LEGALITIES: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY CHARACTERS THEREOF.

[]-INDICATES THOUGHT.

Hello once again, fellow fanfiction.net readers! Silverlocke980 here. It's been a while between updates, but I was busy with my other two stories. Doing this makes me sympathize with any writers who have more than one fanfic going at the same time- it's one hell of a problem!

Which brings me to a personal problem. I've been putting this question in my other fanfics as well, and I hope someone can help me. I'm a big fan of Big O (the anime series on Adult Swim Sundays, 11:00 p.m.) and I want some help (those of you who watch it have probably identified my "SHOWTIME!" quote). I have had trouble with the last few episodes. Here's my questions to anyone who happens to watch the show and review me:

1. If Angel is a memory, then why does she appear human?

2. Also, whose memory is she? Always assuming that we can trust the senile Gordon Rosewater on this matter. And if she's a memory, why does she remember her childhood?

3. What happened forty years ago in Paradigm City? Any ideas?

4. The biggest question I have so far involves the last new episode on Adult Swim. Schwarzvald's ghost took over the Big Duo from Alan Gabriel, and then he flew it upwards. Several scenes passed where the Big Duo was flying straight up into the sky, and then all of a sudden it starts showing rigging and lights, ENORMOUS rigging and lights, and then Big Duo flew into one and exploded. The light was bigger than Big Duo, to give you an idea of the size. So, my question, simply put, is what the hell is going on? What are all those lights doing up there? Is the entire world in a Paradigm-like dome?

There's my questions. Anybody who watches the show should put their answers to my questions (as well as opinions, questions of your own, etc.) in a review. I'll add a review to my own story explaining my viewpoint and answering questions (plus thanking anyone who answers my own).

Enough of that. It's...

"SHOWTIME!"



Chapter 7



Beginning of the End:

The First Battle

Ron stood up from his seat on a log by a fire. The soldiers of the White Shore, their silver armor glinting in the light of the fire, gathered about him. Those sitting down looked at him when he cleared his throat. He had become their leader, and when he spoke they listened.

" Men," Ron began, his voice taking an authoritive tone, " tomorrow we meet the Tide. It's been a hard journey back to England. We have tried to alert the Ministry, but they will not listen. They refuse to aid us." Mumbled grumblings among the crowd at this. The Ministry's rejection had stung them badly. " But we do not stand alone. Durmstrang stands with us." Hearty cheers. The men had wintered at Durmstrang, and despite the bitter cold had enjoyed the chance to practice and train. They needed all they could of both to defeat the Tide.

" Durmstrang's spies have recently found Harry moving south. He is heading towards France. He plans on taking over Beauxbatons and forcibly impressing the students there into his army. We have to stop him."

Ron pulled out his broadsword from it's scabbard. It made a slight hiss as metal rubbed metal, and when it was free Ron used it to draw a map in the air with his magic. The map showed France and the surrounding area.

" Madame Maxine has divulged the location of Beauxbatons to us," Ron continued, and on the map a glowing blue dot appeared near the northern area of France, next to the French Alps. " and we are now moving to defend it. We are here," another glowing dot, white in color, appeared about five miles west of Beauxbatons, " and Harry's army is here." A third dot, black in color and glowing ominously, appeared north of Beauxbatons. It was about 10 miles from the school.

From the crowd around him, a soldier asked, " If Beauxbatons' location is secret, then how does Harry know where to go?"

Ron shook his head. " That's the bad part. Harry had a spy in Beauxbatons, a girl he met in the Triwizard Tournament. Over the Christmas break she went back to Hogwarts to see how her fellow champion was doing. We aren't for sure what happened, but from the girl's diary, found in her room at Beauxbatons after she fled a week ago, we can guess. Apparently, an honor guard of Black Tide members greeted her at the rubble where Hogwarts once stood. She was taken through the Black Forest into Harry's main camp, which he is calling Oceania. There, she and Harry had a discussion that led to her being inducted into the Tide."

" Her name is Fleur Delacour. She revealed the location of Beauxbatons to Harry, and in doing so gave Harry the lives of everyone in Beauxbatons on a silver platter."

Shaking his head, Ron finished. " We will fight him here," he said, and a fourth and final dot appeared on the map. " We make our stand here, and hopefully it's the last one we must make."

The men shivered as they looked at the map. The dot glowed red in the night. It pulsated slowly, as if in contemplation of something.

It was death, waiting. And the question on their minds was, for who?

The Tide? Or them?

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Harry's army got up before dawn and began packing. Most of the troops complained about the conditions. Travel through the French Alps, even for wizards, was unpleasant business. The wind was bitingly sharp, even in spring. Snow, remnants of the winter just past, clung to the peaks and made travel difficult.

Harry woke up before dawn as well. He lay in his sleeping bag of fur, and he thought. He had waited all winter, building his strength, for this chance. It was now spring, and it was time for him to make his move. Beside him, in her own fur-covered bag ( although they were lovers, it was simply too cold to do much here, and they had separate bags) Cho Chang murmured sleepily. Harry looked at her and smiled. He had wondered about her at first, but she was a wonderful match. Harry didn't think of it as love- he seriously doubted he could feel love in his heart (and didn't care)- but it was still a very nice relationship. Cho complemented him well.

[Besides,] Harry thought, getting out of his sleeping bag, [who better for my queen than someone as insane as I am?]

The thought sparked Harry's laughter, and it echoed in the mountain. Cho woke up at the sound, and seeing that it was time to travel, got out of her bag. Sauntering over to Harry, she leaned her head on his shoulder and embraced him. Her hand drooped over his shoulder. She put her mouth to his ear.

" When does it start?" she asked, her voice husky. Harry could hear the undertone of desire that flowed below it. He smiled. She wanted this battle too.

" Soon," he whispered back, squeezing her hand on his shoulder. " Very soon."

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Soon was right. The battle happened at 12:00 p.m. that day. Noon. A proper time for a showdown between the two armies.

Hermione and Ron, having planned their defense of Beauxbatons by looking at past wizard battles, were waiting in an open field, swords, wands, and staves out. They were planning on meeting what they felt would be a blind charge by Harry.

Unfortunately for them, Harry had other plans. Harry, who had never actually studied wizard history, looked to Muggle warfare for advice. And in this, at least, the Muggles were the geniuses and the wizards were the fools.

There have been two recorded wizard "wars" that have raged across the world. Both were in ancient times. Both were also classic examples of bad leadership. Warfare was never quite developed by wizards, who tended to solve matters with one-on-one duels. Even the war against Voldemort was more of a guerilla style battle than real open warfare.

Muggles, on the other hand, have fought with each other for centuries. They learned how to fight and wage war on levels that wizards weren't even close to. This is why Ron and Hermione expected a full-out charge in an open field. They thought Harry would throw all his forces at them. They readied a impressive defence of their front, but failed to do so well on the sides and rear. This mistake would soon be their undoing.

Seamus, who Harry had chosen as a general, earned his nickname "The Black General" in this battle. Having studied Muggle Warfare under Harry's orders, he had struck on a brilliant idea. He split the army in four pieces, one led by him, and the two others by Spithe and Vicks. His unit would wait while Spithe led the smallest unit to attack the front. At this point, his army would attack from the west side, and at the same time Vicks would engage the enemy on the east side. The resulting pincer would trap the enemy in a crossfire. To keep anyone from leaving the south end, the last division, which was led by Cho and consisted almost entirely of Purgers, would then open fire on the bottleneck this created, burning any White Shore soldiers who tried to escape.

Vicks and Seamus led off their portions while Harry stayed with Spithe. He wanted to attack from the front. He became the Jester, and then surveyed the battlefield. In the distance he could hear the sounds of an army approaching. Ginny landed beside him, her light feet pattering on the ground as her wings eased her down. She looked at him when he turned and said, " It's going to be a slaughter."

" I hope so," Harry said.

Ginny smiled and took to the air. Far away, she heard horns blowing. The battle was beginning.

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Few soldiers of the White Shore escaped that day. It is regarded in wizard history as the moment that Harry revealed himself to the world, and also eliminated the threat of the White Shore for a while. It wasn't the end of the White Shore, but it was close.

Harry's frontal assault was greeted with a hail of spells and arrows. The Marauders lifted their shields, shrieked their war cries, and struck back. Harry was in the middle of it all, claws flashing in the sun as he struck his foes. Beside him, a White Shore soldier was suddenly grabbed by the body of his companion. The zombie reached up to the screaming soldier's face and crushed it. In the air above, Ginny watched her new servant and laughed. Her high-pitched, girlish laughter rang clear over the battlefield.

Ron and Hermione, both in the thick of things, noticed that the army wasn't big enough for what they'd guessed his strength at. Both were too preoccupied to worry about it much, though. If they had any idea what was coming next, they would have worried plenty.

You see, the eggs of the brood queen Seamus had captured had hatched. The little spiders inside had grown enormous, almost as big as a horse and much stronger.

Harry had designated a unit of Maruaders to ride them. The spiders responded quite ablely to this (the runes on the Marauders armor controlling them) and proved better than horses. What horse can climb walls, spin webs, and fight just as hard as it's rider? Harry called the spider-riding company the " Dusk Knights". The company rode with Seamus, who had mounted one himself. Riding these foul creatures, the Dusk Knights were the first soldiers to strike the western front of the White Shore. The soldiers, fighting Spithe's unit, never looked at them once while the Dusk Knights slaughtered them. On the east side, Vicks led his forces forward. And in the south, Cho rode upon Whipstitch's shoulder and urged her troops on.

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The battle was horrific. One White Shore soldier, attempting to strike a wounded Marauder, was grabbed by a Dusk Knight's leaping spider. The creature's fangs, dripping venom, ripped into his shoulder and jerked him backwards. His jugular ripped open, the last thing his dying eyes saw was the monster's gaping maw, feeding upon his vital fluids.

Another soldier was fighting Harry when several fallen soldiers about him grabbed his legs. He screamed and hacked at one's face. The zombie, undeterred by the loss of most of his skull, kept his hold. Harry ended the soldier's screams with his claws. Twin claw gashes were carved into the soldier's face and brain. He fell dead, and then rose up to join the fight. Ginny circled above him, a hellish vulture over a nightmare battlefield.

Ron, who had seen the charging Dusk Knights by a lucky chance of fate, screamed for retreat. He, Hermione, and a small portion of the White Shore army escaped before Cho and her Purgers blocked the way. Those that followed were incinerated in the crimson streams of the Skullmakers. One unlucky soul, attempting to flee, was liquefied by a stream of Whipstitch's acid. Cho, who had taken a liking to Whipstitch and was riding him, laughed as the soldier's entire face sloughed off. Whipstitch roared from his multiple mouths, and Dudley, completely insane now, screamed with him.

Viktor Krum, who had went as well, had far less luck than Ron and Hermione. He was attacked by Padma. Viktor threw his spear when he saw her casting a spell. The spear thudded into the ground not a foot from him. Padma had cast a gravity spell on it, drawing it to the ground. Her next spell sent a boulder from the ground streaking at Viktor. His entire body from the waist up was torn off from the force of the blow.

Another soldier attempting to run from the battle was caught by the webbing of a Dusk Knight. The webbing tripped him, and it was all the time the Dusk Knight needed to stab him to death. His mount screeched loudly over the kill, and then rushed forward to the next opponent.

Not that all the casualities were on the White Shore side. Terry Boot, who had had the unfortunately bad luck of being in Ron's way when he was retreating, had been sliced apart by Ron's whistling sword. His right arm and head fell away from his body, spurting blood. Terry's last thought was [My God, he moves so fast...] before his brain shut down for good. His body, minus a arm and head, stumbled about for a bit and then fell. Blood pooled all around it, pumped from a still-living heart.

The battle lasted for two hours. At the end of it, Harry was triumphant. He gazed about himself. The only surviving White Shore members had either fled with Ron and Hermione or surrendered.

He looked to Cho, still riding Whipstitch. Cho was laughing, and Harry laughed with her.

" THEY ARE FINISHED!" Harry roared to his army.

" TO BEAUXBATONS!" he continued.

" ONWARD!" Seamus yelled, spurring his spider mount from it's latest kill and charging towards the school, now visible in the horizon. The army followed him, the slaughter of the past hours giving them new energy.

In the air above, Ginny smiled. The Dream Blighter appeared before her again, and as she winged towards Beauxbatons, she heard it's voice in her mind.

" AND SO IT BEGINS."

She nodded towards it. " Yes, so it does."

" HIS WILL BE THE SOUL THAT DAMNS ALL IN THIS WORLD."

Ginny heard the Dream Blighter's laughter ring in the air around her.

In front of her, Beauxbatons was rushing forward, as the future was. The future that was Harry Potter's.

The future of the Jester.