Hermione was terrified as she, along with the rest of the occupants of the Great Hall, watched Harry study the landscape of… wherever he was.
She'd been in a constant state of agony ever since her best friend was captured, unable to keep her prodigious mind from imagining the horrible things he could be going through at every moment. She was ecstatic to know Harry was alive, of course, but that didn't mean she didn't worry about his wellbeing. For all they knew he could have been tortured till he broke like the Longbottoms.
She clenched her fists. Knowing that Harry was trapped in a huge castle larger than Hogwarts filled with monsters was horrible, although she couldn't stop the ember of hope in her heart. If there was anything Harry was good at, it was getting out of situations like this.
Her attention was dragged back to Harry as he sighed.
"You know, Murphy, it would be bloody amazing if you could just pick on someone else for once." He moved back from the window, shutting it again. "…Asshole." He turned back into the room, moving to a chest in the corner, trying to open it only to find it was locked. "Damn." He made his way to the desk, rooting around in it.
"Why does he want to open the chest?" A second year Hufflepuff asked.
"Probably to find something he can use. A wand, or some other kind of weapon." Terry Boot said. "He can't just use that damaged sword, after all."
Harry moved a small book to the side before stopping and glancing at it. "Prisoner Belongings Manifest." A smirk lit his face and he opened it, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "This should have something interesting…" He began paging through it, stopping momentarily as his arm shook lightly. "Let's see… gold… tobacco… hmm, what's this?" He bent forward as he began reading out loud (to the appreciation of his audience). "'Lady Lisa's handmaiden, Megissa, was discovered to be working against the Lord's crusade, ostensibly to honor her Lady's last wishes. She was captured as she finished creating an item of power with her magic and knowledge of alchemy, though we know not what it does. I placed the item, a gauntlet of silver with a large multi-coloured jewel, with the other prisoner effects. I will bring it to the Lord to be inspected later, after the woman is execu-' Huh, looks like he got cut off. Literally, if the blood on the page is any indication." He stood up and rubbed his chin. "Hmm, an item of power, huh? Could be useful." He went back to rooting through the drawers as the students began discussing what they'd just heard amongst themselves.
Neville turned to Hermione. "What do you think it is? It has to be powerful it was created using special alchemy."
Hermione shrugged without looking at him. "I don't know, Neville. Whatever it is, it must have been important if this woman was willing to die to make sure it was created." Then she got up and made her way towards the group of teachers and Ministry personnel. Ron, Neville and Ginny glanced at each other before getting up and following her, Luna rushing up to join them.
Dumbledore turned away from one of the Aurors, a sallow faced man who looked permanently irritated, to look at his students. "Yes children? How can we help you?"
"Professor, could you tell us where Harry is? You seemed like you knew." Hermione asked politely but firmly.
The auror Dumbledore had been speaking with sneered at her. "You don't need to know, girly. The Ministry is working on it, so don't stick your-"
"That's enough, Auror Daniels." Dumbledore said firmly, making the man snap his jaw shut. The Headmaster addressed his students. "I see no harm in telling you where he is. Doubtless you would find out by watching what's happening anyway."
Before he could continue, however, everyone heard Harry let out a small cry of triumph as he held up a key. He quickly moved to the chest and opened it as he began rooting through it. Before long he pulled out the gauntlet the manifest spoke of and held it up, studying it and letting his voyeuristic audience do the same.
It was a beautiful item, polished silver that reflected the light like a mirror, pristine and almost awe inspiring, especially once they spotted the intricate scrollwork all about it, making it look more like a work of art than a piece of armor. What really drew the eye was the jewel, however.
It was a large orb, about the size of a fist, smooth and perfect. It had a spot of black in its center, from which tendrils of color seemed to radiate, making it look like a large, slit, multicolored eye. It was affixed to the spot that would cover the back of the hand and the joint of the wrist. As Harry gazed at it, it seemed to gaze back.
"Well then, what do you do?" Harry asked as he studied the gauntlet. He was interrupted when there was a bang that rattled the door as something tried to get in, making several of those watching gasp in surprise. Harry turn to the door, eyes narrowing, before he looked down at the gauntlet.
"Harry, you don't know what it does!" Ginny said, to no avail as Harry placed it on his right arm.
The gauntlet was obviously enchanted in some fashion, as despite not having any straps it attached itself to Harry's arm. He moved his arm and hand as the door continued to rattle, testing his range of motion. It seemed as though he wasn't impaired at all, having no trouble moving naturally. Then he picked up his stolen katana and got into a stance nobody watching believed was an actual sword stance except in passing. Then the door bust open, and two zombies exactly like the samurai one he'd stolen his sword from appeared in the doorway.
One of the samurai zombies stepped laboriously into the room, while the other stayed in the doorway, blocking his escape, their dead eyes locked on him, a gurgling sound emanating from their throats, blood weeping from their eyes and mouths. Many students cringed at the sight of them.
The first zombie cam at Harry, arm raised to bring its sword down on his head. Harry dodged the clumsy swing and made a swing of his own, his chipped blade coming around like a baseball bat once again to strike the monster in its armored chest.
The zombie turned with surprising speed and swung again. Harry brought his now armored arm up to block, the blade bouncing off the enchanted silver and making him stumble back from the surprising amount of force imparted by the blow. Harry moved back out of range and held his sword up again. The zombie took another shuffling step forwards and Harry waited.
The zombie came in with a side swing and Harry ducked under it before springing up, his sword coming up to stab at his enemy's head. The zombie could not react in time as the tip of the sword slammed into its unprotected jaw and up into its skull. Harry's sword broke as it fell over, leaving most of its length buried in the decaying head of the zombie.
The students cheered at his victory before suddenly being struck silent as something, some sort of reddish light, left the monster's still body and entered the jewel on the gauntlet. The eye like orb glowed once before going back to its normal look. Harry looked at it, confused. "What was…?" He was interrupted by the sound of the second monster moving into the room towards him.
He bent over and picked up his previous opponent's katana and the Hogwarts contingent saw an odd look cross his face before he got into a stance.
A proper swordsman's stance, many noted.
He looked sure on his feet and prepared, his blade pointed at his enemy, unlike before, where he got into an obviously makeshift position. The difference was obvious.
"Wha?" Ron eloquently expressed everybody's confusion. Then the fight began.
Harry came in, attacking first this time. His movements were fluid and confident, bringing the damaged katana around and taking one of the zombie's arms off at the elbow, exploiting a gap in its armor. He then moved back and parried his enemy's swing, turning with the momentum to take the thing's head off with a smooth swing.
The zombie dropped and lay still, red light once again leaving its form to enter the gauntlet's jewel. Harry blinked, and his posture shifted as he stared at what he'd done, surprised. "What the hell…?"
"Professor, what was that!?" Hermione practically shouted. "Harry has never even held a katana before today, much less trained to be able to use one! And that was, while probably not mastery level, definitely the ability of someone proficient!"
Dumbledore stroked his beard as he watched Harry visibly shake his surprise off and pick up the second sword, obviously intending to keep it ready for whenever his current one broke. Finally, he replied to Hermione, ignoring how the Great Hall had become alight with the whispers of the children discussing what they'd just seen. "I believe, Miss Granger, that this was the power of the gauntlet that he now wields. This is just a guess, mind you, but those things were clearly once samurai. They may be dead, but some of their skill remains, otherwise they would not have been able to attack as they did. If I'm correct, then the gauntlet somehow took at least some of their ability and gave it to Harry, allowing him to use their swordsmanship skills."
Ginny stepped forward, her eyes on Harry as he peeked back out into the hallway. "Do you think it'll work only on skills like swordsmanship, or will it work on anything?"
Dumbledore shook his head. "I do not know, Miss Weasley. I imagine we will find out. However, if it is the latter case, then the more enemies Harry defeats, the better his abilities, and the odds of him escaping."
The students closest to the group began to pass along what was said to their housemates, ensuring that everybody would know in a short time, but none of those there really cared.
Harry made his way out of the room and back into the hall, peaking around the corner at where the musket skeletons had been, only to yelp as he almost got an eye taken out by a shot from one of them. He stayed against the wall, obviously trying to come up with something.
Finally, everybody saw him take a deep breath before moving into view of the skeletons, running past to the other end of the hall. A shot barely missed him, another going wide, and the last of the three making him stop lest he take the ball to the chest.
Once the last shot had been fired Harry turned, sword in hand, to rush the three skeletons while they were reloading. One managed to finish reloading and took aim at Harry when he was feet away. Harry threw himself to the side as the shot rang out, making the students gasp, and pushed himself off the wall, aiming a kick at the kneeling skeleton's head, smashing the skull to pieces. Surprisingly this didn't stop the skeleton, as it began to flail around with it musket, hitting Harry in the ribs, making him grunt. He jumped a bit to land on the flailing skeleton, crushing it beneath his weight.
By this point the other two had reloaded, but Harry brought his sword up, cutting through one of the muskets before having to dodge the shot of the last one, throwing himself to the side again, banging his shoulder against the wall. Then he reached out and wrenched the musket from the skeleton's relatively feeble grip before using it as a club to smash its skull in.
Seeing as blunt force was obviously better against his current foes than cutting ability he dropped his sword and proceeded to use his new weapon to beat them into shards. Before long all three skeletons were just piles of bones.
Once again, light left the defeated monsters, this time a steelish color, and entered the gauntlet. Harry breathed heavily from the exertion before studying the musket in his hand.
"Since he beat those skeletons, does that mean he'll be able to use the muskets now?" A Ravenclaw third year asked.
"It should." Said a fifth year. "Which is good, since it'll give him a long range option."
Indeed, everybody watched as Harry stripped the skeletons of their powder and ammunition before expertly loading the least damaged of the muskets, slipping his sword into his belt so he could carry it. Then he brought it up to aim down the sights, looking confident with his stance and grip.
A Slytherin spoke now. "Looks like Potter's got a new weapon." Tracey Davis said with a smirk.
Theodore Nott scoffed. "Using a muggle weapon. He should be ashamed."
At that, even Pansy rolled her eyes. "It's not like he has a wand, idiot. He's being smart and using what he can to survive."
Nott scowled and hunched his shoulders at the disapproval of most of his house for his foolishness.
"Alright, can't just keep wandering around hoping to get lucky." Harry said to himself. "Gotta figure out a plan."
He brought the musket back up and at the ready as he began making his way down the halls of the castle. He came to a door a minute or so later and opened it carefully, peeking inside in case of any enemies. Not seeing anything he made his way in and closed the door behind him as silently as he could before moving to a nearby seat and sinking into it, letting out a deep breath and slumping slightly.
Hermione bit her lip at the sight of how exhausted Harry looked. Considering they hadn't been watching for long, she worried about how he'd hold up the longer he was wherever he was.
Speaking of which…
"Professor, you said you'd tell us where Harry is." Luna said quietly, her large eyes focused on Dumbledore's.
"Yes… yes I did." He glanced to see the other nearby students looking attentive and interested before beginning to speak. "I'm sure at least, you, Miss Granger, are aware of Dracula. Am I right?"
Hermione blinked but nodded. "Ah, yes. A mythical vampire that was based on King Vlad Tepes III of Wallachia."
"Yes…" Dumbledore sighed. "As is often the case, history as muggles know it is not the whole story. Dracula was a true vampire. Not only a vampire, but a Vampire Lord, capable of feats that the lesser of his kind would deem impossible. He was also a brilliant man, knowledgeable in both magic and the mundane sciences." Seeing that he now had the entire hall hanging on his every word he spoke a bit louder as he continued. "For many years he lived unmolested in his castle, never deigning to interact with the outside. One day, however, the Catholic Church, with the backing of some wizards, killed one of Dracula's subjects."
"This was a costly mistake. Nobody knows why, but this drove Dracula into a rage. He went mad with fury and declared war against humanity itself. He summoned and created many monsters and demons, directing them against the men of the lands surrounding his castle. The bloodshed lasted years, and Wallachia was devastated before he was finally stopped. Warriors, both muggle and magical, fought their way into Dracula's castle and stopped him. At the cost of their own lives, it is assumed, as none were seen again." Dumbledore stopped to take a sip of water and let what he just said sink in. "However, the castle has its own limited sentience, and the ability to move itself. It disappeared during that climactic battle and has not been seen since, though every ministry in the world has been on the lookout, as the possibility remains that Dracula, being a vampire above all others, could possibly be made to return. And even if he couldn't, the castle is doubtlessly full of things that should not see the light of day."
"And Voldemort found it." Hermione said, a frown on her face and her heart sinking. "Not only is he getting some kind of power out of it, but he also dropped Harry in the middle of the castle to watch him die against the monsters there."
"Yes." Dumbledore said, before his lips turned up in an uncharacteristic smirk. "But it doesn't seem to be working the way Voldemort intended."
"Of course not." Ron said, grinning as he crossed his arms, eyes looking up at the form of the deep in thought Harry. "He's Harry. He'll never go down that easy." He turned to look at his friends. "He'll get out. We've just gotta wait and cheer him on."
The others grinned and nodded under Dumbledore's warm gaze, and Hermione felt the tiny little ember of hope in her heart glow just a little brighter.
Whew, starting this fought me. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew. This story is a lot more action focused than what I'm used to. Still, I'm going to stick with it, no worries.
I meant to have this done last week, but we had a couple of major incidents at work last week, which meant days of non-stop work. When I had time to breathe, I simply didn't feel like writing. So I did other stuff.
Since I've been asked, this isn't based on any specific Castlevania game. It's more of an amalgamation. I do have plans for a character from the games to show up (it's the obvious one, pretty sure anybody can guess who), though I do have an idea for one of the others.
I wonder who can guess what Harry's new gauntlet is based on. It even has similar abilities. I'll give a hint: It's from an old PS2 game.
Next week (hopefully) will be another chapter of Brightest. After that… I was thinking of starting the Zelda story from the poll. I know it didn't get many votes, but I've kinda been on a Zelda kick, so it would be nice to get that out of my head.
I think that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed, and please review.