Call0013: Never seen Highschool DxD. Looks too cutesy for my tastes.
xp3r1a: Unforgivables are the pinnacle of curses, just like Fiendfyre is the pinnacle of fire curses. Possessing a killer's intent is easier than most think, but a little bit harder than what you're saying. Like the fake Moody said, if all of the Fourth Year class pointed their wands at him and used the killing curse, he wouldn't even get a nosebleed. It is meant to be a high level finishing move, except it can break through magic shields and kill instantly even at the beginning of the fight.
speaker of babbel: Harry's a teenager with a lot of power. Of course he'll explode at the people who are trying to hold him back! Even if he realizes it's the wrong thing to do. Anger is funny like that. This isn't some dreamworld lolz.
sachin6291: Thank you for the vote of confidence, but I think 188 reviews is a lot... I've never expected this story to blow up like it did.
tolraisgrey: Being brought up Muggle and not swearing seems rather difficult to achieve, unless you're the spawn of nobility :P
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
I'd like to thank you all for the support you've given me. I'm really enjoying writing this story.
Quick hint, reading the story in 1/2 width makes it a much better read.
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Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2014
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It would be a long time before I wondered about the mysterious voice in the Chamber of Secrets. The events that have taken place were so unpredictable I still can't believe they happened. The feud between Voldemort and I was nothing in comparison to the arrival of global anarchy. Sometimes I wished things were simpler...
Chapter 12: Formation
A month had passed since my confrontation with Professor McGonagall. After my anger had simmered down, I apologized to the stern witch, and explained why I couldn't waste a single second on classes that would not help me survive the coming battles.
The old woman forgave me, saying that she understood, but was deeply worried about me, stirring feelings of guilt within me. I promised her I would study the books. It had her mollified.
As for my 'detentions' with Professor Dumbledore, well...
Where to begin? They were bad-ass. I remembered the first one quite vividly.
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Scene shift - Flash back
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I moved through the hallways of the school in silence. Professor Dumbledore had told me to come to the Fifth Floor corridor, while wearing my Invisibility Cloak.
Why the secrecy, you ask?
Well, as I'm sure you can remember, the Ministry of Magic placed Professor Umbridge in Hogwarts for a specific purpose; and that wasn't to take up the cursed post of Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Oh, no. Instead, she was here to undermine the authority of the Headmaster, and make sure the new generation of students don't learn defensive or offensive spells— for their own good of course.
Of course, the next question is "Why?"
In short, the Ministry was afraid of us. It was afraid of Dumbledore, thinking he was recruiting the students. They actually thought that he was forming an army! Delusional much?
I only felt outrage and contempt at that. The Ministry was a den of corrupt politicians, controlled by whoever had the most gold. Currently, it was the Malfoy family running the Ministry.
The same Ministry that was denying us an education. The same Ministry that refused to acknowledge the return of Lord Voldemort. The same Ministry that was pressuring the Daily Prophet to print lies about the Headmaster and I in some effort to discredit us.
Speaking of the Headmaster, there he was, standing in the empty corridor, looking serene. I approached him, as silent as the shadows around us.
"Hello, Harry." He said when I got close, before entering a nearby classroom. I followed.
"...How do you do that? I'm supposed to be invisible." I asked, and closed the door, before taking off my Cloak of Invisibility, placing it on a nearby desk.
"A wizard does not reveal his secrets, Harry." Dumbledore said mysteriously. He waved his wand at the door, and it locked, before being enveloped in a shimmering field— most likely there to keep sound inside. "At least, not so easily."
"Good point, Professor— I mean, Albus." I corrected myself, looking around the unused classroom, wondering what exactly Dumbledore was going to teach me. The Headmaster waved his wand again, and all the desks flew to the side of the room into neat rows.
"I shall skip the pleasantries, as it were, Harry." He said, getting straight to the point.
"I am not quite sure how far along you are on the path of magic." Dumbledore started, walking to one side of the room, beckoning me to stand on the other side. "So, we shall duel. As I'm not fully aware of what sort of powers you possess, this is the best way of assessing your current battle power."
Me... Do battle with Dumbledore?
I stood warily on the other side of the room, calling on my lightning. It answered with a snarl, covering my body from head to toe. My perception of the world around me increased fivefold. It made for an impressive sight.
Dumbledore merely observed me calmly, not making a single move to attack. He hadn't even drawn his wand.
Not taking me seriously? He'd regret that.
I rushed the man, intent on ending this as quickly as I could. His eyes widened at my speed. I was almost onto him, when I slipped on something, and stumbled past the now amused Headmaster. He stepped aside, and shoved me with a concussive wave of force which emanated from his wand. I ended up on falling right on my face.
"Watch your surroundings, Harry." The old man admonished, looking a little disappointed.
I studied the spot I'd slipped on, noticing the melting frost. When the hell did he have the time to conjure ice? I didn't even see him do it! I gave the old man an impressed stare, before rushing him again, this time paying attention to anything he might throw at me.
I managed to avoid a few projectiles which were coming from the side, and had to dodge a few spells Dumbledore sent my way. The aim was dead on, but thanks to my increased perception, I managed to somehow avoid the well placed spells.
Judging from the colors of the beams, I assumed it was a series of stunners. The old man followed up by transfiguring some nearby desks to wolves, and commanding them to attack. The wolves circled my form, growling threateningly, before lunging at me.
Thanks to my greatly enhanced senses, I easily dodged the bites and claw swipes, retaliating by striking at the wolves' vital areas. As soon as the last wolf was down, I wasted no time and bum rushed the Headmaster, who looked surprised at the quick response.
I got within striking distance, and launched a kick at the old wizard. The kick connected to a hastily erected shield, which easily weathered the damage. I tried punching it a few times, to no avail. Well, if you can't brute force through it...
"Edge!" A loud screech was heard when I thrust my lightning covered hand at the barrier. It held under the immense strain of my spinning lightning drill for a few moments, before breaking like glass. I made to follow up, before freezing on the spot, from the Headmaster's Petrificus Totalus. That was the end of that fight.
Professor Dumbledore calmly regarded me as he released the spell.
"How did I do?" I asked curiously, shaking off the stiffness caused by that curse.
"It was an impressive show, my boy." Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. "I can see why you have chosen to harness the element of lightning. It seems to increase your strength and speed and reduce your reaction time by incredible amounts."
He figured that out just by fighting me once? How?
As if reading my mind, Dumbledore answered.
"I simply observed your reactions against my transfigured wolves." The old wizard explained. "You were fully aware of the wolves' movements, and even managed to accurately strike their vital points. This shows an amazing sensory input. If I were to assess your level, I would say you were at the level of a fledgling Auror on your lightning magic alone."
"Really?" Well that was a bit of an ego boost, wasn't it?
"Of course, there was a glaring weakness." Dumbledore lightly commented. "However, I am sure you are already aware."
"Yeah. I've been mostly working on short range attacks." I admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of my head.
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Shift Scene - Flash back end
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For the remainder of that detention— and the following ones, too— Dumbledore had me blasting things from a distance with my Lightning Dragon Slayer magic. When he heard me referring to it as such, he got a thoughtful look on his face, as if he was remembering something from a long time ago.
When I asked him about it, he told me that there used to be different element type dragons in ancient history. Mentions of Ice Dragons in the Himalayas mountain range. Water dragons living in the ocean. Lightning dragons in the skies. And of course, the Fire Dragons that remained today.
I was frankly amazed at the revelation. I'd thought I learned something from an anime. Something that wasn't real. I wondered if that was the only reason I'd survived trying to eat electricity. What if I picked something that wasn't based from things in the real world? I wondered if I'd be dead if I tried something other than my Dragon Slayer magic. I realized I got lucky.
Funny how that worked sometimes.
So, like I said, a month passed, with me training in the use of my magic. Aside from shooting lightning bolts all over the place, I was also working on increasing the number of bolts I could cast at the same time. So far, I managed to shoot three targets simultaneously with one hand. I found that a lightning bolt per finger eased the process considerably.
Plus I thought it looked pretty cool. I could point my finger at someone and fry them! Come on, you know what I'm talking about!
Aside from that, the Headmaster had me go through an obstacle course of his creation. I had to jump through hoops, climb towers, crawl under some debris, all the while dodging projectiles which attacked me at random.
When I managed to finish that, I had to have mock battles with him. Most of the time with some kind of handicap. In one, he made me only use my wand. In another, he disallowed the use of external magic; I kept dodging his increasing spell chains as best as I could.
Needless to say, every training session was long and grueling. As soon as I got to the dorms, I would fall asleep on my bed almost immediately, due to the fatigue and the damage suffered.
But the results spoke for themselves. In that single month, I feel I've learned almost as much— if not more than— as my entire time spent studying magic for the past four years.
On Dumbledore's advice, I've learned to compress my lightning aura so that it stayed compacted within the confines of my body. Aside from the obvious stealth benefits, almost all of my skill effects doubled in response. My speed, reaction speed, strength— they all doubled in power.
The Headmaster was very surprised at the incredible progress being made, saying that it took wizards a few years to progress that much. When he'd informed me of that, I gave a noncommittal shrug. I've always known I was different from others; it used to bother me a lot in the fast. I'd always wanted to be normal, you know? To be another face in the crowd.
My mindset changed, since then. I realized that being normal was never going to happen. I was always going to be powerful. I was always going to be famous; Boy-Who-Lived, Heir of Slytherin, Triwizard Champion, Unstable Attention Seeking Liar, you name it. I wouldn't be surprised if they started calling me the Chosen One once Voldemort is out in the open.
The progress in my training was proof of it. I was fifteen years old, and was on the level of Aurors in terms of battle power, according to Dumbledore's assessment of my skills— which have only increased since then.
I was currently standing in the Owlery, reading Sirius' latest missive. It came with a medium sized package. I decided to read the letter before opening it.
"Dear Dogson,
I thank you for the generous gift that I shall not mention but shall treasure in many obscene ways. I'm still feeling a little stir crazy, but going out for some pizza has been helping; not to mention all the countless hours I've been spending on this computer of yours. Marvelous invention, that there is!
It's too bad we haven't invented something like this. In any case, I'm doing well over here. I've taken the liberty of playing these games, and I have to admit, it's great fun, despite the loud, whiny children. Simply getting the chance to kill them made the whole experience worth it. One of them got spanked by his mother, as the session was playing out. We all heard every single sound. I felt bad for the kid, but honestly, he deserved what he got.
Anyway, I'm sure you've been edgy without your gadgets—" You don't know the half of it, Sirius. "—So I called in a favor from Arthur. He outfitted your music player with the magic insulating rune, and I took the liberty of sending it to you." I stopped reading at that moment, before excitedly opening the package, revealing my trusty mp3, as well as enough batteries to last me an entire year.
I went back to reading the letter, feeling amused at what he wrote.
"I'm assuming you've went ahead and opened the box, like the curious mite that you are. We've already given it thorough testing in a magical environment. It works perfectly, though your taste in music is quite... strange.
Anyway, enjoy the music!
-PussyFucker69 (Am I doing this right?)"
I stared at the last bit for a few moments, before bowling over in laughter. This was rich! I can't believe he used that as his name.
I penned a decent-length reply, thanking him for his amazing gift. I admitted that I've been feeling anxious because of my constant training and the disapproval of certain people around me. I made vague references to how I was getting much better at my training, before telling him of my progress with the fairer sex— which wasn't all that much. Once done, I tied the letter to Hedwig, who rubbed her head against mine affectionately before flying off.
Immediately, I stuffed a battery into the mp3 player, and put on my headphones. The familiar feeling seemed to take my tension right away. I pressed play, it started in the middle of a song I was quite familiar with.
"—My army comes from deep within
Beneath my soul, beneath my skin
As you are ending, I'm about to begin
My strength is pain and I will never give in!—" It was a song I'd ripped from somewhere. It emerged a few years ago, with no mention of the artist, and made for great battle music; after a few days of searching for the artist online with no leads, I decided it wasn't worth the effort, and simply enjoyed the song itself.
I closed the lid of the package, before making my way to the dorms, mouthing the lyrics along the way, as well as slightly dancing with the rhythm. It felt so very great, to have background music again.
I walked through the hallways of the school with a grin and a spring in my step. People were staring at me weirdly, like they'd never seen someone with headphones on— well, most of them hadn't, huh? Those poor, poor people.
I turned a corner, walking past Daphne, who also gave me a curious stare. I gave her a nice, saucy wink in return, ignoring the rising blush on my cheeks— and hers— before continuing my trek to the common room.
I quickly tried to ghost past a bickering Ron and Hermione, who were too busy yelling at each other to notice me. Over the past few weeks, Hermione had tried very hard to show that she was sorry about the way she was acting.
The first couple of days, I ignored her attempts out of sheer spite, but couldn't really find it in me to keep pushing her away. On the third day, I told her I'd forgive her if she did a few things for me; then I started listing off impossible tasks, one after the other. It was at the fifth task, she noticed the ill concealed grin on my face, and punched me in the shoulder, before hugging me right afterwards.
Things were back to normal, or as close as normal can get in my life.
I made it to the stairs leading up to my dorms, before being stopped. I turned to see Hermione.
"Harry, I— What's this?" She began, but stopped when she noticed my headphones. I grinned, before placing them on my neck, the music being heard to whoever was close enough. It was a dubstep rendition of a famous pirate song.
"Bloody pirates! ~" Came from the headphones, before the song dropped the bass.
"My dogfather sent them, just today! Mr. Weasley had them outfitted for me so they can function in magical environments." I answered her question with a smile. "God, it feels like heaven. I missed my babies." I showed her the package full of batteries. "I can do this all year, now! Isn't it great?"
"Yes..." She trailed off, probably thinking of all the theory behind making this work. I couldn't care less, and was happy to have my music back. It was such a good stress reliever.
Hermione shook off her curious thoughts. "Anyway, I was wondering... Um..." She bit her lip.
"What?" I asked. "Spit it out."
"Canyouteachusdefense?" She quickly said in one breath.
Wait, what?
"You want me," I began, gesturing at myself, and then her. "To teach you Defense? Did you finally go insane after all that studying?"
She looked a little annoyed at the dig, but firmly nodded to the former question in response.
"I've asked around," She explained. "And it seems that a lot of students would like to learn Defense from a proper teacher."
"And that proper teacher is me?" I asked almost incredulously.
"Well, yes." She admitted sheepishly. "You're the best at Defense, so you're the best at teaching us."
"While I do enjoy being called the best," I turned up my nose haughtily, making her shake her head in amusement. "There's a difference between being good at a subject, and being good at teaching it. Just look at Snape. Neville's almost always in tears."
All right, the insult to Snape's teaching methods was a bit of a dick move, considering that he'd been nicer to me lately; but hey, if it worked, why fix it?
"Nevertheless, you're the most capable person we know." Hermione countered. "You've faced the basilisk, the acromantulas, the creatures in the Black Lake, and more. Not to mention Voldemort himself. And your shocking ability." She hinted at my Lightning Dragon Slayer magic.
And she didn't even know Dumbledore was training me during those detentions.
"Well, when you put it like that..." I trailed off. She took it as a sign of approval.
"All right. I'll tell everyone that you agreed to it!" Hermione looked giddy.
"Just how many people know about this?" I asked curiously.
"Oh, just a few..."
"So, a few like five or six?" I guessed. She winced, probably thinking I'd be upset.
"Not five or six, then." I laughed. "Not the whole school, though? I don't think I can teach hundreds, no matter how capable you think I am."
"Goodness, no." She said automatically, realizing I wasn't upset. "Around twenty-five or so."
"Did you ask Daphne yet?"
"Daphne? You mean Daphne Greengrass?" She looked a little confused.
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"Why not?" I countered. "I was also thinking of inviting Draco." I said nonchalantly.
"...You want to invite Draco? Really?" Hermione gave me a queer look.
"Not really, no." I denied with a grin.
"But you just—"
"Yeah, it was a joke. Sheesh." The look of exasperation on Hermione's face was well worth it.
"I still want to invite Daphne, though."
"That's fine, I suppose." Hermione bit her lip thoughtfully. "She was always pretty quiet."
"Agreed. I suppose Malfoy spoke enough for the rest of them combined." I joked, and we shared a laugh, before I turned in to sleep.
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"Twelve inches of parchment to be handed in next week, on the various varieties of venom antidotes." Snape said at the end of our Double Potions class, hovering over Ron's terrible attempt at brewing a Strengthening Solution.
"I would prefer not to hand out detentions to the dunces that are obviously not putting the effort in." He sneered at reddening Ron, who was yet again forced to sit down elsewhere. This time, however, it was Tracey Davis that was sitting next to me.
Ron seethed at the insult, while Snape merely looked amused at the redhead's humiliation.
"The various varieties of venom antidotes." I repeated, noting it down. "Heh. That alliterates. Various varieties of venom. Feels kinda snake-y, too."
"Indeed." Hermione looked worryingly at Ron, who looked like he wanted to beat Snape to a pulp.
"I bet he's gonna cry about this for the rest of the day." I said, noticing her gaze.
"Please." She gave me a condescending look. "Rest of the week, is more like it."
Tracey snorted at the humor, before trying to cover up the embarrassing sound, looking mortified.
"Nice one." I quipped, and gave the auburn haired girl an amused glance, before going to turn in a sample of my potion. Snape gave it a single look, before giving me a nod. I think that was his way of telling me: "good job."
I went back to my post, before packing everything up, putting my headset on my neck, and ignoring Tracey's death glare. It was as if I committed the ultimate sin or something. Then again, I suppose if someone made fun of something I was self conscious about, I'd probably be just as angry, if not more.
I gave her a halfhearted 'sorry', before grabbing my book bag and following Daphne, who had exited the class.
I found her outside, staring at a nearby wall for no particular reason. She was probably waiting for Tracey to finish up.
"Hey, Daphne." I got her attention. She turned, her hair spinning along with her. She looked really nice.
"Hello, Potter." She gave a friendly smile. "Can I help you with anything?"
"Ah, well..." I trailed off, not knowing how to start. "Hermione's been talking to a few people, and she's got them convinced to meet me during this next Hogsmeade weekend so we can talk about learning Defense."
"I see." She said, sounding a little disappointed. "And you're here to invite me to it?"
"Invite you to what?" Tracey had exited the class, and was looking at me suspiciously. Was she still that ruffled over her loud unladylike snort? Yeesh.
"Meeting next Hogsmeade weekend," I repeated, looking at Tracey. "To talk about learning proper Defense, and not the garbage that Umbridge has been feeding us."
I turned back to Daphne. "Interested?"
"I might be." She seemed to be thinking it over. "Is that all?"
"Not exactly." I said, and she gave me a curious look.
"Well, I was wondering; will you go to Hogsmeade— with me?" I tried to ignore the heat in my cheeks.
There you go, Potter. Show 'em how it's done!
"As a date?" She asked, while Tracey was trying not to gape.
"Yeah."
"..." She didn't answer for a while. I took that as a refusal. My spirits fell.
"Well, if you don't want to, that's okay, I—"
"No, no." She stopped me, looking flustered. "I do. I just wasn't expecting it, that's all."
"So, that's a 'yes'?" I asked, trying to not sound hopeful but failing miserably. Damn you, feelings!
"Yes, Potter. I'll go with you." She flashed a brilliant smile, before walking away, her friend Tracey following in shocked silence.
Score!
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Harry's got a date!
Anyway, are you liking the set up of the world? So far, it's going to be angels, demons, ancient dragons, wizards, and the world falling into anarchy. I'm essentially turning the entire planet into my playground.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Peace!