about, you destroyed a steel plate and nearly killed us." Harry asked.
"On the contrary" Luna said "the plate might be dented but it's still in one piece."
"And the MAG-cannon works, the backfire is still a setback but it works." Draco beamed.
"MAG-cannon?" Harry asked.
"Madman Artillery Gun." Luna said.
"Well seeing the results the name appears to be well chosen" Harry sighed.
"Shall we go and see the results" Luna said and had already walked out the door before the other two could reply.
They both followed her to the back of the space where the dented steel plate lay. Just in front of it was a large hole in the floor where the plate had stood.
"Excellent" Luna said "not even the slightest crack in the metal"
"Alright, I can see that," Harry said "but what's so special about that weapon, the new rifle that has been completed today can do the same thing."
"You're thinking on a different scale Harry, I believe you tested the weapon today, right" Draco asked and Harry nodded "did you try the alternative fire in destroy mode." Harry nodded again "Alright, then you know what it can do."
"Yes, it can transform a three feet thick reinforced concrete wall into a pile of dust." Harry answered
Draco nodded and ordered the men examining the damage to the weapon to go and get a modified M16A2 assault rifle and a one inch thick steel plate.
Fifteen minutes later everything they needed was present, the steel plate had been erected and the gun had arrived with three additional ammo clips and the floor had been repaired.
"Would you do the honours." Draco asked and handed Harry the rifle which he took without hesitation "It still needs a wand." Draco said and walked towards the door of the cabin.
Harry sighed, hung the weapon on his shoulder and started to concentrate, he stretched out his right arm and the air around his hand began to ripple and a small black spot appeared in midair and started to expand until it was the size of Harry's fist. It was a ball of pure blackness that drifted in the centre of Harry's outstretched hand.
It looked like he was trying to grab the sphere with his hand but instead his hand disappeared into the sphere, when he pulled it back out he had his wand in his hand. As soon as he had what he wanted he closed his right hand and the sphere disappeared.
He took the weapon back in his hand and inserted his wand at the bottom of the handle and inserted the clip. The gun buzzed with power as the energy started to flow through the wand.
Harry selected the option destroy and engaged the alternative fire.
He took aim at the centre of the plate and squeezed the trigger.
A large red sphere shot forth from the barrel and zoomed towards the plate.
Halfway towards it target the sphere split into twenty smaller spheres which dispersed and formed a circle that zoomed towards their target, the circle got wider until it was a fourth of the total distance away from the plate and then continued like it was, when it was just a short distance away the small red spheres broke their formation and hit their target in various locations all at the same time creating a deafening explosion and causing a lot of debris to fly around.
The plate had been destroyed, several pieces of metal lying scattered around the space here and there while the largest part had been blown several meters backwards, rumpled like it had been tin foil.
"Alright," Harry yelled to Luna and Draco "I've destroyed it, looks like neither your new weapon nor your new steel is as strong as you think."
"Oh no Harry," Luna yelled as she stood in the doorway, "that was a regular steel plate, go and get a modified steel plate please" she asked the men working there.
"What do you mean 'that was a regular steel plate'." Harry demanded.
"We just wanted to make sure you understood the difference." Draco said and they went back into the cabin as the next plate arrived.
Harry shrugged, waited until the plate was in place and opened fire again.
Harry, who had shielded his eyes with his hand looked at the plate as the dust slowly settled again and what he saw surprised him.
The plate didn't even have a dent, only a few scorch marks where the explosions had occurred.
He cancelled the alternative fire mode and opened fire again.
He kept firing until he ran out of power but that didn't stop him. Instead of replacing the clip he started to feed the gun with his won magic, sending it through his wand and into the energy modifier, the unit that changed raw magical power in spheres with a specific purpose, like the reducto spell.
He kept firing till there was so much dust in the air that he couldn't even see the tip of his barrel anymore and then he stopped.
He coughed a few times from all the dust that was flying around, waved a few time with his hand and all the dust disappeared.
A large clang was heard as the plate feel forward into the crater Harry's onslaught had created.
Draco and Luna rushed out of the cabin and towards him.
"What the hell just happened," Draco asked perplexed "there's no way that clip could've lasted this long from what I've read in the reports."
"It can't" Harry said as he stared at the plate that was being hauled upright "I powered the weapon directly"
"Interesting," Luna said "I think this might prove useful in the future, I'll put a team on it to research if anyone else can do that."
Harry nodded and walked towards the plate.
One of the scientists had hauled it up it using a large crane that ran on rails that were attached to the ceiling and could operate over the entire dungeon while the other scientists ran a quick analysis with his wand. Harry ran his hand over the surface of the plate and it was as smooth as a mirror
"I'll admit," Harry said "It's impressive what this modified steel can endure but for what are you going to use it, such a special metal must have a special goal." He asked curiously.
"Come on and I'll show you, sorry Draco but I can't let you come with us this time, top secret you know." Luna replied happily.
"That's alright, I would like to do some more tests with this new weapon anyway." He said and the other two walked away.
"Say, Luna, I didn't know you developed weapons come to think of it, well, weapons like those spiders okay but not weapons for our military." Harry said.
"Well, normally we don't but this was the basic principle for something else I had in mind and it happened to be so that we saw an opportunity to make a weapon for the army out of it that could be handled easily, the final weapon that thing is going to help us make will be something different altogether but everything will become clear after I've explained what our final goal is." She explained as they walked back through the surveillance room and into the small room they had first entered with the many doors in it and they entered a door opposite the door leading to the surveillance room.
This one looked like a muggle movie theatre only somewhat smaller than the average kind.
"Just one more question," Harry said "how was that weapon powered, I noticed a large shell lying on the ground after the first test but I thought we had decided not to use modified bullets because they were too expensive."
"They're not modified muggle shells, they're magical, you see, we were looking for ammunition that could cause a lot of damage but without having to built a core and having to channel it through a wand so we came up with the idea to use muggle bullets but instead of the copper tip we replaced it with a ball of raw energy and instead of gunpowder we used a smaller amount of raw energy which we make unstable by casting a shrinking charm on the compartment and then it explodes, propelling the sphere towards it target, the amount required to cast the shrinking charm is minimal so with a small core supplying the power for the weapon to operate you have a reliable and powerful weapon."
"Now sit down, once you've seen the presentation everything will become clear." Luna said and sat down besides him, after a quick wave of her hand towards the back of the room the lights were dimmed and a movie started.
When Harry excited the theatre he was overwhelmed.
"Wow." Was the only thing he said after an hour and a half of silence.
"It can be a bit overwhelming when you first see the capabilities but what do you think." Luna asked happily.
"It's" Harry stammered "powerful."
"That's one way to put it."
"Although it's a great idea I don't think it will ever be necessary to use it in battle, it should be more something like a defensive measure." Harry said "What about the power source, something like that must use a lot of energy."
"You solved that problem today."
"How"
"When you powered that weapon directly, I had initially thought about a core but it would have to be big in order to maintain the needed energy long enough and the space required to house it would be to big to be practical and we had no other means to do it accept nuclear power but I think that's a bit to dangerous to use in direct combat." Harry nodded in agreement 'But now that we now that you can feed it directly we've solved that problem. But, it also means that if you want to power it you'll have to train in order to build up your stamina."
"Alright so when will it be completed." Harry asked, he could imagine that it would take a long time to develop all the required systems to operate it properly.
"It should take at least eleven months." Luna replied "maybe less now that we've completed our power source ahead of schedule but the other equipment that needs to be developed should still take some time thus yeah eleven months should do it. Of course since the foundation has been laid down today we'll need you down here regularly to go through simulations and help in modifying some things to function better."
"So I'll be to only one able to pilot that thing huh."
"Unless we find a person as powerful as you and someone who has the ability to power it directly." Luna concluded.
"I might be for the best that I'll be the only one able to pilot it, imagine what would happen if the enemy got their hands on this."
"Voldemort would probably never want it since it was based on muggle technology and Dumbledore because he wouldn't want to use a weapon that is purely built to kill and destroy."
"Probably, but I don't like weapons that are built purely for killing neither unless for killing Death Eaters of course. Anyway, I've got some unfinished business to take care off. I'll come back tomorrow to discuss some more details about this device."
"Later Harry." Luna called after him.
After Harry exited the dungeon he walked up to the Entrance Hall and onto the grounds.
He was in deep thought about Luna's secret project and thought that their security measures weren't nearly good enough if they were building something that dangerous. While he was musing over all this he didn't notice Garanor starting to walk besides him.
When he looked up at the sky as if he wanted to see if the answer to all his questions lay there waiting for him he yelped and jumped to the side.
"It's nice to know what kind of an effect I have on you when you see me." Garanor said sadistically.
"Sorry," Harry said while scratching the back of his head "but I didn't really expect to see a gigantic dragon walking besides me when I was going to look at the sky."
"Apology accepted." Garanor replied in his normal formal voice.
"Any reason why you almost scared me to death." Harry asked casually.
"I think it would take more to kill you than my appearance if you can defeat my old master but yes Harry there is indeed a reason I came searching for you." Garanor replied and gave a mental sigh.
"Sounds like a big issue" Harry commented.
"It is. It concerns the founders' well."
"The founders' well, I've heard that somewhere before but I can't remember where." Harry said thoughtfully and tried to remember where he had heard that name before.
"Maybe in your History of Magic class" Garanor supplied "but that doesn't matter now, let me tell you the story of how the days of the founders came to an end."
"In the days when Hogwarts was still a fairly resent castle there were three people residing in it over the summer.
Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Godrich Gryffindor were the only three people who had decided to stay at the castle over the holidays. Despite their age they all looked quite youthful, today was the 137th year since the castle had been founded and the three of them were having dinner in Helga's private chamber.
"Well my dear ladies, I'm afraid this will be the last time we'll be celebrating this day for a long time to come." Godrich said in a joyful tone.
"Yes," Helga said "Although I'm going to miss this place it's not like we'll be gone for real, we'll still be around, just not in our physical form, not even a ghost, just an essence, even if I hope we'll never have to be awakened I would still like to see this place again in the far future, just to see how it's doing."
"Don't get so pessimistic," Rowena chided "we have all agreed to do this in order to protect the school, we have always sworn to protect our dream with our lives and now we'll be able to do it for eternity. By the way, have you heard anything from Salazar, I had hoped he would have replied to your message at the least"
"Nothing at all." Godrich sighed. For a few minutes the light mood changed to sombre and brooding as the three remaining founders were lost in memory, thinking about better times when the four of them had sat together to celebrate Hogwart's anniversary.
Rowena was the first one to snap out of it "Well, let us not dwindle on the past but on with the future." She said briskly.
"You're right as always Rowena, let us get going." Godrich replied back in his normal cheery self.
Together the four of them made their way towards the lowest dungeon in the castle where a recently dug out tunnel lay, the three of them entered it and descended all the way to the bottom. They stood on the last step of the stairs.
"Apertum Antrum Parentalis" they said in unison.
The landing in front of them disappeared only to reveal that the stairs continued for a long time.
When they finally reached the end they entered a large circular room deep below the lake.
The chamber stretched deep down into the earth with a stone pillar standing in the centre of it and a small bridge connecting the entrance with it.
If you looked down you probably wouldn't be able to see the bottom but the founders walked over the bridge without any hesitation.
On the pillar stood a stone pedestal with three large crystal orbs lying on it.
The founders gathered around the pedestal and each took one of the orbs.
"Are you sure that you want to do this." Godrich asked addressing the other two.
"Yes, it is for the safety of the school and the future of witches and wizards." Rowena said with conviction while Helga merely nodded.
"All right then, let's begin." Godrich said and closed his eyes, the other two followed his example.
He concentrated hard and slowly the orb he was holding began to pulsate with a bright white light.
In the depths of the chamber a tiny speck of light could be seen which slowly started to grow larger.
Minutes passed and slowly the light became brighter.
As beads of sweat ran down the three founders' faces and the orbs they were holding pulsed with light slowly the light down in the chamber came closer and closer.
After something that felt like ages to the founders they opened their eyes again and saw that the entire chamber had been filled with a white ethereal light.
The stone pillar they were standing on was now surrounded by a lake of swirling white water.
"It worked," Helga said "all our energy has now been stored."
"So you're saying that there's a giant pool of raw magical power somewhere in this castle that belongs to the founders." Harry concluded.
"I don't think it was transported along with the castle, the chamber was deep underground and hidden well. Salazar Slytherin is an entire other story." Garanor said. "he arrived a week after the filling of the well and by that time the other founders had passed away, without their powers they were nothing more than muggles so they died of old age within a day or two. They did leave Salazar a letter in which they explained what they had done and why, he was mad at himself for not coming back sooner and decided to follow their example so he created the Room of Requirement which I believe you are familiar with."
"So Slytherin's power is still somewhere in this castle." Harry asked astonished.
"I believe so."
"Then we'd better start preparing because as soon as he finds out our location he'll try to retrieve it." Harry said and reached for his cell phone.
"Indeed but this might be the opportune moment to defeat him, he is still weak compared to what he will be after he has restored his power although it might take a while before he tries, the last duel between you and him has weakened him immensely and without his complete power his recovery will be slow, but beware, the reason the founders became this strong was because they fought lots of evil in their days and strengthened themselves with the power of their defeated enemies and ancient rituals. Over time when the most of the archaic forces they fought had been defeated they decided it had been enough except for Slytherin who continued to search for more power, the three founders returned to Hogwarts where they lived the rest of their lives in peace while Slytherin continued on his quest and was drawn more and more towards the dark side as he wondered how these dark forces they fought became so strong. He had once been a good man but his exposure to so many darkness drew him into its folds without the support his three friends normally gave him. Let's just hope there's still something left of that man so that he will realize what kind of monster he and his heir have turned into before it is too late."
"I hope so too" Harry said "Now, if you'll excuse me I have a ship that needs some last minute modifications."
Garanor nodded and turned around, walking back towards the castle.
Harry continued walking towards his destination but Arakir still had one question to ask him.
"I've been wondering about this for some time now but why do you walk towards your destination when you can just apparate over there within a matter of seconds." Garanor asked through their mental bond.
"Our lives will get busy enough once this war truly starts to heat up so I think we should enjoy the little things in life while we can." Harry responded "now is only the beginning, as soon as Voldemort is back on his feet and the ministry starts to really go against us I don't think we'll have much time to do things like enjoying a peaceful walk while looking at the sky." Harry sighed and wondered if his choice to do all this had been the right one.
"As long as you stay who you are now your choice has been the right one Harry but remember what I said about my former master, spend time with your loved ones and get away from fighting once in a while." Garanor said and with that the conversation was closed.
What Garanor had said did make sense to Harry and he was confident to not turn dark under any circumstances but the words Dumbledore had said to him still made him wonder, if he looked at this land it did indeed look like Voldemort and his Death Eaters, he knew some people had come here because of his fame but they were loyal, he knew that, the stone confirmed that and unlike Voldemort most of these people trusted him and respected him while Voldemort was only feared and that is the only reason most people still followed him, of course there are others that follow him because they too believe in pure blood. NO, Dumbledore is wrong, although we might have a lot in common we are two totally different persons.
He was brought out of his musing when he noticed he had arrived at the shipyard and was now standing in front of the massive bow of the INIS Ekliptica.
Harry truly felt dwarfed by it, people would probably say that the thing exaggerated, way too big and too powerful but in Harry's eyes it was perfect, unlike the United States Magical Navy they didn't have numbers or a lot of experience concerning naval warfare so they decided to built only two ships of this calibre, the Ekliptica and the Potter, the construction of the Potter would begin after the Ekliptica had been finished, while the Ekliptica would be their main battleship the Potter would be a flagship that sailed at the back of the fleet but it would still have substantial fire power. Basically the Ekliptica would be an offensive ship and the Potter a more defensive type.
He tore his gaze away from the impressive hull and walked towards a small brick building that had been erected for the supervisors. As he walked inside there were several people discussing varying matters while other were intently gazing at computer screens on which various simulations were running.
He approached Sarah Brown, the woman that stood in command of all the operations on the shipyards.
She was in the middle of scolding a member of her team, something about wrong data and simulation so Harry decided to wait until she was finished, he had once disturbed her during a scolding and it had been the only time he had ever done that.
As soon as she was finished she turned around "Ah Harry, what brings you here." She asked jovially.
"Hello Sarah, I just came from our department of mysteries and they asked fro some modifications to be made to the ship. Apparently a hole has to be cut into the hull near the bow and a hatch will be installed and shield emitters as well to keep out the water for when it is open, a large bay for storing a new type of weapon they are developing and a hatch on the deck also equipped with shield emitters, here's the data." Harry explained and handed over a crystal.
Sarah inserted it and looked at the various modifications. "This is a huge modification from the original design but luckily we've been focusing mainly on the rear of the ship until now but this bay they're asking for is huge, what kind of weapon has this kind of size, can operate under water and fly as well." She asked amazed.
"I'm afraid that's top secret but it will be quite a while before you get to see it I'm afraid, I didn't even know what they were developing until a few hours ago but I promise it'll be worth the wait."
"Alright, I'll take your word for it but now that you're here anyway, the core chamber has been completed so it would be nice to have it installed, the engines are ready to go and the hull and steering system is completed, normally we would've let it into the water in a day or two but now that'll have to wait a little longer, we need to do the modifications to the hull first."
"How's the bridge system coming along." Harry inquired.
"At first I didn't like the idea to build it this way. You know that, but I start to like this new idea, much more trustworthy than the Missouri."
"I agree but we can't modify the Missouri that much, we'll still have to return it and besides now that our location is known we'll probably need it."
"Yes, I think so too, too bad we didn't get the Ekliptica finished before that but I guess it can't be helped, luckily we were able to build all those cruisers back at Potter Mansion, by the way, when are we going to settle a base there."
"Let's settle everything here first, if the Americans join the British Ministry we'll be lucky enough if we can keep control over this place, as soon as all defence structures have been built we'll start working in earnest on Potter Mansion. Now shall we get going and create the strongest core made so far." Harry suggested and together they started to walk towards the elevator at the back of the building that would lead them up to the deck of the Ekliptica.
The deck near the bow hadn't been constructed yet so they had built scaffolds the served as a temporary deck and ran all over the ship. Harry looked down from the scaffold and was surprised at how spacious the hull was.
They continued to walk towards the back of the ship were bright flames could be seen as workers welded one plate to another, this had been another invention, welding with magic, very accurate, immensely strong connections and once two plates had been welded together there was no evidence that they had once been two separate plates, the connections were completely invisible.
While Harry was admiring everything that could be done with magic Sarah Brown thought about the day the world changed for her.
She had gotten a letter from her daughter on Sunday and had started to read through it, it was several pieces of parchment long which she found unusual but she figured that sixth was something totally different.
As she begun to read it she sensed something wasn't right.
Dear mum,
I know it has been a while since I last wrote you but I've been busy, very busy but I'll tell you more about that when I come home. Sixth year has been quiet up until now…
The letter went on about thins that had happened at school and other trivial matters, nothing suspicious at all, just the last line intrigued her.
PS: do you remember that song I used to like so much that you sang to me when I was little.
For as far as she could remember Lavender had hated that song with a passion.
She thought about what her daughter could mean by saying something like that and in a sudden impulse she started to sing the song.
The letter changed as soon as she had sang the first three lines.
I knew you would get it mum,
Now, I know that you don't want to hear anything about the magical world anymore but Voldemort is back. The ministry says it is going to protect us but we all know they can't and I think it won't take long before he will start and attack the families of those that worked against him in the last war soon and I'm worried about your safety. I know that you don't want to go into hiding or leave your job but I have something way better for you.
What I'm going to tell you know is top secret information so don't about it with anyone.
Harry has told us some things about the previous years here at Hogwarts, things that nobody know about except a select few and now we have started on a project that has to stop Voldemort and this madness once and for all and we need your expertise in order to do it, if you want to help just sign below and the information will be revealed, if not just put an X on the parchment and it will burn up.
Dumbledore knows nothing about this.
After pondering over it for some time she decided that it was worth the shot. After all, Harry Potter could be trusted after everything she had heard about him from Lavender and the fact that they were hiding it from Dumbledore greatly appealed to her, it was because of him that she had lost most of her family in the last war, including her husband.
She made up her mind and the letter changed again, explaining what they were doing and why, it also included some bleu prints for various projects.
She was impressed that a couple of youngsters had already worked out so much of the technology needed, she found it very impressive that wizards and witches that hadn't even graduated yet had managed to develop such a plan and the funny thing was, it looked like it might work too.
She quickly got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote a note which she sent back with the owl that had delivered the message.
And now here she was, in the muggle world she had been a supervisor in a small specialised boatyard but now she was the big chief and she was doing the thing she had always wanted to do, to design the best boat ever, she didn't care if it was a warship. The only thing that mattered was that it was the fastest, the biggest, the most powerful and the one with the most complex technology.
This ship was her pride, the cruisers had been fun but they were nothing at all compared to this thing.
The Independent Nation of Insania's Ship Ekliptica was a monster.
With a length of 354 meters and a beam 50.2 meters it was a big battleship.
Its main guns, eight 20 and six 12 inch guns mounted in two front and two back turrets respectively, were the most powerful guns ever built on a ship.
The secondary armaments: twenty four 8 inch high rate pulse guns. Instead of firing a beam like the main guns with a specific purpose these things fired bolts of raw magical energy, this meant they didn't need a MAD or an energy cylinder so they could fire incessantly and at a high rate, more than five hundred bolts per minute. These twenty four guns were mounted in pairs, twelve pairs on each side of the ship giving it a pretty strong defence, the only disadvantage of these raw energy guns was that it was quite draining on the core but the scientists assured Harry that the core would at least last two hundred years even with the shields at full capacity all the time and raw energy dissolved fast once it was released so the guns couldn't hit targets at a great distance but they had the main guns for that purpose. Another secondary armament are eight heavy mini guns (Harry always found the name funny because they were anything but mini). These six barrelled monstrosities with their two inch barrels were a recent addition to their inventory, they had been introduced as on of the last minute changes to the ship, they would protect the ship against incoming missiles and even shells, their barrels were six meters long and seeing them move fast and shoot very accurate would be quite the sight. These units had been equipped with a MAD but no energy cylinder, these MADs could only transform the raw energy in a single spell but quite an innovative one, these MAD units made a spell that would explode when it was inches away from its target destroying it or throwing it of course so the MAD had to constantly change the spell in order for it to explode at the right distance and it has to take the speed of the object it wants to hit into account as well.
Protection was another thing. While the Missouri was a powerful ship it shields probably wouldn't hold out very long in an extended battle against multiple opponents but this ship didn't need to worry about that, the shields were powerful enough to withstand an attack of all the guns mounted on the Missouri for seven and a half minutes, five times the shields had been hit in a test with another vessel that had been built in a hurry, the only thing installed were the shields and it was built from the modified warship steel provided by Luna. After the shields had been breached the armour had held another 87 seconds before the beams had melted it away.
A normal warship couldn't possibly destroy this ship and it wasn't even fighting back or moving but the MFA (Magical Fleet of America) was an entirely different story, they had dispatched several small vessels that could be rendered completely invisible, they were undetectable unless you bumped into them and the power of the fleet was impressive, they had witnessed an exercise.
While the Americans still used shells, they had been modified, while in Insania nobody knew exactly what the modifications did they realized they should be careful, the Americans had a lot of experience in naval warfare and technology.
They possessed thirty seven ships, five battleships, twelve light cruisers, six heavy cruisers, three submarines, a command vessel, a hospital ship and nine high speed escort vessels.
While they did modify their shells with runes most of the ships were still muggle technology, no cores or engines that were fed by raw magical power, just regular diesel fuel although these engines used much less fuel then regular engines.
Speed was also something the Ekliptica had plenty of. Its engines were powerful enough to deliver four hundred sixty thousand shaft horsepower making it capable of reaching speeds around 63 knots, the only problem was that when you were going this fast such a massive battleship is almost impossible to turn in any direction so they installed two rudders on the bow of the ship, they were placed at a 45° angle and helped the ship turn faster and could lift the ship a little higher in the water and make it almost fly across the water.
The bridge was a remarkable design as well, the bridge itself was a six story high metal box around thirty meters long and forty wide, nothing worth mentioning here but the thing was that the bridge stood a good twenty six meters above the deck supported by three pillars, one in the centre that was just a little shorter than the bridge itself and the other two were about half as long and supported the structure on the side, while it looked like a vulnerable design during combat these three pillars would sink into the ship and lower the bridge down to the deck although it wasn't truly necessary, the designers were convinced that the shields and armour of the support columns could withstand whatever they threw at it.
All in all, it was a remarkable ship.
They neared the centre of the ship where a temporary elevator had been built that would take them down into the bowels of the shim where the most heavily guarded part of the ship had been finished the day before.
She pressed a button and slowly the elevator started to move up towards them.
"How's the development of the other ship coming along" Harry asked casually.
"Good actually, the design is almost finished, we'll start on the construction soon, we were thinking of moving the hull of the Ekliptica onto the water as soon as the core is installed and the hatch in the bow is completed so that we can begin ahead of schedule, I heard that the ministry found us today so I think we will need every piece of defence we can finish soon enough."
"Probably, while the island's defences are being set up and they should be up to the task of keeping invasions out I would rather keep battles away from here and onto the sea if possible, we have made it virtually impossible to come to the island directly except with a transportation drive and as far as we now nobody else has the power nor the technology to make one, none the less, we'll have to be on our guard from now on." Harry said
"Do you think they'll try anything soon." She asked as a ping alerted them that the elevator had arrived.
"I don't know but we can be sure that within the next twenty four hours Voldemort will know where we are to and we can expect an attack soon." Harry said while they stepped into the elevator.
"Do you think he will attack us this soon even without doing some research first." She asked concerned as she pressed the button for the lowest level
"Probably, it appears we have something he wants but I can't tell you what it is right now, I think you understand why." Harry said and regretted that he couldn't just tell everyone on the island everything that was going on but even with the loyalty stone information could always leak out one way or another.
Sarah nodded in understanding but she didn't like it.
The elevator descended and neither of them said anything until they reached the bottom.
The doors slid open and they both exited the elevator which promptly rose up again.
They were now standing on the lowest level, most of this part of the ship was still bare and worker were busy with constructing the lower levels as they placed one steel plate after another in place and welded them together.
They walked through a corridor of which the ceiling hadn't been placed yet, large spots hung above them on scaffolds to provide light in the dark environment.
The hall stopped abruptly and now they were walking a temporary floor constructed of wooden boards.
They stopped as they reached their destination.
In front of them a big steel bunker stood. Harry had to admit that this core chamber was much more secure than the one on the Missouri.
The core chamber, made from the strongest modified steel they could make, was completely black and engraved with thousands of Runes on all sides, the walls were a meter and a half thick and it weighed almost five hundred tons. The steel they had developed for this purpose was almost twice as heavy as regular steel. It measured fifteen meters on all sides and was meant to be the strongest part of the ship. The sole and only purpose of this construction was the protection of the most vital part of the ship. Core were not just practical and powerful without any risk involved, they were dangerous too. If the core of one of their ships ever got unstable the ship would most certainly be doomed. Of course an ejection system had been built in but should the unlikely scenario ever present itself even ejecting the core probably wouldn't make any difference, the blast radius of an exploding core had been estimated to be several hundred kilometres and once the core had been dropped the ship was dead in the water unless they charged the transportation cylinder before the core got unstable but since the only scenario where a core could get unstable was a battle a fully loaded transportation cylinder wasn't the best thing to have on board. The energy cylinders were far more vulnerable than the core itself but they were still protected to a great extent. Naturally they could place the cylinders in a bunker like the core but there was the weight to consider and the cylinders, unlike the core, needed maintenance and replacing from time to time. This was the disadvantage of this kind of protection, once the bunker was sealed it could never be opened again, ever. While it would seem impractical it made sense, should the ship ever be captured and the enemy got their hands on a power source of this size the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Shall we begin" Harry asked. Sarah nodded and together they entered the steel chamber.
Once they were inside Sarah pressed a few runes next to the door and a faint bleu glow told her the inner protection charms had been activated, unlike the outer ones these could be turned of but only from the inside so once the outer enchantments had been activated you couldn't reach the inner ones any more.
The inner ones were meant to protect the people outside should the core get unstable during the construction process, the beginning was the hardest, once the very centre of the core had been created the rest was fairly simple but still dangerous.
Sarah nodded to Harry that everything was ready and he sat himself down on the steel floor and stretched his palms outwards towards the centre of the chamber.
First he would go into a deep trance and locate the core of his magic which went fairly easily since he was used to doing it by now.
Once he had found that powerful feeling that was his magic he visualised how his core looked like in his mind.
A large ball of energy deep inside his soul with lots of channels running away from it letting magic run through his body.
Now he started to focus on making something similar outside his mind, in the middle of the chamber.
For twenty minutes he focused hard and tried to establish the base for the core and then all of a sudden the room was bathed in such bright light that Sarah had to cover her eyes. She took a pair of sunglasses from her pocket and looked at the tiny sphere that was floating in the centre of the room. The sphere was beautiful in her opinion, each and every core had been with their swirling colours of bleu, green, yellow, purple and red.
Harry stood up slowly, he had been drained of most of his energy now.
"You alright Harry" Sarah asked.
"Fine, just a little tired" Harry replied
"Shall I shut down the enchantments" she asked
"No, not yet, I still have some energy left that I would like to add to the core today" ha said as he approached the sphere slowly and enclosed it in his hands.
The sphere glowed briefly but strong enough that it shone through Harry's hands and lighted up the room as it recognised its maker. Any other person who tried to touch the core got severely burned and suffered from a magical burn-out for a few days.
Harry concentrated again and slowly started to feed the core with more energy, slowly but surely the core started to expand, after a few minutes the sphere was too big to fit into Harry's closed hands anymore so he put them on the side of the sphere, when the core was the size of a Quaffle Harry stopped. His breathing was ragged and he felt exhausted.
"That's about all for today I think" Harry said and slumped down to the ground unconscious.
Sarah shut down the enchantments and ordered some men to call for a stretcher.
After they had taken Harry up to his quarters she left the ship, the chamber was accessible for anyone at the moment but an incomplete core could not be touched by anyone nor could it be moved so it was safe.
Harry was woken up the next morning by the sound of Hedwig singing with that wonderful sound phoenixes make.
"Good morning girl" Harry said sleepily "Tempus" he said and a holographic clock appeared over his palm.
"7.30" he mumbled "thanks girl" he said and got out of bed to ruffle Hedwig's feathers.
"Where's Ginny" he asked.
"She left quite early this morning" Hedwig replied.
"Alright" Harry said and as he was about to head into the bathroom a bright burst of red flames appeared in the room and Fawkes appeared carrying a letter.
With practiced ease Harry took the bird by the throat and performed revealing charms to determine if there were any nasty curses or any kind of spells attached to the letter or Fawkes but surprisingly he found none.
Only seconds later something big and angry obscured the sunlight from streaming through the windows and a roar rang through the building, Harry released Fawkes who let out a note of indignity but he did seem to be afraid of the beast hovering in front of the window.
Harry rushed to the window and opened it, revealing a very angry looking Arakir.
Arakir didn't look at Harry but his gaze passed him and was locked onto the now cowering Fawkes.
"It is here again" Arakir growled through their mental bond and a gust of hot air came from his nostrils.
"It's alright" Harry said "he's not here to cause any trouble"
"Maybe not but I don't like that creature" Arakir growled "but if you say it is alright I'll leave it alone although I will stay nearby"
"Alright" Harry said "and thank you"
"For what" Arakir asked surprised.
"For being such a good guardian, with you guys around I know that our nation will be safe" Harry said and bowed his head.
As soon as he had bowed his head a feeling of power, trust and friendship ran through his body while Arakir roared that beautiful song which sounded like a terrifying roar to every other person (except Luna) and from below, down on the grounds similar roars could be he heard from Meganos, Garanor and Sitara.
"What just happened" Harry asked amazed.
"You have just made us equals Harry, true equals with no bounds held, it is the highest honour given to an owned dragon" Arakir explained.
"You know that you are not owned by me" Harry said.
"We know Harry but up until now your subconscious never trusted us fully but now our bond has been completed and we are truly linked, we don't really know what will change since it has never happened before, or at least not that we now of" Arakir explained.
"Why don't we continue this conversation at another time, I have company, remember" Harry said and looked over his shoulder at Fawkes who seemed to be in a staring contest with Hedwig as the two phoenixes looked at each other with hatred in their eyes.
"Alright Harry" Arakir said and flew of.
"Break it up you two" Harry said to both birds extended his hand towards Fawkes who handed over the letter from one of her talons.
Dear Harry,
The letter began and Harry snorted.
I know we are not on the best terms these days "you can say that again" Harry mumbled but I would like to have a conversation with you if possible about recent events and allegiances, our last conversation didn't quite go that well. To be honest I can still find pieces of brick in my ear from time to time but I have found out the truth about what happened with mister Weasley and I would like to apologise for the event in his name, your current actions have changed a lot in the lives of our members but we do not want to become enemies.
Albus Dumbledore
"Alright, I'll talk to him, there's no need for unnecessary enemies" Harry said to Fawkes "just give me a second to write a reply"
He quickly scribbled down instructions for Dumbledore to follow if he wanted a conversation to happen and tied it to Fawkes' leg who took of immediately.
While Fawkes was on its way towards Hogwarts Cornelius Fudge was pacing his room.
"That little brat, wait till I get my hands on him." He mumbled as he continued to walk back and forth and imagining Harry Potter being dragged away by Dementors to somewhere ten times worse than Azkaban.
A soft knock on his office door disturbed his thoughts and he snapped a quick enter.
"What is it" he snapped as his secretary entered the room.
"The president has just flooed me sir, he is available at the moment, he is at the fleet Headquarters at the moment, he is expecting you in half an hour"
"Good" he said and dismissed her with a wave of his hand, if the Americans decided to join him he would be rid of that annoying brat and his supporters soon enough.
Thirty minutes later he flooed all the way to the golf of Mexico to an unknown location where the base of the United States' magic fleet was located.
As soon as he stepped out of the floo twelve wands were aimed at him and their owners all had a deadly curse on their lips.
"State your name and business on this base" one of them snapped.
"Cornelius Fudge, minister of magic in Great Britain and I'm here to discuss the issue of Harry Potter with the president" he yelled at them while his face turned a nice shade of purple, he wasn't in the mood for this.
"Legilimens" the man cried and immediately Fudge's vision shifted from the men in front of him to his numerous tantrums he had held against various people concerning Potter.
The memories disappeared again the men let him through without another word.
He was led out of the room where he arrived and through a long corridor and towards the elevators which took him up to the highest floor where the president of magic had his office.
He stepped out of the elevator and into a large office where a secretary sat behind a large mahogany desk.
His escort didn't get out with him and disappeared when the elevator doors shut. He stepped up to the secretary and asked if the president was ready to see him.
"He's having a floo call at the moment, please wait for a few minutes" she said.
Fudge sat down on one of the comfortable chairs in front of the desk and waited until suddenly the president's voice was heard through the door.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'THE SHIP'S GONE'"
A moment or two of silence ensued.
"I DON'T CARE IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY LEADS JUST GET THAT THING BACK WHERE IT BELONGS AND DO IT NOW"
Immediately after that the door opened.
"Minister Fudge, please come in" the president said in a slightly agitated tone.
The minister held the door open and Fudge walked by him into his office.
They were quite a sight, both of them presumed to be the most powerful men in the magical community of their country but if you saw them together you would think Fudge was a servant and the president was, well, the president.
Fudge, the portly little man with his rumpled grey hair and his lime-green bowler hat twirling nervously in his hands was overshadowed by the man next to him. Tall with short black hair, piercing bleu eyes, a black suit and a stature of power.
He looked quite intimidating for those who didn't know him or when he was commanding troops, nobody dared defy him but on normal occasions he was quite hospital.
"Oswald, it's been a long time since I've seen you, too bad it's dire business that brings you here." He said warmly.
"Thank you Jonathan" Fudge said a lot less cheerful "I couldn't help but hear that you have some troubles yourself and I think I might have the answer as to where that ship is"
"Straight down to business Oswald, that's not like you"
"I don't have time for small talk at the moment Jonathan, the country is in uproar thanks to that brat and some people from the government were killed by him with the help of that ship" Fudge said gravely while walking towards a table on the side of the room and picking up a bottle with a dark amber liquid in it "Do you mind if I pour us a glass, you're going to need it once you hear what that ship has transformed into"
"Something tells me this is bad" Jonathan said
"It is"
Two hours later a siren was heard throughout the base indicating that everyone should hurry to their posts and that all officers should meet in the emergency briefing room.
Fifteen minutes later all the officers were gathered in the room with the president standing on a podium in the front.
"Gentleman" he said and his magically amplified voice silenced the low murmuring crowd immediately.
"Two weeks from now on Friday at 1400 hours we will engage our latest enemy, the Independent Nation of Insania…"
Another two hours later all ships that were out on the ocean were called back and the ones anchored in the port were being supplied with everything necessary for a full scale naval battle.
Back in Insania Harry was walking through a piece of dense forest in search of one of his more secluded members of society.
He was looking around in wonder at the beautiful forest when he heard someone whistling.
He walked towards the sound and found Severus Snape hunched over some plants while carefully cutting them off at the right place so that the plant would grow back in a year or so.
Harry had to admit he had never seen the potions master so peacefully ever before, he used to be one of the most unsociable persons on earth but now you could almost talk civilly with the man except when he was busy on a potion or other things that required high amounts of concentration.
Harry waited until he done with the plants and when he stood up Harry coughed politely to make his presence known.
"What" Snape snapped and whirled around "Oh Harry, It's you" he said a bit politer.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Severus but I have a meeting scheduled later today that I would like you to attend" Harry said knowing that his former teacher wasn't one for small talk, just business or potions.
"Why would you want me at one of your meetings" he asked surprised.
"It's a meeting with someone we both should be cautious around, our esteemed headmaster" Harry said
"Even so, I don't see why you would want me to be there. I would rather not see him again, ever"
"I want to make a few things clear to the old coot and I believe that your presence will make him believe and understand me" Harry said "we do not need Albus working against us, while his forces are not as large as ours and he is not as strong as me he can give us quite some trouble if he wants to"
Severus thought about this for a second and nodded "alright, I'll be there, when's the meeting"
"In half an hour" Harry said cheekily and disappeared.
Half an hour later both men were seated in Harry's office on board the Missouri.
Neither spoke while they waited for the arrival of Albus Dumbledore.
"It's funny you know" Harry suddenly said.
"As a matter of fact I don't know, what's funny" Snape asked dryly
"The two of us sitting here together as allies while we used to be the worst enemies facing the man we both used to trust but despise now" Harry explained and leaned back in his chair.
"War changes a person and his views on the world" Snape said remorsefully "I just hope you know what you're doing Harry, since the awakening of the founders this second war is going to be harsher than the first and I think it won't get any easier now on"
"It never gets any easier, only more interesting"
A buzzer went of and a red light on the intercom indicated that someone tried to contact them.
"Yes" Harry asked as he pressed the button to receive the call.
"Albus Dumbledore has arrived sir"
Author notes: Sorry it took so long to update this chapter but I've been very busy these past few weeks. I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner. Reviews are still very welcome, they help to keep my spirits up and to write more often so if you want to see updates sooner, review like you've never reviewed before.
Review responses:
Akira Stridder: No Snape is not the spy and yes he did swear loyalty.
Silver Vampire of the Shadows: for those like you who can't really form a picture with my descriptions I've posted a drawing of the Ekliptica on my yahoo group, the link is on my bio page.
Thsunami: where do you get all these ideas, while they're not exactly things that I plan to use in this fic you could write your own story with such imagination, really.
Romulus Magnus: just a little.
Turnlach: Sorry to disappoint you but there will be no love triangle.
Jasophelythian: Am I really that predictable.
Slashslut: I'm planning on answering every single one of your questions. But not now, everything will be revealed in later chapters, rest assured and should I forget anything be sure to remind me.
Voldie's Demise: don't we all want that and as for Gred and Forge they'll make an appearance later on.
Thanks to everyone else who has reviewed:
Femaleprongslet, bandgsecurtiyaw, karone-sakura, smartazz405, laser-jet, Never-Ending-Inferno, anonyme, guest (did anyone notice this list has gotten slightly longer since the first chapter)
