Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 11 Castles In the Sky

Harry stood on Paradise, and shivered in revulsion. Since last night, the Creator had not slept, and every step into Paradise felt as though he was dipping himself into Sin. All he could think about was that horrible creature that lived beneath him, the Evil that he was responsible for.

Its words haunted him. I am lacking truth, and yet I exist. The phrase haunted his thoughts, and hit home on why he always had that small uncomfortable feeling around his creations, especially Lily. Everything he created... was it unreal? Was everything just a dream that would fade away in time?

He could no longer ignore the feeling of this all being an illusion, and that the real world was out there, waiting for him to return to the nightmare of reality. No longer could he run and hide in his constructed paradise in serenity.

And was Sin preparing, even now, to strike at Paradise? Already there was Voldemort, out there somewhere, no doubt searching to destroy Lily and him by proxy. Now there were two enemies, two devils, two Evils. One within, and one without.

Below the surface, Sin lurked. Above ground, Voldemort hunted mercilessly.

No longer did he feel safe in Paradise. No longer could the Creator sleep in one of his created trees, or walk among his more favored creations. No longer was he at peace in his Heaven.

The Creator could no longer stand the sight of his Creation at all.

Albus Dumbledore sat at his desk. He too had a nearly sleepless night, his mind filled with questions and disturbed thoughts and mysteries. He hadn't slept much in the past week, his thoughts too disturbed with riddles and wild delusions. At least, he thought they were delusions.

Again, the Headmaster's thoughts came again and again to a single, impossible idea. But it fit. Dumbledore sighed wearily. The only way to know for sure was if Severus' tests-

As if summoned by his mentor's thoughts, the dour Potions Master nearly ran into the room, his eyes wide and astonished, his greasy hair in disarray. His robes looked as though they hadn't been changed in days, and the normally narrowed jet black of his eyes was nearly bloodshot, but Severus Snape was actually enthusiastic and amazed by something.

"Albus! You-You wouldn't believe it!" Severus nearly shouted excitedly, holding a corked vial of the angel Lily's blood in his hand. The octogenarian's heart warmed to see his normally bitter and sarcastic Potions Master alive again. New discoveries made by him often had this sort of effect.

Trying his best not to raise his eyebrows and smile, Dumbledore calmly asked, "Yes, Severus?"

"This... this blood! It's nearly purely magical! Its not just that there is magic in the liquid, but that magic is an inseparable part of the blood." Snape panted slightly, and let the words sink in.

Dumbledore's eyes were almost as wide as an owl's for a split second, before he regained control, reeling from the information. Usually, magic was in the blood, but it could be separated, easily spotted. But if it was inseparable, if magic was making up the blood, making up the entirety of the creature, then- a single thought burst through his brain, an impossible idea that was ludicrous, utter nonsense. But a second thought soon followed.

Dear Merlin. It explains everything.

The Headmaster stood straight up, his face almost as excited as Snape. "Severus, assemble the Order. We're having a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, and I want it tonight."

Harry couldn't stand it anymore. He let loose a loud, primal scream of revulsion and horror that reverberated about the whole of Paradise, sending even the fiercest abomination shivering in terror of the fury of the Creator.

Immediately, the Guardian was at his side, her wings flapping rapidly, as if she were a startled bird. "What's wrong master?" Lily asked urgently.

"I-..." Harry couldn't put it into words. He wanted to be free, to get out of Paradise, to- "I want to be able to fly." The Creator whispered softly.

Lily's eyes widened, and she said gently, "You could simply add them onto your body, master."

The Creator shook his head. "Not flying in the sky... but... I want to be able to escape this place." Harry glanced at the siren that was the endlessly blue sky, singing him to freedom. "I want to be up there." He said simply.

"Then be up there." The Guardian replied simply.

Harry's eyes widened, and he smiled warmly at the angel. "You have a point."

In a different place in Paradise, the earth shifted slightly. A single, long tentacle burst from the dirt, and probed the air around it, almost... smelling it. After a moment, it retreated.

Deep below the earth, far below Paradise, Sin lurked. Shifting slightly, it almost smiled.

As one god leaves the Earth, another god supplicates. This world shall be mine.

Three powers move ever closer, spiraling to an inevitable, predestined conflict. Life and Death, Creator and god of Death shall do battle. And from the ashes of their conflict, Sin shall rise and the world shall be mine again.

The gods of old will die in time, and a new god will replace them. The god of Sin.

A deep, mocking laugh burst from the lips of the abomination known as Sin and echoed about the chamber.

The Creator glanced at the sky once more, framing the clouds and endless blue in his mind. Today, his sanctuary would be made in the heavens.

Slowly, he brought forth and image of boundless strength, determination, and fortitude, solidifying it within stone that was lighter than air. His muse spun him a memory, a memory of a castle that was both his home and battleground, inspiring him further. Little by little, he added touches to the interior, decorating it in red and gold, adding soft carpets and stone knights, turrets and battlements, towers and dungeons. The Creator added a feeling that lay within his heart, a feeling of deep freedom and contentment within the sky, joining it with the determined stone.

The home was done, but if Harry had learned anything, it was that all things worth keeping had to be defended. Sighing, he began drawing upon a rage buried deep in his soul, gathering power and strength to the anger, and tentatively added it to the base of the fortress, creating focal points that seemed like sharp jet black spikes protruding from the brown stone.

Escorts too, his muse suggested, throwing the image of the sky blue wind drakes he had created before to him. The Creator nodded internally, and added them slowly, one by one, until almost a cloud of them filled the area around the castle.

Finally, his home would need to be hidden from danger at times. Dragging up feelings of sneakiness and deceit and lies, the Creator spun a web of cloudy darkness, one thread at a time, slowly knitting together a single formation in which his home would be hidden in plain sight.

Opening his emerald eyes at last, the Creator smiled contentedly at his castle in the sky, before exhaustion overwhelmed him and he blacked out.

In his fortress, the veritable incarnation of Death stood alone on a balcony, watching his army shuffle forth and train, watch as his crusade of mass genocide slowly came together, and smiled.

In his thirteen endless years as a midnight shadow of Darkness, when he had been exiled to what amounted to Hell for this devil, he had learned and plotted. Slowly, he was forced to reflect and examine his actions and reorganize his original plans. He had realized that his rabble was untrained and undisciplined. A mob would never accomplish his dreams. It would take an army.

An army strong enough to conquer a world, an army of Death. And he would be its god.

That was what he considered himself now, standing alone and smiling darkly. The god of Death, that was what Lord Voldemort had become. Flexing his new arm slightly, the smile grew feral as he felt the power within, the never ending hunger that radiated from the dark green jewel in what amounted to his palm.

The hunger for Death.

Although the artifact hadn't been intended to serve like this, the... circumstances, forced Lord Voldemort to change his plans and adapt them. But it had worked out better than he had dreamed. Already the potency of but a few deaths, a few souls, was granting him more power than this self-proclaimed god of Death had ever thought possible.

And now that he was Death itself, he would be immune to his own powers. Death could not touch Death.

And so, the god of Death would devour every last infidel that stood in his way until at last, Lord Voldemort's ideals and world were all that remained amid the ashes of a broken world. His utopia, his paradise would incarnate itself at last.

But first... first he would deal with that thing, that ghost, that angel. Although his wounds had healed, the devil seethed with fury at such a loss. Never before had he been so humiliated, so routed, so utterly defeated. A desire for revenge, a hate unlike anything Lord Voldemort had ever felt before sang in his veins, beyond even his loathing of Potter, and the devil welcomed it.

There was no where that anyone, even an angel, could hide from the wrath of Death. In time, all his enemies would face the inevitable.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Lucius Malfoy stepped forth from the shadows, glancing appraisingly at the army before kneeling behind his god of Death.

The devil spoke softly, but his every word was laced with anticipation. "What is it?"

A small smirk appeared on the blond's face. "My Lord, our ranks have swelled to over five hundred marked. We have enough in this fortress at any given time to overwhelm Dumbledore's pitiful Order."

The god of Death did not even give the idea a moment to be considered. "And what about the news of that... creature?"

At this, the smirk disappeared on Lucius Malfoy's face, replaced by a mask of nothingness, although inwardly the Death Eater quivered at the idea of torture under his master. "We... we have not found much yet, my lord-" Before any excused could leave his lips, Lord Voldemort raised his hand, his real one, cutting the words off.

"You have failed me Lucius." The red eyed devil might as well have said "Avada Kedavra" for the death knell the words brought. "However, you still have your... uses, and it appears that the old fool is in the same situation, so we still have time."

The Inner Circle member breathed a sigh of relief.

"But you still failed."

Lucius Malfoy's eyes widened a fraction and he sucked in a small gasp of air.

"Crucio."

After a few moments of enjoying the screams in the same way another might enjoy good music, the devil released his subordinate and dismissed him. And once more, Lord Voldemort's attention was directed on his retribution.

The god of Death would burn and destroy and devastate all that lay in his path until he had his revenge on the angel.

For nothing escapes the eternal embrace of Death.

"You know something, don't you?" Remus Lupin asked the old man quietly. It was after the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore had instructed them that he and a select group of people (including Remus) would be leaving on a voyage to find the Angel-Lily. Although protests had erupted, the reasoning was that a powerful ally would be necessary in these times.

Plus, who was going to argue with Albus Dumbledore?

For a few moments, Albus Dumbledore was silent, keeping his back to the man. Finally, he spoke. "Hope is a powerful weapon... it can give strength but also destroy someone if it is taken away."

The werewolf shook his head. "That's not an answer," He replied, irritation lacing his voice.

The Headmaster finally turned and looked at Remus with tired eyes. "I cannot give you one then."

"Then answer me this," The werewolf began, "Tell me if this has something to do with Harry."

Dumbledore didn't reply, and turned away before anything could be read from his eyes, but the silence told all.

"I see." Remus turned and looked out the window, not saying anything.

The werewolf and the Headmaster stood next to each other, silently pondering their own thoughts.

And outside the door, a redheaded girl under an invisibility cloak held her hand over her lips as she retracted the Extendable Ear, a plan forming in her mind.

The Creator stood alone in the center of the flying castle, having told the Guardian to keep watch outside while he was examining the hallways of his new home. And what a home it was.

Faintly, Harry could hear the hunting screech of a wind drake, as he called the sky blue drakes that soared like the wind near the castle. An answering screech bellowed from one of the numerous towers that were inhabited at times by resting drakes. Although he was not looking out of a window, Harry could tell that the barrier of clouds was blocking the view anyway.

Inside, corridors led into empty rooms with tokens of memories he could not recall. Massive halls that could house an ungodly multitude... or an host of angels. Dining halls, some small and homely, some so expansive it could take an hour to walk from one side to the next. Statues of medieval knights stood at eternal attention, and at his whim, the Creator could spring them to life. Endless bedrooms for him to sleep in, some built for kings, some built for peasants, all for him. Half finished paintings barely recalled decorated Spartan walls.

In this labyrinth that was his home, Harry could hide from the world for all eternity. No longer would he have to live in fear or in the feeling of illusions. Now he could go anywhere, or lose himself in this castle, forever defended by a gravity defying fortress. This castle in the sky would be his Sanctuary for all eternity.

And what a castle it was. More than a mere rejection of the laws of physics, more than a nearly unbeatable castle, more than a callously unthinking defiance of every law that God had placed on this earth. One of his most potent creations made the Creator all but invincible here, in Sanctuary.

The entirety of this building was made up of this creation that defied gravity, and the hallways were furnished with it as well, save for the furniture. A piece of said creation lay in his hand, looking for all the world like an ordinary, lumpy, tan, rock.

But like its seemingly normal Creator, the stone had power unimaginable.

Smiling softly to himself, Harry focused his will on the stone, imagining it in the shape of a cube. Immediately, the rock pooled and reformed itself as the same cube that lay in his mind. Next, a bowl. Then, a small hand, then a leaf, and finally a knife.

The Creator laughed as he admired the potential ability of this rock and this castle, and his laughter rebounded upon empty walls and surrounded him in a chorus of sound. To Harry, it sounded warm and friendly, like laughing with old friends.

To a listener, it was the laughter of a mad god reveling in its latest abomination.

Thanks to Emma Barrows, Khadon, reviewer, nogoalielikeme, PinkyTheSnowman, Pleione, Vegita43, Alan Quicksilver, Dumbledore, Cattatra, arekuruu-inabikari-no-She, SeekerTLK, Bobboky, ApocSM, Lady-Elizabeth4242, Laura, japanese-jew, Nic'sim87, Silver Warrior, Wren Truesong, Crysania Fay, PersonaJXT, FroBoy, Rose of Many Thorns, mashimaromadness, Daimyo, spike blade, and HellsMaji for reviewing!

Q&A

Khadon- When do evil villains not meet and make unholy alliances and/or deals?

reviewer- I understand your hesitation to buy into my use of the H/G ship, but I'd like it if you heard me out before you stopped reading. I haven't made you like Ginny yet because I believe that the reason someone supports a ship, even in one fic, is because they like the interaction of the characters. And so far, Ginny (and everyone else aside from a small number) have not interacted with Harry, or even seen him since the start of this story. Also, the spotlight isn't going to be shared or hogged by Ginny. Its on Harry and his powers (and Voldemort too, I guess) more often than not. The spotlight will be on Ginny's interaction with Harry and his god-like powers. I'm really sorry if I made you feel that I was forcing you to like Ginny, because I'm not, and I never expected anyone to just go for the H/G ship on the spot. I can't really show what I'm doing with Ginny's character until she actually starts interacting with Harry now, can I? Secondly, the pyscho-babble is unfortunately, a component of the story. And on a final note, I've actually grown to kind of loath what I did to RWYS, or as its now called, Fixing Broken Glass. I realize that the romance was... forced on us a bit, and I apologize. I was still (and still am) learning to write.

PinkyTheSnowman- Yeah, its from FFX. (Laughs) No, its not just that with Tom. Snape recognized what was imbued into that arm (and no, I'm not telling).

Dumbledore- Sin is inherently evil, but is a part of Harry. Its agenda is not as clear cut as you might think it is though. But you are correct in the idea that Sin is a self-preservationist.

Cattatra- Soon, soon. (Laughs) Babies? Haven't you ever seen Dogma? Angels aren't equipped for that sort of thing. Like them, Lily isn't built to reproduce. She's a Guardian.

arekuruu-inabikari-no-She- To an extent, yeah, they are an army of horrors.

SeekerTLK- (snorts) Smite button? I love that word. The philosophical part of this story deals a lot with those subjects, and there's also a bit of symbolism here, with Harry and Tom representing opposing forces. And no, I didn't wait in line for Halo 2. Lucky me, huh?

ApocSM- (laughs) That makes like five people to ask that question. I'm not annoyed, I'm actually pleasantly surprised there is this many people who have played MTG that recognize some things. I was expecting maybe one or even two people, not this many. So to answer your question, yes, Ixidor is the inspiration for this fic (literally, since I read Onslaught then wrote this after like five minutes).

Lady-Elizabeth4242- Yeah, the line "From beneath you, it devours" is from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Couldn't resist.

Laura- This was inspired by a book/card game, and at times, the story has changed itself and forced me to go along with it, but its all held together by a few key ideas from myself. And to your second question, (grins), now that would just spoil some of the fun, wouldn't it?

japanese-jew- (raises eyebrow) I think Harry's got enough problems without having a madness inducing artifact of unimaginable power at his fingertips. And you missed on the abominations, they're not part of this. Some of Chainer's nightmare's might/will make appearances though.

Silver Warrior- Sin is partly a mix of a few MTG cards, but also stems from video games. If you don't know the older sets, you'll miss some of the creatures, but I'll also draw from the newer sets. No Skullclamp though, I'm afraid.

Wren Truesong- (laughs) Haven't read either, but I would like to one day. And yeah, Lily's a lot nicer than Sin, don't you think?

Crysania Fay- That arm of Voldie's is going to be trouble, trust me. Its already made him more insane. A lot of people were disturbed by Sin, and all I can say is, I hope you'll steel yourself for later. But don't worry, Sin won't show up again for a while. Will Sin kill Harry? That would mean killing itself though... And perhaps the old man has gotten the clue.

PersonaJXT- You underestimate Sin. It's smarter than it looks... which isn't saying much. But suffice to say it might not be Tom doing the using...

FroBoy- Angel's are too pure for the horror of war. Harry needed monsters to fight monsters.

Daimyo- I'm glad you find this fic so worthy.

HellsMaji - Who knows what might happen in the future...

AN: Thanks for reading this chapter, and I'd love to hear from you!