Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its characters, so leave me alone.
AN: Hello again readers! Things are really starting to heat up, I appreciate the reviews and keep them coming, I apologize for the delay in update, school is starting next week so updates will be slower. now without further ado, here's chapter ten!
Dragonthunder89
Love, Betrayal, and War
Marcus watched the battle before him, the spiders were relentless but he saw that the centaurs were tougher than he thought. Marcus watched in disgust, as Harry and his friends retreated. Since Marcus was silently flapping his wings and hovering just above the forest, he was able to see everything. Marcus smirked as he watched a centaur be dragged down by four spiders as they poisoned him until he lay still. Marcus sensed that someone had seen him, and he turned to see a centaur point at him. A second centaur appeared and they drew arrows to fire at him. Marcus almost laughed and with one swift motion, drew two knives with one hand and hurled them at the centaurs. Both centaurs were hit in the head and died instantly.
"Well, it seems, I have underestimated them again," Marcus said as he flapped his wings and took off into the jet black sky.
Raphael appeared and flew alongside Marcus, clearly troubled.
"Raphael, what is troubling you?" Marcus asked.
"Nothing, I wanted to get at some of those centaurs, why did you stop me?" Raphael asked.
"Because, the centaurs are much more powerful and fierce than we anticipated, besides, the spiders are greedy and their purpose is to keep the centaurs busy," Marcus explained.
"But what about the Inferi? I was told by Lord Voldemort that we are to raise them, is that correct?" Raphael asked.
"Yes, we are going to assault the Ministry of Magic soon, and with armies of Inferi on our side, we will be able to take them down without much trouble," Marcus replied.
"The casualties will be high, they have many skilled witches and wizards that will be trouble," Raphael said.
"Nah, the only threat will probably be that Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks," Marcus replied waving him off.
Harry woke up the next morning and found a pair of chocolate brown eyes watching him.
"Good morning," Hermione greeted smiling.
"Good morning, you need to do that every morning," Harry replied.
Hermione giggled and kissed him. Harry got up and after Hermione reminded him of his lesson with Lupin before regular classes, Harry hurried to get ready while Hermione waited in the Common Room.
"Damn, what time is it?" Harry asked.
"Seven, but don't worry, class doesn't start until eleven since we have double DADA," Hermione replied.
"Brilliant, have I ever told you how much I love you?" Harry asked as he pulled on a clean shirt.
"Yes, but it never gets old," Hermione replied.
Harry smirked and made his way out of Gryffindor Tower with Hermione in tow. They got to Remus's office only to find him waiting outside.
"Ahh, there you are Harry, it's about time, thank you for getting him here at a decent time Hermione," Remus joked.
Harry scowled but Hermione and Remus just laughed.
"Now Harry, I will guide you in controlling your new ability, however, I will not always have all of the answers so you must not get discouraged, understand?" Remus asked.
"Yes professor," Harry replied.
"During our lessons you can call me Remus," Remus said.
"Okay, so what do I need to do first?" Harry asked.
"We have to go down to the Quidditch Pitch, I don't want to attract attention," Remus replied.
"Good idea, am I allowed to come?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"Of course, in fact I was going to insist that you come so Harry can draw on your love," Remus replied.
Hermione blushed but nodded as the three began walking down to the Quidditch Pitch. Once down there, they were surprised to see McGonagall waiting for them.
"Professor McGonagall, what are you doing down here this early in the morning?" Harry asked.
"I am here to assist in your training," McGonagall replied smiling cheerfully.
"Oh, alright," Harry replied nervously.
"Don't worry Mr. Potter, I am not going to give you any grief, besides, neither of us know much about what you are capable of," McGonagall said.
"Well that's comforting, I'm unpredictable and could hurt anyone," Harry replied.
"That is why we are doing this, to prevent that from happening," Remus said.
Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it to let him know she was there for him, and he smiled back at her.
"Let's do it," Harry said.
"Okay, first, you need to relax your body, and then you must concentrate on the fire that burns deep inside your body, and then you must carefully and I mean very carefully, guide it to the surface," Remus instructed.
"This way we can see how much of this power you can control already, now Mr. Potter, if you cannot control it do not worry, we will help you," McGonagall added.
Harry nodded and the other three stepped back from him as he closed his eyes and did as he was told. After a few minutes, Harry opened his eyes and he was surrounded in the fiery red aura he had summoned twice before.
"Excellent Harry! How do you feel?" Remus asked.
"I am warm, but otherwise normal," Harry replied.
"Are you not having any trouble?" McGonagall asked.
"Well, it is hard to maintain this state, it wants to either expand, or die and I have to concentrate on preventing both from happening," Harry replied.
"This is astounding Harry! You have far more control than I thought!" Remus exclaimed.
"This is really hard," Harry said as beads of sweat formed on his head.
"Okay Harry, now we will see how wild your dormant fire is, this way we can take necessary steps to help you control it," Remus said.
"Let the power go, we will stand farther back, but once you let it out, if you cannot control it, please call for help," McGonagall instructed.
Harry nodded, and he began to relax and allow the power to spill out. Remus's eyes widened while McGonagall and Hermione gasped. Harry was now completely surrounded by a raging inferno.
"Harry are you alright?!" Remus shouted.
Harry did not respond, but instead he began to yell loudly, clearly trying to keep control.
"Harry!!" Hermione screamed in fear.
"I can't hold it back! Get away!!" Harry screamed.
"Harry!" Hermione yelled.
"Hermione! Get back, Dumbledore told me once that this has to happen! This is the excess power he has been suppressing! If he does not unleash it, it will consume him!" McGonagall cried as the three retreated.
Harry disappeared in the flames and after a couple of minutes, the flames shifted and faded. Harry fell to his knees, breathing hard as the three rushed towards him.
"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked.
"I..I'm fine, just drained," Harry replied.
"Well, you look exhausted, should we call it a day?" Remus asked.
"No, we will keep going, Voldemort won't wait around for me to master this, come on what do I do next?" Harry asked.
"Well, I am not sure exactly, but you have to concentrate your energy to make use of the fire so it will obey you, kind of like channeling magic through a wand," Remus explained.
"Alright, how can I harness it?" Harry asked.
"Hmm...try this, control your muscles and allow your mind to visualize what you want to do," Remus replied.
"What should I try to do?" Harry asked.
"Anything you want, just try not to be very destructive," Remus replied.
Harry nodded and closed his eyes, the aura returned, but this time Harry was ready and with the knowledge of a fire spell, he yelled the incantation without his wand.
"Pyro Ares!" Harry yelled.
Everyone gasped, enormous round balls of flame appeared and began to circle Harry slowly. Harry realized this and looked at his power in awe, when this spell was cast by a wand, the fireballs were only the size of golf balls, but these, these were as big as wrecking balls.
"Harry, that's incredible!" Hermione cried.
"How about some target practice?" Remus asked as he conjured several dummies in front of Harry.
Harry moved and the fireballs moved with him. Harry stuck out his arm to the side and one of the fireballs stopped at his hand. Harry hurled the massive fireball at the nearest dummy and incinerated it. Harry repeated this until all of the fireballs were gone.
"Now Harry, you should be able to become stronger by drawing off of Hermione's love," Remus explained.
"Fawkes showed me an image like this, let me show you," Harry replied.
Harry faced Hermione, still surrounded by the red aura. He reached his hand out towards her, and closed his eyes as he began to feel her power, Fawkes had given him a remarkable ability.
"Hermione, this ability that Fawkes gave me, it will let me draw off of your powers, but it is very unstable, I want to warn you that this could backfire on me," Harry warned.
"Don't do it until you are sure!" Hermione cried.
"Mr. Potter, I would listen to her on this one," McGonagall advised.
"Just watch," Harry replied.
A faint beam hit Hermione and it looked like Harry was absorbing her energy, Hermione was nervous and this proved to be enough for a fatal mistake. Suddenly, the faint red beam raged and flew at Harry and hit him hard, sending him flying and hitting the ground hard.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed as she rushed towards him.
Remus and McGonagall followed suit and saw black smoke rising off of Harry, he had been burned.
"Hermione, do you love me?" Harry asked getting up with Hermione's help.
"What? Of course I do Harry," Hermione replied slightly hurt.
"If you truly loved me, that would not have happened," Harry said with suspicion.
"Not necessarily Harry, I know what you were doing, and I think I have figured out your gift," Remus replied.
"Miss Granger, I believe you were afraid, and with fear comes doubt, you doubted Mr. Potter and that is why it did not work, you have to be calm and trust him, then he can draw on your love for strength," McGonagall explained.
"See, Harry can manipulate fire, but he has not mastered how to conjure and control it, his fire based spells are also enhanced, and he has this remarkable ability that he just tried to demonstrate," Remus added.
"So, you are saying that I am master of the fire element?" Harry asked.
"Not master per say, more like adept, when you can master the element, you will be capable of very destructive magic," Remus explained.
"Like what?" Harry asked.
"Well, the last person to have this gift was Godric Gryffindor, and he mastered it, he could summon walls of fire and could unleash it with ease, he even managed to control molten lava from volcanoes," Remus replied.
"Wicked," Harry gasped.
"But, he also had two weaknesses, one was that he could not withstand ice and water spells, they would drain him considerably if he was hit by them, and another was his spontaneous bursts. One was so powerful, that he leveled an entire village, killing everyone in it," Remus warned.
"Damn," Harry replied.
"With time and intense training however, he overcame these weaknesses and so can you Harry," Remus said.
"Let me try this again," Harry said.
"Are you sure?" McGonagall asked.
"Yeah, I am confident it will work this time," Harry replied smiling at Hermione.
Harry repeated what he did previously, but this time, Hermione poured her heart into Harry, and he glowed a bright gold color before returning to red like before.
"Did it work?" Hermione asked eagerly.
"Your Phoenix Arrow is a powerful ability," Harry replied as he held his hand out.
The flaming bow appeared in his hand while a flaming arrow appeared in his other hand.
"Harry! You took my power?!" Hermione cried.
"No, I just borrowed it from you, and since we are now connected, I believe you can draw off of my powers as well," Harry replied.
"Very good Harry, you are right, that ability just connected you to Hermione and that bond will grow stronger as time goes on, who knows what you will be capable of," Remus said.
"Well, that is excellent, but I think that will do for today," McGonagall interrupted.
"Yes, classes will be starting shortly, so you had better get cleaned up and get to class," Remus agreed.
Marcus stood outside of Hogsmeade with fifty vampires, all clad in armor and armed each with a lance and a short sword. Raphael stood next to him on the right, and on the left a very muscular vampire that made Raphael look weak.
"So, this is Hogsmeade, a very cheery little town," Marcus said.
"Yeah, why can't we just burn it to the ground?" Raphael asked.
"We will, but not until the boy arrives, remember, he must not be killed, we must capture him for Voldemort," Marcus replied.
"Well it seems we will finally see what you are made of Gaiden," Raphael said to the large vampire.
Gaiden was armed with a short sword like the others, but instead of a lance, he had a huge double edged battle axe propped on his shoulder.
"I will spare no one that gets in my way," Gaiden growled.
"Make sure you do not kill the boy, if you do Voldemort will most likely kill you, and I daresay he can do it," Marcus replied.
"Yes sir," Gaiden obeyed.
They heard a pop and Bellatrix appeared next to them.
"It is time," Bellatrix said.
"The other groups?" Marcus asked.
"They are closing in as we speak, our orders are to do whatever we need to lure Potter out here, so kill everybody burn everything," Bellatrix ordered.
"Alright, let us begin! Beware Potter this is the end for you!" Marcus yelled as the vampires charged at Hogsmeade.
Hagrid sat in a pub in Hogsmeade drinking some fire whiskey when he heard screams and a large explosion.
"What in Merlin's name?" Hagrid asked as he peered outside.
He gasped in horror, Death Eaters and vampires were ripping the village apart.
"Madam Rosmerta! Hogsmeade is under attack! Use the floo to go to Hogwarts fer help, an then get outta here!" Hagrid ordered as he bounded out the door to face the attackers.
McGonagall sat at her desk when her fireplace flashed green and Madam Rosmerta stumbled through.
"Why my dear what are you doing here?" McGonagall asked.
"It's Hogsmeade! Death Eaters! Vampires! Hagrid is fighting them by himself!" Rosmerta gasped.
McGonagall stood and called all of the staff to the Great Hall and sent the students to their Common Rooms. Rosmerta left as quickly as she had come while McGonagall headed for the Great Hall.
"Attention! I will take a small group to aid Hagrid in Hogsmeade, however, I require that we have plenty of staff to stay here for protection," McGonagall explained.
After they got organized, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna appeared in the Great Hall.
"We will fight to, Hagrid needs us, you need us," Harry said.
"Alright, if you must, now, these six will be coming, along with Remus, Flitwick, Sprout, and Firenze," McGonagall replied.
No one objected and the group rushed to Hogsmeade, which they could see was already on fire. They neared the entrance and saw two vampires standing guard.
"Look they have reinforcements!" the first vampire yelled pointing.
Harry was in the lead and drew his sword as he engaged the first vampire who brought his lance up to strike him. The other vampire tried to attack Harry but was stopped by Hermione.
"Phoenix Arrow!" Hermione yelled.
Hermione fired the arrow and hit the vampire in the chest, engulfing him in flames. Harry swept the vampire's legs out from under him, then he spun and plunged the sword into his chest. Harry saw the others charging into the village and joined them. Remus and McGonagall went to help Hagrid while Flitwick and Sprout were helping people escape by defending their retreat. Harry watched Ron and Neville as they battled three Death Eaters. Ginny and Luna were also fighting Death Eaters, and Hermione was rushing to help Ron and Neville when two more Death Eaters attacked them.
"So Harry Potter, we meet again," Raphael said from behind him.
"Raphael, it ends here," Harry replied as he turned to face him.
"You are no match for me," Raphael laughed.
"I am far more skilled than our last encounter, what do you plan on gaining by attacking Hogsmeade?" Harry asked.
"You," Raphael replied as he drew his sword and lunged at Harry.
Remus and McGonagall realized that they were sorely outnumbered when they saw more Death Eaters and vampires alike, pour into the village.
"There are too many of them!" Remus cried.
Hagrid threw a Death Eater through a nearby building, killing him instantly.
"We hav ter find Harry! That is what they are after!" Hagrid shouted.
Remus cried out with joy as he saw dozens of Aurors apparate to the scene, lead by Tonks and Kingsley.
"Alright! About time you got here!" Remus called.
Tonks ran over and embraced Remus as the rest fanned out to fight.
"I'm sorry, is anyone hurt?" Tonks asked.
"Not yet," Remus replied grimly.
Harry and Raphael fought fiercely, neither gave an inch as they tried to exploit a weakness in the other.
"Not bad boy, I see you truly have improved," Raphael said.
"You are very skilled, but if I can help it, you will die today," Harry snapped back.
"Oh but I have summoned some of my friends and since you haven't noticed, that shade of green I was surrounded with? Well, look around you," Raphael replied.
Harry did so and gasped in horror, he mentally scolded himself for being so careless, he was surrounded by dozens of Inferi.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I summoned them, Voldemort isn't the only one who can, in fact, vampires are very skilled at it," Raphael boasted.
"So I see you are really just a coward then?" Harry asked.
"Oh no, you and I are going to fight one on one, I have the Inferi here to stop anyone from interfering," Raphael replied.
"Alright then, let's do this!" Harry cried as he lunged at Raphael.
Lucius Malfoy strode towards Ginny Weasley, he had been informed by a spy they had inside Hogwarts of Ginny's lust for Harry, he knew how to make Harry come willingly.
"Ginny Weasley," Lucius said.
"Lucius Malfoy," Ginny replied pointing her wand at him.
"Come now, I just want to talk to you," Lucius said raising his hands in front of him.
"What do you want?" Ginny asked.
"What if I told you that Potter could be yours and I could help yo?," Lucius asked.
"I would say you are a liar," Ginny shot back.
"If you join us, we can make Potter surrender to you," Lucius said.
"I would never join you, besides Harry loves Hermione," Ginny snarled.
"Yes, I see your point, but if you join us you can kill Granger and have Harry all to yourself," Lucius reasoned.
Ginny stopped and lowered her wand as she considered Lucius's proposal while the battle raged on, even if she had to take Harry by force, she would still have him and that thought delighted her.
Harry blocked a vicious blow from Raphael and both swung at each other and deadlocked. Both pushed at each other to throw the other off.
"You're out of your league Potter," Raphael taunted.
"Take your best shot, because I am not even at my limit yet," Harry shot back.
"So holding out on me? Show me what you are made of!" Raphael challenged as he threw Harry back.
Harry closed his eyes and concentrated as he brought his fire to the surface. Harry began to glow red and he channeled the power into his sword and to Raphael's shock, the sword exploded into flame.
How do you like my flaming sword?" Harry asked.
Raphael masked his shock and smirked.
"Impressive trick, but it won't save you," Raphael replied.
"Can you stay cool under pressure? Because we're about to start cooking," Harry said as his fire burned a little stronger.
AN: Well there goes another chapter! Thanks for the feedback and keep it coming! I know Harry's power is a bit confusing but it will get easier to understand. Well see you next time!
Dr agonthunder89