Fracture
Summary: Harry potter has not had a good life. Oh, he's lived well enough, but he has seen and experienced so much bad as well. All things have a breaking point, what happens when the restrictions placed upon Harry Break, letting all that rage and resentment free? What happens when Harry decides enough is enough?
TRIGGER WARNING: Graphic violence
Harry felt the cold wash over him, sapping every bit of warmth and happiness from him. He'd done something to Quirrel, he'd just kind of disintegrated under his hands. As the Professor fell, a dark being remained, like what he'd faced in the forest last month. Then the wraith of Voldemort passed through him and darkness fell over him.
As his body impacted the stairs, the black bands cracked.
Fire poured through his veins, he could feel the Basilisk Venom burn its ways through him. Definitely, he pulled the fang from his arm and looking at the spectre of Tom Riddle, stabbed the black bound book on the floor beside the body of Ginny Weasley. He knew he was dying, he wouldn't survive, and maybe Ginny wouldn't either, but he'd be damned if he'd let this prick Hurt Hermione again.
Black inky liquid pooled out of the Diary, the dark artifact responsible for everything that had happened that year. The attacks, the rumors and accusations, the whole thing. A scream could be heard as light poured out through cracks in the spectre before him, then a pulse of power erupted from it as it exploded.
Harry staggered, falling and darkness claimed him for a moment. On the black band, more cracks appeared.
Harry tried desperately to cast his patronus, trying desperately to hold onto any shred of happiness, any good thing to power it. He felt the warmth leaching out of him, causing his barely there mist to fade more and more. The cold permeated his very being, and his grip on his wand loosened and it fell from his grip. He fell over, nerves deadened and he almost felt his life leaving him. He collapsed onto his godfather, and as his eyes fell closed he saw a bright majestic patronus running across the lake to save them.
The cracks on the Black bands grew.
"Crucio"
Harry writhed in pain, every nerve in his body was in pure agony. Harry could feel every bone in his body, he could feel the power washing over him, every pain receptor blaring. He didn't even notice his head hitting a gravestone, nor the stones and twigs digging into his back. White hot fire stabbed into his head and his throat was raw from screaming.
The black bands were now liberally cracked, a spiderweb across the surface.
"Oh,"
It was odd, despite the clash and clamor of battle, the word cut clearly through the din. Harry looked over at Hermione, and saw The last vestiges of a purple curse dissipating as she fell. Harry saw the look of shock and surprise on her face, and the almost serene face as she relaxed and fell unconscious.
"HERMIONE!"
Light began to stream from the cracks in the black bands.
Harry ran to Hermione's still form, the spells flying by him distracted him not at all. His wand flashed out and spells flew back, catching both opponents as he made it to her. One Death eater spun away in a spray of blood as his left arm separated from his shoulder. The other crumbled as a hole appeared between his eyes. Harry didn't seem to notice. He dropped to his knees, pulling Hermione up into his lap as he felt for a pulse, praying to find one. He didn't.
The Black bands shattered.
The explosion of magic raged out from that small room in the Department of Mysteries. Every Death eater it passed felt ice crawl up their backs, a deep seated primal fear gripping them. Half the artifacts in the Department exploded, including every single sphere in the hall of Prophecy. The underage magic detector was immolated as its detection circuits overloaded, creating the largest magic release never recorded.
Neville Longbottom, in a truly inspirational bout of courage, reached out towards the center of that maelstrom, towards his friends. He could feel Harry's despair, the sense of loss, pouring from him with the magic. Then he felt it, the slight bump of a pulse, Hermione's Pulse.
"She's alive." he gasped, fighting to stay close to his friend. "Harry, she's alive!"
A pair of eyes filled with Emerald fire turned towards him as the magic slacked ever so slightly.
"I can feel a pulse, Harry, she's still alive." Neville put as much hope and reassurance into his words as he could.
"Alive…" Harry started, almost incomprehensibly, then seemed to slacked. When he spoke again, it was a tone of command that demanded you obey. "We have to… Neville, stay with her, keep her safe. I'll take care of the others."
Neville wanted to argue, to try and help Harry, but those fiery eyes stopped him, and he just nodded. Harry nodded back, and stood, striding towards the doorway the Death Eaters had entered through. Ten feet from it another Death Eater poked his head in, calling out to his fellows. He didn't even make it through the door before a bolt of Eldritch energy impacted his chest, throwing him backwards. Before it hit the ground, Neville swore he could see through his chest.
Harry stopped as he entered the chamber with the arch, taking in the fighting around the room. Ginny and Luna were guarding Ron to one side, exchanging spells with three Death eaters while Moody and Tonks battled two more. Sirius was dueling Bellatrix by the arch and Lucius was moving from an unmoving cloaked figure to join her.
He moved towards the trio of students first, and their Death eaters didn't even realize he was there until a spear of pure light impaled their leader from behind. The individual, he would later learn that it was Rudolphus LeStrange, stared in disbelief for crumpling to the ground. The man to his left turned around just in time for a cutting curse to separate his head from his shoulders. A thin line appeared across his neck and when his body stopped rotating, his head continued before both parts of him fell to the ground. The third tried to run, but a bone breaking curse struck him and blood erupted into a red mist as every bone in his body exploded.
The pair fighting Tonks and Moody didn't even notice their compatriots fall, so engrossed in their battle with their opponents. Even the Order members hadn't realized there was an avenging angel in their mist until two orbs of pure power immolated their opponents. These were not like the small one that Harry had used against the Death Eater coming towards Hermione, these were much larger. Almost three feet in diameter, they impacted each of the death eaters in an actinic flash as power turned them into momentary pyres before ashes floated down to rest. The two order members stared in horror, then turned to see who had cast just in time to see two Green flashes of the killing curse impact the middle of Harry's back.
The killing curses impacted Harry square and he never even seemed to notice. The radiant aura of pure magic around him almost seems to absorb those curses, taking their power into itself. Harry, for his part, turned around. Halfway through, his hand reached to the side and grasped air. Though Harry grasped air, his magic grabbed a ten foot chunk of the ground, pulling it around as Harry's hand continued to sweep towards the death eaters who had hit him in the back as they entered the room. The slab impacted both Death Eaters' center of mass, and everyone who saw it cringed as the inertia continued to carry both rock and death eaters into the wall of the chamber.
As his gaze returned to the remaining pair of Death eaters, Bellatrix LeStrange and Lucius Malfoy, he saw a curse from Bella's wand strike Sirius. He seemed to stagger for a moment, and almost disbelieving expression on his face, then he seemed to relax and smile. He was still smiling as the veil he staggered into floated him away into its inky blackness.
"I killed-" Bellatrix tried to chant with glee, but barely dodged the eldritch blast Harry sent streaking her way. It struck the column she ducked behind, and it exploded in millions of shards. As the dust cleared, Harry could see the back of her robes disappearing out a door on the far side.
"What do-" Lucius Malfoy had also tried to run, but his escape had not been covered and the power surrounding Harry had grabbed him and dragged him back. He was held, suspended, before the Emerald fire of Harry's eyes. His diatribe cut off as the power squeezed him.
"You think your gold will get you out of this Lucius?" Harry spoke for the first time, the rage and anger rolling off his tongue. "You think you will walk away after you tried to kill six students? Or that your master will forgive your failure?
"It matters not, for you won't survive. Dumbledore would have us imprison you, to trust the system." Harry's contempt was palatable. "He would keep his secrets and trust the system that has already failed. You were accused of your crimes years ago, but a few coins in the right hands and you were suddenly an upstanding member of society. You walked while my innocent godfather wasn't even given a trial, just thrown into the hell that is Azkaban?"
"Now see here Potter-'' Allister Mody hobbled towards the tableau, only to have his actions rewarded by being thrown back across the room.
"The so-called leader of the light would sacrifice anyone, just to keep his image. He would let an innocent man rot in prison to ensure his vision continued. He would bind a child's magic to ensure he died at the opportune moment.'' Remus tried to reach Harry, only for Harry's magic to reject him as well. Not violently, but more a large invisible pillow he couldn't move through. "No more. No more following the path that forgives the unrepentant and allows them to kill again. No more letting the system fail us.
"Lucius Malfoy, You will not walk away from your crimes again."
Nymphedora Tonks was a bit scatterbrained, but had as tough a mind as being an auror required. Every bit of her toughness and metamorph abilities failed her as Harry's Magic ripped Malfoys chest open, peeling his ribs like a can. Her stomach erupted in protest as the ribs parted at the sternum, cracking as they swept open and created a sort of wing shape while Lucius's guts spilled to the ground. She managed to stop heaving just in time to see Malfoys body stuck to the wall, his ribs still spread, almost like some perverse angel's wings. She didn't even register the Thunderclap of Harry's disappearance, her mind was so rattled by the sight before her and Lucius's screams from Potter taking his still beating heart with him.
Cornelius Oswald Fudge stepped hurriedly aside as the tumbling body of Albus Dumbledore slid across the Atrium to stop at his feet. The venerable former headmaster and Chief Warlock looked much the worse for wear, but the others he had tried to interrupt were even more shocking.
The noseless, gray skinned being that could not be anyone other than a resurrected Dark Lord Voldemort was bleeding from over a dozen wounds, and his left arm hung limp by his side. The wand from the wizard from the statue of magical brotherhood was impaled in the dark lord's thigh and Half the man's robes looked to have been burned away. Still he tossed spell after spell at his opponent. That opponent was none other than the notorious Harry Potter, the boy he had been claiming was an attention seeking liar for almost a year now. An attention seeking liar who had the temerity to have been right. Without so much as a scratch on him, the Boy-who-lived was tossing around magic like water. Balls of energy, curses that tracked on Voldemort, pieces of the ruined statue of magical brethren were thrown about like childrens balls. Fudge even swore he saw a killing curse hit the boy and nothing happened.
All around him, more and more ministry officials and employees poured through the floos, gathering to watch the battle of the titans. Or the killing of a legend. There was no denying the Dark Lord's return now, too many had witnessed this battle. Too many had seen the boy toss Albus aside like a rag doll when he tried to interfere. At least Albus's fate was kinder than Bellatrix's, she was off to the side, trying to stem the bleeding where Potter had removed her right arm and beat her with it.
Suddenly, Potter charged, spells flying by him. And then it wasn't Potter charging, but a massive warbeast. Ten, twelve feet at the shoulder, the massive limbs dug their claws deep into the marble of the floor, propelling it still faster towards Voldemort. Black fur like obsidian covered the beast, save for a white lightning bolt on its forehead, its feline head turning to grab the dark lord in its maw and shake it like a terrier shaking a rat. Everyone watching shuddered as bones could be heard popping and breaking, then jumped away as the broken body was tossed at Fudge's feet.
"There is your impossible Dark Lord, Fudge." The Boy-Who-Lived declared as he replaced the disappearing beast, his voice carrying over the noise of the crowd. "There is the man whose return you have denied for almost a year now. The one you used to attack me and those who believed me for that same time. Not so Impossible now is he?"
"Harry…"
"Not interested in your lies either, Dumbledore," Harry snarled at the old wizard slowly getting to his feet. "Your lies and lack of any action make you just as culpable. And don't get me started on the fact you have employed an unrepentant death eater in a school full of children for well over a decade either."
"Now see here boy," Fudge tried to puff his chest and stand tall, in some vain attempt to intimidate. "You have no proof-"
"No proof?" Harry laughed. "What do you think lies at your feet? Who do you think laid a trap in the Department of Mysteries? My friends and I, six school kids, Defeated a round dozen death eaters. That's better than just about anyone from the previous war, much less the much denied Aurors."
"You… Defeated…"
"Yes Fudge, Almost a full dozen Death eaters, including your good friend and constant Briber Lucius Malfoy, were granted their wish in the halls below."
"What wish?" Fudge was sweating now, everything was going wrong.
"Why, to eat death of course." Harry grinned, "They unfortunately will not be able to buy their way out of prison this time."
"Lucius Malfoy-"
"Paid you and others to agree to his ridiculous imperioused story, without ever standing trial nor so swearing under oath or Veritaserum to affirm this." Harry snapped, the power around his flaring and everyone took a step back. "Him and the death eaters that accompanied him will not harm another. They will not simply pay you, get a pardon on unsubstantiated grounds, and suddenly be upstanding citizens again."
"What have you done Harry?" Albus pleaded.
"Done? I told you, I granted their wish. They ate death." Harry turned on his former mentor. "They will no longer be able to try and kill me. They can no longer attack the innocent and get away with it. Malfoy will no longer torture his Elves or try to kill me with a killing curse in the very halls of your school. The LeStranges will not torture another family to insanity. There is no justice but what you make for yourself. You taught me that headmaster, when you sent me back to my relatives over and over again to be abused and tortured. When you repeatedly allowed bullying and pureblood supremacy to fill the halls of Hogwarts. When you allowed that Bitch Umbridge to torture students with blood Quills all year long and did NOTHING."
"Now Harry…" Albus took a step closer to Harry, before his face broke into a look of concern.
"Looking for this?" Harry held up the distinctive bulbous shaped wand of Albus Dumbledore, the energy around Harry causing it to float gently above his hand. With a surge of light, the wand flew across the room, away from the aghast old man. "Funny how you never even hesitated to use this on me, never even had a shred of doubt that casting a charm or compulsion on me was a viable solution. I wonder who else you have done that to?"
"Now Harry…"
"Master!" every eye turned to see the telltale swirl of a portkey departing from the spot where Voldemort had lain. The Bloody trail from where Bellatrix had been across the floor to Fudge's feet told the tale of what had happened.
"Lord, you really are idiots." Harry raged, looking around. "I see four, five, SIX, six aurors who just stood around like sheep rather than secure a Dark Lord and his henchwoman. Is this the force you want to have protecting you? Is this the best the budget cuts Fudge has been hitting that department with for a decade has to offer?"
"Good point, Aurors, Arrest Harry Potter for breaking and entering on Ministry property, destruction of ministry property too." Fudge grinned maniacally. "As everyone here is witness to his actions, we'll just ship him off to Azkaban now, especially since he has admitted to murdering a dozen citizens tonight."
"And this is why you have lost your last hope. Ask Dumbledore what his Burnt chicken club has been failing to protect in the Department of Mysteries all year. It's destroyed now, but he knows the contents, if he's willing to tell you that is. He's terribly fond of being the only one to know things, especially if they could save lives." Harry took a step back, the power wrapped around him, warping the very air around him with the power of it, and he disappeared.
The silence that followed was interrupted by the lone ding of an empty elevator car arriving at the atrium.
