Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other fandom I manage to squeeze in this story.
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Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2015
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Chapter 42: Home Sweet Home
I had thought I'd never meet a being as alluring, and outrageously sexy as Lilith.
As I stared at this woman's— not a woman, the Queen of the Unseelie herself— green eyes, I realized that I was wrong. Dead wrong.
I took a few moments to stare at her. She wore quite the outfit: a tight, crimson dress that reached her mid-thigh; long, black high-heeled boots that went underneath her skirt, and a crimson cloak, which covered here back, and some of her front.
She raised a crimson gloved finger to her lips, trying to work her magic on Clark and I.
It was greatly similar to Lilith's seduction trick. So, naturally, I fought back.
"Glamor, is what it's called. Focus your will and shred it to pieces." Erebus sent the thought to my brain as I drew in my force of will, and smashed the glamor to pieces.
Clark, of course, fell for it immediately, and took a few steps forward. I forced myself to remain calm.
Did she know of his incredible power, already?
I smacked Clark in the face, a little Lightning in my strike for that nice jolt to get the adrenaline going. The taller man staggered back, dazed. He shook his head, stumbling a little, before getting himself back under control with a few deep breaths.
He nodded his thanks to me, before glaring at the source of his current problem.
I stifled a relieved sigh, before turning to Queen Mab.
"Impressive." Mab praised, her voice rich, melodious, and beautifully cold. I could feel her overpowering ice energy from where I was standing. Queen of Air and Darkness, indeed.
Over the past year, I had developed what I liked to think was a functioning method of placing certain people in their proper weight leagues. By weight leagues, I meant fighting potential. Battle strength. How much power someone can conceivably output. You get the idea.
Muggles, for the most part, were at the bottom of the food chain when it came to battle strength. The general populace avoided fighting, and confrontations altogether. Only a very small percentage of them posed an actual threat to the other weight leagues: basically, the armies, and armed forces.
Wand-wizards like to brag about how their Shield Charms can deflect bullets— that was something I should have done when I was rescuing the meteor infected, actually— but you couldn't exactly put up a shield if you were already dead, right?
A bullet would slam into you before you even finished the first syllable of Protego. And, if your attacker is being stealthy, you wouldn't even know when to conjure the shield.
Even with that, I still considered most Muggles to be extreme lightweights.
I didn't really know much about Squibs, but to my understanding, they were like Muggles except with enough magic that they could create certain potions. Imagine a squad of Squibs who were hopped up on Strengthening Solution, and toting guns arounds.
So I'd put Squibs in the lightweight division.
Then we had wand-wizards. The wand-wizards could be classed between lightweight and low middleweight. Some, like Gilderoy Lockhart, had almost no talent except in certain fields. I remembered Seamus continually screwing up the Levitation Charm in our first year at Hogwarts. Ron wasn't all that good with his spells, either.
Me? I had never really applied myself, but when I did… Well, my mastery of the Patronus Charm spoke for itself, didn't it?
Among the wand-wizards, there were those that were considered to be exceptionally powerful. People like Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Merlin, Morgana LeFay.
In this day and age, those who were considered powerful were Lord Voldemort, and Albus Dumbledore— though, sadly, Dumbledore was now dead.
Anyway, back to what I was getting at. People like Voldemort and Dumbledore weren't considered to be on the same level as the rest of the wizard lightweights/middleweights. They were straight heavyweights.
So, what about other heavyweights? Unlike the other two divisions, the heavyweight division had no upper limit. So, just because two people were powerful enough to be considered heavyweights, it didn't mean they were equal.
Far from it.
Case in point, Dante, Vergil, and Lilith were heavyweights. But so was Mundus, and Mundus could probably take on all three of them without much trouble. Clark was a heavyweight, but he had no special resistance, or defense against magic, which was a pretty bad weakness to have in the world I lived in.
Coming back to my original thought, where did I stand in this scale? It was a bit difficult to say. My ranking system worked on what feats people were capable of. Anne, for example, was a telekinetic, which immediately placed her in the heavyweight division, if not high middleweight, seeing as she could alter the composition of anything she wanted.
She could turn your blood into air and watch you die an agonizing death. Or, she could create gold and diamonds by changing the composition of everyday rocks. Her power was truly exceptional— if she ever figured out how to use it correctly.
So, what was I capable of?
The answer was immediate. My Lightning Dragonslayer Magic. Balthazar. Erebus. I possessed a wide range of attacks, some of which were powerful enough to decimate entire structures and dig out gigantic craters.
So, in the right occasions, I would be a heavyweight. Aside from that, I considered myself to be in the upper echelons of the middleweight division.
And where did Queen Mab stand? Judging from the power I could feel warped around her form, I easily put her on the same level as Lilith, if not stronger.
Easily a heavyweight, but this was the Realm of Darkness. Erebus ruled supreme here, which meant that I ruled supreme as well.
"Nice trick." I commented, pointing Erebus at her again. "State your intentions."
Mab didn't reply, walking around the forest, admiring the deathly surroundings.
"This is quite the beautiful forest, is it not?" Mab asked, quite at ease in the cold, dark space. She smiled slightly, knowing that her attitude was rattling me.
"You've grown quite impudent, have you not?" Erebus rattled with what seemed to be amusement. "I remember when you were just a little whelp, crawling into my domain as if you owned it."
"Millennia ago, dear Erebus." She turned to look at me, her smile turning predatory. "I have grown, since then."
"You wish to take my throne? Obtaining the entirety of the Realm of Darkness would destabilize the power balance between yourself and the Summer Court." Erebus rattled, the sword vibrating slightly. "You have not changed."
"Much as I'd like to have a nice chat." I interrupted the two powerful beings. "I've got places to be, people to kill. That sort of thing."
I called up every shred of Lightning I possessed, and the power responded, filling my body with incredible energy. The dark surroundings were turned blue and bright, my power affecting the environment around me.
The power around Erebus made a noticeable change, as well, the Darkness taking on a blue hue, becoming the Dark Lightning I had become so familiar with.
"So, you can either play nice, or I'll make you fuck off." I glared with generous amounts of menace, the Lightning and Dark Lightning snarling with prejudice.
Mab looked shocked at the display, before shooting a glare that could freeze the sun. She glowed slightly, before releasing her own power. An immense tide of cold washed over Clark and I, the power instantly freezing the ground around the Winter Queen.
Yep, this chick definitely beat Dante and Vergil combined in terms of raw power.
"Perhaps you need a little boost, boy?" Erebus sent out a few orders mentally. I blinked, as I took in the information, before grinning.
Of course, I was the master of this realm. I was surrounded by Darkness. This was Erebus' place of power, and therefore my own as well.
With an applied force of will, I called forth the Darkness of this vast realm, forcing it to converge around my form. The energy was stupendous, easily beating whatever energy Mab was exuding.
We stared each other down for what seemed to be an eternity, but in reality was only a few seconds.
Mab reined her energy back in, standing down. A few moments later, so did I.
I chanced a glance at Clark, who looked extremely rattled at the display.
"Queen of Darkness, you may be." Erebus declared disdainfully. "But I am Darkness' Emperor, and my wielder is the Dragonslayer of Lightning."
"The Dragonslayer of Lightning, you say?" Mab circled me, her demeanor completely changed, green eyes alight with interest.
As if we hadn't just had a pissing contest just now. I thought she'd be angered, maddened by being shown that she wasn't the top dog— or bitch, in this case.
"What is your name, young man?" She almost purred from my left. I kept calm, not letting her know how aroused I felt by her presence.
"My name?" I repeated.
"Be careful, boy." Erebus warned me from the confines of my mind. "Names have power. Merely give her your first, if you feel it is worth the risk."
I nodded almost imperceptibly.
"My name is Harry." I stated. Clark didn't even bother introducing himself, merely adopting the look of a hired goon. He'd probably seen so many of them, he could do it on command.
Her eyes widened for a split second, as if the name sparked something familiar, but she returned to her regular expression, a calm, frigid smile on her face.
"Harry." I stiffened as I felt some kind of power brush over my own. It wasn't dark, or oppressive in any way I could detect. It was more like someone had grabbed my hand for a few moments, trying to get my attention.
"You see?" Erebus piped up. I gave him no answer.
"A pleasure to meet you, Harry. You may call me Mab." Mab smiled angelically, her fingers lightly grazing my face.
They felt cold; freezing cold, in fact.
I brushed her hand away, the sensation causing me discomfort.
"Yeah, I'm charmed." I said, losing my patience. "Erebus."
"Yes, my master?" Erebus replied loudly, in a dutiful tone that surprised me.
"How far do I need to go in the Realm so I can get to the UK?" I asked slowly.
"Ah, give me a few moments." Erebus replied, before going silent.
I waited, pointedly ignoring Mab's amused, interested stares as I took a few steps towards her.
"So, now that we've established that I'm the master of this domain…" I addressed Mab directly. "Why are you still here?"
"I find myself curious, Dragonslayer." Mab replied, and I blinked, not used to being referred to as 'Dragonslayer'. "I had always possessed a limited control over this Realm, but, for a while, I was unable to enter."
Likely, she had been referring to the few months in which I floated aimlessly in this realm, after the events of Temen Ni Gru.
"I found myself intrigued to note that the reason for this—" she smiled, taking a few steps forward, her dress straining against her body, though she made no indication of discomfort. "—was that the man who had forced the Devil King Mundus back was resting in it."
"So the whole thing with the wanting to take control—"
"A test." She said loftily, waving her hand, a throne made of ice appearing behind her. She sat down. "A test which you passed— with flying colors, as the mortals say, these days."
In response, I pulled out my wand and conjured two simple chairs. I sat down, Clark sitting alongside of me. He hadn't spoken a single word, this whole time, and Mab had luckily not spoken to him, once.
"A wand-wizard, as well?" If it was even possible, she looked more interested.
"It was a group effort, but yes." I moved the subject back onto Mundus. "I sent Mundus back where he belonged. What of it?"
"I am aware. I have already spoken with the half-Devil spawns of Sparda." Here, she grimaced a little. "They have stated that, while they had a part in the battle against the Devil King, it was you who was able to deliver a powerful enough blow to defeat him."
I wondered, for a few moments, what it was about Sparda that pissed everyone off. Lilith hated him, Mundus hated him, Erebus hated him… Guy must have had the shittiest track record in existence.
"That is true." I answered, finding that humility would not be a good way to deal with this particular entity.
"Then, the Winter Court thanks you for your services, Harry the Dragonslayer of Lightning." Mab gave a short bow, surprising me. "My main goal has always been to maintain the balance between the two Courts, and protecting reality against those who hail from the Outside."
I frowned, not knowing what the Outside was, but let her continue. "If the Devil King had crossed the threshold into our realms, then both balance between the courts, as well as the defense against Outsiders, would have been shattered."
"It's no problem, really." I waved it off, still waiting on Erebus to figure out where we needed to go. "I live in this world, too. It would suck if it were overrun by an army of Demons."
"Indeed." She smiled, and reached for something under her cloak.
She pulled out a pure black flower, made out of ice, and held it forward for me.
"A token of my appreciation, Dragonslayer." She said in regal tones, handing me the flower. It was as cold as I expected it to be. "It is the Order of the Black Rose. It is bestowed on those that I deem worthy by their demonstration of courage against impossible odds. Furthermore, I, Queen of the Unseelie, declare you, Harry the Dragonslayer, as friend and esquire to the Winter Court. This I declare to be true, thrice spoken."
I felt a surge of power, brushing against both myself and Queen Mab.
"I can't leave you alone for five seconds, I swear." I heard Erebus' mental voice scold me.
'Why? What happened, just now?' I asked, feeling some dread. The whole announcement sounded innocuous enough.
"Generally, you should never accept gifts from the Faeries, as they all come with a price—ranging from a favor to your firstborn child." Erebus explained patiently, as Mab approached me, giving me a kiss on each cheek. I felt my face heat up at the unexpected gesture, and backed away in embarrassment. Mab merely giggled into her hand.
Had she screwed me over?
"But this is actually quite good." Erebus stated, and I suppressed a sigh of relief. "The Winter Court shouldn't give you too much trouble if you decide to traipse through Winter's side of Nevernever."
Then Erebus started talking aloud.
"Our destination is a few miles to the west." Erebus informed everyone.
I nodded, grasping on the excuse to get away from this strange and powerful… Mab.
"I'm afraid I must be going, Queen Mab." I gave the Faerie queen a respectful bow.
"A shame to see you go." She gave an almost sultry smile. "I was quite enjoying your company."
"Well, you know us mortals." I joked. "Have to work with what little time we have."
"Indeed." She bit her lower lip in thought. God damn, she was hot— or cold, since she is the Queen of Winter. You know what I meant!
"I wish thee safe travel, Dragonslayer." Queen Mab said, before lightly waving her pinky to the side and walking through the portal which immediately appeared by her side.
I heard Clark let out a loud sigh of relief. I felt out for her magical signature, but caught nothing in my immediate surroundings.
"She's actually gone? Erebus." I checked with the black Falchion, just in case she was watching us from long range.
"Let me see." The world around us pulsed for a few moments, before stopping. "Wherever she is, she is not in our Realm any longer."
"Thank God for small mercies." I emulated Clark's sigh of relief, before placing the frozen flower in my mokeskin pouch and turning to said person. "Good job on pretending you're just the brainless, token muscle, Kent. Who knows what could have happened if she figured out you were probably more powerful than her entire army?"
"…" The man paused for a few moments, having already realized this himself. "She controlled me so easily. Whatever it was that she did—"
"It's called a glamor." I supplied helpfully. Clark nodded, and we began walking to our destination.
"The glamor, it was really powerful. It was like I wanted to go to her and…"
"Ravage her, right?" I grinned a big silly grin, and Clark turned a little red. "Felt the same way. Only one way to fight that, man. You focus your will, and tear the glamor to pieces."
"My will?" Clark said, not really familiar with such concepts.
"Yeah." I nodded. "Your will exists. You think, you feel, you act; hence, you have a will. Think of how you will yourself to use your powers. It's a conscious effort, isn't it?"
"I see what you mean. You're saying my force of will is something I can tap into?" Clark questioned me, and received a nod in return.
"Definitely. You just have to focus really hard on it." I explained patiently, the cold breeze in the dark forest refreshing me slightly.
"I definitely know how to focus." Clark smiled. "I should be all right. Thanks for the advice, Harry. But, who was she, anyway?"
Ten minutes later, I had Clark up to speed on the events of my life, and the general information he needed to know to be able to survive the coming journey.
More time passed, and we kept on chatting until we finally reached Erebus' marker.
"Just remember. Green light equals dodge."
"I get it, I get it." Clark huffed in annoyance.
"I'm serious." I almost snarled. "One of my friends got killed by it. Didn't even see it coming."
Silence. Then a nod.
"All right, Harry." Clark said. "I'm ready."
"I am fairly sure, upon examining your mind's knowledge of world geography, and its connection to my Dark Realm, that the Rift you are about to open will deposit you in the city known as London." Erebus stated, and that was probably about as good as it was going to get from a Demonic Entity that had been sleeping for millennia.
"Thanks, Erebus." I said, and slashed at the air. I heard the telltale noise of air ripping itself a part. The fabric of the Dark Realm parted, showing a street bathed in darkness. It must have been night time.
"Let's go." I spoke, sheathing the black Falchion in his new scabbard, and entered the portal, Clark following behind me.
The moment I stepped into the real world, I could literally smell the differences. The air here was dirtier, arid. Clark seemed to have felt it as well, judging by the crinkling of his nose.
The portal closed behind us, leaving us in silence. We stood in an empty street full of parked cars. Most of the streetlights were on, except a few, flickering ones that likely needed some repairs. A few night owls were still up and running, judging by the lights from their condominium rooms.
"What now?" Clark asked, not quite sure on how to proceed from this point on.
I closed my eyes and took a long, deep breath, steeling myself for what was to come.
"We have to look at this logically." I started, throat tightening a little as random thoughts flitted through my mind. "Snape said the old man was dead, and that V is controlling the Ministry. We know the Aurors are dead—"
"Aurors?" Clark asked.
"Wizard police force, basically." I answered. Clark nodded for me to continue.
"A lot of them were killed off, as well as important members of the government." I continued. "Likely, most of the citizens have already given up; or, at least, most of the purebloods, anyway."
"So, it's safe to assume that the people who aren't considered pure are fighting back, right?" Clark reasoned.
"Yeah, I bet that most of them are fighting." I agreed. "So, the first step. We go see my Godfather."
If he's even still alive. I shook that thought off the instant it came. I pulled out my wand, and held it up in the air.
I heard the telltale noise of the Knight Bus, showing up at the corner of the street. A few seconds later, it was in front of us, its front doors opening, revealing Stanley Shunpike, the sometimes conductor of the Knight Bus.
He had large, protruding ears and still had plenty of pimples; frankly, he'd barely changed since the last time I saw him, trying to impress those Veela at the Quidditch World Cup.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is—" He stopped abruptly, looking at us for a few moments. First, at Clark, and then at me. His eyes widened in recognition.
"Shhh!" I immediately shushed the man before he could say a single word. The man looked a little embarrassed, as well as a little indignant at the way he was silenced.
"I don't want people knowing I'm here, yet." I said, slipped my hand into my gold pouch and handed him ten Galleons, way more than we could possibly need for a bus ride.
"So you're here to—"
"Yes." I almost hissed, but my glare lost a bit of its ferocity when his excitement rose. That was when I noticed a great difference in his demeanor. Before, he was slouched, his eyes looked tired. He had so many new wrinkles; wrinkles that shouldn't belong on a man his age. "Get me to Grimmauld Place, please."
"Right."
And we hopped on the Knight Bus. I looked around. There weren't many people here. Granted, it was the night time, but this was almost ridiculous.
"Snatchers." Stan said from behind me. I jumped in surprise, sending the man a light hearted glare.
"Snatchers?" I repeated, not liking the sound of that.
"Yeh." Stan nodded, his face grim. "Heard some nasty stories, I did. Took 'em all off the streets, some even in public view Muggles!"
"Took who?" I questioned, holding on to the rails as the Knight Bus twisted and turned through the streets at a ridiculous speed. Likely, Stan had told the driver to go as fast as he could.
Stan looked warily at the other passengers, before leaning forward to me and whispering. "Muggleborns."
"You— You mean—" I swallowed and forced myself to calm down. This was a possible eventuality, that the Muggleborns would be persecuted like this. "I see. Anything else you might know?"
Clark stumbled, falling on his face as the Knight Bus suddenly did a sharp turn. He cursed, and got back up. I smirked a little, the levity good for the soul.
"Snatchers take 'em to the Ministry." Stan explained further, his face set in a grimace. "They get tried for stealin' magic."
Stealing magic? That's new. It fit the purebloods' idea of what the world should be like, though.
"Then there's you." Stan continued in low tones.
"What about me?" I asked.
"They've been callin' you an Undesirable. You're the most wanted man in Wizarding Britain, Neville. Worse than blood-traitors. Worse than Muggleborns." He spoke, using the name I'd given him in my third year, after I had inflated my Aunt Marge. It seemed like a lifetime ago, when that happened. "I only recognized ya because I seen you before."
The Knight Bus suddenly stopped.
"Grimmauld Place." Stan called out loudly, giving me a significant look. "Thank you for using the Knight Bus. We hope to see you again."
I nodded at the message conveyed from within, and I hopped off of the bus, Clark following suit. As the Knight Bus went into the night, I took a quick look around. Grimmauld place was as I had remembered it: smelly, slimy, and shady as all hell.
I saw Number Twelve right across the street, and began to make my way towards it.
"There it is. Number twelve." I said in a low tone.
"What do you mean? I only see eleven and thirteen." Clark answered with a whisper.
I looked at him strangely for a second, before making an "ah" of realization. The Fidelius Charm must have been still in effect. I made to whisper to Clark, before my senses went in overdrive.
"Avada Kedavra!" A loud voice called out, and I went down, pulling Clark with me. The dangerous green curse went over our heads, slamming into an empty car, mangling it into an unrecognizable wreck.
That was a powerful Killing Curse.
"Itty bitty Potty, come to see the family outcast?" I heard a woman singsong in a baby voice, as at least a dozen pops were heard, filling the street with black cloaked, and masked figures. Death Eaters; Voldemort's personal army.
We were surrounded. I saw Clark take a few steps back, wary.
The woman laughed insanely, sauntering towards me as if the battle was already over. She stopped laughing, looking at me with a gaze that somehow perfectly mixed between predatory and condescending.
"Lay down your wands and maybe you'll yet live, half-blood." The crazy lady said, holding her hand out to us.
So I did something that surprised her. I laughed.
It was not the laughter full of mirth that I employed when enjoying time with friends, or family. It was the laughter of a predator, surrounded by prey.
These wand-wizards thought they could play in my weight league? What a joke.
A split second later found me in front of one of the Death Eaters, my right arm having cleanly pierced through his abdomen with a quickly created Edge.
"Merlin!"
"Blimey, did you see that!"
"What the hell?"
I pulled my arm out of the already dead Death Eater's (something about that made me amused) stomach, and pushed him roughly, his body making a loud thud as it impacted against the ground.
I turned to them, and took a step forward.
They took a step back.
"Home sweet home." I grinned ferociously, and the battle begun, the street filling up with multicolor lights, and the screams of my opponents.
Harry Potter was back in England, and he was all out of gum.