Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way shape or form. I know this plotline has been done before, but I believe I have my own original twists that will make it interesting. It's my first fic, let me know how I do? I really appreciate all the reviews so far, they keep me going and help me figure out where to take the story.
Harry Potter and the Changing World: Chapter 4
"You made a mistake coming here"
Harry's words seemed to echo in everyone's mind, and the intruders seemed to take a moment before being able to respond.
"Who are you, and how did you use that archway? Answer me now, or you're dead!" screamed the huge man, who the Potters had assumed was the leader.
Harry looked disdainfully at the man, before closing his eyes and turning his head from one side of the room to the other.
Powerful, dark auras spread from the men. His breath caught in his chest as he felt the taint from one of them, realizing they had a dark beast handler.
Better watch out for him, he thought.
Having exhausted his extra sensory observation, he opened his eyes and swept the room again quickly.
Two. One near the door, probably to report back should the others fall. The small man in the back, watching with cold eyes.
These were the men who exuded nothing. No aura, no power, no presence.
Ignoring the huge man, Harry addressed the man in the back.
"Why are you here?"
Most of the men looked unsure of why Harry was speaking to him and not their leader. Clearly, this ruse of who's in charge was not only for the enemy, but themselves as well. Interesting.
The big man, having been summarily deemed unimportant, was not amused.
"You're dead" was all he said as he conjured a huge hammer to hit Harry with.
Lily watched on and cried out, as the hammer seemed seconds away from ending her life. Not a second later, her son was gone.
What's going on...? thought Lily.
Harry saw the hammer coming, and began to summon his own weapon. Recalling his lessons from Dumbledore and Dobby, he popped out of existence, reappearing behind the man, brandishing the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Turning, he sliced the man's backside from side to side.
The man's reaction was delayed, but he proceeded to fall and die. His companion's responses were more immediate. Curses of all type began flying towards Harry.
Sidestepping them, he ran towards his attackers, conjuring physical shields to block the curses. The first intruder was unlucky, he had little time to react as Harry was nearly upon him, casting a bludgeoning charge at his knees.
His companion appreciated the sacrifice though, casting a dark curse that hit Harry in the side and sent him straight into the wall.
"Beast handler! Show him what we do to those who challenge us!" cried the man whose curse hit Harry, believing the situation had brought him a promotion.
"Of course." The beast handler reached down to the case at his side, opening the front gate. Dark, hound shaped creatures began emerging. Large, grotesque. Teeth bared, they oozed evil, and most of all, hunger. He closed the gate, leaving one dark creature at his side.
Five hounds in all ran towards Harry, beginning to bite him, becoming frenzied until all that could be seen was a pile of their dark flesh.
"NO!!!!" cried Jamess, struggling.
Lily kept whispering 'No... No', while Sarah Potter looked on uncomprehendingly.
He's strong. I felt it this morning, as he held his wand to me. Are they really beating him...? she thought.
Looking at the pile of hounds she became confused. What's that... she thought.
The first that had attacked Harry was suddenly hurled dead through the air at the man, throwing him to the ground. Harry threw the other carcasses off of him, muttering to himself,
"I'm glad Hagrid decided to cover dark beasts in 7th year..." before returning his attention to the other men.
They looked uncertain now. Two of their leaders had died, one after the other. The man in the back chose to intervene.
"You're quite strong, aren't you?" He smiled, empty and cold.
Harry remained silent, staring at him.
"What is your name?" asked the man.
"I offer you the chance to live. Leave. Now. We do not have to fight." said Harry.
"You know that can't happen. My lord could use someone with your power, We appreciate skill, do not worry. Your transgressions tonight could be forgiven. With the talent you've shown, you could even serve as my aide!" The man thought he was being rather generous.
"I've been offered such things before. They don't interest me. I know what you are. Have you not sensed the same from me? Or should I say, the lack of it?" asked Harry.
The man's face had grown tight while Harry spoke, until his eyes widened at his last words. He streched his senses out...
'He has no presence. Nothing. No aura, no... wait. Not even the surrounding area is exuding magic. How deep...?' his mind trailed off. He looked at Harry, took off his cloak and drew his wand.
"The master has decreed those of power join him or die. You are no different. I am Stephen Nathaniel Bard, white magic level 1, black magic level 2. Charms specialist. I challenge you to a duel."
Harry felt the magic of the challenge to duel overcoming him as well, and responded.
"I am Harry James Potter, white magic level 2, black magic level..." his lips curled, as he felt the magic of the duel trying to force him to proclaim his status.
"... black magic level unknown." His response surprised him, and then felt his lips continuing to move of their own accord, "War wizard. And I accept your challenge."
Stephen Bard's eyes widened, wondering how the boy could lie, before deciding it didn't matter. He'd die anyway.
No words were spoken, the duel simply began. Wordless spells cast by both, Stephen casting spells only to have them be blocked or altered before they hit their target.
The living room was cramped, but the two seemed to move gracefully, like angels of death.
Stephen sent three dark spells sailing for Harry, popping off to the side as Harry had to block them all. Stephen gathered all his hate and anger and cast the darkest spell he learned from his french teachers, "douleur éternale!"
Harry saw the spell coming towards him too late. He couldn't pop away, and for all he knew it would be able to reach him no matter what he conjured.
Holding up his left hard, darkness seemed to gather around his fingers as he cast, "schwarze Schutzung!" The barrier that appeared was block, and seemed to coat the space in front of him with darkness. The eternal pain hit the barrier and was absorbed.
Sarah was happy, Harry was fighting back. Lily and James looked on aghast, as they saw their son using black magic.
Stephen sneered. "You're full of surprised, aren't you?"
Harry responded calmly. "I don't understand why they fear you. You are strong, yes, but if they banded together they could defeat you. I know you will be dead tonight."
Suddenly Harry began choking, as the asphixiation hex Stephen silently cast hit him. He cast a severing hex, forcing Stephen to break his concentration and the spell was released.
Both started fighting with all they had, each getting hits in, until Harry was down on his knees with Stephen above him. Stephen grabbed his hair, forcing his head up.
"You've lost. Now your family will die, and we will continue our plan."
The man pulled an empty sword handle from his side. The Potters looked on, confused and afraid for their son. The man muttered and a dark blade appeared. The man brought the sword down to Harry, to carve him in two.
Grabbing the sword, Harry's blood rolled down the blade as he whispered.
"You got too confident." He pushed the scabbard into Stephen's stomach as he fell back. Grabbing the sword, he ran forward and plunged it into Stephen's chest.
Stephen laughed, as he knew his life was ending.
"You think you've won. Look around, my allies have already gone back to tell my master what has transpired here." Stephen looked over Harry's shoulder, nodding to the beast handler who still stood waiting.
Reaching down, the beast handler opened up the cage and portkeyed away.
Harry looked over, as the almost formless beast left the cage. It seemed to turn, and Harry followed its path.
Lily.
Running as fast as he could to come between them, he knew he couldn't make it in time to prevent the beast from reaching his mother.
Lily's eyes widened as the beast ran into her, forming the head of its body into a blade and hitting her in the stomach. She spasmed and then remained still as dark clouds gathered in her eyes.
Harry walked over, only to be stopped by James.
"I'm not going to let you touch her." said James.
Without stopping Harry raised his wand and stupefied James.
He knelt down and saw Sarah cradling their mother's head in her lap.
"Sarah, do you know what attacked mom?"
Sarah kept crying and didn't answer.
Harry grabbed her shoulder and forced her to look at him.
"Please, I need to know what it was so I can help her!"
Sarah shook her head. "This is how they kill their victims. Even the most skilled healers have been unable to save people from this beast. It devours the soul, and feeds off the body. There's nothing... nothing we can do. This is what has us hiding in fear, we have no way to fight back!"
Harry breathed in deeply. "Thank you Sarah, I think I can heal her now."
Sarah looked back at him, confused. "I told you, nothing the healers did worked!"
Harry looked at her sadly. "My healing is of a different sort." was all he said.
He placed his hand over the wound, and began enchanting.
Gib sie es mir...
/Give it to me/
Darkness began flowing around his hand into the wound. He could feel the dark magic's consciousness fighting him.
Du kannst nicht winnen. Meine Magie ist kein Verheilensspruch, es ist eine Ubereinigungspruch.
/You can't win. My magic isn't a healing spell, it's a transfer spell./
The wound from Lily seemed to glow. Sarah was excited, it looked as if it worked! She didn't notice it traveling along Harry's arm, and the open wound that now appeared on him.
Harry breathed deep, before he spoke again. "I'm sorry Sarah, I'm not done. The beast is still inside her, I have to go in after it. I have to be honest with you. It's an extreme violation to perform this type of magic, soul magic. But it's the only way I know to combat the beast." Sarah looked afraid, but nodded.
"Please save mom." is all she said.
Harry nodded, and focused inward. Feeling his magic, his being, his soul, he forced himself to reach outside his body. Feeling the intrusion in Lily, it was easy to enter the wounded outer shell of her being.
Harry felt his mother all around him, and felt her pain acutely as if it were his own. Looking forward Harry saw the representation of his mother's assailant devouring her essence.
"Hey!" he cried. The beast was too busy feasting on his mother to notice the new presence. He tried throwing magic at it, and finally got a response.
"Wait. You will be next" was all that was conveyed.
Harry saw his mother's struggling weaken, and he knew she didn't have much more time.
Breathing in deeply, he knew why they feared the masters of these beasts so deeply, and he knew he would likely not survive. Oh well, he thought. When I go, I wanna make sure I'm killing something.
Having decided his course of action he called to the beast.
"You look hungry, I bet it's been a while since you've gotten a fresh soul. It looks like a lot of the energy escapes though as your victim fights. Isn't that right?"
The beast's growl affirmed Harry's suspicions.
"I'll make you a deal. I'll make an oath, as a wizard, on my life and magic that I will allow you to eat my essence, and I will not fight back. You must leave her behind though."
With that, Harry focused deeply. This would take intense concentration. Hate was needed. Darkness. He had to open his soul to allow the creature to feed.
He recalled his mantra... "Sirius is dead because of me... Dumbledore is dead because of me... I am a plague... I'm evil, useless, I kill everything I love..." his self loathing growing, weighing on his soul, the representation of himself fell to one knee as he began casting the spell continuously to form a knife.
"Avada kedavra!" again and again, and turned the hilt towards himself. He felt his energy open, and saw the beast eyeing him hungrily.
The beast extended its body towards Harry, and Harry was bound by his oath to not fight it. As the beast grabbed on and Harry felt it wrapping around his soul, gripping him. He looked back towards his mom, and saw the beast was still atacking her.
"You swore you'd let her go!" he yelled.
"I lied, else do you expect of the darkness?" laughed the beast.
Harry smiled. Free from his oath, he reached up and grabbed the beast. He began pulling on the part connected to his mother, ripping it from her as his entire being was overcome with the agony of the beast's attack. One last pull and the beast was ripped from her, no longer attacking.
Sarah saw the darkness leave her mother's eyes, and saw the color return to her cheeks. She laid there hugging her mother, not noticing how stiffly her brother stood. Monotone, Harry simply said "Take care of her" as he walked mechanically out of the room. A dark red stain was spreading across his back from the wound he inherited from his mother, while a darker battle waged within him.
He cast the weave for an archway, stepping through directly into the headmaster's office.
Alberforth watched the broken and beaten Harry enter, astonished.
Finally catching up with him, the physical injuries made him fall to his knees, as Harry screamed one time as his soul was brutally attacked. Then he fell, motionless.
Notes:
Thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate it and hope you enjoy the longest chapter yet. Please tell me how you enjoyed this chapter, it really helps motivate me and get me out of writing funks where it's hard to come up with what to write. I'll answer questions people have asked soon in the story, I promise. Suggestions, criticisms, even just hi is cool. Thanks! Oh so... the foreign languages added in is just to make it a little more mysterious, that feeling where the effect of the depth of the magic is translated, but most of you probably aren't reading the original German/French whatever. I think it just helps create depth and mystery in the world. Tell me if it's really annoying or something. Thanks!