Ron watched as Harry rested, trying to keep his worry from showing too much. Hermione and Ginny were already scared enough as it was, they didn't need him falling to pieces as well.
He rolled what he'd learned through his mind. He'd heard bits and pieces about Dracula, mostly from hearing Bill and Charlie discuss the topic, but what he remembered didn't hold a candle to what Harry was now facing, and that scared him.
The conversations going on in the Great Hall hushed when Harry got up with a sigh, picking up his weird muggle weapon and holding it with the grip of someone proficient in its use. He carefully opened the door to the room he had been resting in, aiming the weapon through the opening, ready for any unpleasant surprises.
"What did you say that thing was, Hermione?" Ron asked, more to keep their minds occupied than anything else.
"A musket, Ron." She said distractedly before continuing, apparently also trying to keep herself busy. "It's a weapon that was in wide use around four hundred years ago. There are more modern variants nowadays that are much more deadly. A single man with one of the more dangerous modern versions could kill everybody in this hall in a couple of minutes, assuming they have enough ammunition and decent aim."
Ron blinked. "Really? Wow. In that case, I guess it's a good thing he got it."
"What he has isn't as good as modern versions." She said, biting her lip. "You saw how long the reload time was. He'll only get one good shot against anything that fights at close range. That's how he beat the skeletons, after all."
Their attention was pulled back to the screen when Harry let out a cry of surprise. He'd just turned a corner when he almost took a lance to the skull. He managed to dodge, but a thin cut appeared on his cheek where the lance had scratched him, making Hermione let out a small shriek along with several other people in the hall.
Harry looked up to find what appeared to be someone in purplish medieval armor wielding a long lance. They stood confidently, lance held pointed at the ground, ready to thrust. The figure moved surprisingly smoothly for someone in no doubt restrictive armor, getting ready to strike.
Harry hopped backwards and raised his gun to aim at the figure, quickly pulling the trigger. The lancer rocked backwards from the force of the impact as the bullet hit it in the shoulder. However, it recovered quickly and slashed upward at Harry, the lance seeking to cut the wizard open. Harry quickly placed his musket in the way of the lance, blocking the strike, before moving forward while drawing his chipped sword, getting inside his enemy's range, too close for it to attack effectively. Then he slashed upwards at the thing's body, denting its breastplate and forcing it back.
The lancer twirled its weapon, trying to force Harry back, but Harry dodged around and swung his sword at the unarmored neck. His opponent didn't have a chance to react, and soon its head fell from its shoulders, the body soon following it to the floor as an orangish sort of light escaped it and went into Harry's gauntlet.
Harry sighed and reached up, touching the cut on his cheek with a scowl. "This better not bloody scar. I have enough of those as it is…" He then proceeded to sheathe his sword back in his belt before picking up his musket, inspecting it for any damage. Satisfied that he would be able to continue using it he moved over to the dropped lance. Picking it up he gave it a few twirls, testing it.
Ginny frowned. "How's he going to carry all of that?"
"He's going to have to leave something behind, I guess…" Neville said slowly.
Harry, apparently, realized the same thing as he groaned. "Dammit, I really wish I had some way of taking this with me." He blinked, along with the Great Hall, completely nonplussed as the lance suddenly vanished from his hands. "Uuh…"
"The hell?" Ron asked, face a mask of confusion.
"I guess the gauntlet has more functions than we thought." Luna said with a small smile.
It seemed like Harry had come to the same conclusion, as he was eyeing the gauntlet with a curious gaze. "Gee, wonder what else you can do…" Then his look turned flat. "Soo… How do I get it back, exactly?" He made a few faces that made some of the younger students giggle before the lance was suddenly back in his hands. He smiled as the students cheered. "Excellent. Now I just need to experiment a bit more."
The crowd watched as he proceeded to do just that, making the lance disappear and reappear again, then doing the same with the musket and two swords. Satisfied with the speed and reliability of the action, he made the lance and the swords disappear again before proceeding to reload the musket, getting ready to continue his excursion into the castle.
At the end of the hallway he was currently on there was a door and a stairway downwards. "I need to make my way down if I want to get out of this place…" He murmured to himself before he began carefully making his way down the stairs, keeping himself ready for any further attacks.
That helped save him as he looked up to find a large, double bladed axe flying at his face. Once again many in the Great Hall shrieked in shock and fear as Harry dodged with a curse, the wind from the large weapon flying passed his face ruffling his hair. Then, to their surprise, the axe turned in midair and flew back the way it had come, prompting Harry to dodge again, another curse escaping his lips. It stopped when it was caught in the gauntlet of a large armored warrior.
Eyeing his new opponent Harry aimed his musket, eyes narrowed as he looked for a weakness. As the monster drew its axe back to throw it again Harry quickly shifted his aim and shot it in the helmet. The bullet didn't penetrate, but the figure rocked back from the force of the impact. Harry immediately took advantage of that, dropping his musket and rushing forward, his new lance appearing in his hands before he thrust forward, aiming for the unprotected neck once again.
"Bloody hell!" Ron yelled even as Hermione cried out when the armored figure grabbed the lance and jerked it to the side, unbalancing Harry, who promptly received a gauntleted fist to the gut, making him let go of the lance with a wheeze.
"C'mon Harry, you can do it!" Dean yelled, and a bunch of other Gryffindors, along with some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, joined him in cheering Harry on through the projection.
As the axe armor picked up its weapon and raised it, ready to chop Harry's head off, Harry quickly summoned a sword even as he scrambled back, avoiding the knight's swing, still wheezing from the hit he took. He managed to get into a stance in spite of that, a glare on his face. "Alright then you bastard. Round two." He carefully held up his weapon and moved forward, getting ready to attack.
"You can do it, Harry…" Neville whispered, his fists clenched so hard that his knuckles were bone white.
The Great Hall watched with bated breath as Harry began a deadly dance with his opponent, dodging and striking as the lumbering figure did its best to cut him down. More than one person was biting their nails at the tense situation.
Finally, after what seemed like a half hour but was actually about a minute or so, Harry managed to cut his opponent's arm off at the elbow, black blood pouring out of the wound as the observing crowd cheered. He then proceeded to slash his blade at the neck even as the knight's axe dropped. The helmeted head soon joined its arm on the floor, greenish energy leaving it to go to Harry.
Hermione and Neville sighed with relief while Ginny pumped her fist in celebration. Hermione promptly sat down with a sigh, looking exhausted. "I don't know how much more of this I can take. It's too stressful…"
Luna patted the bushy haired witch's shoulder. "Don't worry, Hermione. Our brother will make it out of this. He's stronger than You-Know-Who ever thought, and he's made it this far."
Hermione gave her odd friend a smile. "Thanks Luna. You're right, if anybody can make it out of this, it's Harry."
"And he'll be a lot stronger when he does." Ron said. "He's already learned how to use a bunch of weapons. Who knows what else he'll have learned before he leaves that castle."
"Yeah." Ginny agreed. "Maybe something he learns will help him beat You-Know-Who." She grinned. "That would be poetic, wouldn't it?" Hermione chuckled and agreed.
Everybody turned to look as Harry finished picking his gear up. He had grabbed the axe his latest opponent had been using and swung it around a few times, getting a feel for it before smiling in satisfaction and making it disappear along with the rest of his gear. Then, after reloading his musket, he continued making his way down the corridor.
As his audience watched, Harry continued exploring the castle, weapon at the ready in case of any more unpleasant surprises. Apparently he was lucky as the hallways and rooms he came across for the next five minutes or so were all empty.
The teachers and ministry personnel continued to talk away from the ears of the children, discussing what they were seeing, trying to find anything they could do in this situation that would allow them to assist Harry.
Finally, when Harry opened another door, he froze while several people in the Great Hall cursed.
He'd entered a long, large hallway with windows on either side that allowed the moonlight to stream in. What made the observers worried were the multiple enemies that filled it.
Two axe warriors, another lancer, a couple of skeletons, four of the strange little flea men that had attacked Harry before, and a skeletal musketman tucked away in the back where it could snipe him.
Harry finally reacted by cursing. "Bloody fucking hell. Why can't anything be easy?" Then he scrambled aside as one of the flea men screeched and launched itself at him with a powerful jump. Harry immediately summoned his sword and swung at the little monster, bisecting it neatly and prompting another burst of color to travel into his gauntlet.
When a bullet barely missed him he quickly summoned his musket and aimed at the sniper. He dropped to a knee as another flea man launched itself at him, sailing over his head, and quickly pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed into the musketman's skull, shattering it into pieces. As the skeleton began to flail about blindly Harry made the musket vanish again and resummoned his sword, beginning to turn to attack the little monster that had jumped at him before. Unfortunately he wasn't quick enough and everybody called out an unheard warning as the thing jumped onto his back, clawing at him in a crazed rage.
Harry cried out in pain as small clawed hands scratched his back up, making more than one observer gasp. He promptly jumped up and backwards, landing on his back on top of his assailant, which let out a cry of pain. Quickly getting up, the back of his shirt bloody and torn, he quickly summoned his axe and brought it down on the creature, cutting it in two with ease.
He turned just in time to see a large axe flying at his chest. He jumped to the side, barely making it in time to avoid being cleaved in two. Before he could react further another skeleton like the one that attacked him in his cell charged at him, its bones rattling. Harry quickly lifted his axe and swung it at the charging enemy, the force and weight of the weapon smashing its dry brittle bones to pieces.
Another flea man attacked him as he dodged another thrown axe, this one almost hitting him on the return trip. This time Harry switched to his lance and brought it up as the little beast jumped at him with a screech, letting it impale itself on the lance's tip. He quickly swung it away, discarding the corpse almost negligently as he made his way toward the closest axe knight.
The knight tried to hit him with its weapon, but Harry quickly sidestepped and began to thrust his lance at the joints in its armor, drawing the armored monster's dark blood with each successful hit. Finally, as the last of the flea men moved in to attack with the second skeleton, he managed to pierce his opponent's faceplate, the lance forcing itself through the knight's skull. It immediately dropped, and Harry turned, summoning his axe while he did so.
"Wow… It's amazing how good he's gotten at physical fighting in such a short time." Susan Bones said with wide eyes from where she sat near the end of the table, having moved there to be closer to her aunt.
"I know!" Colin Creevey said with even wider eyes as Harry destroyed the second skeleton and dodged another thrown axe while attacking the flea man with his sword. "That gauntlet is really useful. And he'll only get stronger the more he fights."
As the last flea man fell that left just one axe knight, the lancer and the headless musketman to deal with.
The lancer approached first, the axe knight content to stand back and chuck its axe at him and the musketman still flailing about, not a danger to anybody.
Harry summoned his axe and got ready. When the lancer thrust at him Harry sidestepped and swung his axe. The lancer parried before turning the action into a slash which Harry barely sidestepped. Repeating his previous tactic, Harry stepped toward the lancer and attacked with an overhead slash. The lancer tried to block, but the powerful attack broke his weapon, leaving him defenseless as the axe cut deeply into his shoulder, nearly bisecting the armored figure completely. The body dropped soundlessly to the floor as Harry stood still for a moment, breathing heavily.
That almost cost him, however, as the axe of his last actually combat capable enemy flew at him, and despite the Great Hall's fervent wishes when they called out to him he didn't notice the attack till it was almost too late. He turned and dropped to the ground when he saw what was coming for him. Despite his attempt to dodge, he still took a nasty cut to his shoulder, making many of the watching students cry out and curse.
Harry got up, wincing and glaring at the axe knight even as it wound up for another throw. Quickly, while fighting through the pain, he rushed at the armored knight, his sword, barely held together now by hopes and dreams, appearing in his hands. The knight brought its axe down on him, but Harry dodged and quickly thrust his weapon at his opponent's throat once again. The blade broke once it had pierced the monster's flesh, black blood escaping from the wound as the knight dropped to its knees before falling over completely, the long piece of metal sticking out of it.
Harry sighed and tossed the broken sword aside before picking up the recently discarded axe, wincing when his shoulder and back protested. Moving over to the still flailing skeletal musketman he quickly brought the axe down on its form, crushing it to pieces and making everybody sigh in relief as the fight finally ended.
Harry then proceeded to take off his already ruined shirt, making several girls blush. He ripped the relatively clean portions of it into strips and, with some struggling and cursing, applied some of it as a bandage to the wound on his shoulder. Madame Pomfrey murmured her approval of his work.
Hermione frowned heavily as she watched Harry slump down to sit against the wall and rest. "He looks so tired…"
"It's not surprising." Ron said grimly. "We don't know what happened to him before we started watching, and he's been fighting a lot since we did."
"Plus there's the fact that he's got to be hungry and thirsty." Ginny said with a frown.
As if to emphasize her words Harry's stomach growled loudly. He patted it with a sigh. "Quit complaining. I don't know how long it'll be till I can find food." He sighed again as his head hit the wall with a dull thump. "Not like it's my first time going hungry…"
Harry's friends, along with most of the occupants of the Great Hall, frowned at that. Neville in particular punched the table. "Dammit…"
"There's nothing we can do." Luna said sadly. "We'll just have to believe in Harry and cheer him on, even if he can't hear us."
Ginny growled but nodded with a frown on her face. "Yeah, Luna's right. Doesn't mean it doesn't make me angry, though…"
The Hall watched as Harry rested, his eyes closed as he tried to recover his strength. Multiple pockets of conversation broke out during the lull in events, everyone discussing what had happened, Harry's new abilities, and what he might learn next.
When he finally got up, gathering his weapons, everybody's eyes were riveted on the screen, wondering what would happen next.
Harry made his way to the door at the end of the hallway opposite to the one he'd entered. He glanced out the windows, once again taking in the enormous, sprawling place he'd found himself. Then with a deep breath to steel himself, he opened the door to continue trying to escape.
To everyone's surprise, the next several rooms and hallways were bare of enemies. Nothing moved to attack Harry as he made his way through the castle, his musket raised and ready to fire at all times.
Rather than become optimistic at the fact that things had calmed down, most of them became even more on edge. They were waiting with bated breath for the other shoe to drop.
When Harry entered a large, bare, stone room with nothing in it but a large statue twice his height made of crude stone, alarm bells started blaring for everybody watching.
Harry apparently felt the same, as he immediately aimed his musket at the statue, staying still as he waited for something to happen. When nothing did he slowly moved towards the door at the other end of the room, his rifle never wavering from the statue's form.
It was when he was halfway across the room when it happened. a series of glowing symbols appeared on the statue's forehead, and it began to move with the rumble of stone on stone. Harry snarled in frustration. "I bloody knew it..." He then fired a shot at the statue, which didn't even seem to notice the bullet ricocheting off its form, some small chips of stone flying off.
With a curse Harry ran away from the statue, which thankfully moved rather slowly, his rifle disappearing as he tried to think of what to do now that the statue had purposefully moved between him and the door.
Ron glanced at Hermione as he heard her muttering to herself. "Hermione?"
She glanced at Ron. "Sorry, it's just... I swear I remember hearing about something similar to this..."
"It's a golem." Anthony Goldstein said as he moved over to them from the Ravenclaw table. "And not a catchall term golem, an actual golem from Jewish folklore." Several other nearby students nodded at that.
Hermione hit her palm with her fist. "That was it! A being made of clay or mud that's animated by the Hebrew word for 'truth' being inscribed on its form."
Anthony nodded. "That's it, yeah."
Ginny looked at Anthony, surprised. "How did you know that?"
Anthony shrugged. "I'm Jewish."
Any further conversation was interrupted by a crash as the golem suddenly moved with a burst of astounding speed, bringing its massive fist down on Harry's position, who promptly scrambled away with a "Fucking hell!"
Ron echoed his best friend before turning to Anthony. "Alright, since you know so much, how does he kill it?"
Anthony frowned, crossing his arms. "Like Hermione said, the word inscribed on the golem is emet, or 'truth'. What Harry needs to do to stop it is strike the first letter off, turning it into the word for 'death', met. Unfortunately there's no way for us to let him know about it."
Ron ground his teeth and growled, but turned his eyes back to Harry. The Hall watched as Harry scrambled about, trying to avoid being flattened. "Cmon, Harry, get passed that thing..."
Unfortunately, every time Harry tried to move to either door out of the room, the golem was suddenly in the way, ready to turn him to paste. And Harry knew better than to damage one of his weapons against a being made of stone.
"Think, Potter, think!" They heard him muttering to himself as he played keep away with the golem. "How the hell do you stop this thing?" After another dodge he looked up at the glowing symbols on his head and growled. "...Fuck it."
The next time the golem struck the ground, rather than run away, Harry rushed the stone being and climbed up its arm. The golem shook its arm, trying to dislodge him, but harry held on for dear life.
"Oh god, Harry!" Hermione whimpered as she practically clawed at her face in fear.
Suddenly the golem moved to swat him off, its large stone arm moving to squash his head to jelly, and Harry gave a cry of fear before bunching up his legs and suddenly jumping with great force, flying off the golem's arm as its hand struck, his leap taking him several feet over the golem's head. Not having much time to react, his momentum ending and his descent beginning, he summoned one of his heavy axes and brought it down onto the golem's head with a cry. The blade skittered off the stone in a shower of sparks, just barely missing the Hebrew word, and he landed nimbly back on his feet. He looked down at his legs in surprise before looking up at the golem with a malicious grin and jumping powerfully with a cry, swinging his axe in order to hit the glowing letters, just barely missing as the golem jerked away.
Most of those in the Hall were gaping in shock. "W-what the hell?" Neville asked, completely confused.
"The jumpin monsters!" Hagrid suddenly yelled in comprehension.
"What?" Parvati Patil asked, confused.
"I get it." Said her sister, Padma. "Harry killed a bunch of those little jumping men, but we didn't see any obvious indication of what knowledge he'd gotten from them. That's because he didn't get knowledge, he got the physical ability to jump high."
"Wow... So he can get new powers by killing monsters, not just skills? That's..." Justin Finch-Fletchley said sowly.
"Amazing!" Colin and Dennis Creevey yelled out in unison as they watched Harry jump around, trying to hit the golem's weak point.
The students of the Great Hall cheered Harry on as he continued trying to hit the word on the golem's head. He had a few close calls when the stone fists almost hit him, but he hadn't been hit so far. Finally, with a roar of effort, Harry managed to bring the axe down on the words, hitting the appropriate letter by sheer luck. There was a flash of light and the golem froze. As Harry landed and turned around, ready to jump up again even as he huffed from the exertion, the golem slowly began to disperse into dust starting from its extremities. Everybody cheered as the golem turned into a large pile of stone dust, and Harry fell on his backside, laughing in triumph even as a grey light left the last of the golem's body and entered his gauntlet.
Ron clapped with a wide grin on his lips till he felt Hermione lean against him. "Hermione?" He asked, confused.
The bushy haired witch had a small smile on her lips, but that didn't stop a small whine from escaping her. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take." She whined.
Ron chuckled and wrapped an arm around her. "Think of it this way, 'Mione. Now you have definitive proof Harry can handle whatever he runs into in that castle."
Hermione's smile grew wider. "Mmm... I suppose so..."
The students' celebrations lasted a while as Harry rested, Dumbledore and several other teachers smiling indulgently. Everybody went quiet, however, when Harry got back up, his musket once again in his hands. "Alright then. No rest for the wicked and all that." He brought his rifle up to his shoulder as he opened the door. "Bring it on..." With renewed confidence he made his way further into the unknown halls of the castle.
Hello all, to my last update to any of my stories for 2018. Hope everyone is having Happy Holidays and will have a great New Year.
This was Harry's first boss battle. I hope it delivered. I have plans for many others I look forward to getting to.
Since many people are still asking, this fic isn't based on any one Castlevania. It's most heavily inspired by Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow. The former because it's the game in the series I'm most familiar with, the latter because of the more modern era it's set in. However, things that happened in the games aren't a thing here. Dracula's permanent defeat in 1999 did not happen (this is set in the current time), and Alucard did not go on to take on the persona Genya Arikado. He's still kicking around though... after a fashion. So are some others from the series. We'll get to them eventually.
And yes, most of you did get it. The gauntlet is indeed based on the one wielded by Samanosuke in Onimusha: Warlords. I am very, very happy they announced an HD rerelease of said game for early next year, and already plan to get it. For those not familiar with it, think of an early concept of Dark Souls that was originally a spinoff of Resident Evil (and plays quite a bit like it) but with samurai and demons. Highly recommend it for you to get when it comes out.
Anyway, I think that's it for now. Don't forget that I have a Pat A Ron you can donate to to be able to vote on which of my stories I update. it's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis.
Till next time, yet again, Happy Holidays and New Year. Take care.