AN: Thanks for the great reviews! A couple of general answers: Snape doesn't have more than one other mention in this chapter. (sorry, CrimsonTearsofPain. : ( ) And kathy, the slash part is Harry/Remus, although there's really nothing until that ending.
athena kitty – Remus will be helping Harry, but I can't say anything else without giving things away.
Warning! This chapter has blood (a bit), death (a smidge), and torture of Bellatrix (and who doesn't love that!?).
Chapter Three
D Minor
Harry smiled as he flew through the air, the wind whipping against his face. Up here he was free from all of his obligations and responsibilities. There was no pressure other than the air itself as he climbed higher and higher into the sky.
"Harry?" a voice called from far below.
He looked down and saw two people sitting in the Gryffindor stands. One of the men had graying, tawny colored hair and the other had messy, black hair. Mentally sighing as his flying was cut short, Harry dove as fast as he could go, swooping in to land in a rush of wind on the front rail of the stands.
"Fantastic, Harry!" James crowed. "That's most worthy of a Marauder!"
Harry let a shrill cry in response.
"You're beautiful, Harry," Remus said as he stroked one hand down the brown feathers that covered Harry's head. His hand felt weird to Harry in a good kind of way. He leaned into the touch, and if birds could purr, he would.
"Moony!" James said in a mocking voice. "He's not beautiful... he's magnificent!"
Remus pulled his hand back too soon for Harry. He hopped down and changed mid-air.
"It's fabulous!" he almost yelled, the adrenaline still pumping through his veins. The first time he had fully changed into his animagus form, he'd been in McGonagall's classroom. This time, the second time, he'd made sure he was outside and could fully test his wings.
"Isn't it?" James agreed.
Harry nodded. "So, what do you think of my form?"
"A kestrel is quite fitting, Harry," Remus stated. "It shows your love of flying, as well as your ability to find things no one else can spot."
James nodded in agreement. "You spotted the snitch in the middle of that blizzard. If that's not a good dual quality, I don't know what is."
Harry shook his head. "It is cool, but I could hear you calling me. The book Professor McGonagall had me read when she figured out I was a kestrel and not something else said that, while they have better hearing than most birds or prey, it isn't anywhere near a human's. Even if I'd been on my broom, I still would not have been able to hear you."
"Well," Remus began, "you've been training so hard, you have improved your senses. I'm not surprised your hearing has improved. You could even hear Albus approach last night when we had soundproofed the room."
Harry wasn't entirely comfortable with the explanation - stuff like this always did so - but he accepted it anyway.
James shook his head. "This is getting too serious here! Let's go raid the kitchen and celebrate." He leaned over to Harry. "I like that Dobby guy, the one that worships you, Harry. He gets the best stuff."
Harry felt his cheeks flush, remembering when he had introduced James to the house elf. Dobby had attached himself to Harry's leg and hadn't let go until Harry had had to promise he would visit more often. He had been embarrassed by Dobby's enthusiasm, but James - and Ron, who had tagged along - had been laughing hysterically.
"Might as well," Harry grudgingly agreed. "But you have to ask for what you want. Otherwise it'll be everything that I like and nothing else."
Remus laughed. "Which means deviled eggs and chocolate cake."
Harry felt his stomach growl, but the two men in front of him didn't seem to notice. He nodded. "Sounds good to me. And it would be better if it was devil's food cake. Let's go."
James was just turning around and almost to the stairs when the entire pitch began to shake. Harry felt a buzzing in the back of his mind as he looked up to the castle and saw the top of Gryffindor tower wobble and shimmy.
"Get down as fast as you can," Harry shouted at Remus and James. "Get away from the pitch and get your gear."
"Harry, it's..." James began, coming back towards him.
A pain flashed across Harry's forehead, the likes of which he hadn't suffered since he mastered Occlumency. "Go. I know he's here. But the stands won't last much longer!"
He jumped onto the front rail and changed into his avian form. Harry took off, and as he climbed higher, he could see a mass of black at the front gates. He flew to Hagrid's hut, which lay midway between the gates and the castle.
"Hagrid!" Harry yelled as soon as his now human foot set down on the first step. "They're here! Sound the alarm, Hagrid!"
"'Arry?"
"Sound the alarm, Hagrid! They're at the front gate!"
The door opened to reveal Hagrid dressed in only trousers and boots. "'Ere?"
Harry nodded greatly in exaggeration. "Yes! I need you to sound the alarm."
"Right then." Hagrid reached over and grabbed something. "Right on't, 'Arry." He stepped out of the hut, crossbow in one large hand, and was striding over to the huge bell they had rigged for such an event. Harry gave a curt smile and headed for the castle.
Another rumbled sounded across the grounds as Harry set foot in the castle, the buzz growing louder and heavier. The bell was ringing loudly, echoing across the empty grounds. For once, he was glad that it was summer and that there were no other students around.
"Harry!" a shout came down the hallway from the direction of the Great Hall. Dumbledore soon caught up with his voice. "They are trying to access the wards that Slytherin put up."
Another sharp pain flashed across Harry's forehead. "He's not getting anywhere with it, and he'd getting angry about it." Harry looked at the Headmaster, whose face had aged dramatically from this morning. "How many members have reported in?"
"All but the Weasleys," Dumbledore said slowly. "I got a hold of Bill, who was in London with Tonks, but none of the others."
Harry felt a thrill of fear run down his spine. "Let me know when you hear anything. I'm heading out." He turned back to the massive front doors of the castle.
"Harry? Wait!" came Remus' voice. He ran into view, panting slightly as he stopped in front of Harry. "Take this, just like we planned."
Harry took the slim object and gave a grin. "Thanks, Remus!"
As he strode back through the doors, he heard Dumbledore ask, "What was that?"
Harry smiled as he imagined Remus' response.
The smile slipped as he passed Hagrid's now empty cabin. Harry knew his friend had gone into the forest to get Grawp and round up the few centaurs they had managed to persuade to at least fight against Voldemort. Harry had told them flat out that if Voldemort won, they would be slaughtered like sheep. Bane had balked at the idea of fighting alongside a human, but not all of them were being so stubborn. When he'd gone into the forest earlier in the spring, Harry had fought off Bane's attack alone. He'd told the leader of the centaurs that next time, he would either be fighting with Harry or Harry would kill him.
"Look, it's a baby Potter!" Bellatrix gave a snorting laugh as he stopped twenty meters from the gate. She, and the other Inner Circle Death Eaters, wore no mask.
"Look, it's Bitchatrix." Harry glared. "And it's Tommy the pinball wizard. Are the rest of you hanging around to see if he hits high score?"
Voldemort snarled. "Don't call me by the name, you half-breed boy." Red eyes tried to burrow under Harry's skin.
Harry laughed, even as he felt Voldemort try to enter his mind. "Tom. Tom. You lost whatever ability you had to get inside my head when Death Eater Barbie here killed my godfather."
The Dark Lord growled and raised his wand, the pale wood gleaming in the hot, early July sun. "Prepare to eat those words.... dissolutum cognatio defendere!"
The ground trembled, and Harry could feel the magic sweep through the wards as that buzzing feeling once more. He touched his mind on them for a split second, and they calmed. He poured a bit of magic on them himself and felt them strengthen before he used the latent power that Tom had used to bolster them.
Voldemort motioned to a masked Death Eater. The tall man - definitely too tall for an English witch - strode forward into the gate.
White burst of light erupted around the gate and the Death Eater was thrown into a mass of black robes, knocking several down.
Pain flared through Harry as Voldemort stopped forward and stopped just short of the gate.
"What is this!?" Voldemort raged. "That should have brought down the wards passed down through my blood!"
Harry laughed. "Your blood?" He snorted and wiped a crocodile tear from the corner of his eye. "You mean the blood you took from me. Don't think I didn't already think you would try that course of action."
"Why would your filthy blood have anything to do with it, Potter?" Draco Malfoy stepped out from behind Bellatrix. His white blond hair, gleaming as a matched set with his mother, Narcissa's.
"Because your sainted Riddle here only gained any true Slytherin blood when he used mine to get himself a body that's beginning to fall apart."
Voldemort laughed. "Very funny, Potter. Did Dumbledore give you a set of lines and you've run out and are just making things up?"
"Did no one teach you that run-on sentences are a sign of poor grammar?" Harry countered. He was rather starting to enjoy his witty comebacks and taunts. Maybe having Snape as a teacher had been good for something other than taking points off of Gryffindor and handing out insults to anyone not in Slytherin.
Harry shook his head. "No, but I could offer proof that Tom Marvolo Riddle, the dumbass who created the moniker Lord Voldemort, is no more of a blood descendent of Salazar Slytherin than my friend Hermione.
"You see, Salazar Slytherin had three sons - "
Voldemort gave a sinister chuckle. "You're already wrong, stupid boy. The Greatest of the Hogwarts Four had only two sons."
"That is correct," Harry retorted. "He had two sons borne of his loins and a third son whom he adopted and made his kin."
"There was no third son," Narcissa Malfoy said in a cold voice. "Salazar had two sons. Padric and Cariodic. Padric survived to adulthood, while Cariodic vanished when he was thirteen."
Voldemort pushed his wand out to where it just barely missed touching the gate. "Enough of this chit chat!"
Harry shook his head. "The history lesson isn't quite over yet, Voldemort."
"Oooh," Bellatrix cried. "He said your name, Master! Can I kill him?"
"Dissolutum cognatio defendere!" Voldemort shouted, ignoring Bellatrix. No, his eyes were firmly fixed on Harry, who was smirking.
"It's not gonna work," Harry sang mockingly. He pretended to think for a moment. "I wonder if you knew that every time you touch the wards to try and take them down, I am actually using your magic to strengthen them? After all, the blood that runs in your veins if really mine."
Voldemort roared incomprehensibly, but Harry figured he was cursing him but unable to actually enunciate. It reminded him of Uncle Vernon that last time Marge had visited, just before Harry had run away to The Leaky Cauldron. When he'd first seen Sirius.
'This is for you, Sirius,' Harry thought fiercely. 'For you and Mum.'
The ground shook behind Harry. He smiled at the sign that the rest of the gang was here.
"'Arry!" Grawp called as he stopped just inside of Harry's peripheral vision. Hagrid stood next to him, Fang barking madly. Harry turned to look at who else was on his right side, knowing Voldie and his little munchers o'death couldn't breach the gate.
Dumbledore and McGonagall, with the rest of the teachers, were lined in that direction. To Harry's left, were the rest of the Order. Only two Weasleys were standing there, however. Ron gave Harry a nod, but Bill's gaze was fixed firmly on the black clad intruders.
"Ron?" Harry asked.
"Those bastards attacked the Burrow," Ron spat. "Poppy's taking care of who she can."
Harry shivered at the rage in his friend's voice. He steeled himself anyways, because he knew there would be more people to send up to Poppy before this would be over.
Bellatrix laughed maniacally. "What a paltry little group, Master!"
"Paltry?" came James' voice from under the hood he wore. Only his mouth was visible, as Harry looked at him on the other side of Remus, who stood right next to Harry. "This is the best group of fighters in the world!"
"Then show your face!" Draco Malfoy spat.
A deadly grin crept across the mouth as James lifted his hands and removed the hood. "If you thought Harry was bad enough, how about facing two people with Slytherin blood?"
The Death Eaters were quiet at the reveal, except for Bellatrix, who sidled up to where Voldemort was standing. "Do you think little Sevvie made that polyjuice potion before I got to play with him?"
Voldemort glared at the woman, and Harry hid his glee as she took a wary step back. The Dark Lord glared at him once more.
Harry smirked at the man who was once Tom Riddle. "I'd like to introduce my nephew, James Potter. You could call him by his true name, though. James Slytherin."
While the rest of the group was in shock, Harry went on.
"I, myself, will now go on by my true name as well. I am Harry Slytherin."
He lifted his wand at Voldemort, who stood with a disbelieving look on his face.
"Shall we begin, then?" Harry asked.
Harry growled as he dodged another curse. Voldemort and Bellatrix had double-teamed him, and so far he had been unable to do anything more than defend himself. It looked like they were hoping to tire him out, but Harry wasn't about to let them. No way. He was going to obliterate Voldemort and make sure Bellatrix paid for everything she ever did.
He reached into his pocket and brought out the slim package Remus had given him before he came out here. The small dagger inside grew as Harry grasped the handle. A ruby the size of an egg glistened in the evening run, reflecting the pink and purple sky in the east. Orange light reflected off a steel glade, emphasizing the name written near the hilt: Godric Gryffindor. Harry was indeed a true Gryffindor, but through his mother's side from a Squib great-grandson.
With wand and sword in his right hand, Harry pressed them together. The two magical instruments melded together, giving the sword a faint blue aura along the edges of the blade. Instead of a focus stone, Harry had chosen the sword. Because if he couldn't use his wand, at least he could try and chop off Voldemort's head.
Harry turned to Voldemort. "Nefas claustrum!" The sword glowed a sickish, yellow-green color. The color was swept off the blade towards Voldemort in a violent backwind. The spell twirled around the self-stylized dark lord, trapping him in a cage of Harry's own design. "That will hold you until I'm ready to deal with you."
Harry looked at Bellatrix. "First, though, I need to take care of you."
Bellatrix sneered. "Oh. I'm so scared, baby Potter." She shot off a stunning spell at Harry, with a fast follow up of a cutting hex.
Harry swung his sword at the spells, deflecting the stunner, but the cutting hex reflected back at Bellatrix, who didn't move fast enough to miss it. The hex caught the side of her head and right shoulder, slicing to her collarbone and taking most of her ear off. Blood and matted black hair fell to the ground as Bellatrix screamed in pain.
She dropped her wand from a slack, right arm, her left reaching across her to grab her bleeding head. "You're going to pay for that, Potter," she spat at him. She lunged for her wand, picking it up awkwardly with her left hand.
"I don't think so, Bitchatrix." Harry nicked her wand with the tip of the sword, and it fell from her fingers back to the trampled grass. "You're going to pay for what you did to Sirius and Snape."
Bellatrix gave a nasty grin. "Liked what I did to the traitor, then?"
Harry shuddered as the reminder of finding Snape impaled to the front gates the first day back from Christmas hols, eviscerated and with a signed note from Bellatrix.
She laughed at his revulsion, then stopped abruptly as Harry plunged the sword into her abdomen. He gave a little twist to the blade. As he pulled it out, Harry sent a pulse of energy down the blade.
Bellatrix looked stunned as Harry held the sword in front of him. Her right hand moved in a jerking motion to hold the gaping wound in her midsection, the nerves and muscles sliced enough in her shoulder so that she couldn't control her arm. Harry panted as a wave of heat from a nearby explosion engulfed him from the right, but it almost knocked Bellatrix over.
"I'll haunt you, Potter," she vowed.
Harry's mouth straightened into a line. "No, you won't." He shifted his grip on the sword's hilt the slightest bit and whispered a spell. The sword glowed a bright turquoise color as he swung it at Bellatrix. He turned to where Voldemort was blasting the inside of his light cage as two thuds sounded behind him. Harry heard Bellatrix's head roll a couple of feet down the slight slope from behind him and watched as it hit the light cage.
The prison surrounding Voldemort illuminated the darkening sky at the contact. While it glowed, Harry turned and looked at the battleground. Not one Death Eater stood, but there were also several Order members on the ground. As he watched, Remus limped over, helping an even more injured James to Harry.
"What's the matter?" Harry asked, taking pleasure in the sound of Voldemort's cursing.
"Albus is dead, Harry," Remus said baldly. "Malfoy... both of them...."
"I got both of 'em," James slurred. His hazel eyes didn't quite focus on Harry. "Got 'em both."
Remus took a shaky breath. "Poppy's coming down. Did you want her to look at that before you taking him?" he pointed to Harry's face.
He touched his right cheek and couldn't feel his face. Pulling back his fingers, he found they were bloody and there was a big chuck of skin falling apart. Harry shrugged and whispered a cooling spell. "It can wait."
"You're absolutely sure?" Remus asked.
Harry nodded. "I want to take care of this bastard first." He gave a tired half smile. "Go get fixed up, Rem. James."
James waved slightly as Remus slowly guided him up the low grade to where Harry could barely make out the figure of Hogwarts' resident nurse coming from the lit up castle.
Harry turned back to Voldemort. "Looks like it's down to you and I, Tom."
He stepped to the light cage and touched it with the sword. The light separated and expanded as he drew the sword down. The orb of yellow-green grew larger as Harry stepped through the opening. The hole closed back up once Harry was fully in.
"You just trapped yourself in, boy," Voldemort taunted.
Harry gave a wicked smile. "See, that's the beauty of this little spell. Only I can take this spell down. Even if you - somehow - manage to kill me, you can't take this down. It's linked to me and only me." He finished with a smirk.
The red eyes glaring at Harry narrowed. "We'll see, boy."
Harry let loose a mocking laugh. "Shall we dance, Tom?"