Here's the next chapter! And I really love myself and Nate the Werehog for putting up so many chapters for you before Christmas - even if today is Christmas Eve. We promise to try and bring up just as much before New Year, so you don't have to worry. The story is far from dead, in fact it's far from being finished.
Anyway, last chapter was supposed to be the two lessons and the attack on the Great Hall by Heartless, but the two lessons alone were already enough for a chapter of this story – seeing this story works with short chapters – and we really didn't know what kind of Heartless we were going to use yet.
Now we do know and we even found a brilliant, exhilarating way to bring it all to you. But for that you will have to read the story as I won't tell you what will happen. Only that this chapter will start with the POV of someone you have, sometimes, seen in the story but who has yet to be the center of attention.
Okay, enjoy,

Venquine1990
Co-Author: Nate the Werehog

Chapter 21
We're about to have company

Lexaeus' POV

After Harry, Vexen, Demyx and Xaldin had left, had I started back on my training to get my usage of the Axe Sword. But while I had done this to both get back in top shape and to keep my mind of that powerful, loveable little lad, had the training only make me feel weaker and weaker and had I ended it 10 minutes later.
Instead, I had asked Xemnas if I could send some Nobodies after our son to keep an eye on him and he had agreed. I had summoned a simple Dusk, telling it to use its stealth and sneakiness to watch over my son without being seen and to connect its mind to my own and it had quickly left.
I had then, myself, retreated into the jungle where Silen had remained over summer and the wind blowing through the leaves and vines and the small waterfall clattering onto a shallow river had made it very easy for me to get into a meditative state and to link my mind to that of the Dusk.

All day yesterday and this morning had I kept my eye on my son and all day I had felt nothing but pride. I had quickly discovered I can focus on my meditation and tell my fellow parents of Harry what was happening to our son and so all my friends are now around me and we had all cheered when Harry was sorted.
I had also filled my entire voice with pride when Harry had performed the amazing spellwork in both Charms and Transfigurations and had been the translator to tell my friends the History of the House Elves when our son was told this story by Cedric. Still, the entire morning watch something had bothered me.

The Dusk, ever since halfway through the first hour of classes had wanted to go to the Greenhouses instead of keeping his eye on Harry and I had constantly mentally told it to stay put. Now my son is walking to lunch and my patience with the Dusk's nervousness is very short-fused as I mentally spat:
"Alright, let's go see what you're so worried about, you worthless Nobody." But when we turn to the Greenhouses can I only curse myself for not giving into the nervous wishes of the Dusk before as a whole army of at least 20 Rapid Thrusters and 25 Hook Bats are coming out of the Greenhouses.

All of the purple bats with small horns on their wings near their heads, with a chain as legs and with a red hook with yellow ring attached to it are flying over the metal plated creatures that have fish faces, thorns for ears, a ring around their mid waists and purple bellies with a propeller sticking out of their backs.
And the worst of all is they are all heading for the Great Hall. Instantly I order the Dusk to inform Harry and to close the Great Hall doors once it's sure the students are all inside and then I end the meditative state and stand up, my stern worried face instantly worrying my fellow Nobodies.

I sigh and say: "There are Heartless at Hogwarts." And instantly Demyx and Larxene shout: "THERE ARE WHAT NOW?" Both of them summoning their weapons. I then stop them and say: "I saw a whole army of Rapid Thrusters and hook Bats coming from the Greenhouses and heading for the Great Hall.
The Dusk is already ordered to inform Harry and to close the Great Hall doors once it's sure the students are all inside." The two seem to calm down a little at this and then Vexen says: "Now, this is an interesting turn of events." Everyone looks at him and he says: "Don't get me wrong, I'm as worried as you are, but –."

"BUT WHAT?" Larxene shouts, holding up her arrows and Vexen says: "But Rapid Thrusters and Hook Bats are no more dangerous than Shadows and our first day with Harry as our son proved he can fight those. I say we let one of us go there, just for back-up and see if Harry is ready for this challenge."
This makes me nod and I say: "I'll go. I'm – next to Xigbar and Xemnas – the only one who has yet to really do something alone with the child." My colleagues nod in agreement to this and Xemnas says: "Report back first chance you get, Silent Hero." I nod, accepting the official order and Phase out.

Dusk's POV

"Have to report to my liege. Have to report to my liege! Have to report to my liege!" Goes through my head as I pass through the hallways from Herbology, to Transfigurations to the Great Hall. Luckily enough do I pass not a single student, which in turn reminds me of my other order given.
Finally I arrive at the doors to the Great hall and float just centimeters above the ground as I check all the tables, having used my time yesterday to count the student population and to count all students at each table. To my relief all students are present and I float in, closing the doors with my thin stretchable arms.
The students seeing me scream and shout, but then the voice of my liege shouts: "IT'S A DUSK!" And I locate him halfway down the Hufflepuff table. Spinning, twirling and floating in between screaming and jumping students, I arrive and use my connection to his Keyblade to connect to his mind.

Harry's POV

The Dusk appearing causes me instant worry over my family, but when I feel it connecting to my mind, I hear it having been given the order to keep an eye on me. This relieves me and I feel him sending me images of his memories. Seeing what he saw minutes ago, I whiten in fear and mumble:

"Ehm Headmaster, we are about to have company." The man looks straight at me, while the Heads are calming down their students and while I keep my eyes on the Dusk to keep it in its place, does the man ask: "What do you mean, Mr. Potter?" I gulp, knowing this will cause even more panic and ask:
"Remember that discussion you and the other Heads with my family about the Heartless?" The man nods, Snape turning white as if getting what I am trying to say and I gulp before muttering: "Well, there are about 45 of them heading this way from the Greenhouses as we speak, I'm afraid. "

The man whitens and I say: "Keep the students inside, Headmaster. My guardian, Lexaeus, is already underway and I fought Heartless of the same caliber 3 years ago. I can do this, this is what I was trained for." The man nods and says: "All students are to remain inside the Great Hall until further notice."
He then turns to me and says: "Let that Heartless you have with you – ." But I tell him: "This is a Dusk, Headmaster, a Nobody." The man nods and turns to the Nobody. I mentally order it to listen to the man and the Dusk turns to the man as well as he says: "Guard the door. Don't let any Heartless in."

The Dusk nods and I summon my two Keyblades, before running to the doors, only to almost fall on my face as Hermione Granger grabs my wrist and asks: "Are you insane? Professor Dumbledore said – ." But the Headmaster interferes and says: "Mr. Potter has my permission to leave, Mss. Granger."
The girl turns to him in shock while I snap my wrist free and say: "Hermione, the creatures that are heading this way are not from this world and neither are these Keyblades. I am the only one with the right training designed to defeat Heartless and Nobodies, so I am the only one who can go."
The girl nods and I turn to Cedric and say: "Send Auron and Kendal out. I don't know why, but those creatures aren't from this world either. Maybe they can help me fight." The elder Puff nods and mutters: "Be careful." To which I smile and say: "That's what I was trained to be, Cedric."
The boy laughs and I run, the doors once again closing behind me and the Dusk and the last I hear before they close is McGonagall saying: "The wit and cheek of his mother." Making me smile widely as I love how these people can and are telling me more and more about my actual birthparents.

Then I pass the Transfigurations Courtyard, only to stop and see a cloud of Hook Bats and Rapid Thrusters fly around inside the Courtyard, most of them focused around the only tree in the Courtyard. Wondering why they aren't heading for the Great hall where the students are, I look behind me.
Here, I see a portrait and I realize I must have used a secret passageway in my hurry. The knight painted onto the passageway looks back at me and says: "I will not let them through, young sir. They will have to rip me to shreds to get past my defenses." And I smile at my fellow fighter.

But then one of the Hook Bats seems to do exactly that as he launches his hook into the painting and flies up, tearing the fabric apart and, while the knight is on the other side of the painting, does he still scream as if in excruciating pain. This angers me and I quickly grab the hook with the end of my Keyblade.
Pulling it out, I swing the bat around the end of my Keyblade, before throwing it into a small swarm coming straight at me. The swarm get caught by the hook of their comrade and they all fall down on the ground. I quickly send fire at them and they disappear, a bunch of small hearts flying up from where they vanished.

Focusing hard, as I still have some problems with this element no matter how easy it seemed to work last night, I cast a wall of ice in front of the painting and jump over the wall with open windows hiding the outer hallway from the inside of the courtyard. I then run to the middle of the field and stand still there.
Next to me is the large globe, made of metal wires and I realize a way to let this help me. pushing both blades against the metal, I concentrate on heating up my blades and with this heat up the metal causing it to bend apart. I then run around and with the end of my blades hook onto more Hook Bats.
Catching at least 14 of them, I run back to the midst of the field, avoiding Rapid Thrusters as they shoot down at me and working my best to keep the bats onto my Blades. Reaching the globe, I quickly throw in all the bats, before heating up the metal bars and closing them back once again.
I then let one Blade disappear and grab my wand, casting the charm we learned this morning and making more and more metal bars appear all over the globe, until it has almost turned into one gigantic ball of metal. Proud of my charms work, I put my wand back in my pocket and focus on my Keyblade.
Heating it up one more time, this time only at the tip and pushing the energy out of the tip, I spin the blade around and around, remembering what Mickey did all those years ago. I then aim my blade at the cage and while the Bats hit themselves against the bars, trying to get free, do I shout:

"FIRE STRIKE!"

And a ring of fire surrounds the entire cage, right before fourteen hearts shoot out of the cage and I smile at another fourteen Heartless destroyed. Then suddenly a loud shout is heard behind me and I turn around to see daddy Lexaeus hit the ground with his Axe Sword, causing a tremendous earthquake.
I push my own Keyblade into the ground to remain standing, while the power of the earthquake is enough to shock the Rapid Thrusters and the Hook Bats out of the air. Summoning my other blade I hit whatever Heartless comes near me and all of them fall at the stroke of my weapon.

Daddy Lexaeus looks at me and I say: "Eighteen Hook Bats and four Rapid Thrusters destroyed, Silent Hero." The man nods and says: "Let's get to work." I nod back at him and we both start hitting the Heartless before I suddenly get an idea and shout: "Silent Hero, hold out your Axe Sword!"
The man looks at me and I shout: "DO IT!" The man nods and holds out his Axe Sword. Using the same technique as I used with the Hook Bats earlier I quickly lock the end of my Sign of Innocence Keyblade to his Axe Sword ending and shout: "Turn in circles on your axe, Silent Hero!"
The man seems to understand my plan and nods with a small smile as he does as told, causing me to swirl around in the air. I then focus and let the same rings of fire as I showed the Heads of Houses and Headmaster at home fly around me before shooting those out at the Heartless, hitting and destroying them.

After a few spins Daddy Lexaeus lets me back down and we all smile in pride as we see that the Courtyard is clear and free of Heartless once more, while some hearts are still flowing up. Then Daddy Lexaeus says: "Glad we're not collecting those anymore." Making me wonder what he is on about.
But then I see movement behind him and shout: "Silent Hero!" The man turns and to my shock a Hook Bat swings his appendage, ready to rip apart the face of my father. I swing my Keyblade back, ready to strike it, when a loud shout interrupts me and a young man hits the Heartless with his bow sword.

The man has black hair that reaches the nape of his neck, quite the healthy tan and brown eyes. He wears what looks like a red-violet fez, a thin purple vest which is open exposing his slightly muscular chest and a pair of white baggy pants with a yellow patch attached to the left pant leg and an orange sash.
The young man stands up and asks: "Are you alright? That one almost had you there." Daddy Lexaeus nods and I say: "We're alright. We already took care of the other 44 that were here, though, but thanks for the help." The man sighs and says: "No problem, especially seeing that we're actually the cause."

This shocks me and I ask: "What do you mean?" But Daddy Lexaeus asks: "Those Heartless came from your world, didn't they?" The man nods and says: "The Keyhole appeared in the Royal Gardens. Jasmine warned me about it and I jumped through. I already fought some of the guardian Heartless there."

Instantly I'm on guard, bending my back and holding my Keyblades out to the side as I ask: "What Guardian Heartless?" The lad looks shocked and asks: "You're a Keyblade Wielder?" I nod and he says: "Good to know. Follow me, I'll take you straight to the Keyhole. Oh, and the name's Aladdin."
I nod and say: "I'm Harry and this is my dad, Lexaeus." The two nod at each other and we run for the Greenhouses. There I see several Dire Plants, green plants with a yellow ring around the stem and the center of the flower, with pink flower petals with white trims and with yellow eyes and teeth.

Swishing both my Keyblades forward, I already in one fell swoop strike down two, before instantly pushing the two Keyblades against each other in a cross and bending down onto my knees into a defensive position as other Dire Plants shoot their seeds at me. But then I see the seeds changing and shout:
"We have to close the Keyhole or the Dire Plants will continue to sprout Heartless!" Aladdin and Daddy Lexaeus nod and Aladdin says: "We'll distract the Plants, you close the Keyhole." This worries me as the Organization never taught me how, but then Daddy Lexaeus gains my attention and shouts:
"Just aim the Sign of Innocence at the Keyhole and focus. The power lies within your heart, Harry!" I nod and while almost mandatorily striking my other blade in defensive positions against the Heartless and the seeds, do I aim the tip of the Sign of Innocence straight at the centre of the Dire Plants.

Focusing deeply, I see a shape appear in the way they are positioned and before my mind's eye a keyhole appears. A long white line shapes itself into the ground before me and the dirt, where the line flows, sinks deeper and deeper down. Seeing the Keyhole before me, I focus on my blade.
Stars start to shine around the tip of my blade and lines fly behind them as they twirl in circles around the tip. Then I feel wind blowing below me, blowing my robes up and over my face, but keep my focus on the Keyhole and my own Blade. The wind also blows in a shape and I feel a crown forming below my feet.
The crown and the Keyhole seem to connect somehow and I feel the two powers linking inside of me. Closing the powers off deep within my heart, I feel a ray of power leaving my Keyblade and hitting the Keyhole right in the heart, before the sound of a lock falling into place is heard in the distance.

Taking a few steps back, I see the Dire Plants shoot seeds without the seeds turning into Heartless and daddy Lexaeus quickly strikes the last six down. I look around and ask: "Where is Aladdin?" And Daddy Lexaeus answers: "He left. He had to before he would be locked away from his world forever."
I look shocked and ask: "I locked him away from his homeworld?" But the man shakes his head and says: "The minute the crown appeared in the grass, Aladdin told me to take care of you and named you Guardian of the Keyhole to his world. He then jumped through and right after that you closed the Keyhole."

I feel relieved and Daddy Lexaeus hits me on the shoulder as he says: "I'm proud of you, Little Keyblade Master." I smile at him widely and he says: "Next summer, we'll use our form of Transportation to get to Agrabah!" I look confused and he says: "That's where Aladdin lives."
This makes me smile widely and I hug daddy Lexaeus, happy that I made a new friend and that I did well on my task as Keyblade Master. The man then sighs and I ask: "Something wrong?" The man looks down at me and I see concern and worry shine strongly in his blue eyes as he says:
"This is not the only Keyhole to that world, son. I'm sure of it. There will be more and it will be up to you to find them and close them before more Heartless use them to enter this world. This world is still clean of that kind of Darkness and we have to make sure it stays that way." To this I can only nod.

WOW! Okay, that went WAY better than I expected and I mean WAY, WAY better. I knew I wouldn't exactly be able to make a fighting scene like you see them in the cut scenes of Kingdom Hearts or like the battle scenes in Harry Potter, but this still went way exceed my expectations – sorry, couldn't help it.
Anyway, next chapter will have Remus and Sirius and I am pleased to say that someone discovered just who Percy's real parents are. Also, just a little hint, this story will have only mentions of SiriusxRemus, not real SiriusxRemus bonding. We have someone else planned for our lovely wolf.
Okay, enjoy

Venquine1990
Co-Author: Nate the Werehog