Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this version of the Mask belongs to New Line Cinemas; I'm just using them for this story

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Harry Potter and the Mask of Loki

As she hurried towards the massive form of Hogwarts, only a couple of hundred feet away from her and getting closer all the time, Ginny once again took a quick glance over at the rest of her makeshift 'attack force', and, once again, found herself wondering why the hell she was trying something so ridiculous with such a small group.

OK, so Hermione and Ron already knew what Death Eaters could do if the need arose, and both had played some pretty important roles (Albeit not the core roles in the victories in question; that had always ended up being Harry no matter how much he might have wanted it to be otherwise) in helping to stop some of Voldemort's earlier plans; did that really mean they were the best choices for going up against him in Hogwarts itself, with most of his Death Eaters alongside him? She could have waited for other members of the Order, told them all what had happened, have Harry be rescued by every witch and wizard they could gather…

But that might have been too late for them to help Harry; if he really was going to try and attack Hogwarts now, they had to move fast if they were going to be any help to him.

Besides, there'd been nobody immediately available to help them save their friend right then. When the three of them had arrived at Grimmauld Place, there had been nobody there; despite Hermione's objections, she and Ron had both agreed that, if Harry really was in danger, they had to get there to help him as soon as possible.

They'd left a note explaining what was happening to any members of the Order who might show up at Grimmauld Place- they could only hope that someone would get it in time- and had subsequently apparated to the outskirts of the anti-apparation wards of Hogwarts. Ginny had side-along apparrated with Hermione this time around; she'd taken too many risks that night to take a chance at getting an apparation wrong and accidentally splinching herself at the wrong moment. After taking a few seconds to ensure that all three of them were still 'intact'- Ron seemed to be missing a few eyebrows, and Ginny thought that a few fingernails seemed a bit shorter, but that was about it- and then began to hurry towards the castle as fast as possible, wands drawn and ready for whatever might await them.

Nearly… there… Ginny panted to herself as she stared at the castle before her, a resolved glare in her eyes.

For once, she was in a position to help Harry- she regarded the battle of the Department of Mysteries as more of an attempt to help Sirius than anything else- and she was determined not to waste it.

It was only when they were nearly at the door that Ginny realised there was more going on here than she would have expected.

For one thing, the doors in front of her- doors that should have been shut, given that Voldemort was not the most inviting of people- were wide open, a large crack down the middle as though some kind of weapon had been used to force the locks open. For another thing, two Death Eaters were lying unconscious on either side of the door inside, a large bruise on their heads as though they had been knocked out rather than stunned.

Even one of those details was confusing enough- why would somebody who didn't rely on magic try to attack Voldemort?- but both of them together were more than slightly confusing.

"Well," Hermione said, after briefly studying the sight before her as she glanced back at her friends, "I think it's safe to say that, unless there's somebody else fighting in this war who we don't know about, Harry's already here and inside the castle."

"But… but why would- how could- he do… that?" Ron asked, indicating the door incredulously, confusion and shock evident on his face. "I mean, he's good at the whole Defence Against the Dark Arts thing, but to pull off something like this on his own? What kind of spell could do this to these guys?"

"I don't think it was a spell; I think he had help," Ginny put in, looking critically over at her brother as she indicated the bodies before them, an exasperated expression on her face as she looked at Ron. "Use your eyes, Ron; these guys have bruises on their heads. They couldn't have got them from falling down- they're not near anything that could have caused the bruise- and Harry doesn't have the physical strength to just knock someone out without some kind of weapon, to say nothing of knocking the door open like that. Either it isn't him or he's got help, and the chances of somebody else attacking Hogwarts on the same day as Harry have to be pretty slim, if you ask me."

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"You're right, Ginny; he must have had help," she said, looking back at her friend in approval. "Harry doesn't do the weapon thing; he's not much of a person for unarmed combat- and, generally, getting up close and personal with his opponents- despite his Quidditch training. There must be somebody here helping him in this attack."

"OK… so… what? There's somebody else in here helping Harry who's capable of doing that?" Ron asked, indicating the hall and the fallen Death Eaters with a wave of his hand, confusion branded all over his face. "But who-?"

"Sssh!" Ginny yelled over at Ron, holding up a hand as she cocked her head to one side, as though listening to something.

Now that Ron and Hermione thought about it, they could hear something as well; it sounded like somebody was actually fighting in some nearby part of the castle…

Specifically, in the great hall just above them, creating enough noise in the process to get through all the layers of stone and plaster between them and it.

"Think that's Harry making that noise?" Hermione asked, looking at Ron and Ginny inquiringly.

"If it's not him, it's that… other guy… you know, the one who did… well, that," Ron said, indicating the injured men lying beside them before pulling out his wand, earlier uncertainty replaced with a cool, focused confidence that only past experience at fighting Death Eaters had managed to give him. "Either way, it sounds like it's where the action is; shall we see what we can do?"

Ginny shrugged in a falsely casual manner, a smile on her face as she pulled out her own wand.

"Can't hurt to look anyway," she said, as she led her brother and friend to the hall, running as rapidly as she could.

"Remember," Hermione said, as she glanced over at the other two, "at the first sign of them getting the better of us, hide your wands up your sleeves and make it look like you've lost them; they'll never think to love for them if we don't actually try to strike back."

Ron and Ginny nodded in agreement at that strategy; indeed, it was something Hermione had some up with shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts. The general basis of the plan was that, since the Death Eaters never missed a chance to attack unless something was actively preventing them (Such as fear of what Voldemort would do to them if they damaged the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries), if the three of them pretended to have lost their wands, the Death Eaters wouldn't bother to search them for it, believing that, like them, their opponents would never miss an opportunity to strike back. Besides, even if any Death Eaters were smart enough to try and search for the wands, they probably wouldn't bother, as they'd probably be so confident in their ability to disarm three students that they wouldn't regard them as a threat once they were being held prisoner, even if there was a chance that they were still armed.

As they approached the door to the hall- left slightly ajar and hanging from their hinges, she noted anxiously; it looked like something had broken them down and nobody had been able to do anything other than make a basic attempt at shutting them- she vaguely heard a slight thumping sound, as though someone- or maybe even several someones- was trying to carry something fairly heavy and relatively large towards something else…

Then she heard something that sounded like someone trying to scream in pain, and her barely-formed resolve to wait and come up with a more elaborate plan of attack than the last time she'd been in this situation snapped.

If that was Harry, she had to help him; after he'd risked his life to save her in her first year, she wouldn't accept anything else.

Before Ron or Hermione could stop her, she'd kicked the door down- they really weren't that well-attached to the walls any more- and found herself staring in surprise as countless Death Eaters turned to look at her…

Wait.

Not all of them turned to look at the three new arrivals; some of them were focused on something at the end of the hall. It looked like some kind of miniature whirlwind, a bright, vibrant green in colour, spinning around and crackling with equally bright green energy, emanating from an unidentifiable source. Three of four Death Eaters were standing close to it, but each of them were cautiously edging away as though they were afraid of the energy that was being generated there.

As Ginny stared at the vortex, she realised that she could vaguely make out a figure with a green head trapped in the middle of the 'whirlwind', as another figure- a Death Eater, judging by the black robe- clasped the back of the figure's head and seemed to be trying to pull something off…

Is that MarkGinny asked herself, squinting at the figure in confusion. But what's he doing here…?

Then the vortex that had been surrounding the figure that seemed to be Mark suddenly vanished, and Ginny realised three things.

Firstly, the person who had been apparently pulling something off the other figure's head was Voldemort himself.

Secondly, the self-proclaimed 'Dark Lord' was now holding some kind of strange wooden mask in his hands, covered in old dark green paint and seemingly glowing- albeit not in the literal sense-with some kind of magic.

And thirdly, the figure that had been in the centre of the now-vanished green vortex- the figure that had apparently been wearing the aforementioned mask- no longer looked like Mark Tiller.

In fact, it looked like…

"HARRY?!" Ginny yelled in shock, only vaguely registering that Ron and Hermione were saying the same thing in equally shocked voices behind her.

The obvious implication of Harry suddenly being where Mark had been only a moment ago nearly caused Ginny to collapse from the shock of it.

How the hell could Harry be Mark? Ginny couldn't help but wonder, staring at her 'ex'-boyfriend (She still couldn't be entirely certain where she stood regarding her feelings with this revelation) in confusion and shock.

Harry Potter was Mark Tiller? The boy who had almost no idea how to express his feelings and had yet to fully master non-verbal magic (She loved him, but she had to admit that he did have his problems) was simultaneously the wackiest, most open young man she'd ever met in her entire life?

Whatever else she'd been expecting was hidden under Mark's green face-mask, she certainly hadn't expected it to be something like that.

As soon as he heard the voices of his friends yell out his name, Harry felt like both swearing and rejoicing at this new, unexpected chain of events that had just taken place.

On the one hand, his friends had just discovered that he- or Mark, whatever way you wanted to look at it- had been lying to them for the past week or so, and he'd been tackling Voldemort's greatest secrets pretty much on his own with only an enchanted mask of uncertain origin to assist him. If they weren't extremely angry with him for that when they next had a few moments alone together, he was going to be very surprised.

On the other hand, right now, with their sudden arrival, Voldemort and the Death Eaters were briefly distracted from him and the wooden mask that the Dark Lord now held in his hands.

That moment of distraction was all that Harry needed.

He just hoped that this new plan of his worked; quite frankly, he wasn't even sure if it deserved to be called a 'plan', it seemed to be so pathetic, but it was all he could do right now. In these kind of conditions, getting the Mask on might not be possible- Voldemort had a tight grip on it that stopped any thoughts Harry might have entertained of just grabbing the Mask back- but if he could get it out of Voldemort's grasp, he might just be able to call in an 'ally' to make a difference in the upcoming struggle.

Lunging forward- the Impediment Jinx that had been restraining him when he was Mark apparently gone with the removal of the Mask- Harry lashed out at Voldemort with a desperate upward kick, striking his foe's hand with such force that the powerful artefact was sent flying upwards at a rapid rate, Voldemort instinctively releasing his grip on the Mask as his hand was suddenly consumed by pain.

Even as Harry watched, his foe stumbled back into the mass of Death Eaters as they began to charge towards the Boy Who Lived, in some desperate attempt to contain their master's personal foe before he could escape. The surprise of Voldemort literally falling into them threw the Death Eaters off for a moment, leaving them uncertain whether they should attack Harry or help their master, giving Harry all the time he needed to take the desperate chance that was all he could do to keep the Mask away from anyone.

He knew he could have tried to summon the Mask down to him, but Summoning Charms could be intercepted, and he didn't want to draw attention to the artefact by trying to grab it as it fell back to the ground. If he kept the Mask up in the air, away from his foes- without resorting to a Banishing Charm for the same reason that attempts to Summon it might not work- he and his friends might have a chance yet at come out of this mess, if not in perfect shape, than at least to come out alive.

And, fortunately for him, he had a couple of flying 'allies' hanging around outside Hogwarts whom he'd trust with his life, regardless of the fact that they wouldn't exactly be his first choices for back-up in a conventional combat situation.

"HEDWIG!" Harry yelled, his eyes fixed on the hole in the wall that the post owls normally came through when the students had mail during the school year, his fingers crossed as he hoped desperately that Hedwig was both close enough to get into the hall and smart enough to realise what he wanted her to do when she got there.

He knew that an owl might not be the most sensible animal to call- particularly when Fawkes was available as well, and he knew for a fact that the phoenix could be just as, if not more intelligent, than Hedwig- but, given that he knew remarkably little about both phoenixes and the Mask, he didn't want to risk a conflict of magic between their respective magical energies; Hedwig was the less risky option.

Just as the immediately surrounding Death Eaters had grabbed the collar of his shirt, the snow-white form of Hedwig flew in from the window, dived towards the Mask just as it was beginning to fall back towards the ground, and flew underneath it so that it landed on her face. As soon as the wood made contact with her face, the ever-familiar green vortex- seen for the first time by Harry from the outside- was swirling around his owl, drawing the attention of all in the room once again.

Harry grinned as he watched the Mask transform his owl in mid-air, Hedwig hooting rapidly in surprise and what almost sounded like an owl's cries of glee; it may not have been intended for animals, but it looked like the Mask would still give Hedwig the powers it had to offer its human users. It wasn't as good as having the Mask himself for use in a fight, but at least it wasn't in the hands of any of the Death Eaters for the moment; he could cope with the odds in a fight of regularly-powered Death Eaters versus him and his friends.

Now, while the Mask and Hedwig were causing a distraction in the air- it seemed to be taking longer for Hedwig than it ever did for him, probably because it had been 'designed' for humans and she was an owl- it was time to see what they could do about taking care of the opposition.

"Stupefy!" he yelled, pulling out his wand and aiming it at a nearby Death Eater who'd just managed to get a decent grip on his shirt collar; he still couldn't see Voldemort in the crush of bodies around him, so, for the moment, his main priority had to be getting rid of the Death Eaters immediately around him so he could have a clear shot. As soon as the Death Eater holding him back had fallen to the ground, Harry charged forward, knocking a couple of other Death Eaters to the ground, and he once again found himself looking at Ginny, Ron and Hermione, who were staring at him in shock and confusion, more than a trace of hurt evident on Ginny's face as she stared at him.

"What are you waiting for?" he said, glaring at the three of them in frustration. "Get moving and take these guys down!"

For a moment, it seemed as though the three of them weren't about to do anything, still shocked at what they'd just witnessed take place before them, but then, as Death Eaters began to advance towards them, Hermione and the two Weasley siblings finally snapped out of their shock, pulled out their wands, and began to strike back at their opponents once again.

As soon as they were back in action, Harry turned his attention back to the surrounding Death Eaters as they moved back in to attack him, lashing out with a desperate kick at the nearest Death Eater before launching another punch at another one, trying not to pay attention to the numerous forms that were gathering around him, apparently content to just hit him rather than try and hit him with a spell of some sort…

Then a loud screech tore through the air, and Harry suddenly found himself lying on his back, gasping for breath as though he'd just been hit in the stomach, as a brilliant green thing tore through the air, leaving the Death Eaters that had been approaching him on the ground with blood flowing freely from sudden wounds on their arms and cheeks. Hearing that same screech again, Harry glanced in the direction of the noise, and grinned broadly as he saw Hedwig- at least, he assumed that it was Hedwig, given the almost cartoonish green head on the body of the snow-white owl- hovering in the air, rapidly flapping her wings to stay in one place as she looked at him curiously.

"Good job, Hedwig!" he said giving the remarkable-looking creature that his owl a thumbs-up during the temporary lull in the fighting. "Now," he added, indicating the snake that was still curled around Voldemort's throne, "get Nagini!"

Nodding briefly, the MaskOwl- for lack of a better name for what Hedwig had become- turned and dived towards the throne, grabbing the snake in her talons as she flapped up into the shy, pecking at Nagini even as the snake-horcrux tried to avoid her tormentor's attacks. A grim expression on his face- he wasn't expecting Hedwig to take Nagini out any time soon, but she'd get there eventually- Harry turned around and dived back into the fight, lashing out with both spells and some physical attacks, taking advantage of his earlier transformation into Batman to tap into a residual combat memory. He'd noticed earlier that he sometimes seemed to retain some knowledge from the people he transformed into with the Mask- including, as it turned out, their combat skills in a tight spot.

He wasn't an expert fighter by any means- the part of his mind that was still, in some small way, Batman was appalled by the somewhat slow reflexes of his body, to say nothing of the lack of muscle- but given that the Death Eaters had no unarmed combat skills whatsoever, he supposed it balanced out. After all, he may have been operating in the body of an amateur, but he had access to the knowledge of one of the best; the Death Eaters didn't even have that.

Allowing his mind to relax, letting his body operate ahead of the rest of him, Harry lashed out repeatedly at the small army of Death Eaters around him, his fists and feet almost acting as separate entities from the rest of him. A karate chop to the throat that left one Death Eater coughing hoarsely, a kick to the chest sent another collapsing to the ground as he gasped for air, a third found himself with a broken nose and a shattered mask…

Despite himself, Harry couldn't help but grin at the victory he was gaining over the Death Eaters at the moment. Glancing over, he smiled slightly as he saw Ginny, Ron and Hermione doing the same, Ron and Ginny using the reflexes born of their Quidditch practice to the full as they dodged the various curses thrown in their direction, while Hermione stayed low and struck out with her own spells in a desperate attempt to do damage while giving herself time to come up with a counter-attack.

All in all, his friends were coping well with the current situation; they'd definitely improved since the mess that had taken place in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

As Harry turned around to launch a Stunner into the face of a Death Eater he thought he recognised as MacNair, he could only hope that they'd cope well enough- or, failing that, he hoped that he was correct in his 'guess' of what Voldemort's reaction would be to having them as prisoners…

High in the air above the Great Hall, the MaskOwl slashed and bit at the snake that was desperately twisting and winding itself through her captor's talons, the snake in question being simultaneously determined to try and kill the MaskOwl and escape the talons that now held it above the ground.

The small part of the MaskOwl that was still Hedwig was totally at a loss to describe what she had become or the power she now seemed to have access to, but she knew two things for certain; Harry wanted this snake to be destroyed, and she presently had the power to do that.

Her boy needed her, and she was going to live up to his trust in her, no matter how frustrating it was trying to keep hold of Nagini at the moment.

In her claws, Nagini attempted to twist out of her grasp and head back to the ground, but the MaskOwl was too quick; no sooner had Nagini excaped her claws than they were back around the snake's body, holding the owl's prey tighter than ever. As the MaskOwl tore through the air at breakneck speeds that Hedwig could never have achieved in her normal form without crashing into something, she released her grip on Nagini just before she sharply banked away from a nearby wall, beating her wings rapidly to create a brief, but fierce gust of wind.

The snake's momentum increased by the MaskOwl's makeshift burst of wind, Nagini crashed into the wall with such force that even a snake's adaptable body was unable to shrug off the encounter completely. Even as Nagini let out a loud hiss of pain, the MaskOwl was tearing back towards her, catching the snake as it began to fall to the ground and rocketing back upwards with such force that something else seemed to snap inside Nagini.

If it was possible for an animal with a beak to grin, the MaskOwl was doing such a thing. Even without the Mask, Hedwig was a skilled hunter, and she knew well how much damage her prey could take before it would finally die.

Unless her well-trained instincts had failed her now, Nagini couldn't take much more damage and hope to live.

It was time to end this. Glancing at her surroundings, the MaskOwl saw the various beams supporting the Great Hall's ceiling underneath the original enchantment of the sky outside. Beating her wings rapidly, the MaskOwl was soon above one of the beams, Nagini still clutched in her talons. In a manoeuvre that would have been impossible for a regular animal, the MaskOwl literally reversed the direction that her wings flapped in and flew briefly but rapidly downwards, crushing Nagini's increasingly fragile body on the wooden beam below her. Even as Nagini hissed in pain, trying to maintain a grip on the beam with a body that was already injured, the MaskOwl flapped over to hover in front of Nagini's face, her normally wide eyes narrowed as she glared at Nagini.

For a moment, the two magic-enhanced creatures found themselves staring at each other, Nagini twisting her head around as though preparing to bite the MaskOwl as the MaskOwl glared back at her 'opponent'…

Then the MaskOwl lunged her head forward and bit Nagini's head off, releasing a sudden, brief burst of dark energy that left the MaskOwl blinking slightly in surprise at what had just taken place. She'd known that her boy wanted the snake destroyed, but she still hadn't quite expected it to have something that dark inside it…

Then she heard his voice call to her from below, and the MaskOwl turned her attention back to the battle that was still waging below her.

As soon as Harry heard a loud scream come from the approximate location where he'd last seen Voldemort, he felt like punching the air in glee. If it weren't for the fact that he was presently distracted by dodging the spells from a nearby Death Eater, he probably would have done it, but as it was he had to focus on staying alive.

Still, if that scream didn't mean that Voldemort had sensed the destruction of the fragment of his soul that dwelt within Nagini, he would be very surprised.

Risking a glance upwards, Harry grinned as he saw the MaskOwl hovering- literally hovering; she didn't seem to need to do much more than beat her wings a lot- beside Nagini's rapidly-decomposing, headless body.

"Nice job, Hedwig!" he yelled up at her, lashing out with a quick kick at a nearby Death Eater, taking advantage of the distraction to slip his wand up his sleeve to keep it out of sight of the surrounding Death Eaters. "Now that you're done, any chance you could give me some space down here?"

The MaskOwl just hooted once, and then dived down towards Harry, wings spread out as she once again tore into the mass of Death Eaters surrounding Harry. Right in front of his eyes, the youngest Seeker in a century watched as Death Eaters were sent flying by the air currents generated by the owl's speed.

Ducking swiftly to the ground as the MaskOwl passed over him, Harry waited a few seconds before getting to his feet once more, grinning as he saw the Death Eaters be thrown off the side as the MaskOwl charged through their ranks, the combination her simple physical presence and the air resistance generated by her speed sending the Death Eaters flying off to the side like bowling pins…

Then, almost as soon as he'd registered what her recent attack had done to the Death Eaters, the MaskOwl was standing on the ground beside Harry, 'smiling' at him as though seeking approval.

"Good girl, Hedwig…" Harry whispered, staring at her in awe as he reached over to stroke her chest feathers, a proud smile on his face as he looked at her.

Then, before any of the other Death Eaters could get at them, his hands closed around the back of the MaskOwl's head and tugged the Mask off. For a moment the MaskOwl's expression looked as though someone was choking it, then there was a brief 'POP' sound and the wooden artefact was once again in Harry's hands, Hedwig standing before him as a normal owl once more.

"Thanks for the help, Hedwig," Harry said, before he indicated the ceiling once more. "Now, you and Fawkes have to go and get the Order of the Phoenix; I don't think we can hold the Death Eaters off for long."

Hedwig, to her credit, seemed fine about having her power taken from her; she just hooted at him and flew up into the air, leaving Harry standing in the middle of the still-dazed Death Eaters, the Mask in his hands as he smiled casually.

With the Mask back in his hands, it was only a matter of time before these guys were dealt with once and for all.

He raised the Mask to his face, the wood mere inches from the tip of his nose…

Then the Mask was suddenly yanked out of his hand with such force that it could only be a Summoning Charm.

"NO!" Harry yelled, spinning around to look in the direction that the Mask was flying in, a pale hand held up to catch the wooden artefact as it hurtled towards him…

Harry's eyes widened in horror, his blood turned to ice as he saw exactly which of their many opponents had pulled the Mask away from him.

It was Voldemort himself.