Thanks to demon19027, slayst and zeb97 for favoriting and again zeb97 and Akuma Kuro(are you a street fighter fan? I got very involved in that a few days earlier) for following!
Sorry about the delay. In our country, the weekends consist of the two days Friday and Saturday, with students only getting the Friday off. So, I don't have classes today, and here you are! Loads of action, but shorter than usual, again!
Disclaimer: See Prologue.
Where we left off:
The huge eyes of the three-headed dog stared back at him. Dante shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he drew Rebellion. Now he really wished he hadn't given Snape a reason to come after him.
"I suppose there's no point in asking you to go back to sleep?" he asked meekly.
The dog stood straight, and growled. Dante thinned his lips. "No point at all." His eyes rested on the trapdoor. He didn't want to kill the thing; Hagrid would drown in his own tears. All he needed to do was reach the door under its paw.
Here we go!
Chapter 10
Fluffy growled again, and Dante ducked under the first swipe of the front leg. He rolled out of the way of the head that came his way, and was up on his feet in the same movement while simultaneously swiping with his sword. The blade caught the head in the jaw, prompting another thunderous growl. Dante back-flipped to avoid the second head, and saw the shadow of the third one's jaws too late. He had just about enough time to move inside its mouth before the jaws slammed shut and darkness descended all around.
Dante sighed, and thrust Rebellion into its tongue, impaling the flesh. Fluffy howled in agony, and Dante was blown right through its open mouth. He stared down at the saliva covering him, wrinkling his nose as he did. "Ew. Well, I don't suppose they keep toothbrushes matching your size. Not that everyone uses toothbrush anyway, just look at Snape!"
The dog pounced. Dante jumped aside and made a run for the trapdoor, only pausing as he heard a cry.
Snape. He's followed me! Shit.
He pivoted on his feet and saw Snape throw a jet of fire towards the dog while holding his left hand cradled against his body. Dante swore out loud and slashed at the paw closest to him. Two heads were immediately turned towards him. Dante placed his feet on a nose and rose in mid-air, and swung his sword at the third head. For the first time in his life, he got a complete arc in the air and blood spurted from the eyes. Two eyes were gone!
Dante would've whooped, had there not been a human standing behind him, totally unprotected, at the very moment.
"Get out of here, sir!" he yelled, even as his feet found solid ground again. Fluffy was now madly howling, swiping with its paws, heads swishing back and forth.
"What are you doing here?" Snape hissed back.
"Quirrell's gone in." Dante called back, backing away to shield his professor while keeping his eyes open for incoming teeth. "I need to get to him." He rolled to the side to avoid a head that was completely intact, only to find himself in front of the second one's open jaws.
Snape yelled, 'Sectumsempra!' and blood began to gush from that head. It moved away from Dante and, with astonishing speed, latched onto Snape's wand hand with its teeth. Dante leaped in the air, crossed the short distance between himself and his teacher in mid-air, and kept his blade horizontal and the sharp edge point downward as he fell, channeling red energy into it and putting as much force into his fall as he could. Rebellion was brought down straight onto the neck of the second head, the combined force of demonic energy and gravity cutting the head clean off.
Snape pried off the limp jaws at the same time Dante gripped his sword handle and threw himself at his professor, landing them both into a corner of the room. Keeping himself on top of Snape, who seemed to be rather dazed with pain, he turned his head to watch Fluffy's position. The dog, with only two heads and eyes, seemed more ferocious than ever, tugging at its chains, falling just short of reaching Dante in the corner. The eleven years old decided to take advantage of Snape's momentary confusion. He lifted the man over a shoulder and ran out the door, not even sparing a glance to Snape's wand that was still lying on the floor. He set the older man down on the floor outside and went back in. Taking a breath, he charged his sword, waiting until it glowed red, and then jumped up to hit the stone wall just over the doorway. The stones were cut neatly in half and they fell, shaking up the whole room as they did, right in front of the door, barricading it completely.
Smiling, Dante dashed forward, between the first two paws, under the blind head, and in front of the trapdoor. It was already open, and he jumped, grabbing the handle as he did to pull the door closed. The trapdoor slammed shut and then he was falling.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Severus Snape got to his feet, gritting his teeth against the pain searing through both of his hands. He eyed the stones in front of him. There was no way he could get through that, not without his wand, which was still inside the room.
Cradling his hands against his chest, he set off at a jogged pace. Professor Dumbledore needed to be informed, immediately. If Dante Sparda had known about Quirrell and was going in through the trapdoor, it was likely that the stone was about to be stolen tonight, by either one of the twins or the DADA professor.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Dante landed on something soft. He pressed at it. It seemed to be some sort of herb. Shrugging, he stood up, and made to walk, only to feel his feet rooted to the ground by some sort of restraint.
Dante slashed aimlessly with his sword, and soon he was free. He jumped off the soft thing, and made for the passage opposite. It was now obvious he'd have to face a series of trials.
He could hardly wait.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
He walked to the end of the passage and stepped through the doorway. He looked around. It was a spacious, brilliantly lit room. There was a swishing and clinking sound that filled the space. Dante looked up, and saw hundreds- or thousands- of keys with wings. He looked at the locked door opposite, and then to the broomstick set aside that looked like it had been just used and dumped.
"Ah-ha." he murmured, catching on. "Looks like a bit of Quidditch demonstration is in order. Too bad Hermione didn't stick around."
He narrowed his eyes as he watched the keys. They all looked rather alike- except one that was completely missing a wing and just barely flying.
"Oh." Dante smirked and mounted his broom. "Let's set a record!"
The key dodged him when he rocketed upwards. He turned around his broom with lightning speed and dived, the key went left-Dante sent his broom shooting after it to his left and jumped to his right-the key dodged both and shot downwards-Dante pulled out his sword and threw it, nailing the key to the floor.
He snorted. "Three seconds. That's gotta be a record. I'll just compare with Vergil- Harry's not going to come even close."
He inserted the key into the lock and entered the next room.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
It was dark. Dante squinted; he could see large, strange shapes, but the light was too dim to make anything else out. He gripped his sword and stepped forward.
"Hello?" he called cautiously.
"Tony!" the reply came. Dante startled, he hadn't expected a response, much less in a familiar voice.
"Hermione?"
The room illuminated very slowly. He frowned at the destruction around the room. The floor he was standing on seemed to be some sort of chessboard. Pieces lay just to the sides of the board, both blacks and whites, but 32 new pieces were silently waiting on the board, completely ready to play.
At the opposite side of the room was a double set of doors. Dante bit his lip, he was terrible at chess. Maybe Hermione could help…
His eyes came to rest on the disheveled girl sitting beside the board. He strode forward to meet her, only to stop short as he saw the motionless form next to Hermione.
"Is that Ron?" he asked, running forward to kneel next to his friend. "What happened?"
Hermione pushed her hair roughly back from her face. Dante saw her lips trembling. "The three of us had to replace some of the pieces to play the game. He won the game, but he had to sacrifice himself. And Harry…Harry's gone after Professor Snape."
Dante was silent for a moment. "Is he okay?" Dante gestured to Ron.
"Yeah, just knocked out." Hermione answered. Dante felt a tiny flash of amusement at Hermione's style of speech. Usually she never talked that way.
"And you saw no one else?"
"No." she frowned. "Why?"
Dante didn't know if he should be pleased or afraid at the news. It could mean two things: Either Vergil hadn't gone in yet or he had gone in even before Harry did. He didn't know which one it was, but he did know that he had to act.
"Nothing." Dante answered Hermione, and stood up. "I gotta go."
"You're atrocious at chess!" Hermione protested.
"Who says I have to play? You see if you can wake Ron. If you can, get out of here."
Hermione stared at him, wide-eyed. "You're not going to…No, Tony, don't-"
But Dante was already moving forward, drawing his sword as he did so. He walked straight towards the row of white statues. The moment his foot crossed the midway line of the board, the pawns in the front row crossed their swords with one another with a loud metallic clang.(1)
Dante faltered for a split second. The swords were broad, but sharp. He could see the shiny tips. Besides, he had no doubt the castles, knights, bishops and the queen would attack him as well. Was he really good enough to hold off 16 moving statues of stone?
Before his devil trigger had unleashed, Dante would've admitted, if only to himself, that the answer was no. But now….he most definitely had a chance. He wasn't sure, but he knew he had to try. At least he had the strength to cut through stone now. He had proved that in Fluffy's room.
So he plastered a cocky smile on his face and plunged into the fray.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Dante locked his blade with the pawn's on D7. He slashed diagonally, which the pawn blocked with one sword, and Dante quickly brought up his arm to stop the swish the pawn took at him with its other sword. Gritting his teeth a bit as the blade sliced at his arm, he ducked under the two crossed swords and brought up Rebellion in a vertical slash that cut the piece from bottom to top. The two severed sides crashed to the floor in opposite directions, and he was left staring at the queen on D8.
He quickly jumped to evade the thrust the piece took at him with its sword. He brought down Rebellion onto the thing's head and grinned as the head was cut in half. His amusement was short-lived though, as the queen shook off the head from its shoulders and backhanded him across the chest.
Dante was flung backwards into the black knight, who reared up and kicked him in the stomach. Dante landed in the middle of the board and grimaced as he tasted blood. Somewhere to his right, Hermione was screaming his name.
"STILL here." he muttered to himself, and pushed himself up to face the white queen, simultaneously pouring energy into his sword, which began to glow. This time, when she raised her weapon, he raised his own blade and cut hers in half. Without giving her time to retaliate, he drove Rebellion through her mail and separated her upper body from her lower one. He stepped back from the two now unmoving parts and looked around himself. All around him were the white and dark pieces, standing in a circle, staring at him in silent foreboding.
Dante peered under the white knight's legs to see the door. He grinned to himself.
"Any obstacles I should know about?" he yelled to Hermione.
"Yes!" she cried. "When you go to the potion room, drink the potion from the smallest bottle!"
"Got it!"
He ran forward, and, using the white queen's parts as stairs, made the jump to the crown on the king's head. From there, he had an unrestricted view of the door. But before he could take a step towards it, the king flung off his crown, and Dante with it, right into the middle of the circle.
Dante landed smoothly on his feet, and faced the oncoming cavalry. The dark and white kings were coming just in front of him, the white one in front of the black. An idea began to form. He began channeling his power into his sword. Rebellion pulsed beneath his hands, and Dante realized it would need a bit more time to gather the required energy. He would need to buy it some.
"Talk about going around in circles..." he taunted them. "Really, how many of you do I have to kill before you get that I'm invincible?"
The energy flowed from his hand into his sword. Rebellion was now practically vibrating, light swirling around it.
They edged closer.
"Fine!" Dante yelled, and slammed the sword into the ground, setting the shockwaves in motion. He slammed it again. And again, and watched as the wave went forward in a straight line beneath the board.
"EAT THAT!"
The two kings were shattered by the red energy. The white crown flew through the air, and Dante, being Dante, placed himself just where it would fall. Air stirred his hair slightly as the crown perched on his head perfectly. All around him, the pieces began to disappear.
He rested the tip of his pulsing red sword on the ground, head held high and shoulders squared, and grinned at Hermione. "How about that?"
She was staring open-mouthed. "Wow, Tony…your powers increased!"
"Didn't it? Look at this!" Dante threw Rebellion to the farthest corner of the room and watched as it smashed through a pile of broken pieces besides the board, shattering the stones like so many glass shards. He called it back, gave it a shake, and returned it to its spot on his back.
He smirked at Hermione, who looked stunned. "Yeah, now that's what-"
"Oh God, you didn't." she whispered.
"What? I-" Dante stopped short. "Oh."
His devil trigger. Well, of course she would figure it out, she was Hermione Granger, he thought with a scowl. He had asked his friends to do it, and now his powers had suddenly increased. The connection would be obvious to her.
"Yeah. Yeah, I did." He glanced down at his robe to see if the hole over his chest had remained, but the cloth was as smooth as ever. He could only guess that it had returned to its original state when he had DT-ed and un-DT-ed, as he had begun calling them.
"You could've died." Her voice seemed accusing.
"I didn't." Dante defended.
"But you could've!"
"Hey, I-" Dante was interrupted by her launching herself at him.
Only his demonic balances prevented him from staggering back. He glanced down at the mop of bushy hair buried in his neck as he embraced her tentatively, feeling awkward to say the least.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She pulled back, with an effort, and he could see she was struggling not to cry. "It's just….first Ron, then Harry, now you…all of you nearly died tonight, all for the same reason…and who knows what Harry's going through…and I can't watch any more of this." She took a deep breath, seemingly to compose herself. "You be really careful, Tony, and bring Harry back."
Dante stared at her in amazement. "You know, you've really matured. Yesterday, I would've bet five pounds that you'll break down in a situation like this."
She smiled slightly, but her lip was trembling. "Someone has to mature, obviously."
Dante laughed, feeling the tension ease slightly.
"-and I kind of freaked Harry out." She admitted. "When I started babbling earlier."
"Yeah. Speaking of Harry….I gotta go. You said the smallest bottle?"
"Yeah, it's a puzzle. You need to find the bottle that lets you move forward amongst the seven bottles that will be on the table in the middle of the room. There are four clues: the no. 4 and 3 combined will tell you which-"
Dante coughed. "Hermione. I'm kinda short on time here."
"Oh!" she gasped. "Go on, then."
"Take care." Dante said, and walked to the door.
"Be careful!" she called after him. "And Tony, show me your devil form sometimes?"
Dante turned at the door, and transformed.
He got his first glimpse of Hermione's steely nerve when she didn't even flinch, but simply stared in amazement and then breathed, "Just like the book! It's brilliant, Tony!"
Dante let the door shut behind him, wondering if she would ever know how much strength she had given him just by accepting him as he was.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
He walked down the next passage and through the door. He eyed the dead troll that lay in front of him and decided it wasn't Yamato that struck the blow. He frowned slightly and proceeded to the puzzle room. He stepped inside, watching the two doorways being engulfed by purple and black flames as he did so.
As Hermione had said, seven bottles were on a table in the center of the room. The paper lay beside the last bottle to the left. He didn't bother picking it up, instead he selected the second bottle from the left, the smallest one, and drowned it.
It wasn't too bad, he supposed. The taste was unfamiliar, though.
He walked to the doorway in front of him. He stuck his left pinkie in the black fire experimentally, wondering if it would feel any different from normal temperature.
The finger sizzled, and blackened.
Dante cried out in pain and surprise, pulling back his finger as quickly as he could. He held it in front of his face. The nails were already gone; black specks dotted the skin and flesh, spreading already, though very slowly. There was no sign of healing. Even his demonic abilities seemed slow to work in the face of this unknown threat; Snape sure knew what he was doing, he thought bitterly.
There was no other way. He'd have to solve the puzzle.(2)
Still breathing fast from the shock of the pain, he went to pick up the parchment and scanned it. His brow furrowed. It read:
Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,
Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,
One among us seven will let you move ahead,
Another will transport the drinker back instead,
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,
Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line.
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:
First, however slyly the poison tries to hide
You will always find some on nettle wine's right side;
Second, different are those who stand at either end,
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;
Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight.
Of the seven bottles, none of them were alike. But the second bottle from the left was the smallest, of course, and the largest was the third from the right.(3)
That made it the dwarf and giant, then. Dante bit his lip, thinking. Now he wished he had brought Hermione with him.
Speaking of her...
Her voice echoed through his mind.
"There are four clues: the no. 4 and 3 combined will tell you which-"
It had felt like rambling at the time, but now it seemed like the sweetest words in all Europe and America.
He bent over the parchment with urgency, reading over the two clues. He paused, thinking.
Both the second left and the second right were the same substance. It couldn't be the move backward or forward potion then. But it couldn't have been the poison either, because even if he had drank the poison and it didn't affect his demonic constitution-and he doubted that as the fire damaged him-it was already written that the second from the left-the dwarf-didn't have death in its inside; meaning it wasn't poison.
Then they were both wines.
Going by the first rule that the wine bottles would always have a poison bottle to its right, he marked the farthest right one and the third from the left as poisons.
Now opening grinning, Dante read over the clues again. He had found out the right side bottle already, but he had to figure out the left. It couldn't have been poison as the two sides were supposed to have different potions; and it couldn't have been wine as the two wines were already spotted, and it couldn't have been the 'move forward' potion because the second clue had said so.
It was the 'move backward' potion.
That left only two more to identify. The third from the right and the middle one.
But the largest bottle was the third one from the right. And, according to the third rule, the largest one didn't have poison inside.
So that marked the middle one as the last poison bottle, and the third from the right, the largest bottle, as-
"The move forward potion!" Dante snatched it up, grinning. "Found you, sweetie!"
He checked his solution once, and then tipped the bottle down his throat.
A cold sensation shot through his body, as if it was being engulfed in ice. Dante faced the black flames and swallowed, remembering the scorching heat that had burned his finger. He forced himself to shrug to lighten his own mood, and squaring his shoulders, walked straight through the flames. He didn't feel anything, like they weren't even there.
He smiled to himself. It was official: he was going to kiss Hermione.(4)
And then he heard a voice that sent shivers down his spine before he could help it.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
The room he was seeing was circular in shape, with an arched ceiling that was at least 40 feet above his own head. At the middle of the room was the Mirror of Erised.
Near the stairs, Harry was grappling with Quirrell, who was sitting on top of the boy and clutching Harry's neck. As Dante ran towards them, he watched, bewildered, as the professor let go of Harry's throat and stared at his hands which were blistering red.
"Master, I cannot hold him, my hands, my hands!"
The voice he had heard earlier hissed, "Then kill him, fool, and be done!"
Dante frowned for a moment. Was this the moment when he was supposed to sit back and let Harry face Voldemort?
A scream of agony from Harry as he latched onto Quirrell's arm, and both began screaming.
Well, his great-uncle had to be delusional if he thought that would happen.
He dived and knocked Quirrell clean off his feet, rolling to a stop some few meters away. He heard a heavy thud behind him. Glancing once, he saw Harry slumped on the ground. Dante and Quirrell both got to their feet, Dante making a sweeping motion with his finger.
"Kindly turn around, sir." He said. "I'd like a look at this dangerous Dark Arts specimen. This does come under your subject? I gotta say, the classroom's rather creepy, and the way here is rather dangerous, though nice of you to provide a mirror to fix our appearances. Only it's no good for that, is it?"
"The son of Sparda." hissed Voldemort. Dante could tell he was angry. He didn't even imagine getting a Dark Lord riled up would be so easy. "This has nothing to do with you. Stand aside."
"Not so fast, oldy Voldy." Dante grinned, and Voldemort let out a snarl.
"Kill him!" he cried. Quirrell, gasping as he held his wand in his burned hands, pointed the tip at his target and sent a jet of red light.
Dante dodged easily, smiling. "That all you got?" he ducked under another. "And you call yourself-" another jump, "A DADA professor?"
Quirrell sent a violet jet at him. Dante went to dodge, but suddenly froze in place when he realized that he was standing between the spell and Harry. He pulled Rebellion up to deflect it, but wasn't quick enough. His vision blackened for a fraction of second as fiery pain shot through his chest and seemingly all the way to his back. His body was thrown back to Harry, landing on top of the smaller boy, blinking to clear the specs out of his vision.
Groaning, he stood, but Voldemort, it seemed, had found his weakness. Quirrell sent another spell at Harry, and Dante, already shielding the boy, held his sword in front of him, for lack of a better shield for himself.
The force that jolted Rebellion sent him back to the wall. He winced as he pushed himself up, and heard Quirrell scream, "Avada Kedavra!"
He dodged the green beam of light that came his way. Then he did the only thing he could think of under the circumstances: he DT'ed.
Quirrell looked stunned for a moment, and Dante, using his newfound speed, ran up to him and slammed Rebellion's hilt into his professor's already charred wand arm.
Quirrell screamed, covering his arm with his other hand, reflexively. Dante, with a soft snort, lifted his fist and brought it down onto his teacher's neck. He caught the unconscious man and lowered him to the floor on his back so that his face didn't touch the floor.
His DT diminished, and he let out a heavy sigh. "Sorry about this." he muttered. "Maybe Uncle Albus knows how to free you. Hang in there."
But Voldemort had other plans, it seemed. Quirrell's body began to shudder, and smoke started coming out of his mouth and nose at a rapid rate.
Dante moved aside quickly, staring at the haze and wondering what he was supposed to do. As he watched, the smoke ceased to come out, and a face took shape amongst the haze. A sinking feeling formed in Dante's gut and his gaze snapped down to his professor. The man was dreadfully still, face pale, eyes open and vacant. He had seen that look before.
Professor Quirrell was dead.
With a cry of rage, he struck out at the smoky figure with his sword. The smokes simply glided through the blade and towards the doorway, finally vanishing out of sight.
Dante slowly knelt down by the body. He swallowed as he closed Quirrell's eyes, bowing his head over the body.(5) Then he turned back towards Harry, suddenly remembering something important.
Where was Vergil? Was he even coming?
Well, if he didn't, no one would be more grateful than Dante. He crouched beside the black-haired boy and shook him slightly.
"Harry? Hey, Harry, wake up."
He didn't. Dante sighed and lifted his friend up in his arms, one under his knees and the other under his back. Something hard brushed his left hand from where it rested against Harry's thigh.
He lowered Harry gently to the ground and fumbled in the pocket. His fingers brushed against a cool, smooth surface. He gripped the thing and pulled it out.
He was looking at a shimmering red stone. The Sorcerer's Stone.
It was fragile, he could tell just by feeling it. He carefully slipped it into his breast pocket and picked Harry up again. Harry's head lolled lifelessly on his shoulder and Dante knew he had to hurry.
He had not taken more than a few steps when the flames sizzled.
Uh-oh! Another cliffie! Guess who's coming to dinner?
Next up: The twins have their final showdown!
Reply to unsigned review(s):
qwertyuiop: Thank you, thank you! That DT scene is rather special to me. Keep reading and reviewing!
Crossover Junkie: Lol! He is, isn't he? Maybe that's why I love him so much!
natiyuu: Hi there! Here, a shiny new chapter for you! XD I do update weekly, and God willing, I'll continue to! :-)
Guest: I wish you had continued. If you did, maybe you would have found that Dante and Vergil really didn't have their powers diminished. Well, maybe they are weaker, but surely they can be excused, they are still children, right? That said, of course it's up to you whether you choose to read something or not, and I respect the fact that you at least have let me know why you dropped it!
Please let me know your thoughts!
