Disclaimer: I sold the beer can, now I am rich. I own nothing related in any way whatsoever to Harry Potter. Cricket saved the world again, before lunch.

Harry Potter and the Strength of Three

Chapter 11, Road of Bones

Harry found himself in a sunlit, hilly forest. the grassy ground rising in gentle waves as though ripples in a pond. Flowers poked above the greenery here and there, buds open to the suns nourishing rays. Butterflies fluttered about among them, and Harry held a finger out as one alit gently upon it's tip. Radiant yellow, red and blue swirls covered its wings, seeming to glow it was so bright. Trees clustered in small groups between the small mounds, leaves a glorious red, orange and yellow.

Melodious birdsong emanated from the leafy trees around him, and another answered its call in kind. Together the two became a beautiful duet, and Harry felt his spirit rise along with the tones. A fox trotted across the path in front of him, glancing curiously at Harry before disappearing into the trees. The Butterfly rose gently from his finger, flitting slowly about his head. Looking to his right, he saw a small pond, its surface rippling softly in the wind, cat-tails swaying gently. As he watched, a doe stepped from the trees on the far side, two spotted fawns stumbling along playfully in her wake. The three dipped their muzzles into the cool, clear water. One of the tiny deer tripped over it's own hoof, landing in the water with a splash before standing and mewling in surprise. The sound was soft as it reached Harry's ears.

He felt something skitter up the leg of his pants, across his back and onto his shoulder. He looked at Cricket through the corner of his eye, smiling as though he had been expecting his tiny friend. The squirrel was silent, gazing back at him through loving eyes. Feeling something within his hand, he brought it up to his shoulder, and Cricket took the offered acorn soundlessly, hugging the nut to its chest.

A cool breeze caressed his cheek, fluttering through his hair as he took in his surroundings with a smile. Seeing a silhouette atop the hill in front of him, Harry took a step forward on the path. His heart felt lighter than it had in years. Each step he took elicited a crunching sound from the ground, and he looked down, curious. The path was a blinding white, far too bright to make out any details. Shrugging, he continued walking along the path.

The sun was setting behind the hill, and the figures remained silhouetted, a dark shadow upon its brilliance. When he reached the top of the hill, he waited. As the firey globe slowly set behind the mound, Harry felt dread arise in his belly.

He didn't want to see what the shadow's hid.

He tried to turn his head, but could not wrest his eyes from the figures materializing in his vision. His breathing quickened, coming in small pants. Lines formed about his eyes as he struggled to look at something else, anything else, to no avail. The last of the suns rays disappeared behind the hillock, and his heart stopped.

Everything slowed as if in slow motion. He could count the wing beats of a bee, as it alit on a flower near his shoe. A cougar nearly froze mid-pounce, falling to the earth in infinitesimal increments. A small rabbit, startled from its feast of clover, twitched its ears ever so slowly as it heard the beginning of the cat's cry. He saw all this in the peripheral of his vision. The silence was deafening. His heart beat in his chest, slow like the world around him. It was the only thing he heard.

Thump, thump.

The archway from the Department of Mysteries stood at the pinnacle of the hill, pointed, crumbling. Horrible. The black veil fluttered gently underneath, moving normally in a slow motion world. Whispers called from its depths.

Thump, thump.

Sirius stood calmly in front of the arch, hands at his sides. A small smile alight on his lips as his eyes twinkled mischievously. His face was unlined, smooth. Not the careworn, haggard visage Harry remembered. Silken locks of deep black hair tumbled from his head, spilling onto his shoulders. He was clothed all in black.

Thump, thump.

Sirius' clothing and hair fluttered in time with the veil, swaying to and fro as though in a breeze. He raised a hand towards Harry, beckoning him closer.

Thump, thump.

Sirius spoke, but no sound issued from his lips. He smiled wider, beckoning Harry to come to him. To join him.

Thump, thump.

"Go to him, Harry." The wind whispered. "You need him. I know that you miss him so." Harry tried to shake his head, but it would not move. He whimpered. "Help him Harry. Save him." The voice was soft, pleading. Harry heard the sadness in the words. He tried to squeeze his eyes shut, and though his muscles strained to do so, his eyelids would not move. A tear dripped from Sirius' eye, rolling slowly across his cheek to drop from his chin. His smile turned sad, pleading. Still he beckoned.

Thump, thump.

"Sirius is dead. I cannot save him." Harry's voice came as a choked sob, pulled from him by some unseen force. He didn't feel his lips form the words. "I killed him." He looked on in horror as Sirius head rose and fell in a nod, agreeing. Another tear fell, and he beckoned Harry closer. Harry felt his foot rise of its own accord, move forward and settle again. He felt something snap beneath the sole of his shoe, though it made no sound. He looked down.

Thump, thump.

The blinding light no longer concealed his path. Harry's foot rested on a human skull, yellowed and cracked. Empty eye sockets leered at him evilly. Bones and fragments of bones lay scattered about him at all sides. Skulls grinned at him from the ground, teeth chipped and missing.

The path to Sirius was paved in death.

Thump, thump.

He raised his foot, horrified, placing it back to the ground where it had been. He felt another snap, and looking down, he saw another skull. Smaller than the rest. He jerked back, stumbling, bones crumbled and cracked beneath his feet with each step, before he stopped, panting. He jerked around, to run back from whence he came, but stopped again. His face whitened as his breath left him in a strickened gasp.

Thump, thump.

The beautiful forest was gone. Where once green grass had grown was blackened earth, dry and cracked. The once vibrant trees were now leafless, skeletal. They clawed at the sky as if in agony, their trunks broken and burnt. No songbirds flitted from branch to branch, chirping. The once glorious pond was now a barren gouge, a scar upon the ground. A gleaming whiteness caught his eye, and he saw the three deer from earlier. One large and two small skeletons, partly buried beneath the dirt. The path he had walked to the hill was nothing but bones.

Thump, thump.

"Suffering will follow you whichever path you take." Harry whipped his head to the voice, eyes wide. It was no longer a breath, soft on the non-existent wind. Now it was a cold hiss. "Save one."

Thump, thump.

Voldemort stood at the side of Sirius, his face a calm mask. Red eyes gleamed from sunken sockets, his pasty white skin a stark contrast to the deep black of his robes. His nostrils were slits above his thin, pale lips. He raised a hand, resting it on Sirius' shoulder, who seemed not to notice. Sirius simply stood there, tears streaming down his face, beckoning to Harry.

Harry sobbed, turning, he ran along the path of bones towards the dead forest. He closed his eyes, trying not to feel the crunching with each step.

Thump, thump.

Gasping, he came to a stop, hands to his knees. He breathed long, ragged breaths, holding his eyes closed still. He did not want to see the grins of the dead. After a few moments his breathing slowed, returning to its normal pace. He raised his head, and opened his eyes.

Voldemort stood with a hand on Sirius' shoulder, who beckoned him closer unceasingly. Voldemort smiled a slow, terrible grin, a hissing laugh coming from his bloodless lips. "You cannot run, Harry." He laughed harder, his entire frame shaking. Tears fell from Sirius' pleading eyes.

Thump, thump.

"You cannot run from your destiny!" The snake like man released Sirius' shoulder, walking slowly forward. Unlike when Harry walked upon the bones, Voldemort crushed each skull, each piece of bone with a sharp 'snap,' like that of a broken twig It was the only sound Harry heard beside his own heartbeat and their voices, and the whispers from beyond the veil. "Go to him, Harry," he hissed, eyes narrowing. "Save your beloved Godfather!" Harry sobbed again.

"I can't, he's dead, I'm not strong enough." His whispered, shaking his head. He stared at Sirius' beckoning form, feeling tears of his own sliding from his cheeks to join his Godfather's among the bones. "You can't raise the dead."

Thump, thump.

"Aaahh." Voldemort hissed, "is that what Dumbledore told you?" Harry turned his gaze upon his enemy, expression vacant, defeated...dead. Voldemort strode closer, before standing at his elbow. He whispered softly into Harry's ear. "With me by your side, we can." Harry stumbled back at this, tripping and falling onto the bones. He stared at Voldemort, wide-eyed.

"You lie!" He cried, holding his hands in front of his face as if to ward off a blow. Sobs wracked his lean frame.

"No, Harry, I do not. Together, we can do anything!" Harry rocked backwards with each word, as if they struck him physically. Voldemort spoke in a flurry of words, voice rising upon each syllable. "We could give life with a single breath, bring death with but a crook of our fingers. Together, Harry, we could be Gods!" The last word was a shout, echoeing around the pair before dying away. Voldemort held his hand out to Harry where he sat upon the ground, his arms wrapped around his knees. He was staring at Sirius again, rocking back and forth silently. "Join me, Harry. Join me and we will save Sirius. Join me...and we will save your parents."

Harry turned his head, looking upon the hand. Slowly, he reached out his own. Voldemort smiled.

Thump, thump.

Harry heard a dry rustling near his ear, and turned to face it. Cricket stared at him, empty sockets gleaming white, skull grinning in a parody of a smile. He jerked his hand away from Voldemort's, brushing the dead squirrel from his shoulder with a horrified gasp. The bones crumbled to dust when they struck the ground. He levelled a glare at Voldemort. "Lies!" He hissed, jumping to his feet. Voldemort let his own hand drop with a snarl. "All lies! You cannot give life, not when the life beating in your own heart is as dry as these bones!" He kicked a skull for emphasis, sending it careening along the path, bouncing and skittering till it came to rest. Harry shuddered as it landed facing him, staring. He turned to face his nemesis, who had backed away a few paces. "I will never join you...I'm not like you!" He ended with a whispering hiss, eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring.

Thump, thump.

"You are, Harry." Voldemort sneered, bloodless lips pulled up slightly in a horrible smile. "I can see your thoughts." An evil grin spread across his face, and Harry shuddered at the sight of Voldemort's teeth...sharp and pointed, yellow. "You enjoyed hurting that man! You wanted him to feel pain, wanted him to die!" Harry had tears running down his face again, remembering his reflection in the mirror. Was he just like Voldemort?

"No!" He shouted, backing away a few paces. "I will never join you...Tom!" Voldemort jerked back at the sound of his given name, his smile disappearing in an instant.

"Then you will die, all your friends will die, your world will crumble to dust! I will burn Hogwarts to the ground, the world, and everyone will die screaming!" Voldemort shouted, enraged. He whipped around, walking back to the side of Sirius, who no longer cried or beckoned. He simply smiled sadly at Harry, unblinking. "I will tear the flesh from their bones! I will boil the blood from their veins! They will writhe in pain this world has never known, crying out your name, as the one who caused their suffering!" Spittle flew from his lips as he raved, his arms flailing around wildly, robes billowing. "And in the end, as the world breathes its last breath, after you bury your last loved one, I will kill you." He whipped around, resuming his position from earlier, resting his hand on Sirius' shoulder once more. "Watch, Harry. Know the pain you have wrought upon the world." With that, he disappeared.

And Sirius screamed.

Harry awoke with the worst headache he had ever felt. His head throbbed all over, the sledgehammer from the morning before replaced by a jackhammer. His scar throbbed in counter with the rest of his head. It felt like it was split down the middle, his skull cracked and broken like those from his dream. ...the dream.

Grimacing, and with tears streaming from his eyes Harry tried to push the images of Sirius from his mind. But it was no use. He watched again as Sirius screamed, blood streaming from his eyes, nose, mouth and ears. His fingernails dug channels through the skin on his face, leaving bleeding gouges in their wake. Then, one by one, each of his fingernails bent back and ripped, tearing from his fingertips. His skin cracked and peeled as though burning, and the flesh beneath melted. His bones shattered, splinters poking through the skin like he was a pincussion. The absense of sound made the entire scene that much more frightening, that much more terrifying.

With an anguished sob, Harry pushed himself into a sitting position, holding his head between his hands. His stomach roiled as his shaking limbs tried to squeeze the pain and images from his mind. He heard a sharp mettalic click come from in front of him, and he opened his bloodshot eyes as he raised his head to look upon the sound.

...And stared down the barrel of a pistol, nickel plating gleaming dully in the dim lighting of the room. It shook slightly as he watched, and he followed the gun to the hand holding it, up the arm and into the face of his would-be killer.

He gasped at what he saw.

A/N Bah. I was going to make this much longer at first, but I got tired...and stuff. I seem to do that a lot, I know, but work sucks. I've had to work every weekend this month, and have to work next weekend as well. I'm considering a job offer I recieved recently. It would be the same pay, but waaaay better hours. Only problem is...I'd have to relocate. I like my community. I live in a tiny town with a population of 250. Sure, I have to drive 60 miles one way to get to work...but we have virtually no crime, no drugs...none of that bad shit, and the people are great. If I took this offer, I'd be moving to a large city 4 hours away. What to do? Bah.

On a side note...another couple of good stories were pointed out to me by snifflers unite. First, an author a lot of you have probably heard of: Full Pensive, and his story HP and the Year of Rebellion. I have heard many good things about him and his work. Unfortunately, he can't be found on this site. Search for his story or ID on google or something, and you should find him easily. Sadly, in response to reader's concern over update frequency he informed the public that he is inflicted with a brain tumor. He has had the tumor for some time, over 5 years. It was situated in an unaccesable part of the brain until recently after it has grown larger. Sadly, when they perform surgery to remove it, they will access it through the language center of the brain. In the best case scenario, he will be temporarily effected with language and communication. In a bad scenario...I don't even want to think about it. I don't know how to put into words how this information made me feel, so I won't try. Suffice to say, I am sorry for him. The second author pointed out to me, Lori has written a wonderful piece of work called Paradigm of Uncertainty. It's another post-Hogwarts fic, and the story I'm reading right now. Check them out, yea? Remember to thank snifflers unite if you like them.

My Beta-Readers, Shadow Dragon12 and Nymph23 --kick ass. I have a habit of typing like a drunken carpenter with three fingers, so my spelling isn't so great. Yet, they manage to beat each chapter into order before I upload it. They must be ninjas, like Cricket.

Next chapter we're moving. Yep, I'm moving everyone away from Zacks and Privet Drive. Should be up either tonight or tomorrow night. Sorry this chapter was so short, and please don't hate me for the cliffie, heh...Muahahaha!

ANDTORR Yep, Harry was accidentally using his freak powers to mash that guys face. But he won't be getting in trouble, I'll explain why later in the story. lol, I hope you didn't beat a guy like Harry did...that would be bad. hehe, glad you liked it.

byzlk I'm happy that you like my story. I've tried to keep my characters as IC as possible, sorry if they're falling a bit out of line. I myself can never see Rowling having Dudley turn a leaf, but oh well. His anger and hatred towards Harry always seemed very childish to me...he has to grow up sometime, you know? His parents treatment of Penny was a sort of rude awakening. He'll be playing a large part in this fic for a long time to come. Hope you like this chapter too, and thanks for reviewing.

albert87 Thanks mate. I've thought about starting a yahoo group, and I just might. I'm a graphical designer of sorts, and I dabble in web design a bit, so I was thinking of maybe creating a site dedicated to my writing, with phpbb for forums and such. But, it seems a little overkill right now. I'll see how well my work is recieved in the next month or so and then make a decision. Hope you like this chapter too, sorry it was so short.

Me262 Cricket wishes to train you in the ways of the Eastern Sea Monkey...I have no idea what that is, but she insists that it's a fighting style. I like the drunken trio too:) Don't worry...I'm just pullin them out of my ass, lol. The one bad fight I've been in consisted of me rolling around on the ground as 5 guys stomped on me. I had a footprint on my forehead. It hurt the next morning...and my wallet was missing. Bah. Glad I managed to pull it off, I was afraid that every story I hadn't read made Hermione's home life out to be the same. Phew. You'll have to wait and see about Hermione, hehe.

Drake Smythe I never meant to insinuate that you didn't know how to set it up, sorry. I just figured you could imagine the pain:P I've got linux on my dual boot pc, but I hardly ever use it. I installed it because I was using it to learn...but I never got very far, heh. My attention tends to wander at times. I'm starting to feel better, just really tired. My throat is all fusked up, doctor said it would go away on its own...like 2 months ago. Its getting kinda bad, but I can't afford to go to the doctor...damn greedy bastards. I wish my work was fun, it used to be:( Hope you liked this chapter.

yellowpages Ok, maybe he's not that bad:P Nope, Harry was possessed by nothing other than his own emotions. hehe, I'll try to put some more Cricket in, I love it too. I can't say I think Harry is hot...because I don't think any guy is hot...but I can say that a pink haired, pink eyed tonks is god-damned sexy. Good to hear that I cheered you up. I'm sure that the tone of this chapter won't do any cheering...its actually kind of sad. ...And gruesome. Anyways, hope you liked it at least:P Thanks for reviewing.

HeroYuyz Ya, his account got fusked and he left, but he's got a profile open. Nothing in it but a note saying to go to his group. I remember reading Master Eldryn's work all the time before he got the boot. Could you perhaps send me his group address? That would be great. Sorry this chapter was so short, but I hope it was good anyways.

AngelinaWeasley1 Dudley doesn't have a license...so yea, he was breaking the law:P I thought of having them get pulled over, but canned the idea shortly after, as it didn't serve my plot. I know older women don't normally go for younger men, but sometimes they do. Granted, their age difference is a bit on the high side...but its fun to write about anyways. I'm going to conk this issue on the head later in my story, so any questions should be cleared up. Petunia may not be as active in her abuse of Harry as Vernon is, but her inactiveness is what makes her a bad person. Personally, I think they're both horrible. They deserve what's coming to them...hehe. You'll see some H and H action soon enough, so don't worry. I plan on the Hogwarts Express leaving King's Cross within the next 5 chapters, but we'll have to see. Thanks for reviewing, it means a lot.

coolone007-2 Cricket takes offence at your lack of faith. We accept your challenge. lol, seriously, I never planned on having 'Mione's parents just give up and let her go. You'll have to see what my evil muses cook up:P

snifflers unite I'm not sure if I've read it or not. I've definitly heard of the author...he's sort of a legend. See my A/N above for some sad news though:( Thanks for pointing those stories out to me, I'm reading PoU right now, its great. The first meeting between Dumbledore and Harry will be quite the event, I look forward to it myself:) Sorry this chapter is so damn short, I should have another chap up tomorrow.

Nymph23 Muhahaha! You are now my minion! Hmmm...I don't think a cow would work...it would hurt when he rode on your shoulder:P A...hampster maybe? You can call him Grasshopper! lol. Your first mission of evilness is to...erm...I'll have to think about that. Find a little buddy, and upon your return, Cricket will have a glorious plan of world domination and oppression.

Silver-Reaper Thanks:)

Shaz124 Yup, that guy was hurtin. Well...actually, he was unconscious, but that's beside the point:P Muhahaha!! You'll have to wait and see about Hermione! Don't worry, Cricket, my most evil (and annoying) muse, already has a scheme in the works.

Albert( ) Ya, Harry really let 'im have it. Tonks age and affection for Harry come under fire later in the story...and some unknowns become known. Can't give too much away, heh. Hope you liked this chap too, sorry its so damn short.

That should be everyone. Once again, sorry for the shortness. Hopefully, I'll have a normal length chap done up by tomorrow night.

Review...Hell hath no fury like a squirrel scorned.