AN:
Hi, everybody. Yes, I'm still alive; I haven't been eaten by anything slimy or such. I haven't dropped this story either, and even if I don't update frequently, I'm going to see keep writing.
I know I hadn't updated in like forever, but I had gotten into a disinterest period in which I didn't know what to write or even gotten into the mood to sit down and work on my stories.
Some of you had written to me that they would like to beta the story. I was very happy about such offers, but since I was in a slump I didn't contact anyone. I'm terribly sorry. bows ruefully
So the story still remains in its un-betad version, but if anyone is still interested in the job, be my guest.
Well enjoy
Chapter 14
Severus ran.
Ran as fast as his feet would take him.
Turned here and there, going lower and lower until he would reach the first floor.
He had to be faster.
Harry slumped down in a chair, tears streaming down his eyes uncontrollably while he was shivering and trembling, but not from the cold. He didn't want to cause pain to anyone; he didn't want to play the strong one for others because he wasn't. He didn't want to be a Death Eater. But there was nothing he could do against it.
"Can't they see I'm but a child!" he cried out desperately as he hid his face in his hands sobbing so much that it seemed he was trying to wash out his soul with this mere action. "I can't do this! I'm not strong enough…" His cry quieting into whisper as he continued to voice out his pain. "I can't do this…"
A large snake slithered towards him and licked his hand while lifting its body to tower up over the boy. Harry lowered his hands slowly and his green eyes looked blurry at it.
"Ne, Nagini…" he spoke. "How do the others do this? How does Tom manage to pull through this everyday?"
The snake answered, it's hissing sounds long and calming.
"I don't want him to hate me…"
The snake slithered around him and nuzzled his head hissing a question.
"Snape…"
Severus shook his head clearing his mind from the invading visions that were nagging at him to notice them. There were more important matters that needed his attention right now. The boy was calling out for him in panic, not in words, and Severus could sense the fear as though it were his own, it was expanding from his chest to every part of his body, causing the powers within to stir up in order to protect him.
Willing the magic to remain at bay, Severus just hoped he would make it in time.
After he had somehow managed to get back to his sense, he had found himself standing with a pointing hand against the wall. He had been holding his other arm as though he had been embracing someone. At first he hadn't understood what exactly had happened, but then slowly the events started to come back to him and he remember Harry…God, when had he started to forget that the boy was Potter? … He remembered the look on the boy's face as he starred concerned up to him, but at the moment all Severus had cared for had been Riddle.
James' brother… Severus new other half…
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Sirius starred horrified at the creature at the bottom of the stairs.
Wide green eyes looked frightened up back to him, while crouching fearfully back from the stair. The slit eyes were locked upon Sirius.
On no one else but him…
They starred and starred at one another, until Sirius couldn't stand the sight of the pale skin, the wings hanging like a dead bird's behind the crouching figure and the insupportable need of comfort that was visible in the creature's eyes.
That things wasn't Harry…
It would never be Harry…
It couldn't be Harry…
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Severus heard the voice in his head crying desperately for someone not to look at him. He wanted to shut the voice out of his mind since it was confusing his own emotions, but he had not choice but to keep listening. The fearful cry continued as a powerful wave of magic flooded though the castle.
"Damn that boy!" he cursed as he took three stair steps at the time trying to shorten the distance faster between him and Harry while feeling like he was drowning in a maddening urgency for comfort that wallowed inside of him.
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He was being rejected… again rejected. It was that look in their eyes that tried to suffocate him.
Hated, out of place, disappointed and ashamed of his existence
"You're worthless…" a voice echoed dull in his mind"You see how they turn from you…"
Sirius's eyes were wide and fearful. Afraid of him, of what he was, just like everyone else in his life!
"They don't know how it really feels to be an outsider…"
No they didn't, they couldn't.
"Human's fear what they cannot comprehend…They will destroy you as they do with everything that does not fit into their treacherous little minds."
He didn't want to die! Not yet! NO!
He looked around to the others.
They wouldn't really hurt him… would they? They were his friends…
"But they have hurt you before, isn't it so?"
He trembled as visions of events washed over him.
Fights, disagreements, loneliness…
Suddenly he could see someone trying to attack him from behind.
"Give in…you can already feel their powers merging to attack you… Fight them!"
He cried out angry at the betrayal.
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The boy howled, the sound causing the air in the room to tense further. Drake knelt with raised arms creating a shield for her and the students behind her. She could see that George was doing the same to protect the people near him from the leaking waves of magic that exploded from the Yorae.
The boy had completely lost control of himself, the limiter that she had earlier created to control him had long ago been broken allowing the madness of time to flood Harry's mind causing a reaction that soon would have him go completely out of his mind.
Snapping his head around to face the people around him, Harry's golden eyes fixed in disorientation and fear at them. Drake frowned as another wave of magic hit her shield and it trembled against the power. There was a high chance that the Yorae wasn't even aware of their presence, but that their magical energy irritated and scared him, which caused him to self-protect, meaning: attack first. If such was the case, then the problem would be even worse to start with, because every person in this castle wielded magical power, which would be even more threatening to the dragon and could lead to Harry calling forth powers that he neither could control nor could they defend themselves from.
The wings on Harry's back spread behind him as the boy crouched slightly forward uncrossing his arms and exposing his claws. Drake could see him weighting out where best to attack and from whom it would be easier to defend. The chances were sixty to forty that he would turn to her since she was standing as dragon alone, while on the other side there were dragons and gods to be considered as a danger. Still Drake had almost a complete student body behind her, which might equivalent the energy of the others at the stair if summed up together. On the other hand, should the boy attack her first, the others could try to stop him. Which wasn't good either since none of them new how to really counter Yorae magic.
Harry growled loudly and Drake could sense the fear that rose from the children behind her, the terror that the Yorae could probably smell as well. Her side was definitely weaker and the Yorae agreed as he jumped rapidly up and headed towards the stair, turning his back to her.
The boy hit with full body against George's shield causing it to flicker lightly definitely having caught the other by surprise. Immediately his brother raised his hands and aided him.
Words of power were spoken, and more magic was called forth.
Those idiots, they would only cause the Yorae to feel more in danger and react in an uncontrollable manner.
"Stop! Don't attack him!" she called out, but her words never made it across the room.
Neville raised his hands and send a ray of energy against Harry.
Evading it easily, the Yorae cried out in anger while energy gathered around him. His hair was charging with electricity giving him an even wilder look than he already had. He jumped up the railing and ran it up as though it were nothing more than a normal path before slamming himself against the twins shield again and clinging with his claws onto the energy wall.
"Don't!" Drake called desperately out as she tried to move without lowering her arms from keeping the shield up and without hurting her mother on her lap.
But again her cry was not heard, Neville called out again with power trying to push Harry from the shield, but to little success. The boy protected his body with his wings, narrowing his eyes when he jumped back in the air.
Those fools! Without his limiter, Harry was becoming more and more one with Time itself, which meant he would know how they would attack, and worst of all, he would know of all the choices he could take in order to attack them in return, where to strike best in order to crush them and were they couldn't counter him.
The clan of the Visionary wasn't feared for nothing, they were beyond gods and dragons, they could call upon powers that wasn't even their own. They were unpredictable, sneaky, manipulative and above all powerful. All added together with the knowledge that was out of their time could turn a Yorae into a destructive force that none could stop. And once Harry realized the strength he beheld, he could simply kill them all in one stroke, if he wasn't stopped first.
The boy looked down at her with his golden eyes, a smirk starting to spread on his lips as the energy around him started to take a dark red color.
Drake's eyes widened, Tom was starting to control Harry in his disorientated state, the dark energy leaking out of the body like thick oil was prove of this. And if Riddle had indeed fallen to the Dark, than he would control Harry against them and the Yorae god knew how to manipulate the younger dragon's power... to almost its full extent.
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Harry raised an arm up over his head and the magic that leaked out of him gathered up together in form of a ball in a wild fury of power. Narcissa could see it through a blurry vision. She heaved herself from her child's lap as Drake looked worried down. She knew she had to give the priestess a chance to fight the boy back.
Raising her arm up, Narcissa summoned the winds around her forming a somewhat smaller shield than her daughter's, but considering her condition, strong enough to withstand for a few minutes the power of the Yorae.
Drake nodded thankfully before getting up on her feet and taking out a small knife from her clothing. Closing her eyes and whispering words of a tongue long forgotten to the humans she closed her hands around the blade tightening it with each word that passed her lips more and more. The pain and smell of her blood was soon forgotten in her concentration.
The blood dripping to the ground gained life and started to rise like snakes from the ground rising around her in unruly motions before rushing through her mother's shield towards Harry.
Energy exploded as the dragon blood came into contact with the Yorae and Harry screamed in confusion out. Slithering about him the blood strengthen its hold just as Drake strengthened her grip around the blade.
The cold steel vibrated in her hands trying like the Yorae to escape her, but Drake had not been trained and had not lived with the Yorae clan for many years without knowing how to stand up against them. The thing just was that James had never turned out to be as powerful as his son.
In her mind she felt the humming echo of her brother's soul aiding her with his magic, but it was turning out to be little help. Harry wasn't the only one resisting.
"Tom…" she gritted through clenched teeth, sensing the dark magic pushing against her own.
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Fred could see the blade in the priestess' hands starting to shine in a black color just as Harry was dissolving the energy he had gathered moments before and was pressing it between him and the bonds that were holding him still.
The priestess actions had been foolish. Fred knew it just like he knew that attacking the Yorae back then had only caused him to anger even more. If Harry had lost control of the amount of energy for a mere second it would have exploded around them and he wasn't sure whether they would have been able to resist it. But Fred also realized that they were little options left for them considering the people around them they had to protect. They couldn't confront a Yorae in full power.
The woman sank to her knees as she continued to let her blood flow around Harry. Then suddenly she was thrown back as the blade in her hands exploded into pieces injuring not only her but also some of the children near her. The Yorae had finally succeeded in using the energy he had gathered to break free.
Laughter filled the room, louder than the cries of fear and pain; it was dark and deep. Fred saw Harry's face twist into a grimace exposing his long teeth. The predator was free once more.
"Fool…" the Yorae said calling everyone attention onto him. "You think you can defy us with just that?"
Fred could make Tom's voice out as Harry spoke. Now they were in trouble.
"You are not even strong enough to remain on your feet."
"You are right!" another deep voice answered.
Fred glanced slightly back up the stairs. Snape stood there, but he looked strange to his eyes… no, it wasn't that he looked strange; it wasn't Snape at all, it was someone else, someone who looked similar to the Potion Master… right?
"They can't fight you." The man said glaring at the Yorae. "But I can!"
Harry snorted, his one golden eye looking bored at the man. "A human? What could you possibly do?" the red eye narrowed slightly, almost suspiciously, as though it knew something the other eye didn't. It was unnerving to Fred.
Suddenly Snape crouched down and disappeared from behind them and reappeared before Harry in the air throwing the boy down to ground, both sliding on the blood on the floor and smashing against the base of the stairs together.
Fred had the feeling that one of them must definitely have broken his neck, when he saw Harry lying unconsciously with his head to the side. Snape slowly got up and raised his hand to his mouth. From where Fred stood he could not make out was he was doing, but the magic that was called forth made the hair on his neck stand up.
The Potion Master laid his left hand over Harry's face and the hair of the boy moved slightly with the man's magic. Something formed over the Yorae's face.
Fred narrowed his eyes trying to make out what was being done. He could see the signs of a seal wandering over the boy's skin, gathering over his eyes and finally coming together as one.
Snape passed then a hand over the boy's face pushing his bangs aside. Harry's features returned somewhat back to human, only the ears remained long. Snape reached with an arm under the boy's neck then with the other under his legs and heaved him up.
"It won't break now." He stated as he looked towards the priestess. "But the Yorae can't remain here much longer."
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Drake approached slowly the man holding Harry in his arms. He had not turned his eyes from her since he had looked at her. Holding with her left arm her numb one she walked up to him. With every step she moved closer to him her heartbeat fastened in her chest.
She starred at him up as she stopped before him. Licking her lips nervously while breathing heavily, she gathered her courage together before speaking up.
"Do you know who I am?" she could hear her own fear in her voice. Fear of the answers she might get, the slight trembles that accompanied it... His mere presence was causing her mind to blank out again as so many years ago when she had been told of his death.
He nodded slowly "Drake."
Suddenly the tension of her body broke free, as though released by magic with the sound of her name. She felt her tears come down her face at his dry reply. His eyes were the same but everything else was not James. Nothing seemed to remain of the man she had loved. She had wished that this wouldn't be so, but now…
She broke down in sobs, her own feeling overwhelming her and the terrible aching in her chest forced her down to her knees.
"Give him back to me!" she screamed at Severus reaching out and getting hold of his robes, but the eyes that once had looked brightly and full of love down at her, were now cold and absent.
"It lies not in my power to do such, nor do I want to. I am not him…" He stretched the last word with disgust. Then paused with sadness. "And yet… strangely I am." He shook his head and narrowed his eyes annoyed at his own words. "Whichever the case…" he sighed, his eyes cold again. "…My place is not with you."
Drake looked through a blurry vision up, unable to do anything else. He moved his head so that his hair moved to the side and she could see the sign on his forehead. A lightning shaped mark was visible on the once pale skin…
Harry's sign.
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AN:
I really though I had put this chapter up ages ago, since it was finished together with chapter 13…
Well, aren't you glad there are still two more chapter waiting?