Outsider Chronicles: Darkness Rising

With the action packed summer over and done with, Leo and Holly head back to school with the knowledge that there alleys are growing in number. However, is Hogwarts really safe? And What new Darkness is rising in the distance? Will this year finally herald the return of the People? Only time will tell. Book 4 of the Knights of Heaven.

And we're back. I know I cut off the last arc suddenly and I apologize for those who wanted to see Holly and Harry freak out, but I kinda wanna get going with the rest of the story. However, if anyone wants to do a spin off story based on that alternate world, feel free. With that, time to move on. Enjoy!

Chapter 10

One trip by swirling time portal later and we were spat out into the same place as we left. A quick Tempus revealed that we had been gone for the entire night, meaning that it was currently breakfast.

"Right, lets go," I said, "Everyone should be at breakfast, including my idiot brother. Lets go get this over with."

I lead the way downstairs towards the Great Hall. Surprisingly, the doors were shut, but that just allowed me to blast them open with a pulse of magic, causing them to slam into the walls with a loud bang, drawing everyone's attention to us. I ignored the stares and headed over to where Draco was sitting, staring at us wide eyed.

"Hello Draco, surprised to see us?" I asked, my tone carefully neutral.

"Y-you should be dead," he whispered.

"Well I'm not," I said, "And you should be bloody glad I'm not."

Draco sneered.

"And why is that?" he asked.

"Because if we were, you would be to, along with everyone in this room."

My statement carried all around the room and everyone immediately zeroed in on us.

"Mr Black, might I ask what you mean by that?" asked Dumbledore as he approached with Snape and Flitwick.

"This idiot decided it was a good idea to use a spell he knew nothing about to try and do away with me," I said, "I don't know why he thought it was a good idea, but hes bloody lucky the spell hit Hermiones Time Turner."

"What spell?" asked Flitwick, looking pale.

"That doesn't matter," I said, glaring down at Draco, "What does matter is that he put the lives of everyone in the school in danger, among which were a number under the protection of the House of Black. Based on this, I, Leo Regulus Black, Heir to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, one of the Seven Houses, hereby challenge Draco Lucius Malfoy, Heir to House Malfoy, to an Honour Dual. Let Magic view this challenge and determined it valid!"

There was a huge flash of light and Malfoy went white as the rest of the room erupted into noise at my challenge.

"N-now now Mr Black," said Dumbledore, looking shaken, "Surely theres no reason to take it this far. I'm sure a simple apology would…"

"ARE YOU MAD DUMBLEDORE?" spluttered Flitwick, "Didn't you see that flash? Magic itself has accepted this Duel, there's nothing to be done now!"

"N-n-now see here," stuttered Draco, "When my Father…"

"Lucius Malfoy cannot help you," I said, "You are the one responsible for the attack so you must pay. No amount of gold or political pressure will stop me from tearing you apart. Three days Malfoy, make your peace and meet me on the Strip."

I turned on my heel and marched out of the hall with the rest of the Knights on my heels. We headed up to the Seventh Floor and to the Room of Requirement where I immediately blasted the head off one of the dummys that appeared in the room with a yell.

"Are you OK?" asked Holly, resting a hand on my shoulder as I sank down in the chair that appeared behind me.

"No, I'm not," I snapped, causing Holly to flinch back.

I let out a breath and tried to calm down.

"Sorry Hols," I said, "But...I just challenged my twin brother to what could very well be a fight to the death. I don't like him and wouldn't cry any tears if he died, but I don't really want to have to kill him myself."

"Why did you do it?" asked Ginny, taking her own seat as the others followed suit.

"Draco has gone way too far," I said, "I highly doubt he had any idea what spell he was using, but I doubt wherever he found it didn't come with a warning of how dangerous it is and he still used it. Even if he hadn't used the Ira Dei, I would still have challenged him. He attacked with an intent to kill and didn't care that you girls were with me and could potentially get hurt. I will not allow that and he needs to learn his place."

Silence fell over the room.

"Do you really intend to kill him?" asked Holly.

I sighed.

"I don't know," I said, "The Duel goes until one side withdraws or is unable to continue. That means that, unless he withdraws, I could very well end up killing him by accident."

"Unfortunately, we all know that Pureblood pride won't allow him to give up," said Luna.

"The real question is, should we even let him live," said Hermione, leaning her chin on her hand, "We all know how dangerous that spell is and if someone like Voldemort gets there hands on it…"

She trailed off.

"Do you really think he'd be crazy enough to use it?" asked Ginny, "I mean, he wants to rule, right? You can't rule a place you've wiped of the face of the Earth."

"Thats a good point, but this is the bloke who split his soul multiple times," I said, "I don't think sanity is something he has any more."

"Good point."

We fell silent, contemplating what was to come.

The next three days, all everyone was talking about was the upcoming duel. During that time, Dumbledore made more than one attempt to convince me to call of the Duel and Lucius had turned up the day after I'd issued the challenge to try and threaten me to do the same. However, Sirius also arrived and backed me up, as did Amelia Bones, so those threats quickly went quite.

Then, the big day arrived. The entire school, a number of important guests and Rita Skeeter, as well as Xeno Lovegood here for the Quibbler and wearing eye wateringly yellow robes, gathered in the Great Hall, which had been turned into a Dueling arena for the day. The House Tables had been replaced by a wide dueling strip that extended the length of the hall and bleachers on each side. At one end sat Draco, receiving some last minute coaching from his Father and Snape, although the Potions Master didn't look to pleased to be there. Draco looked nervous, but not as terrified as he had before, but that may have something to do with Pansy Parkinson who was stood behind him and rubbing his shoulders. That was rather odd because, despite the fact that she was one of Dracos biggest sycophants, even after the Malfoy wallet took a beating, he had only ever given her a second look when he needed something vaguely feminine on his arm and would never allow himself to be seen in such a situation with her normally. Actually, to be fair to Pansy, although she had looked like a pug as a little girl, she had grown into her looks somewhat. Unfortunately, her bitchy personality and 'notice me Senpai' crazy attitude towards Draco were still very much intact and so he usually stayed well away from her. Even ignorant Purebloods have some standards after all.

Still, that was none of my business and I was more interested in making sure I was ready myself. This was a no holds barred duel where the only banned spells were the Unforgivables, as was the rule for Honour Duels. However, the past three days had cooled my temper and so, I had decided to try and get him to surrender before I went for the kill. However, I did take steps in case he tried the Ira Dea again. It wouldn't do for him to wipe out the whole school and the Minister and his Toad after all. Oh yeah, Fudge and Umbitch were here as well.

I stepped up onto the Dueling Strip, clad in Dueling robes made of Acromantula silk and Dragonhide that Sirius had given me that had the Black family crest over the heart as Draco, wearing something similar, stepped up on the other side.

"Attention please!" called Flitwick with his wand pressed to his neck to amplify his voice, "Welcome, one and all, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Professor Flitwick, the Referee for this Duel. The rules are as follows. All spells and magics are permitted, bar the Unforgivables. The fight will go on until one of the combatants surrenders or is unable to continue. Are the Combatterents ready?"

"Yes sir," said Draco.

"I am," I said.

"In that case, draw your wands and begin!"

We both drew our weapons and saluted, before Draco sent a wave of spells my way before we even had chance to take our stances. I was actually mildly impressed by the sheer volume of spells coming my way and the semi-competent spell chains Draco was using. Someone had been coaching him and well. Of course, the chains were nowhere near up to the standards of a genuine duelist and it was easy to sidestep the barrage and counter with my own spells. My first Spell Chain was comprised mostly of minor prank spells, intended to see what Draco would do in response. As expected, he threw up a shield to block the spells rather than dodge.

"That was stupid," I muttered, before launching a Shield Breaker, followed by a stunner and an Incarcerous. The Shield Breaker hit, but Draco managed to duck under the other two spells, retaliating with a Blasting Curse and a Bone Breaker that I'm pretty sure was not taught before Sixth Year.

I deflected the faster Blasting Curse and ducked the Bone Breaker, before transfiguring the debris thrown up by the Blaster into a flock of colourful birds and sent them to annoy Draco. They probably wouldn't last very long since I wasn't that good at Transfiguration, but the'd distract Draco. While my twin was focused on getting rid of the birds before they could claw out his eyes, I quickly wove a spell that caused a few places on the floor to light up briefly, before I ducked under a rather nasty looking grey curse that sizzled against the Wards around the Dueling strip.

"That was not friendly," I said, eyeing the sizzling magic, "Looks like I need to step things up a notch."

I spun my wand around my fingers, each spin sending spells that had Draco dancing across the arena to avoid them. I smirked as his foot landed on one of the areas my spell earlier had affected. There was a flash of light and Draco let out a yelp as a magic circle appeared under his feet and shot out golden chains that wrapped around him and quickly tied him down. I let out a breath and lowered my wand.

"Don't bother struggling Draco," I said as my brother strained against the bonds, "Those chains are designed to hold back Dragons. No Human stands a chance of breaking them once captured."

I started walking over to him, pulling up my sleeve to reveal a series of cercet like marks drawn on my skin in silver ink. I knelt next to him and pulled his robes down, revealing his shoulder blades.

"I apologise for this in advance, but I can't leave the knowledge of that spell unsealed," I said, before my hand was engulfed in silver fire and I slammed it into Dracos back, "Dei Soporem!"

Draco screamed as the ink on my arm rushed down over my hand, spreading out over his back to create an exact copy of the seal on my own back, the silver ink turning black as it settled into place. Magical energy discharged off the pair of us, sparking around the arena Wards like a combination of lightning and running animals. In fact, if one looked, animals could actually be seen in the magical energy, forming and fading nearly as fast as the eye could see, before it was all sucked back into Dracos back as he let out one final scream and went limp, the chains vanishing as he lost consciousness and blood leaking from his nose and lips.

I let out a sigh and stood as the seal faded from view.

"I'm done," I said, "He won't wake up for at least a week after that."

I turned away and started walking back towards my friends and comrades as a stupefied Flitwick hesitantly called the duel. The hall was utterly silent as everyone tried to process the incredible magical event they had just witnessed.

"So, you decided to use the seal," said Luna as I stepped off the Dueling Strip.

"I did," I said.

"You know that was never designed for Humans. I'm surprised his body is still intact."

I nodded as Holly stepped forwards and wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I returned the hug, burying my head in her hair.

"Come on, lets go," I mumbled, "I just want to be left alone right now and we won't be once everyone recovers from my little lightshow."

We headed towards the doors, ignoring everyone else in the hall as they started to move, a low buzz of sound rising as eyes began to bore into my back. We left the Great Hall and started making our way up the staircase towards our common rooms. As we passed the third floor, I paused as I felt a spike of magic that felt rather unusual.

"Did you guys feel that?" I asked.

Luna frowned while the Hermione and Holly looked at me in confusion.

"Yes, I think I did," she said, "I think I've sensed something similar before…"

She was interrupted by what looked like half a sharpened tree trunk flying up through the middle of the staircase and slamming into the wall next to my head.

"What the bloody hell!" I gasped, staring at the chunk of wood as it faded away into sparkles.

"Was that...a conjuration?" asked Holly.

"No, thats impossible," said Hermione, "It would take someone obscenely powerful to conjurer something that size and fling it at us."

I looked over the edge of the stairs, trying to see who had fired the projectile at us, only to be forced to pull back as a wave of smaller stakes shot up past where my head would have been. A moment later, a green blur shot over the edge of the balcony and I had to throw up a barrier to prevent a stake being shoved through my heart.

"YOUUUUU!" shrieked the holder of the stake.

I blinked as I recognised her. It was Pansy Parkinson, but she wasn't wearing the clothes she had on earlier. Instead she was wearing a forest green dress with a v neck that showed off a small amount of cleavage with brown, rootlike patterns twining over it with her hair clipped back with green clips shaped like maple leaves. Resting in the center of her chest was a green gem that was clouded with a shifting darkness.

"Pansy? What the hell are you doing?" I asked as I struggled to hold her back.

Something was very wrong here. Not only was she far stronger than she should have been, but now she was close, I could sense something wrong with her Soul. It didn't feel like it was connected to her properly, in fact, it felt like it was centered around the gem at her chest, rather than her whole body as it should be. Not only that, but her magic reeked of negativity. Anger and despair were the most obvious emotions, but I could also feel fear and guilt underneath it all.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" she roared, putting even more strength behind her stake.

I gritted my teeth as she actually forced me back, my feet slipping on the marble floor. I could feel my shield start to buckle under the force of the attack. Fortunately, before she could break through my shield, Pansy was dragged back off me by Hermione and Ginny, who quickly applied Binding spells to her arms to stop her from attacking me again. Pansy thrashed against her bonds.

"What the bloody hell was that all about?" I growled as I shook out my tingling hands.

"You hurt my Draco," slurred Pansy as she went limp against the bonds, "I'll kill you…"

I frowned. Something was wrong here. Sure Pansy had never exactly been stable, but I wouldn't have thought she'd snap like this. Besides, her snapping wouldn't explain the insane strength, strange magic and odd change of clothes.

Just then, a flash of movement caught my eye. Sat on one of the staircase railings above us, looking down at me, was a small, white, cat-like creature with red eyes and long tassel emerging from its ears with a golden ring floating near the end. Wait…

My eyes widened and I snapped my attention back to Pansy, who was muttering under her breath as the gem on her chest became darker and darker.

"Oh shit," I said, right as the gem shattered.

The resulting explosion of magic was so strong that it blew all of us off the balcony, forcing us to activate our Flight spells and summon Barriers to prevent us from being dashed against the walls.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Holly.

I didn't answer as the bonds holding Pansy shattered and she fell limp. A black object floated up from her body, giving off wave after wave of green energy as the darkest and most corrupt magic I had ever felt short of the Darkness itself washed over us. The world seemed to fold in on itself as the Grand Staircase was replaced by a bizarre forest that looked like it had been painted by Van Gogh with a number of strange, flower-like creatures running around.

"Well, this is unexpected."

We all turned at the unexpected voice to see the little white cat-thing sat on a nearby painted tree stump.

"I was under the impression that the Silver Millennium was over," said the Creature.

"Incubator," hissed Luna, narrowing her eyes at the critter, "What are you doing here?"

"Can't you guess?" I asked, "This is his doing. Although why I don't know."

"I shall explain everything later if you want," said the Incubator, "However, first you should deal with the Witch. You don't want it to kill any of your classmates, do you?"

I snarled and shot a Regulus Lancer through its head. I knew it wouldn't do much, but it sure was cathartic.

"Lets go," I said, "We can take turns using that annoying little monster for target practice later. Right now, lets stop that thing before it hurts anyone."

My comrades nodded and drew their weapons, ready for our first real fight in a long time.

And I'm done. Sorry for the wait, but this fought me every step of the way. I hope you liked the result though!

Draco got his ass kicked and Leo applied the same seal as he has. Dei soporem translates to Gods Slumber in latin.

I wonder how many people guessed I intended to add Madoka after my comment at the end of the last chapter? Doesn't matter, yes, this world does have Madoka in it, although exactly what the Incubator's connection to the Silver Millennium and its role in the story will have to wait. Will the alien cat thing version of Dumbledore and Orochimaru's demented love child be a villain or something else? You'll have to wait and see!

And with that, I'm done. Please leave me a review!