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 54: Ride

I hocked a loogie comprised of my spit, dirt and the blood of the loup-garou that had entered my mouth after I had decapitated the miserable fucker and rolled around on the ground like a ball.

"Disgusting." Erebus said, giving me the mental equivalent of a grimace. "Its blood is awful."

I wiped the blade on my shirt and got back to my feet.

"Well, thank you."

"You're welcome." I grimaced, placing the blade back in its sheath with a loud clink.

"Harry!" Daphne came over as quick as she could manage, and checked me over for injuries. "That was so reckless! Why did you do something so stupid?"

"I have confidence in my own abilities. I'm completely fine!" I said but started to cough right after.

Way to kill my credibility, body!

"I'm sure you are." Daphne said, but without a bite in her tone.

"More importantly; I don't think that this loup-garou showing up was a coincidence." I said, focusing on what was important.

There was silence for a few seconds, and then, "It makes sense; right after we leave Gringotts, someone follows us and sets a loup-garou on us while we're licking our wounds."

I took a deep breath, straightened my back, and extended my senses as far as I could manage. Daphne shivered at the sensation.

"What—"

"Shh… Let me concentrate, Daphne." I said quietly, closing my eyes and focusing on my energy alone. The Lightning tendrils writhed and spread across the entire forest trying to latch onto any presence nearby.

Nothing.

"Erebus?" I kept at it, but could still feel nothing.

"I can sense nothing in our immediate vicinity." The sword dutifully reported.

I reined my power back in and sighed.

"There's no one nearby." I said uncertainly. "Maybe this really is just a coincidence?"

"No, I don't believe it for a second." Daphne shook her head and moved to the loup-garou, who had reverted back into his human form after his death. She pushed past her own revulsion, checked his left forearm, and nodded, before lifting the dead man's arm for me to see.

It was a black tattoo of a snake coming out of a skull, though it seemed slightly faded.

It was a symbol I was familiar with.

The Dark Mark.

"He was the one following us, and thought he could finish us off in his loup-garou form." Daphne said, letting go of the dead man's arm and walking back to me.

"So an opportunistic attack?" I questioned.

"It's possible." Daphne replied, looking off to the side. "But the timing is too good. We were supposed to meet up with the others at Hogwarts, and this assault takes place."

I considered her words.

"If you're right, then we have no time to waste." I simply said. "Erebus."

"Go left." Erebus instructed. I complied, Daphne closely following me. "Now keep walking until you hit the edge of the forest… Go right, here. Turn left at this street. Keep walking straight. Okay, now, go right, into this alleyway."

The whole trip took a few minutes, but we managed to reach the spot that Erebus had spoken of.

"This is the place, right?"

"Of course." Erebus confirmed.

I unsheathed the dark blade and slashed at the air, opening a rift between our reality and that of the Nevernever with a loud ripping noise. Daphne stared at the tear warily, watching me go in.

My surroundings shifted from the dark alleyway into the familiar dreary look of the forest in Erebus' Realm of Darkness. I heard footsteps in the dirt ground, and turned to see Daphne, looking at the forest in wonder.

"This is amazing." Daphne said.

"Your first time in Nevernever?" I asked; she merely nodded.

"I would give you the time to just explore, if we didn't have to hurry." I said with a wince, before leading the way, Erebus whispering directions to me all the while. "Time flows differently here; it's hard to say sometimes."

The trip took us a fair while, and I ended up moving so far through the forest that I had actually reached its edge for the first time. Outside of the cold and dark territory, there was tundra as far as the eye could see.

"This is Winter land, isn't it." It wasn't a question, more of a statement.

"Yes." Erebus replied, before continuing his instructions. "Move quickly, a bit to your left."

I complied dutifully, keeping my eyes out for anything that seemed remotely out of place. During that week of relaxation, I had received a few quick crash courses from Erebus, covering the basics of the Nevernever and its denizens.

Aside from the Summer Court and the Winter Court, there were creatures called the Wyldfae; they were faeries with no allegiance to anyone, mainly operating alone, sometimes in groups if they have the presence of mind to employ such tactics.

Of course, there were also other creatures than faeries here; powerful ghosts who are capable of exerting a great influence on the real world, demons, retired gods, a score of undead, the Fomor and their servitors, the list got more and more strange.

Luckily, we were not disturbed on our way.

I assumed it was because of the loup-garou's blood still dripping from my drenched coat. Most creatures would not want to mess with something that can slaughter an incredibly powerful creature like that and walk away from it unscathed.

I wasn't exactly unscathed, really, but I did my best to project the image of strength. I kept my back straight, my eyes looking forward, and had a grim face with the slightest hint of a smirk playing at my lips.

It was, of course, all fake, but the soulless creatures that roamed these lands wouldn't be able to tell. The fact that I'm covered with blood only adds to my imposing figure.

"Open a rift here." Erebus instructed, and I complied, tearing another rift to the real world with a swipe of the dark blade.

"Where will this drop me off?" I asked as the portal began opening with a loud rip.

"Judging from your mental image of the precise location of your school…" Erebus said. "I believe that you will—"

"It's fine." I cut the Devil Arm off, looking at the sight of the dead Basilisk beyond the portal to the real world. "I think I know where this will take me."

It made sense, I mused as Daphne and I entered the Chamber of Secrets through the Nevernever. Places in the Nevernever touched spots in the real world. The Chamber of Secrets was a cold, dark place. The spot in Nevernever I was in was in Winter territory near my own Realm of Darkness.

Like I said, it made sense, in a strange fashion.

The first thing that hit me was the awful stench of rot and decay. When I had come down here earlier this year, the smell didn't feel as powerful. But, then again, with my new enhancements to my sense of smell, it was really no surprise that I dropped to my hands and knees and fought to keep myself from vomiting.

"Harry!" Daphne's voice rang in my ears as I got back to my feet.

"I'm okay." I said quickly. "I just didn't expect the smell to hit me so hard."

"It is pretty awful down here." Daphne agreed, making quick motions with her hand around us. The air cleared a great deal. I could still smell the awful rot of the basilisk, but it was as if it was far away from me.

"Much better." Daphne said with a smile. "It's my own revision of the Bubble Head Charm."

"That's really good." I praised. "Wow."

Daphne's smile widened for a few seconds, before fading back into the look of worry she initially had.

"We have to move." Daphne said, looking around for the exit.

"Agreed." I replied, leading the way back to the entrance of the Chamber.

"What do you think we're going to find when we get back into Hogwarts?" Daphne said shakily as we passed by the spot where Ron and I had an altercation with our fraud of a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart.

The stupid buffoon attempted to Obliviate us with a broken wand— Ron's broken wand. Look where that got him. Hope you learned your lesson, kids! Don't play with broken weapons, or you might just find yourself dead, or drooling all over yourself for the rest of your life.

Whichever you feel is worse, really.

"I'm not sure." I said, trying to think.

I could send a Patronus to Snape and ask him what's going on, but he might not even be in the castle. I wasn't sure of the whereabouts of Sirius, Remus, or the rest of the Order, so that idea was out of the window.

"You know anyone in the castle that could help us?" Daphne pressed, and rattled off some unfamiliar names.

"I don't know." I said honestly, pacing around for a bit. "Hagrid, possibly? No, he wouldn't know how to send a Patronus back to me. I don't really know who's here, anyway."

It was true that school was almost out, but, after the Ministry fell, it was perfectly understandable if half the students were taken by their parents and fled the country the soonest chance they got.

"I don't know, either." Daphne said, and swore.

Wait, maybe…

"Dobby?" I called out, my voice echoing slightly.

Pop!

"I am called by the Great Harry Potter, sir!" I heard Dobby's squeaky voice from my left and jumped, startled despite myself. "How may I be of service?"

"Hey, Dobby." I said. "How are you?"

"I am fine, Harry Potter, though things have been getting dangerous at Hogwarts." Dobby replied and I did a double take. The house elf did not refer to himself by his own name, and his grammar was quite improved from the last time we'd met.

"Wow, you've been working on your grammar and vocabulary, haven't you?" I said with a smile, and the elf basked under the praise. I wondered what prompted him to make such a change.

"I'm proud of you." I said, but cut the elf off before he could celebrate. "But there's some really important stuff that I need to ask you about, my friend."

"I will help as much as I can." Dobby squeaked, but I could feel the resolve behind his words. Wow, the little guy's power… I could actually feel it beneath his skin, writhing and twisting, waiting to be unleashed at his enemies; my enemies.

An old memory of Dobby bodily launching Lucius Malfoy for trying to attack me flashed through my mind, but I shook it off, and addressed the elf again.

Dobby snapped his fingers, and I felt a tingle wash over my clothes and skin, before the smell of dead loup-garou blood faded from the air; the small elf had vanished the blood away.

I gave him a nod of thanks, before starting.

"We've been— the Order of the Phoenix, that is— making plans to take the castle back from the Death Eaters, but I heard news that You-Know-Who—" Ugh, I hated referring to him like that, but I doubted that Dobby would recognize the name V or That Fucker. "—was here recently. What do you know?"

"Harry Potter is right." Dobby confirmed. "Voldy was here recently, but left almost immediately."

In the background, Daphne mouthed "Voldy?" with an expression of great amusement on her face.

"Then, an hour ago, a group of wizards came." Dobby continued as if he didn't even notice the byplay between Daphne and I. "All of a sudden, they came, and drove Voldy's servants from this castle."

"That's great news!" Daphne said. Dobby didn't answer immediately. "Dobby?"

"There is an army, outside of the castle." Dobby said. "The castle's wards are holding, for now."

Ah, there's the key word, in what the elf just said; for now. "For now" meant that it wouldn't last much longer.

I felt a heavy weight settled down my chest. I had to move quickly or all of our efforts would have been for nothing.

"Okay." I said quickly. "Dobby, can you take us to the Room of Requirement?"

Dobby nodded, and motioned for us to hold onto him.

With a snap of his fingers, Dobby Apparated us right to the familiar surroundings of the seventh floor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Holy hell.

We were right in front of the entrance of the Room of Requirement.

"Hey, Dobby?" I said.

"Yes, Harry Potter sir?" The elf replied.

"Have I ever told you how awesome you are?" I smiled and paced past the entrance three times, thinking, "I want the room of hidden things," over and over.

Erebus had informed me— in more detail than before— of the location of Tom Riddle's next Horcrux on our way over to the school. It was the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw.

From Erebus' musings and information, I understood that Voldemort had placed the Horcrux here when he had tried and failed to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.

Imagine if he actually became a Professor, though.

His students would ace all the exams, for sure.

Why, you may ask?

They would not dare fail; that is, unless they were perfectly okay with being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse, an unforgivable that stimulates your pain receptors so badly it could cause you to lose your mind entirely, much like what happened to Neville's parents at the hand of Bellatrix Lestrange.

The thought of that bitch angered me beyond words.

The doorway appeared, and I opened it. "Wait out here, Daphne."

"Sure. I'll just watch the tap dancing trolls for a while." Daphne joked, but complied.

Time was of the essence here.

"Erebus." I simply said as I entered the Room of Hidden Things.

I had four words to describe the place; it was a mess.

Living up to its name, the Room of Hidden Things was full of things that students wanted to keep hidden. With a single glance, I spotted hundreds upon hundreds of books either in piles or in bookcases, bottles of potion, empty bottles, a few rusty swords, a gigantic stuffed troll— just why?— a trunkful of jewels.

"Erebus, are any of those jewels—"

"No."

I said nothing, simply waving my wand at the trunk full of jewels. It closed with a loud snap, and shrunk down to pocket size. Another wave and the trunk flew to me, landing slowly into the palm of my hand. I placed it within my mokeskin pouch.

Might as well make a profit out of this, right?

I walked around the room, extending my senses to search for the Horcrux. I passed by a few broken sets of armor, a few a bunch of portrait frames, a banjo of all things, and a—

That's when I felt it. You know what it feels like when you've got something cooking in the oven, and you make the mistake of grabbing the tray with your bare hand, causing you to flinch away from the heat source?

Multiply that by five, and you'll have an idea of what touching the Horcrux with my own energy felt like.

I visibly flinched away from the source of that disgusting power and reined my Lightning back inside.

I was going to say something hopefully profound or heroic, but after that spiritual flash burn, I decided that getting the job done was more important than silly quips before an execution— that's what this mission was.

I was executing Voldemort, one soul piece at a time. After this, I would only have him and his stupid snake to worry about.

I drew an eager Erebus with a quick, efficient stroke of the arm, and pointed the dark blade at my intended target.

"Devour it." I said. "Dark Stream."

The Darkness came out of my falchion like fire would come out of a flamethrower, except the "flames" were completely black in color. Two more seconds of this, and the stream calmed down to the usual torrential flow of pitch black water, completely engulfing the Diadem in seconds.

I heard the shriek, and the Horcrux's pointless struggle. In face of a being that ate souls for personal amusement, a sliver of a regular human's soul— no matter how powerful the actual human was— didn't stand a chance.

It didn't matter if the soul was whole or chipped off. In a straight spiritual fight, I believed that Erebus could win most of his battles, with a few exceptions, namely beings with more spiritual power.

Voldemort was possibly such a person, but the reason he could not win in a battle of wills against Erebus was because he had no faith in anything.

To him, everything was decided by power, and power alone.

He did not make bonds with others; he did not forge friendships with his peers. He kept everyone he knew at arm's length.

That was why he could not cast the Patronus Charm. It wasn't because he was weak, but because he was surrounded by misery, apathy, and hatred from the beginning of his life.

That was all he knew.

The path that his environment has led him on was an irredeemable one. Voldemort had crossed way too many lines on his path to immortality, to perfection. He had destroyed people's families— including my own, subjugated many peoples, and killed whoever dared to stand in his way.

He deserved to die. If anyone did, it was him.

So, why? Why did I feel an immense regret pass over me as the Diadem faded entirely from existence, its shrieks of pain disappearing under the power of the stream of Darkness engulfing it?

The flow of energy ended, and I was left in silence.

A few seconds later and I heard Daphne's voice, "Is it done?"

I turned to see Daphne, peeking from the doorway.

"Yeah." I confirmed, sheathing the dark sword. "There's still that stupid snake, and—"

I was interrupted by sudden tremors that shook the castle to its very foundations. Hinges creaked. Glass rattled. Many books, bottles, and miscellaneous items flew around in the Room of Hidden Things, making it even messier than it already was— if that was even possible.

"It's starting." Daphne said quickly, coming in the Room of Hidden Things. Dobby came in after her, also looking worried. "We have to help them!"

I nodded. "Take her to the front lines, Dobby."

"I will, Harry Potter, sir." Dobby said, giving me a salute and grabbing onto Daphne's hand.

"Wait! What about y—" Daphne was cut off as Dobby Apparated her to the battle raging outside of the castle. I wasn't worried about Daphne, at all. With her powers over the wind element, I doubted that something would happen to her.

Unless she was crushed by a giant something.

Or if Voldemort decided to focus his attention onto her.

Voldemort had the Elder Wand, so he was at least twice as magically powerful— up to three times— as Dumbledore was with the Wand. An army that could cause such quakes in the earth, quakes strong enough to shake the Hogwarts Castle itself…

Well, let's say it probably made the army I had fought outside of Azkaban look like a small crowd. And, who knew what was among them? Dark wizards, Dementors, Giants… It was a full moon, tonight, as well, so it was even possible that we would have to deal with several loup-garous.

Fighting against them all and Voldemort on top of them?

I brought out the Resurrection Stone, and turned it three times. I wanted to talk to the two people that started the chain of events that led me to this moment.

My parents.

"Lily Potter. James Potter."

The air shimmered before me, before coalescing into a single form. The woman before me wore a simple white shirt, and black pants. Her hair was a vibrant shade of red, putting the Weasley family to shame with ease.

My mother looked at me with a smile, her green eyes glittering.

"Harry. My Harry." She breathed, reaching out to touch my face, her hand passing right through. "I never thought I'd see you… All grown up. Your father would be so proud."

I looked around, but didn't see my father anywhere.

"Where is he? I did call him forth with the Stone, didn't I?" I said, getting a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"…" Lily didn't answer.

"Mom? Where's dad?" I questioned.

The rumbling of the earth increased.

"Your father, James…" Lily said slowly. "He's still alive."

What?

"I… Um…" I said dumbly, my mind stopping completely. "My dad."

"He's still alive, Harry." Lily repeated patiently.

"I—" I said before my mind finally caught up. "How? Where is he? Why hasn't he…"

I stopped talking, but Lily got the question: "Why hasn't he looked for me?"

"That night…" Lily said mournfully. "It wasn't my blood protection that saved you from Him, Harry."

"…What?" I said, her response raising more questions than they answered.

"My blood protection has defended you from His underlings. As long as you were with someone of your family's blood, you would be protected from any threat to your life." Lily said, a sad smile on her face. "Your father… He…"

"What?" I cut in, disliking her hesitation. "What did he do? How did he save me?"

A long moment passed.

"He made a deal with a Sidhe from Winter." Lily said, looking like she wanted to cry. "He bargained for your life and became her servant."

"Her? How does that even work?" I questioned further.

"Yes. He bargained with her. She would stop you from dying as long as he gave himself up…" Lily said, shaking her head. "I will tell you her Name, but I ask that you not speak it."

"I won't." I answered automatically.

"She is the Leanansidhe, a quite powerful faerie of the Winter Court." Lily answered with. "I would tread carefully when dealing with her, Harry."

Leanansidhe. I committed the name to mind.

"I will." I said and rubbed at my forehead warily. "I called you here to give me words of encouragement for when I deal with Him; instead, I get this."

"I am sorry, Harry." Lily's shade apologized, but also sounded a bit condescending. "I would have told you; except the last time I saw you, you were a one year old child who still made big caca messes in his diapers."

I looked down in embarrassment. "Okay, I get it."

"And you know, after that, I'm fairly sure I was dead." Lily said, smirking. "Kind of hard to be able to talk to my still living son that way, isn't it?"

"I said I get it." I felt a headache coming, and tried to shake it off. No luck. "Time to fight a gigantic army, I guess."

"Ooh, good luck!" Lily said. "I'll be watching it on TV."

"There's TV in the after-life?" I did a double take.

"Well, yes." Lily said and gave me a look that made me feel like the class clown. "What else could we possibly do with eternal life after the grave?"

I shook my head and watched my mother's form fade slowly. "Fair point, mother. Thank you for keeping me safe all of these years; I will try to make it all count. I love you."

"Shove Voldemort's new stick up his arse, Harry! I'm counting on you!" Lily screamed before fading completely, leaving me back in the silence of the Room of Hidden Things. Well, the relative silence, anyway; the ground was still shaking with the marches of Voldemort's army of evil.

…My mother was weird.

"Mom's weird, Dad's alive." I babbled. "Dad's alive. He made a pact with a faerie."

"Dad's alive. He's alive." I kept repeating to myself, feeling a strange rush of joy and worry at the thought. How was he? Did the faeries abuse him, in any way? Was he being treated like Sirius was in Azkaban; continually tortured and forced to watch the world pass him by?

I had so many questions.

"Yes, boy." Erebus' impatient voice cut in. "We have established that, yes, your father is indeed alive. But there are more important things to worry about, right now."

"More important things?" I repeated, spitting. "This is my father we're talking about. Not some stupid stranger that no one cares about."

§I have to agree with Erebus, here, Harry.§ Balthazar hissed out, surprising me; as of late, my companion has been getting a lot more quiet. §You won't get to save your father if you don't stop Him tonight.§

I considered his words; then, I cursed.

"You're right." I said, anger lacing my words. "I need to bargain with these faeries, and I need to bargain with them from a position of power. They won't listen to a sole wizard— Emperor of Darkness or not."

"Worse yet." Erebus added. "If the Faeries believe you weak for losing even a single battle such as this, they will have no compunctions against stabbing you in the back. These are beings that respect power above all else."

I nodded, calming down slightly.

It always comes down to this, doesn't it?

Fight, after fight, after fight.

My surroundings shifted, as the Room of Hidden Things simply turned into an empty room with two doors. The door behind me led back to the Seventh Floor, but the door in front of me would lead me to the highest point of the castle.

I knew that, because I asked the Room for it.

I went through the door without a word, channeling Lightning to the soles of my feet and using them as footholds. The door faded into nothingness behind me, leaving me with a familiar view, one I'd seen at the Astronomy tower.

I was a little higher than that, here, just above the Astronomy tower.

I could see it; the fighting had begun in earnest, multicolored lights flying everywhere, giants toppling over with thunks so loud they reached my ears. I could also hear the howls of the loup-garous that were rampaging across the fields.

The Dementors floated over the fighting, being fought off by a number of Patroni— or is it Patronuses? Down below, I could see the two armies converging on each other with such ferocity that I could feel their power from all the way up here.

The thunder roared in the dark clouds above me, lighting the battle below for a few moments.

Our side was powerful; they held the enemy back with all of their strength, knowing that, if they lost, they would lose the war. I could feel the strong gusts of wind caused by Daphne, I could see the earth being ripped from underneath giants, effectively trapping their legs in, their momentum causing their bones to snap under the pressure.

Neville was here, this was good news.

Thunder roared again, and I saw another flash among the Dementors; it was a man in a black robe, floating under his own power, raining death and destruction on his enemies from above as he descended into the fray, causing his enemies to flee in fright.

Voldemort was here.

The fighting stopped.

Voldemort held his wand to his throat and said a word.

"To all who oppose me here." Voldemort spoke in his cold, high voice, his pet snake Nagini circling his form. "Lay down your wands, and I shall spare you. Oppose me, and you will perish, leaving your families alone, and vulnerable. Your choice is simple."

There was a general outcry at this, though a lot of the wizards on our side remained quiet; as if they were considering his words.

I closed my eyes.

Thunder roared again.

With an effort of will, I flew up into the clouds, and channeled my Lightning into them, latching onto the electrical storm's power, directing it underneath me, and making sure to consume some of it to charge my reserves as much as I could.

"For those of you that have joined me, you have chosen wisely." I could hear Voldemort speak, even as I molded the storm's energy into the form of a snarling dragon.

"For those of you that haven'—" Voldemort stopped talking; he probably noticed what was going.

Too late for him now, sadly.

"I'll have to thank him for giving me such a clear target." I said, straining to hold this energy together for long and staring down at the Dark Lord's form; specifically, the snake at his heels.

Nagini.

I wondered if a Horcrux could take a Lightning strike with as much power as five Fiendfyres.

"Kirin!"

And I rode the Lightning down, down, and down.

Thunder roared again.