Chapter 28
Harry Potter was scared. He had never imagined Shikamaru could be so terrifying. He felt himself shaking. Naruto flew past him and went to Sakura, who was passed out next to the edge of what was left of the common room. Harry blinked a few times before going over to Ron and Hermione. Ron was holding Hermione tightly, the same terrified looks on both of their faces.
"Oh, we can't have this, now can we?" Harry looked up to see Shikamaru break the ground beneath Naruto and Sakura. Screams were heard from a few of the Gryffindor girls. Harry felt his eyes widen. He never thought Shikamaru would be capable of killing his friends, whether he was being controlled or not.
Harry nearly ran forward and tackled Shikamaru, but a rope appeared out of no where and latched onto one of the torches. Harry was relieved to see Naruto and Sakura come flying back up, but that feeling was gone when he felt the ground beneath him give out.
"Harry!" Hermione reached out and grabbed onto his arm, holding painfully tight. Harry looked to the ground, but looked away almost immediately. So this was how it was going to end...
There was an incoherent yell and they fell on something very soft. Harry opened his eyes and looked around. They had landed on what looked like a large pillow. It was very thick and he was happy to know none of the Gryffindors had been injured.
Harry looked up to the roof of the building and saw Dumbledore. He pointed his wand again and mouthed something. Harry looked over to see three falling figures fall onto a pillow just like the one they were currently on.
"Harry! Are you alright!" Harry looked behind him and nodded to Hermione. She let out a nervous breath before her eyes grew wide. "Harry, there are Death Eaters running towards us!"
More screams and shouts came from the other students. Harry stood and started running towards the Death Eaters. He ignored the yells of his classmates. He got what he was hoping for. Voldemort had come to Hogwarts.
Harry quickly stunned two Death Eaters and was battling a third. This one was using very foreign spells and all Harry could do was dodge them to the best of his ability. He steadily got closer and closer to the Death Eater and before he knew it, he was close enough to punch him.
The Death Eater went flying after the barrage of punches and kicks from Harry. Harry smirked at the unconscious Death Eater. The Shinobi had taught them well.
Suddenly, Harry felt himself fall to the ground. His scar was throbbing unlike anything it had done before. Then darkness took over...
"Do you truly think he will come to save you? Why would he put himself in so much danger for someone like you?" Harry was staring at a man with long, black hair. They were trembling with fear.
"He will come! He is just like his father! He would save anyone!" The man whipped his head up, his blood smeared face flickering in the firelight. Sirius spat at Harry.
Harry walked closer to him."Oh really? Well, we'll just see about that. Crucio!"
Sirius screamed, falling forward. Someone else was screaming as well.
Harry's eyes slammed open. He stopped screaming, but felt his body trembling horribly. He recognized that place. It was somewhere in the castle. His eyes widened.
"Are you alright? What happened?" Hermione asked frantically. Ron was right behind her, his face mirroring hers. Harry sat up and rubbed his scar. After a moment more of doing this, he jumped up. "Sirius!"
Harry took off running. Hermione and Ron struggled to keep up with him. "Harry, wait! Sirius what? What's happened to Sirius?"
"Voldemort has him! I saw it! They're in the castle! He's being tortured!" Harry yelled behind him. Hermione yelled back, "Harry, wait a minute!"
Harry reluctantly stopped. They were at the entrance of the castle, no one was in sight. Hermione and Ron caught up to him, breathing heavily. Hermione caught her breath for a minute, ignoring the annoyed look on Harry's face.
"Harry, I think this might be a trap to lure you straight to V-Voldemort." Harry refrained from rolling his eyes and said, "Hermione, Voldemort is torturing Sirius! I saw it! I saw the same thing happen to Ron's dad, and look at what happened because no one was moving fast enough? We can't have this conversation, we need to move!"
Harry took off, not caring if they followed or not. The only thing on his mind was getting to Sirius and saving him. He turned around a corner and came face to face with a very nasty looking man. His clothes were tattered and there were large scars on his face. Harry took a few steps back when he realized who it was.
The man sniffed a bit before smirking. "You smell like dinner."
Fenrir Greyback, a very deadly werewolf, was about to rip Harry to shreds. Thankfully, or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), a roar pierced the air. Agony and anger filled the roar. Harry had to cover his ears, it was so strong. Greyback flinched back into a corner. He was reacting to the roar, not knowing what animal it was.
It seemed to go on for an eternity, but when it finally stopped, Greyback ran away as quickly as he could. Harry took a few deep breaths, willing his body to stop trembling. He felt like he knew what made that noise, but he pushed it out of his mind. Quickly, he continued towards his destination.
He continued down to the dungeons, pushing his way away from the masses of students. Most of them were Slytherin, but they didn't even notice Harry. They were too busy running away from their common room. By the time Harry finally managed to make his way to the entrance of the Slytherin common room, he was happy to see the door open.
He ran inside before the doorway could close. Harry ran towards where he remembered the fireplace was. He looked in front of the fireplace.
For a moment, he saw Sirius curled up in a ball, Voldemort standing over him smiling sickly. When he blinked, he realized Sirius and Voldemort were no where to be seen.
"No. They were here. They were right here! Damnit!" Harry punched the fireplace, sending sharp pain from his hand throughout his body.
"My, you have quite a bit of anger, don't you?" Harry whirled around to see Lucius Malfoy, dressed in his Death Eater attire. He was smirking at Harry. "Where's Voldemort?"
"How dare you saw the Dark Lord's name!" A woman wearing heavy, black make-up and whose hair was absolutely insane, stepped out from behind Lucius, pointing her wand at Harry. Harry recognized her from wanted posters. Also, he recognized her as the woman who tortured Neville's parents.
Bellatrix Lestrange was glaring at Harry. She couldn't believe he would say the Dark Lord's name. It drove her to the edge of sanity, which didn't take much.
"Calm yourself, Bellatrix. The Dark Lord will be the one to kill him. Please, put your wand down," Lucius said, earning a glare from Bellatrix. She reluctantly put her wand down to her side.
"Now then, shall we have a civilized talk?" Harry gritted his teeth together. He didn't care what any of them had to say. He needed to find Sirius before it was too late!
"Where's Sirius?"
Lucius started laughing manically. "You really should learn to discern dreams and reality, Potter. It could get you killed one day," Lucius said, continuing his laughter.
Harry felt his teeth grit together even more, causing some pain in his jaw. He wanted to run at them and ki-
'What are you talking about? You don't want to kill anyone! That's Voldemort's job! Get it together, Harry!'
But it would be so much easier just to kill them and be done with it...
'NO! You are not a murderer!'
Harry blinked a few times. He let out a deep breath, calming himself. He would control his anger.
"Would you look at this? It appears Harry is calming himself down. This is definitely new."
The voice startled Harry and also sent shivers up his spine. He knew exactly whose voice it was. Voldemort was walking up to the group from the shadows in front of Harry. He gulped.
"Lucius, good work. You too, Bellatrix," Voldemort said, as the two bowed. Voldemort then turned to Harry. "Funnily enough, I don't care about you at this moment. I have much more important matters to deal with. Once he comes, then I will deal with you. Until then..."
Harry felt himself be pushed up against the wall, ropes binding him to it. He wanted desperately to break free, but the ropes held tight. His movements were restricted. Voldemort was pleased.
"Now then, shall I let him know how to get here? Then again, he already senses a very strong being here. I'll just give him even more motivation to come down here," said Voldemort. Harry felt a large pressure befall them. His scar, which was already stinging, seared with pain. It was like the graveyard all over again. The pain was too severe. He couldn't think. He didn't even realize he was screaming.
"Harry!" Harry's eyes whipped open. 'No. No! They need to leave!'
"Get out of here! He'll kill you! You need to get out of here now!" Harry screamed at his two best friends. That was when they realized who was in front of them. Ron protectively held onto Hermione. They were both completely white with fear.
Suddenly, five people ran into the common room. Kingsley, Tonks, Moody, Lupin, and Sirius held there wand out straight at Voldemort and the two Death Eaters in the room. Harry was happy they were there for only a moment. Then his mouth went dry.
More Death Eaters swarmed into the room. They were now outnumbered. Voldmort smirked and said, "Ah, good, you came. Kill them."
The whole room went into chaos. Spells were flying every which way, some coming dangerously close to Harry. Voldemort was sitting in front of the fire, eyes closed. He seemed to be enjoying the fight behind him in comfort.
"Harry!" Hermione said, attempting to break the ropes binding him. They held on tight. "Diffindo! Come on! Diffindo!"
The ropes refused to break. Hermione was suddenly pushed out of the way and held to the wall in the same manner. Voldemort looked upset that his relaxation had been interrupted. "Come, now, you don't want to die, do you?"
"Let her go!" Ron ran up, trying to attack Voldemort head on. Voldemort raised his arm, wand in hand. Harry's and Hermione's eyes widened in fear.
Sirius was suddenly in front of Ron, arms spread out protectively. A green light hit him square in the chest. Voldemort had not done a thing. Bellatrix was grinning from ear to ear, wand pointed at Sirius still. Sirius crumpled to the ground, lifeless eyes looking directly at Harry.
Harry felt his chest constrict and his heart stop beating. 'N-no. No!' "NO! SIRIUS!"
"That will be enough out of you. Silencio!" Harry tried yelling more, but nothing was coming out. He watched as Ron was also pinned to the wall in the same manner as Harry and Hermione already were.
An ominous feeling filled Harry. Glancing at Hermione, he knew she felt the exact same thing. Suddenly, something burst through the door of the common room. Stone flew through the air, dust obstructing the view of who or what it was.
Harry felt a weight come crashing down on him, but there was nothing pushing down on him. That was when he realized it was pure power pulsating through the air.
The dust slowly settled to the ground. The trio's eyes widened for what felt like the millionth time that day. The...animal in front of them was pure red with these strange white things all around it. The eyes really terrified Harry. They were completely white. Harry couldn't look away. The fear held his head in place and his eyes open.
It took a little longer before Harry finally realized what the white things were. They were bones. That led Harry to notice something even more disturbing. Swishing around behind the animal were six tails.
"Finally, the guest has arrived! And in the correct form, I see. I'm glad to see that little Naruto is very angry. It will make for a fun fight," Voldemort said, as he raised his wand arm again. "I do believe we need to move to a more open area, though. It's just too crowded in a place like this."
A few swishes of his wand and the whole scenery changed. Everyone who was in the Slytherin common room was now on the grounds of Hogwarts.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still tied up, but they had been re-tied to three large pieces of debris. They struggled again, but nothing worked.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Sirius's body in the same position that he was in the castle. His eyes were still fixated on Harry. He looked away, feeling a mixture of rage and sadness invade his senses. He completely missed any speech Voldemort said and only came back when he had another realization.
He looked to Hermione, the same look he was feeling. She figured it out as well. She nodded and told Ron, who yelled, "WHAT?"
Voldemort's head whipped to Ron. "You should learn to keep your manners whilst in the middle of a duel. Your friend Naruto and I need silence in this duel."
Harry's fear was confirmed. Ron looked as though he couldn't believe it for a minute. He yelled, "There is no way that's Naruto! He's not a monster!"
There was a flicker of red and Ron cried out in pain. A large gash appeared on his chest, blood spilling out at an alarming rate. "RON!" "RON!"
His head slumped forward as he fell into unconsciousness. Harry started shaking. He had already lost his only family left, he couldn't lose his best friend too.
"Very good, Naruto. You follow orders we-" Voldemort was cut off as Naruto flew towards him, just barely missing his head. Voldemort was not expecting that at all. He looked enraged.
"If that's how you want to play... Crucio!" Voldemort yelled, as the spell flew directly into Naruto's chest. Naruto started shrieking and lashed out at Voldemort. Voldemort didn't dodge as well this time and got smacked in the leg. Blood spurted from the wound, causing Voldemort to yell out in pain.
Naruto almost seemed to be smirking. Inside him, however, another battle was raging on.
"...Why? Why were they killed? How could this happen? How could I let this happen? Why couldn't I save them? Why?"
Naruto was on his knees in water. His head was pounding, though he didn't know from what. His chest hurt too. He knew exactly what that was from. The pain of seeing one of his friends and the one he loved killed in front of him was too much to bear.
"NAZE?" "Because you're too weak," A voice rang out in front of him. Naruto's eyes snapped open. He looked up and recognized where he was. The giant cage holding the Kyuubi back was in front of him.
Naruto shook his head, saying, "I am. I am too weak. I'm pathetic. I shouldn't be alive!"
The demon let out a load of chakra, which burst out of Naruto's body on the outside. It incinerated the ground around the six tails form of Kyuubi. "You should be alive! You are the only thing keeping me alive, and no matter how much I wish I could not admit it, I need you, so don't kill yourself! You should be more worried about killing the people that caused them to die, shouldn't you?"
Naruto started breathing harder. "NO! Revenge never works! It didn't work for Sasuke!"
Saying his name constricted his chest even more. Three people were dead because of him. Three people he could have protected. Three people that needed to have their killers be killed. Naruto felt rage enter his body, clearing his constricted chest altogether. "Yes, Naruto, YES!"
"...Naruto..."
A soft, light voice carried out from inside Naruto's head. The rage dissipated. He knew that voice. He would always know that voice. "S-Sakura?"
"Please, don't do this. Stay strong. Fight with your own strength. Don't avenge our deaths. Help Harry and the others with your own amazing strength. Most importantly, live on..."
The voice faded away. Naruto fought back tears. "Sakura. I promise."
The animal that was Naruto suddenly let out something strange. It incinerated the ground all around it. It also incinerated Sirius's body. Harry looked away, feeling tears finally burst forth from his eyes.
A familiar figure suddenly appeared behind them. Harry felt his presence and willed the tears away. Dumbledore went directly over to Ron, ignoring the fact that Voldemort was seething not too far away.
A few small words under Dumbledore's breath and the wound began to heal itself, the blood going back into it as well. Color slowly went back into Ron's face, which had gone a pasty white.
"Dumbledore. How I've been longing for the confrontation," Voldemort said, forgetting all about Naruto behind him, who was crouched over in pain. He had still not left the six tails form.
Dumbledore, however, did notice him. He frowned. "Tom, why did you have to go after poor Naruto? Hasn't he endured enough sorrow for the day?"
Voldemort's eyes narrowed. "He has something I desire, it's as simple as that."
Dumbledore closed his eyes. "You used to be such a model student, Tom. You were a great wizard."
"I am the greatest wizard alive! Everyone fears my power!" Voldemort exclaimed, face losing it's composure for only a moment. He went right back to the nonchalance attitude. "I will kill you, Albus Dumbledore."
Dumbledore lightly smiled. "You are not the greatest wizard alive. If you really were, you wouldn't have everyone fear you. Everyone would respect you."
"It doesn't matter! I am the strongest and will prove it when I kill you!" The fight began, spells clashing and flying in every direction. The fight was on a whole new level.
Voldemort pointed his wand down and brought up and large glob of earth. He hardened it into many sharp points and made it fly towards Dumbledore. Dumbledore got water from the lake and splashed it on the earth, turning it to mud.
Harry's attention was pulled away from the two battling wizards and focused on Naruto, who suddenly started howling. The red thing around him slowly dissipated. It looked incredibly painful, seeing how burnt his skin was after it was completely gone. Harry wanted to break out of the ropes to pull Naruto away, but they just wouldn't come loose.
Naruto collapsed to the ground, a spell flying right where his head was a moment before. Harry was extremely surprised to see Naruto's eyes open a bit. It looked like he was trying to pull himself into a sitting position, but he had no strength left, not to mention the burns on his body were screaming in pain.
Naruto decided to use a different route, one he had used before. He put his chin on the ground and started to pull himself away from the fight. He was wincing at every movement. He screamed out in pain when Voldemort tripped over him.
He felt himself start to loose consciousness, but willed himself to stay awake. The sleep was very inviting at the moment, though, because of the pain. Then again, the pain had begun to numb his body. The deep black sleep overtook him without his permission.
Dumbledore used magic to float Naruto over to Harry and the others. Voldemort stood, looking even fouler than before. He was about to start the fight again when hundreds of ministry employees flooded onto the grounds. Fudge was at the front of them. He took one look at Voldemort and nearly passed out.
Voldemort gave one last glare to Dumbledore before he apparated away. Harry could just hear Hermione asking Dumbledore how Voldemort was able to apparate inside Hogwarts grounds.
Harry felt the ropes come loose. He shakily stood up and hurried over to Ron. Hermione was out of her ropes as well and was already with Ron.
He was still pale, but a lot of color had gone back into his face. He just needed rest now. There wasn't anything Harry or Hermione could do except be there for him.
Hermione was hanging onto his hand, not caring anymore. Harry heard her whispering to Ron and decided to leave them alone. He went over to Dumbledore, who was next to Naruto. Harry had to blink a few times, because the majority of the burns that were on Naruto's skin had disappeared.
"Are you sure you are alright?" Dumbledore asked, concern laced in his voice. Naruto nodded and sat up slowly, wincing a few times. More of the burns were disappearing in front of Harry's eyes. He couldn't believe they were just leaving like that. It was very unnatural.
"Are they..." Harry didn't understand this question at all. When Dumbledore nodded, Naruto looked away. The shaking of his body appeared to be sobs, which made Harry even more confused. Dumbledore looked sadly at Harry, which is what made Harry remember about Sirius.
"Harry, go up to my office. The password is Licorice Wands." Dumbledore said. Harry was tempted to ignore him, but he nodded and started on his way. Today seemed to be the worst day in Harry's life.
I updated! Only one more chapter left. It'll be a very long chapter, most likely. I went on vacation for a week with no computer access. It consisted of working on a lady's house in Maryland for three days then going to a beach in New Jersey for three days. Man was it hot! With the severe lacking of electricity in the lady's house, there was no air conditioning. It was pretty much always around 100 degrees. Bleck. Anyway, hope you enjoyed!
