The Good Race

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, all related characters, locations, and events, are owned by Warner Brothers, J.K. Rowling, and multiple parties. No infringement is intended, nor should it be expected. Fair use only.

One Shot: The Good Race

1999 - Abandoned Shack

Harry's eyes snapped open in the darkness, a twinge in the back of his mind alerting him to danger. His heart pounds as he lurches from the matted bed, long abandoned by it's original owners unknown years ago. The dream, no, the nightmare he had been having washed away with the real fear that filled him to the very core as his well-laid wards are torn asunder. The strength behind the attack tells him that the race is over, that only one man could possibly have broken through. The scuffed and scratched wand clutched in his hand shakes, even as it twitches once, twice, three times, a small twirl at the end. He grunts an unheard word even as the door to the shack explodes open.

The first robed figure through the door is sliced to ribbons, a net of blue light tearing him to shreds, even as the second robed figure blocks a flash of red light that would have burned his eyes from his skull. A flash of green light dodged, a volley of bright purple orbs returned, even as another figure enters the room. Two on one has never been fair odds as far as Harry is concerned, a flick of his wand turning the back wall into sharp shards of wood that flash through the air to slice into his attackers. He tears his eyes away to smack away a nearly invisible ball of energy that had flashed from the darkened woods around him.

With the same motion, he twists his wand, the ground between the shack and the wall of trees cracking open, sending a wall of dirt into the air as a makeshift wall. The wand in his hand nearly crackles with power as he pushes, yanking it back towards the shack. Silent magic was hard, but intent magic even more so. The effort he put into this spell would have killed anyone made of lesser stuff, but he was Harry Fucking Potter, and his will was stronger than most.

'Down!' He screamed, pushing his intentions through his magic, even as it took effect, even as a trickle of blood drips from his nose.

With a loud crack, the shack was smashed flat in a shower of wooden splinters, crushing three people, as though a massive foot had slammed down on to it. Twirling in place, his wand alight with a sparkling glow, the splinters, and wood chunks are snagged from the air, forming into a torrent that he sends streaming into the woods. They slam into an unseen force, splitting and burning to ash, as a tall robed figure walks through.

"Harry Harry Harry…" Came a sibilant hiss from the darkness.

The tall man steps from the shadows, his skin pale under the moonlight. His pale red eyes seem to gleam, filled with malicious mirth, a joke that only he could find funny. His long wand is held lightly between two fingers, the end still glowing with the green of its last curse.

"No jokes, Harry? Nothing to...say?" He asked, a light smile reaching his lips. "Ah, that's right...It's good to see that you've learned to survive even without your tongue."

Harry snarled, his wand sparking in the darkness surrounding them. His tongue, long since ripped from his mouth, had been a disability even he had barely overcome.

"There is no one here to die for you this time, Harry. Who was it last time? The blonde one?" The man asked, his laugh mirrored from an unknown number of people in the woods all around them. "Drop the wand, and I will make it quick. I respect you...Harry. The final man standing between me...and the world."

Harry's arm snaps up, a flash of black ethereal light leaping from his wand to smash into his enemy, even as a line of bright white slices his arm off at the elbow. No stranger to pain, the white-hot flash of pain from his missing arm simply angers him, his left hand snatching his wand from mid-air, snapping back into position to block a putrid yellow curse from inverting his skin. A flick and it's gone, replaced with two motes of blue light that spark as though filled with electricity. Voldemort had not been idle after shielding against the black curse, slashing his wand across his chest, a thunderclap of energy emanating outward in a circle.

Harry presses the energy to his missing arm, a silent scream as it burns over the bleeding flash, before snarling as he releases another silent curse. On and on, back and forth, slowly whittling each other away. As each time before, Harry slowly lost ground, dodged a little slower, released hexes and curses at a rate that just didn't stack up. Even after all these years, he still wasn't good enough, yet he felt he couldn't have expected any different.

'DAMNIT!' He thought, as another curse just barely missed his foe.

With a final slash of his wand, a curse breaks through, Harry is knocked back, landing hard on his side. Before he can move his left hand is gone, dissolved in a flash of blue-green energy, his wand burning away. He lays there as footsteps slowly make their way to him, before the tall pale figure stands over him. Voldemort has several cuts and burns, a few glancing blows that had managed to make it through.

"Take solace in that you will be remembered, Harry Potter. Not as The-Boy-Who-Lived, but as the only person to truly challenge me. The last person standing to ever defy me. What was it that you once said, so many years ago? That we're in a race against time, and you've got the headstart? ...You ran a good race...But it ends here and now, Harry, a thousand kilometers from the finish line." Voldemort says, staring down into Harry's eyes, searching for something. "Avada Kedavra."

July 31st, 1991

Even as the door crashed open, sending the Dursley's scrambling, and a familiar giant of a man stepped through, Harry Potter couldn't help but smile. Voldemort had said that the race had was done, that Harry Potter had lost.

"I'm Harry Potter." He said, introducing himself to one of his first friends.

But Harry Potter doesn't lose. Call it fate, call it destiny, call it whatever you'd like. In the end, this race has only just begun.

A/N: Sorry! Please excuse this interruption into your regularly scheduled Fanfics! Just a quick one-shot I pumped out during a lunch break. I love a good time travel fic, and I've always wanted to try my hand at one. Perhaps one day? Until next time, this is Klldarkness, and this is a Oneshot Harry Potter story.