A/N: This is a continuation of "Archive Rejects, Chapter 38: Harry Potter and the Gates of Oblivion", I hope you all enjoy this as much as the guys at TFF did. Of course I didn't give it to them in a solid block like this. They got it over the course of a couple weeks, in snippets. Still it was fun to write and I may return to this again in the near future. Still not sure I want to turn this into a full-fledged fic though.

In any case, I hope to give you all updates on some of my other fics before the New Year.

No promises.

Anyways... Enjoy the continuation of Harry Potter and the Gates of Oblivion as Harry continues to make his way through the Imperial Prison.

You're pretty sure that if he's not dead already, he will be if you just leave him there. However, you can't risk waking him or alerting others to your presence as that would most certainly spell certain doom for you.

~HP:GoO~

You frown.

Seeing this one down here, there are bound to be more. This does not bode well for you. Oh how you really wish you had your father's old invisibility cloak or even took the time to learn the nifty disillusionment spell that Moody cast on you on the way to Grimmauld Place last year. Either one of those would have been great to have.

Taking a look around you see another one of those giant rats, only this one is dead and on a rotisserie spit. Despite the fact that the sight of it makes you cringe and your stomach rebel against you, the smell is actually quite alluring.

Making sure you don't see any more of those creatures, you creep around the makeshift campsite. Seeing nothing you can use, you make your way deeper into the cave. Again you spot another one of the Goblin-esque creatures, but before you can act, you slip on a rock alerting it to your presence. It quickly turns and lunges at you with astonishing quickness and agility. Only your superior reflexes, honed through years of dodging bludgers and your cousin's fist allow you to react in time to save your own skin, with the first spell that came to mind.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

A silver bolt of magic lances out from your wand and meets the creature dead on in mid air. Its' sword is wrenched out of its' hand and it is flung backwards onto a rock ledge. You can't help but wince as it crashes hard on the edge snapping its' spine.

You have yet to use a lethal spell and you're three for three on the dead Goblin encounters, though in your own defense, that first one was already dead before you got there. Despite the fact that the creature was going to kill you, you can't help but feel guilty about the whole idea of having killed. Taking a moment to reflect on what has transpired so far, you force yourself to continue on.

You're so lost in your thoughts; you completely miss the trip wire until you step on it. Immediately, you dive to the side scrapping your hands on the rock cave floor as three rather heavy spiked objects attached to the ceiling by chains nearly swat you like an insignificant bug.

Assassins, giant rats, goblins and now trapped corridors... This really hasn't been your day.

You shakily get up and make your way down the next corridor, trying to put everything out of your mind for now. You have more important things to think about, like surviving and getting out of this damned cave- and after that, getting home. You'd almost rather sit through one of Umbridge's, hell Lockhart's defense class rather than spend another moment in wherever it is that you are.

The cave opens up into a rather large cavern. Below, in a pit, you can see a Goblin poking at some of those giant rats in a cage. You also see two more Goblins across the cavern to your left, one to your right and another on the pit, though this one is different. It is wearing a long robe and has a gnarled staff with a large rock tied onto the staff head strapped to its' back.

You surmise that this one is probably some sort of shaman and can probably do some sort of magic. Thinking back to your history lessons, what little bit of them you managed to stay awake through in five and half years, you can't remember if the goblins back home could do magic or not and how potent it was if they could.

Oh how you wished Hermione was here right now, the girl had the answer to everything. Not that you were unintelligent, but you had gotten rather lazy at finding your own answers since that fateful day you met Ron on the train and perhaps relied on Hermione a bit too much over the years.

You make a silent oath to study with Hermione more once you get back.

Shaking yourself from your thoughts, you try to quickly come up with plan before deciding you should just wing it. Planning is more Hermione's thing anyway, you're better at 'shooting from the hip' as the Muggles would say.

"Alohamora!" you whisper, a small stream of magic hits the cages and they pop open. The giant rats immediately pounce on the Goblin and it screams out in pain trying unsuccessfully to fight them off. The other goblins see this, but before they can act, you're attacking.

"Stupefy! Stupefy!" you quickly shout taking out the two on the right. Suddenly the last remaining goblins' attention is on you. The one on the right is closer and has its' sword drawn charging at you. "Stupefy!"

The goblin's head snapped back as you hit it right between it's' eyes.

You barely catch the movement of the last goblin out of the corner of your eye. You turn your head towards it, only to find yourself hitting the ground as quick as you can as a bolt of lightning charging right through their air where you were standing just a few seconds prior.

You scramble to get up, but the Goblin has already struck again, only this time its' aim is true.

A scream tears through your throat as an electrically charged bolt of magic charges through your body. You're knocked off your feet and slam against the wall.

You're dazed for a moment- though you can't be sure whether it's from the impact from hitting the wall or from the electricity still running through your body.

The goblin, noticing it hasn't finished you off yet, goes in for the kill. You're certain that if you're hit once more with another bolt of lightning you're done for. It's through sheer will power that you're able to move at all as you scramble behind a stalagmite. However, it shudders under the force of another bolt of lightning striking it.

You take advantage of the precious few seconds it takes to cast one of those lightning spells.

"REDUCTO!" you loudly shout as you pop up from behind the stalagmite. The red bolt of magic strikes true as it leaves a large hole where the goblin mage's torso used to be. You sigh as you slump against the stalagmite, allowing yourself to slide back onto the ground. You find yourself shaking. Whether it is from the bolt of lightning that struck you, your coming off an adrenaline high, or even the fact that the goblin mage met a rather messy end at your hands, you are unsure.

What you are sure of, is the fact that this journey is probably going to get a lot worse from here.

You've got a bad feeling about this...

You sit there for a while, allowing you to recompose yourself. However, it's a difficult thing. Before today you've never killed before and have only used a single Unforgivable. Now, you're responsible for the deaths of four goblin-like creatures- one of which met a rather gruesome end by your own hand.

Still, you can't help but be curious about the type of power he wielded. Collecting another lock pick and another gold coin from the Goblin on the right, you make your way over to the dead Goblin mage.

The sight of its' ravaged body makes you sick to your stomach and you do the only thing you can.

You throw up.

After you recover, you walk over to where the Goblin creature's staff landed while pointedly not looking at the creature itself. You pick it up to examine it. The amount of power you feel coming from it is astounding. It gives off a similar feeling in your hands that your wand does, yet different... Less personal, but no less powerful.

Deciding to test it out, just in case you lose your wand, you point it at a nearby barrel.

"Wingardium Leviosa," you chant and nothing happens. You try again, this time trying to mimic the 'swish and flick' movement that some have to do with their wand to get the spell to work.

Still nothing.

Then you remember that the Goblin Mage didn't need incantations or 'staff movements' to do magic, so maybe you just have to force it out. Gripping the staff in both hands you point it firmly at the barrel and concentrate on pushing the magic out of the staff.

What happens next shocks the hell out of you.

Figuratively, not literally.

A bolt of lightening shoots out of the staff and strikes the barrel causing it to explode. You instinctively cover your face from the incoming shrapnel of splintered wood.

Unlike with your wand, there was no pull on your magic. You didn't feel even the slightest bit of drain on your magical core- not that you felt it very often as you are far more powerful than most your age. However, the amount of magic it should have taken to create such a phenomenon should have at least drained you a little.

Examining the staff once more, you notice something is different about it. The magical aura you sensed from it earlier is diminished, still strong, yet not as strong as it was before. It is easy to surmise from what you have just witnessed is that the staff was specifically made to shoot lightening bolts and that it has a finite number of 'shots', almost like a gun.

A weapon like this is far more useful than either of the swords you're carrying. For one, you know how to use this and two; it doesn't seem to require any amount of skill to be able to use it effectively. Just point and zap.

Seeing just exactly what the people of this land are capable of, you decide to look around for more useful items. Anything to get you away from the dead goblin's eviscerated corpse.

Coming across a locked chest, you pull out your wand and mutter the incantation to the unlocking charm and it pops open. Inside you don't find anything particularly useful at the moment; however there are quite a few valuable items that should be quite saleable later. You're sure to pocket those before making your way out of the cavern a staff, some valuable gems, a silver nugget and a few gold coins heavier than you were before. Of course you're also moving a lot stiffer too, having not fully recovered from the lightening bolt attack that struck you.

You can't help but laugh at the current situation you find yourself in. After wandering a few more catacombs, taking down some more giant rats and goblins and even filling your coin purse a bit more and you find yourself back within the stone walls of the secret passage of the Emperor's escape route.

Of course not everyone was happy to see you.

You arrived just as the guard whose name you didn't catch, the Emperor and Baurus were just walking into the corridor below you. They were talking about something or another, but their tones were too low for you to clearly make out what was being said. Judging from their appearances, they've had about as rough a time as you had trying to get out of those bloody catacombs.

Considering they left you behind, it's a safe bet they wouldn't want to see you in the near future. Unfortunately, like every other inopportune moment of your life, Murphy's Law rears its' ugly head- or more specifically what you jokingly referred to Hermione as "The Potter Corollary".

Ah, Murphy's Law. You remember how confused Ron was by your little joke, so Hermione explained that it was a Muggle term that states 'Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong'. Shortly afterwards, you explained to them that the Potter Corollary goes like this, 'Anything that can go wrong when Harry Potter is around, will happen to Harry Potter'.

Hermione had been horrified by this joke, but Ron was unusually grim when he reluctantly admitted you had a point. Spoilsports. Not only did they spoil your fun, but your little joke then led to yet another of the infamous Ron/Hermione rows that were beginning to become more and more common as the days went by- as if they didn't argue enough as it was.

At least Ginny had found it, and the rest of the situation, funny.

The Potter Corollary you realize, in hindsight, was childish, but you have five and a half years of schooling to back it up. Second, fourth and fifth years were especially brutal, but you've mostly gotten over it.

Anyways... You were content to just let them pass through and then look for another alternate route out when the red robed assassins with the magically appearing/disappearing demonic armor decided to show up once more.

You hear someone shout "For the Emperor!"

Baurus, the unnamed guard and the Emperor each had an opponent when another snuck upon them through the shadows intent on accomplishing their task.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" you shout. A large silver streak of magic lances towards the assassin in the shadows. Everyone surprised by your shout stops fighting. One of the guards takes advantage of this and stabs his opponent in the chest. The assassin's armor and weapon disintegrate instantly.

The assassin you cast the disarming spell at is slammed against the wall- his weapon wrenched out of his hand. You watch as the weapon, instead of clamoring onto the floor, disappears as well.

The emperor is knocked off his feet, and his guards are out of position to help him. Not knowing what you can do as you jump from the ledge you were observing the from, you let loose the only spell you can think of- one that you had been dying to try out since you read about it in the Half Blood Prince's book.

"SECTUMSEMPRA!" you shout out waving your wand in a slashing motion.

You watch in horror as his armor seems to split as if struck by a sword, blood gushing from the new wound. The assassin's armor and sword disintegrate as it had on the others, but you barely noticed. Despite the gravity of the situation at hand, you can't help but think about how Ron and Hermione would react to this situation- what they would think of you. What Ginny would think of you now that you're a murderer?

You're so focused on the shocked look on the assassin's face as his life blood was spilled from his body that you barely notice that the other assassin's have been killed as well. You're only brought back to the present when you hear the unnamed guard shout angrily. "It's that damned prisoner again!"

He begins to advance on you with his sword drawn. Baurus looks unsure what to do, but his sword remains drawn and he's watching you carefully.

"No Glenroy..." the Emperor spoke up placing a hand on the man's sword arm. "He can help us... He must help us."

"But sire!"

"No, leave him be. I shall speak with him," said the Emperor in a comforting tone as he slowly approaches you. He gives you a kindly smile. "So, we meet again."

You offer him a rather pitiful attempt of a weak smile in return. "So we do."

"Are you all right, young one?" Uriel Septim asks you.

"Yeah… I will be…" You reply uneasily, trying to will the shaking of your hands to stop, but they are adamantly refusing to do so. You can tell he's curious and concerned, but you do not elaborate and he does not press you.

It isn't long before you easily notice the suspicious looks both Baurus and Glenroy keep shooting you. Of course it's not like either one of them are being discrete about it either.

Uriel follows your gaze over at two of his most trusted Blades.

"They can not understand why I trust you, they have not seen what I have seen…" the Emperor states, and then sighs. "How can I explain…? Listen, you know the Nine, how they guide our fates with an invisible hand."

In truth, you have no idea who "the Nine" are, but with the way the Emperor reveres them and speaks of them, they kind of sound like God that you heard about when your aunt and uncle would drag you to church before you went to Hogwarts.

You decide to give him a half truth.

"Not really. It's not something I really think about," you reply.

"I have served the Nine all of my days and I chart my course by the cycles of the Heavens. The skies are marked with numberless sparks, each afire and everyone a sign. I know these stars well and I wonder which sign marked your birth?"

This one was easy for you to answer as you'd always been moderately good at Astronomy, even without Hermione's help. Unfortunately, if your theory about being on a completely different world is right, then they may not have the same constellations that Earth does or even the same names for them even if they do.

You decide to tip your hand a bit.

"The Lion," you reply. The looks both Baurus and Glenroy give each other speak volumes. Obviously the Leo Constellation does not exist in, wherever it is, that you are. The Emperor, on the other hand, takes everything in stride and seems unsurprised.

He merely nods, and you can't help but feel a bit awed by him.

"The signs I read, show the end of my path. My death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."

Now you're a bit baffled.

He went from being seemingly all knowing like the Headmaster of your school, to spouting off Divination like Trelawney, only he's predicting his own death and not your own.

"What do the stars say about me?" you ask curiously.

"Your stars are not mine. Today, the Lion shall prove a prideful and noble protector when fortune fades," the Emperor replies cryptically.

It was a very well worded non-answer.

"Can you see what the stars say about me?"

"My dreams grant me no opinions of success. Their compass ventures not beyond the doors of death. But in your face I behold the sun's companion. The dawn of Akatosh's bright glory may banish the coming darkness. With such hope, and the promise of your aid, my heart must be satisfied."

"Aren't you afraid to die?" you ask.

It's such a simple question, but one that will tell you volumes about someone.

Voldemort is afraid of death; it's why he has gone to such lengths to make himself immortal. While you aren't afraid of death by any means, you are afraid to die before Voldemort has been taken care of. One of your deepest and most secret fears is what will happen to Ron and Hermione, Ginny, the other Weasleys and the Order should something happen to you before you fulfill your own destiny. Even now, the thought is gnawing away at you in the back of your mind, a constant reminder that you have to find a way back from wherever it is you are.

Uriel smiles, he knows what you're asking.

"No trophies of my triumphs precede me, but I have lived well and my ghost shall rest easy. Men are but flesh and blood. They know their doom, but not the hour. In this I am blessed to see the hour of my death; to face my apportioned fate and then fall."

Somehow, you don't see it as a blessing.

Speaking with Emperor Uriel Septim makes you feel insignificant. You can't help but admire his strength and wonder whether or not going to face Voldemort is going to feel like this. To know you're facing your imminent death, yet you walk on determined to see out your destiny knowing that, for you, there will be no tomorrow.

That you are both fated and destined to die.

Somehow, you don't think you'd be as self assured or as strong as the Emperor when you go out to face your own death.

A/N: I love the irony of the last sentence as that is exactly what Harry did in Deathly Hallows when he went out to the Forbidden Forest and willingly let Voldemort blast him with the Killing Curse. Of course HBP!Harry and DH!Harry, while fundamentally the same, are two very different people as well. GoO!Harry can't see him going willingly to his death like Uriel because he both lacks the knowledge and experiences that DH!Harry went through.

So tell me... Good, Bad, Ugly?