Harry Potter and the Four Horsemen

by DZ2

Abandoned by his family, Harry was half-prepared for a life of misery and solitude, until fate dealt him a hand that turns him into Death, first of a new breed and a new generation of Horsemen. Needless to say that Dumbledore and Voldemort won't be expecting THIS Harry. Harmony;

10. Interlude: Friday the 13th

Harry Potter and the Four Horsemen

Disclaimer: As Before

Dedication: I would like to dedicate this story to ADVPhoenix for creating the challenge and to everyone that stays with me throughout everything I do. My recommended read for this story is Midnight Sun and its sequel Darkest Night, Shadowed Dawn by Herald-MageAnduli, which is an amazing pair of stories featuring the topic of this story: Wrong BWL.

Author's Warning: I should warn anyone reading this now: characters WILL be OOC and our favourite heroes ARE going to be Dark in nature. So, to paraphrase a friend of mine: if you don't like it, then don't read it; I've officially STOPPED listening to any bad criticism; this is MY story and I'll write it how I want.

Dante/Hermione

Taren/Luna

Lily/Sirius

Normal Speech

'Thought'

'Mind Link'

/Parseltongue/

Review Responses:

Dadby: Don't worry, Hermione, like the others, will go through a change of sorts as a result of her training;

Netherman14: Sounds like a good idea; now all I have to do is figure out what it should be;

Guest: I respect your opinion, but as I've tried to prove, when it comes to Voldemort, Dante's attitude is demanding and reckless; the 'shoot-first-ask-questions-later' sort of person;

StormyFireDragon: Well here's an update for you, Storm: I only hope that I can keep on this streak I've been on lately;

Winged Seer Wolf: If that was an open 'if-I-want-to-use-it-I-can' suggestion, then thank you: that sounds amazing;

T4: The encounter will happen very soon, I can promise you that much;

"Dante," Hermione insisted, "Let's stop for a mo…"

She was cut off by another loud crack from the cane of Mephistopheles, her voice turning into a cry as the shadows and the powers within them swallowed the Horsemen into its embrace, taking them away from the lives they knew.

And on towards the fate that they had chosen for themselves…

Chapter 10: Interlude: Friday the 13th

"He's back; Voldemort's back!"

The cries of disbelief from the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang seemed to last for a lifetime and a half as Jason Potter made the declaration that would change the world. As his Father, James Potter, dashed towards him, a look of worry and almost successful pride in his eyes as he put his arms around his son before he asked, "Are…are you sure, Jason? You actually saw him?"

"Yes, Dad," Jason replied, revealing a thickened gash that ran down his arm, "Lestrange was there and she slashed at my arm and brought him back with my blood: does…does this mean what I think it does?"

"We'll have to speak to Professor Dumbledore," James answered, helping his son to his feet before a scowl crossed his face as Cornelius Fudge approached, fumbling his bowler hat nervously. Steeling himself for the encounter, James told the Minister, "My son does not lie, Cornelius: if he says he's back, and if you look at his arm, you'll see some other evidence, but if he says that he's back, then he's back."

"I know, James," Cornelius replied, his voice laced with false sympathy for the situation as he explained, "I'm sure that we can arrange for your son to have open will for his magic; after all, the saviour of our world can't be left unarmed, can he?"

"Would 150,000 votes help steer the deal in our favour, Minister?" asked James, not really concerned about the ripple in his everlasting fortunes. When Fudge agreed and walked away, James snorted before he told Jason, "Come on son; your Mum's waiting for us with Kassie: let's go and show them the real Triwizard Champion."

Jason nodded in response as he followed his Father away from the scene of madness and mayhem…

FourHorsemen

Had James or Jason looked back, they would have seen a pair of cold black eyes watching them from a nearby tree, the false sense of fatherhood and loyalty shown by James Potter reflecting in the eyes of the owner of the black eyes as it spread its wings and flew off into the night. Over hill and vale did it soar until it reached a rather out-of-the-way manor house in the northern districts of Ireland where, standing at a window, a head of fiery-red hair looked up to the winged creature and, holding out her hand, accepted the creature onto her fingertips before she turned to face a dark-haired male figure standing next to a fireplace.

"So he's back," whispered Sirius Black, his eyes reflecting in the low glow of the flames that burned in the hearth, "And as we predicted, James is playing this for all its worth."

"That means they'll come back soon, Siri," explained Lily Evans-Black, her green eyes now filled with a hint of darkness as she seemed to banish the raven on her hand with a wisp of smoke, "I miss Dante as much as you do, but we both knew this would happen: once he comes back, then we can come out as the new rulers of Azkaban and he'll have an army at his command."

"He'll have that anyway, Lily," Sirius reminded her, lifting his eyes from the flames as he looked to the woman that, for the past year, had been his official wife and Lady Black. A lot had changed in the time that Dante and the others had been gone from the mortal realm, but the only clue that the Master of Nightmares and Mistress of Fears had was that their son, the First Rider, would return when the Big Bad came back. Meeting her green eyes, Sirius continued, "While I hate that I had to lower my own guard around the place for Ra-bastard to escape last year, I know that Dante won't turn his back on his fate and, as Death, he'll have the greatest army in existence at his command…quite literally too."

"And in the meantime," Lily explained, her voice calm as she let her head rest on Sirius' shoulder, "We have Severus help us keep an eye on James and the death-bait that I called my son: it sickens me to think that I'll do that."

"Well," Sirius whispered, placing a soft kiss on Lily's lips before he let his hand rest on a slightly swollen bump on her stomach, "You can soon cleanse that sickness when our little one, Dante's little brother or sister, is born."

"I know," sighed Lily, keeping her eyes on the flames as she let her head rest against Sirius, "But that doesn't stop me missing him: Dante, I mean."

"He'll come back, Lily-petal," Sirius assured her, putting a comforting arm around his wife's shoulders, "Just you wait."

FourHorsemen

From the moment that church bells across the country struck midnight on Friday the 13th July, the world's future was changed in over a thousand ways.

In a dimly-lit room within Riddle Manor, the Dark Lord Voldemort had begun contemplating his work against Dumbledore and the brat that dared to call himself the Boy-Who-Lived when, suddenly, an icy wind blew through the room, extinguishing the fires in the hearth and making the windows rattle with an added touch of magic. Drawing his wand, Voldemort cast a powerful Illuminating Charm, though his light only lasted a few seconds as the lit wand revealed a realm of eternal fire and walls that seemed to be alive.

From within the flames and the living walls, a sound like the ticking of a clock echoed around Voldemort, the tick and tock of the clock as erratic as a heartbeat. After a few long minutes, the clock's ticking was joined by what sounded like Gregorian chanting that seemed to resonate around the Dark Lord, Voldemort now turning his wand on each side of the room as he demanded, "Who's there? Show yourselves: your parlour tricks don't intimidate me."

The response from the unusual magic that seemed to envelop the Dark Lord was an increase in the volume of the chanting before, almost surprisingly, the chanting went from the ethereal, creepy language of the Gregorian style to a haunting voice that resembled a small girl's. With a laugh that would have worked in a creepy horror-movie scene, the girl's voice then spoke from all around the room.

"As I lay me down to sleep; I pray my soul is mine to keep.

And never step outside this bed, Into all the evil, Now back from the dead."

The words seemed to send a cold chill through the room before, with a sound like a gong being struck, the lights, the flames and the living walls all vanished, leaving the Dark Lord alone in the darkened room. Just when Voldemort thought that the strange encounter was over, the gong returned once more, but this time, it was accompanied by a deep, booming voice that, like the ominous chanting, seemed to come from all around:

"TOM RIDDLE: I COME…FOR YOUR SOUL…AND THIS TIME…YOU SHALL NOT…REST…IN…PEACE!"

The smash of the windows within his room sent the Dark Lord flying as the declaration finished, leaving a darkened room with the cold wind blowing, though Voldemort would need a few hours before he could wake up and make any sense of his supernatural visitor.

Whoever it was, whatever it was, the Dark Lord would make sure that they weren't long for this world…

FourHorsemen

At the same time that the windows within Voldemort's manor exploded with the supernatural force of his otherworldly visitor, many miles from the manor, within a tower of a certain castle, an apparently untalented Seer suddenly shot upright, her voice catching in her throat as she gasped with a fear as though she'd been drowning.

Sybil Trelawney's hands clutched at her throat as she tried to find a breath that could penetrate what she was feeling: it felt as though her heart was being squeezed by her lungs, which were being strained to their limits with a feeling like a major asthma attack. Scrabbling for a glass of water that she kept by her bed, Trelawney went to swallow the water, but stopped when a scream escaped her lips as the water turned into thick green acid that burned at her throat and singed her voice.

When she tried to throw the glass away, Trelawney's screams returned as crystal balls, decks of tarot cards, dreamweavers and all sorts of items and bric-a-brac were thrown around the room by forces unseen and unheard. The crystal balls and the viewing stones smashed, showering the seer with an ocean's worth of glass and unseen magic that pierced the skin that had been untouched by the acid she'd swallowed.

As a final touch, which was the most unusual of all, Trelawney gave a final gasp and, as she keeled over, collapsing against her bed, she couldn't help but gasp out a final word to this…ethereal force;

"Thank you!"

FourHorsemen

The screams of the Divination Professor would go unheard by all, or almost by all as down in the office that was the residence of the Defence Professor, Hunter Redgrave lifted his head and, checking a calendar on his wall, he rose from his own bed and moved to the stand where he kept his sealed katana. Withdrawing the sword from its scabbard, Hunter revealed a blood-red sword that was currently glowing with ethereal magic that reflected the ice blue eyes of the long-term Professor.

"Master," Hunter whispered, his gaze reflected in the glowing blade of his weapon, "You've come home: and I am ready to serve you."

FourHorsemen

The final effect of the day didn't take place until, rather ironically, the thirteenth second of the thirteenth minute of the thirteenth hour when, deep within the halls of Noir Manor in Ireland, the flames all flickered into darkness, the windows were all sealed up and the house was filled with an ominous sense of cold. As though it was sensed from all sides of the house, Sirius and Lily Black both moved down towards the underground levels of the mansion where they found one Severus Snape already waiting for them, his eyes filled with shock as he saw the magic that had captured the mansion.

"Lily, Sirius: what's going on here?" he asked, shivering with the cold as the magic actually seemed to flow around them, forming itself within the base of the underground.

"I don't know, Severus," Lily answered, watching with an almost expectant gaze as a new circle of flames suddenly appeared: these flames were a deep, ethereal shade of purple and seemed to carve a shape into the ground that, for a moment, looked familiar to Lily, but she couldn't quite remember where. It was only when the final point of the shape was formed that Lily, casting an Ascendio charm on herself, lifted her body off the floor and glanced down on the symbol from above.

With a look of intense happiness and hope, she settled down onto the ground and, taking her husband's hand, she told Severus, "You may want to stand back!"

A loud clap of thunder stopped Severus from asking any questions, the ominous sound followed by an intensely-bright glow that came from the centre of the fiery seal before, as though rising from the dead, they appeared.

Black figures that were standing tall and proud, their eyes, manes and hooves encased by fierce glowing flames that licked at the ground before returning to the figures that were assembled within the seal. However, upon the backs of these figures were sat four heavily-armoured warriors that looked very different from the last time they were seen: the armour seemed to stick out in certain places, though the appearance was only adding to intimidation as it looked like these figures had been spawned from the darkness itself.

Their hands, which were covered by clawed gauntlets, held tightly onto the reins on their mounts and, as the seal revealed the hooves of the four creatures, so too did it reveal the ground of the underground chamber once more. For a long moment, nothing happened, but then, with a swift motion that made it look like they had just floated off their mounts, the four riders dismounted and stood before Sirius, Lily and Severus, the leader of the four removing his helmet with a mere wave of his hand, the helmet dissipating into nothing but smoke.

Under the helmet, much to the delight of Sirius and Lily, was the pale-faced, raven-haired expression of their now-teenage son Dante Scorpio Black, his face holding a thin scar over one eye that gave him a sort of devil-may-care appearance, his black hair now hanging over his shoulder in a braid that was obviously hidden by his helmet. When Dante opened his eyes, Lily and Sirius both cried out as their son didn't reveal emerald-green eyes, but two orbs that were as black as night, the edges of his eyelids holding a marking to them that was almost tribal in appearance before, much to their relief, the black eyes and mask faded away to reveal Dante's signature green eyes, though the blackness actually seemed to swim in his eyes as a sign that it was always present.

Dante didn't say anything; instead, he turned and, lifting his hand, he nodded to the others, causing his companions to shed their helmets in the same fashion as their leader, revealing the greasy-haired appearance of Taren Salazar Snape, though Severus had to shudder when he saw that his adopted son now held a pair of ice-cold blue eyes, one of which held a scar of his own that ran from above his eyebrow to under his lower eyelid. Next to Taren was the pale-haired, blue-eyed form of Luna Selene Lovegood, who just smiled with an air of innocence as she lifted her hand, toying with a strand of her white hair that was tucked behind her ear.

Finally, standing so close to Dante that it was almost suspicious to Sirius and Lily stood Hermione Jean Granger, her messy brown hair now sleek and straight and covering one eye, which left her remaining brown eye exposed to the world. As she stood next to Dante, Sirius and Lily watched with amusement and a sense of awe as Dante turned and, after muttering something they couldn't hear to Hermione, he tucked her hair back, which revealed a shock to the assembled adults as they saw Hermione's other eye to be a fierce shade of gold that shone like a feral creature, the outline of this eye holding a mark that looked like the burn of a flame.

"There," Dante whispered, a soft smile crossing his face as he nodded to Hermione, "You have nothing to hide, Mione: we are who we are and nothing can change that."

Sirius and Lily were still shocked into silence as they heard an icy edge to their son's voice that made it sound ominous, but apathetic at times, though before they could ask any questions, Dante turned back to them and, stepping away from the seal that had brought him to the manor, he gave his parents a curt nod before he smiled broadly at them and spoke again;

"Hey kids: did you miss us?"

Chapter 10 and a sort of interlude between the two adventures, but Dante and his team are back and it seems that things have changed in a big way: what else has gone on while the Horsemen were away?

Also, what did the Horsemen's return, Trelawney's death, Hunter's blade and Voldemort's message have in common? Or is it all just one big Friday 13th-based coincidence?

Keep Reading to Find Out…

Next Chapter: It's brother meets brother as Dante learns a startling truth; and, to top it all off, Sirius and Lily take their own mantles and there's a battle when Voldemort goes after the remaining members of his circle, which can only mean one thing: first blood for the Horsemen;

Please Read and Review…

AN: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter; it sort of came around as a little bridge between them leaving and them returning and yes, for those who recognise it, Voldemort's little message was inspired by the mind games and theme of WWE superstar, the Undertaker: sounded perfect given that Death himself was after the snake-faced monster;