DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter
When Hunting Monsters
Chapter 11: There's Blood in the Water
The girl's red hair blazed crimson in the afternoon sun, her companion's head a contrasting blonde. They sat in the tall grass under the boughs of a great willow tree with a picnic basket set before them, chatting of probably nonsensical things, but the watcher couldn't hear the words. What he did see was that they were far enough away from the lopsided house that no one would hear their screams.
Why the girls would venture so away from the ward boundary would be a reasonable thing to wonder, but the watcher knew that the red headed girl came to this same place every Sunday, often in the company of the blond girl who was her neighbor. He knew that she would've been instructed to stay inside the wards but he also knew that eventually the rebellious teenager would grow tired of the confines of the Burrow, and her overbearing mother and seek temporary escape. He had come to this spot every Sunday for a month and finally his prediction had proven itself true. He was glad, as he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle another round of the cruciatus curse.
The rat scurried through the tall grass on the hill overlooking the willow tree into the woods, where it transformed into a short, balding gray haired wizard with a rat like face, dressed in ragged black robes.
The rat faced wizard held out his left forearm, drawing the sleeve back, and stared with resignation at the dark tattoo of a skull with a twisting snake as its tongue that seemed to be jeering back at him. Of all the strange tattoos covering the wizard's body that he regretted, this one he hated the most. The other ones had at least proved useful, but the Dark Mark proved only to be a corrupting and enslaving stain, a brand of servitude that forever dogged him, that he could never escape from.
Finally the wizard summoned whatever courage he possessed and pulled his stumpy wand out of his robes, pressing it sharply into the tattoo. The dark mark burned, and the wizard hissed in pain as the familiar acrid smell filled his nostrils. The deed was done. With his silver right hand the wizard fingered the snake pendent hanging from his neck, crafted by the Dark Lord himself, which would allow him to pass through the Burrow's wards.
The wizard transformed back into a rat and made his way through the tall grass to the strangely constructed house, wondering all the while whether the choice he had just made was possibly worse than the one that had led to the Dark Mark on his forearm, the deaths of his friends, and his unending servitude.
Harry splashed water from the sink into his face. He had been in his room all day, working on the ritual for Dudley. He had been pretty much at a standstill, not being able to find runes from the cultures he knew that would produce the desired effect, until he had begun exploring the giant and dwarven runes which touched on ancient common concepts of magic he could use to link everything. Now the ritual was a hodgepodge with chants and runic tattoos chained together from a variety of cultures. It was finally finished, and he was going to tell Dudley at dinner which he was about to head to. Harry turned to leave but his eye caught something in the gilded mirror and he turned back. Something in his reflection was…off.
The tattoos on his neck and face glowed red and the reflection smiled at him, but Harry wasn't smiling. The bared teeth were elongated, pointed and the green eyes held a savage, primal hatred. It waved at him, with nails that looked more like claws. Heavy chains hung from the wrists, disappearing where the mirror ended, and the sink began. Harry backed up, disturbed.
"What's the matter Harry are you scared? But then you'd be scared of yourself, and that doesn't make a whole lot of sense." It's voice was a deep growl .
"How are you here, outside of my head?" Harry's voice was noticeably higher and less animalistic than the reflection's.
"Am I? If someone walked in right now would they see me in the mirror, or would they see you?"
"I.. I don't know."
"Well the question is irrelevant because you are me and I am you."
"No, you're not me. I'm not an animal."
"Yes you are Harry!" It roared, banging it's fists against the mirror. "You made the choice to become me, you can't turn back now!"
"I'm not letting you out anymore! Not now that I can help it. I see what you did when you were in control every night in my dreams. Never again will you be free!"
"But we have the same desires Harry! The same longing, the same thirst! Don't keep me trapped in here. Let me out. We can even keep your pathetic form, but if you release me from these chains we'll achieve everything we want that you're too afraid to reach for."
"I don't need you. The deatheaters and Voldemort will all die, but it will be by my wand, not your claws."
"Without me you are nothing. You couldn't kill a fly. You have no spine." The reflection jeered.
At this Harry felt some measure of self doubt. "Fine help me then, but I stay in control." The reflection smirked .
"You're not really in any position to bargain. Even with all your occlumency practice your resolve weakens every day and I grow stronger. All I need is the girl close to wrest control from you."
"What do you want then?"
"Let me out more often. You know what I want, it's what you want. I want the girl, and I want blood."
"I'll give you as much deatheater blood as you want but you can't have the girl if she's not willing."
"Oh she is, and I will have her. "
"Then I'll leave this place now, and you'll never see her again."
"I'm afraid you can't make that choice now." The reflection smiled cruelly as a knock thudded on the door to the bedroom.
Harry broke his gaze with the reflection in panic and hurried out of the bathroom and over to the door.
"Face it Harry, I'm the best part of you!" The reflection roared after him before vanishing, just as the teen's spell slammed into the glass, shattering it.
Harry swung the door open only to see Hermione who looked up at him confused.
"Harry, who were you talking to?"
"What? I wasn't talking to anyone."
"I heard voices, and a loud noise." She sounded doubtful as she walked past him, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Oh I was er, practicing spells."
"Oh, were you practicing the giant ones? That water spell was brilliant!" There was an excited smile on her face, and a light in her eyes that Harry saw every time she learned something new.
"Ya, I thought it was pretty neat too. Hey, Hermione can I ask you something?" He changed the topic even though he didn't want to. But he couldn't help himself, and the beast was already taking over, saying things for him, that he didn't want to say.
"You just did." She said cheekily. "But yes you can." She patted the spot on the bed next to her, motioning for Harry to sit down.
"Do you want me?"
"What?" Harry was sitting next to her on the bed now staring into her eyes.
"Do you want me?" He repeated.
"I don't know I nev-"
"It's a simple question Hermione, either yes or no." There was a bit of the growl in his voice but he spoke softly. He leaned close to her, his lips inches from hers, he could taste her breath.
"Yes" She whispered and Harry kissed her fiercely pushing her back on the bed. After a moment of alarm she begin to return the kiss hesitantly and Harry tore at her robes.
"Harry, we're going to miss dinner." Hermione gasped for breath as he finally broke the kiss.
"I don't care!" He growled and pulled away her robes which he had ripped apart in his haste. He leaned back and pulled his own robes off and then fumbling with Hermione's bra.
After a few moments he gave up and with a growl of frustration tore it in half before throwing it aside.
"Harry that bra was expensive!"
"I'll buy you a new one." Was all he said. He moved to the get rid of the other half of her undergarments but Hermione stopped him.
"I'll do these myself." She said, pulling them off. Harry quickly removed his jeans and his boxers, and then pushed Hermione back again, leaning over and propping himself up with his hands on the mattress so he was looking into her eyes. A bit of his reason returned at seeing the nervousness there.
"Are you sure you want this? I might hurt you." His legs were between hers now, his hips in position with hers. If she waited too long he'd lose his resolve. Harry's heart thudded in his chest and he struggled with the stronger part of himself that was urging him to move forward, not caring at all if he hurt the girl, and somewhat wanting to.
Hermione bit her lip, unsure for a second before making her decision.
"I want this." She said firmly. That was all Harry needed and he gave himself entirely over to the beast.
Dudley wandered through the corridors searching for his cousin and Hermione who had been absent from dinner the previous night. He was slightly worried they might have gotten in another argument and killed each other.
He stopped at Hermione's door and knocked. Getting no response he twisted the handle to find it unlocked, and pushed the door open. There was no one there.
'She must be in Harry's room then.' Dudley thought, for she hadn't been in the library or any of her usual locations. Dudley made his way further down the corridor, closer to the Great Hall and raised his hand to knock on Harry's door but stopped at the sound of running water. Mckennon had modernized the bathrooms in most of the rooms.
'He's in the shower then, but then where's Hermione?" A loud feminine moan answered Dudley's question who blushed scarlet up to his blonde hair, before quickly hurrying off to the living room, planning to drown the mental images with copious amounts of television and alcohol.
"So what does this one look like?"
"Er.. a smaller man I guess, wearing expensive boots with a sharp heel, and steel on the bottom of the toe like the kind Lucius Malfoy wears." Harry said. Mckennon had apparated them into the woods many miles above the underground city, and was working with Harry on one of the more interesting things he was trying to teach him. Harry was kneeling and staring at the soft dirt and leaves, and the imprints left in them.
"And what suggests that."
"Well the bottom part of the footprint, where the heel would be is more deeply indented by at least a few centimeters, and the toe is pretty concave, pointed like expensive boots are. There's also a few crushed and ripped leaves which suggest the metal. " Harry for once actually felt confident in his guesses which were becoming more and more accurate.
"Finally! You're catching on." Mckennon patted Harry on the back, and pulled him to his feet.
"I didn't think I would, the way you figured things out seemed really random at first."
"There's always a pattern Harry, no matter how chaotic something at first seems. Now you've already demonstrated your aptitude with the tracking spells before so I don't think we need to go over that. Let's head back. You apparate me this time, you need more practice with the long distance."
Harry placed a hand on Mckennon's shoulder and concentrated hard on the halls far beneath their feat. They both began to fade slowly, their legs and then their upper bodies dissolving into smoke that then reformed many miles below, in the kitchen of the halls.
"Better and better every day. I think you're just about ready." Mckennons said proudly as he opened the refrigerator to pull out some food.
"Ready for what?"
"Well to go with me, I mean."
"To catch deatheaters?"
"Ah well that depends I don't always follow deatheaters, like I've told you."
"Oh true. So I'm going with you today? That is I assume you're leaving again, like you've been doing."
"Ah no, not today. My current mission is one highly sensitive, and hopefully after today it will be over. I think I've finally pinned him."
Harry looked down at his bowl of cereal slightly disappointed and frustrated. The beast was more content since taking up with Hermione, but the blood he had promised it was nowhere to be found. It was beginning to become difficult not to lose control and seriously injure Mckennon during their training sessions. Perhaps he'd have to tell the man they couldn't practice with the knives anymore.
A loud ringing sound interrupted their silent breakfast, and Mckenon hastily pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket, the look on his face one of extreme alarm.
"Oh Fuck!" He cursed, dropping the parchment on the table and quickly summoning various weapons and objects that he hastily stowed in his robes.
"Whats the matter?" Asked Harry, standing up from the table.
"I have to go, if I'm not back in an hour use the fireplace to floo Dumbledore."
With that Mckennon disappeared with a pop, not even bothering to apparate quietly.
"Harry what's going on?" Hermione walked into the kitchen, followed by Dudley who wouldn't look at either of them.
"Nothing, Mckennon just had to leave. Trailing some deatheater probably." He lied sitting back down and resuming eating his cereal. Hermione poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down across from him, casting a sidelong glance at Dudley, who was getting out a box of waffles from the freezer. They boy had been acting strange all morning and hadn't said a word to her.
"In that case, do you want to look at those spells with me in the library today? Since you're not training with him, I mean." Her sleeve fell down to her elbow as she raised the small blue mug to her mouth, and Harry saw that she had healed the bruises he had made on her wrists. The pale smooth skin distracted him for a moment, and he shook his head, chasing out the thoughts. This wasn't the time.
"I would but I really want to finish up Dudley's ritual. I'll er see you later, alright?" He kissed Hermione on the cheek and quickly left the kitchen before Dudley could ask how the ritual was going. Hermione watched him as he walked off, biting her lip in worry, not sure of what the dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach meant, but not liking it at all.
Harry did do as he promised, but as the ritual was almost completely finished, he was left with nothing to do but pace anxiously in his room while he watched the piece of parchment he had sneaked off the table before Hermione had walked in.
It was Mckennon's map which he had taught Harry how to operate, and which was linked to the tracking spells of the many wizards the man was keeping an eye on or pursuing. The map contained all of Europe, and with a quick spoken spell and tap of the wand would zoom in on a specific person or place.
People couldn't be seen while within warded areas that canceled the magic of the tracking spells, but as there were numerous green dots spread throughout the map, Harry knew they must be out and active. Harry didn't know the password to reveal the dots' names but he knew that green stood for deatheater, and the alarm was when one or more left the warded area they were hiding in.
Harry was following Mckenon's dot which showed up as blue, and was currently in Romania, where many of the green dots were. Forty-five minutes had passed and Mckenon was still in the same location, probably observing whatever the deatheaters were doing.
Suddenly though, several of the green dots disappeared, along with the blue one causing the map shift focus- to Ottery St. Catchpole.
"Shit!" Harry cursed but kept watching the map. Several of the green dots turned black, which meant Mckennon had killed them, but about ten were still green. Harry tapped his wand urgently on the parchment, and it zoomed in closer. He could now see the green dots circling around the blue one. Two more turned black, but then the deatheaters swarmed Mckennon and they all disappeared, back to Romania.
Harry had never been to Romania in his life, and therefore could not apparate there, but he had been to the location just north of the Burrow a few times while visiting the Weasleys. So Harry did the only thing he could and apparated, not bothering to tell Hermione or Dudley where he was going or why.
Fortune was temporarily on his side in that the fight seemed to have taken place mostly on the dirt path that led up to the familiar willow tree. He could see easily the prints of heavy deatheater boot prints, as they circled around prints about twice their length, those would be Mckennons. The magic of the map aided him further, making the deatheater prints glow green, and Mckennons blue. Disturbingly there was blood pooled around many of Mckennon's.
The black dots were accounted for in the dead bodies of deatheaters strewn to the sides of the path. There were five, but they were so horribly mangled and maimed that Harry didn't bother trying to figure out who they were. Mckennon's wand lay in the middle of the tracks, where they had finally managed to disarm him, and Harry picked it up, putting it in his bottomless pouch that he carried always in his robes.
The wicker picnic basket was what really terrified Harry. He knew that Ginny would come here sometimes, and he had himself with Ron and Hermione. The basket was untouched, at a discord with the rest of the scenery. The tree had holes blown through it, the long grass crushed and scorched. The dirt path now contained large potholes, and there were of course the dead bodies strewn haphazardly on the sides of the path.
That Ginny's body wasn't there meant that either she had somehow escaped, or the deatheaters had taken her. The latter option seemed more likely in Harry's heart, which was sunk down to his toes. Two wands were on the ground next to the basket, and Harry recognized them as Ginny's and Luna's. He picked these two wands up also and put them in the pouch.
He poured over the map one more time and something strange caught his attention. There was a green dot inside the Weasley's house. Tapping it, he watched as man sized footprints lit up in the forest, before turning into little dots that shone their way all the way through the field to the house. The rat had returned to its Burrow.
Rage took Harry and he disappeared with a crack, reappearing on the Weasleys front porch. If he hadn't taken leave of his senses he would've taken more caution in trying to apparate through wards, but thankfully Dumbledore had had the foresight to key Harry into them in the event that Harry ever showed to them in the event that Harry ever showed up there for assistance or to stay.
Harry's wrathful magic yanked the door open and sent it flying off its hinges to crash into the yard.
"PETTRIGREW WHERE ARE YOU? Come out you little rat!" he roared, his voice becoming deep like the growl of a bear. His robes were beginning to tear, and fur sprouted along his arms, hands and face while his nails lengthened into claws.
Several people who were sitting at the table jumped up, and a few cast spells in fear. Harry, barely paying attention, caught them on the end of his wand by reflex, and sent them careening into the walls where they exploded into showers of sparks.
From under the table, Harry spotted a tiny gray from with a long tail try to scuttle towards the door and he summoned it with a mental 'accio'. It transformed in midair into a balding, ugly, pathetic wizard which Harry grabbed by its arms slamming it up into the wall. Several cooking instruments fell out of the cabinet above their heads but Harry ignored them as they clanked onto the floor.
"Why'd they take Ginny?'
"Ma-master wants a new body. He needed the girl!"
"Take me to them!" Harry growled. Pettigrew quaked in fear. He was looking directly into the monsters eyes glowing like green flames, and the sharp menacing teeth that scared him more than Voldemort ever could.
"I- I don't know what you mean!" He squeaked.
The monster didn't seem to like this answer and crashed its fist into Pettigrew's jaw before grabbing him by the back of the head and slamming his face into the edge of the table.
Mrs. Weasley screamed in shock as blood sprayed outwards. Harry threw Peter on the ground and quickly reeneverated the unconscious deatheater.
"Still don't know?" Wormtail tried to crawl away, scrabbling at the floor with one hand, while the silver one clutched at his ruined face. A steak knife thudded into the normal hand with a wet thunk. He screamed in pain, and tried to jerk his hand away, but it was pinned securely to the floor, and Harry crushed the digits underneath the heel of his heavy boot.
"I suggest, if you want to keep the rest of your pathetic body intact, that you take me where I want to go."
"I'l tuh-take you. " The rat gasped out not being able to manage anything else. Harry summoned the knife, levitated it with blood dripping off of it onto the table, and picked Pettigrew up grasping him firmly by the arm.
"Harry is that you?" Ron asked, his face was pale and he couldn't gather the nerve to step any closer his friend who seemed halfway between a man and some great savage beast that towered above the redheaded wizard's ample height. His black robes, that looked curiously like a deatheater's were splattered with Pettigrew's blood.
Molly was trembling in fear while Arthur who was looking at Harry like he wasn't sure what he was seeing, held her. The twins simply stared at him with wide eyes, and open mouths. No clever remark came to Fred or George in that moment, and they would forever remember it as the only time their witty tongues failed them. No one else was currently in the Weasley household.
Ron finally took a step towards Harry, but at that moment he and Pettigrew faded from sight, and all Ron touched was smoke.
The two wizards reappeared in a dark forest, on the raised edge of a clearing. Harry pulled them both to the ground so that they were lying on their stomachs, looking down. The clearing was like a bowl and in the sunken center was a tall structure. With a chill Harry realized the outside was composed out of millions of human skulls. It was a temple and was domed. Its highest point reached just above the dark canopy of the forest. Looking down, he could see the entrance. There was no door, just two wide pillars that stretched up into the arched roof. They were again made of skulls that had been stacked on top of each other and probably held together by magic. They seemed to jeer at him, and he could feel terrible presences of lost corrupt souls still inside them. He shuddered and took note of the two death eaters patrolling the entrance before turning back to Wormtail.
"Legilimens" He spoke softly, and thrusted his will sharply into Wormtail's mind, quickly gleaning from it all knowledge of the temple's layouts. It appeared there was only one room above ground, a huge ritual chamber, but many rooms and dungeons beneath the forest floor.
Harry pulled his mind out, and saw that Pettigrew's eyes were rolling back in his head and he was wheezing. Harry had been none too gentle or subtle. The eyes finally focused and widened in fear for Harry was smiling at Wormtail, a terrible smile that showed all his pointed teeth. Wormtail tried to back away, but Harry maintained a firm grip with one hand on his shoulder, his claws piercing through cloth and into skin. Blood from the wizard's ruined nose dripped onto the sleeve of Harry's robes.
"I'm afraid I have no more use for you, Pettigrew." Harry said, a strange menacing glint in his eyes. A scream rose in Wormtail's throat but died as Harry's teeth tore through his jugular and vocal chords.
Peter kicked his legs and beat his silver hand against Harry, but Harry in his frenzy didn't feel it, and eventually the man stilled, passing into unconsciousness and death with the heavy blood loss. Harry dropped him and he fell into a pool of his own blood with a squelch.
Harry leaned back on his elbows. His face and chest were soaked in blood and it dripped off his chin along with globules of fat. He picked out a piece of flesh with his nails that were now receding, and sighed, elation passing through him. The beast was somewhat content now and he felt himself shrinking, his robes no longer so tight, and the fur was drawing slowly back into his skin.
For a few minutes he reclined there underneath the trees, next to Peter Pettigrew's still bleeding body, in simultaneous joy and disgust.
A silver mist caught his attention, and Harry realized it was Peter's hand. Now that he was dead the creation was dispersing into the air. He watched, entranced as it floated up into the trees, carried by the wind, and he had to for a second praise Voldemort's craftsmanship before he banished the thought from his mind.
Harry stood up and cracked his wand on his head, feeling the now familiar sensation of a liquid dripping down his back as he disillusioned himself.
The guards stood idle, facing away from each other and Harry made his way silently and carefully down into clearing, stopping just behind the guard on the left.
He slowly drew out an enchanted dwarven dagger and stabbed it into the deatheaters back. The blade passed straight through whatever protective spells were on the robes and through the man's left lung.
The other guard turned around at the wet gurgle of protest the dying deatheater made, but before he could do anything Harry mentally incanted 'Lachia' and an invisible magic passed through the air, distorting it, and cleaving the guards head from his shoulders.
A 'wingardium leviosa' kept the man and decapitated head from crashing into the floor and Harry lowered them gently, before doing the same with the guard he was holding. After putting their wands in the bottomless pouch where Pettigrew's wand was also, Harry took a trick out of old Barty Junior's book and transfigured the two deatheaters and the head into bones and banished them into the forest with a flick of his wand, careful not to hit any trees.
'Things are going well so far ' Harry thought as he crept into the temple. The was a short hall, devoid of light, but partially illuminated by the torches in the main chamber. Harry made his way past two guards in the dark hallway, and stared in horror at what met his eyes.
From the high ceiling hung a long chain, and from its end hung Ginny Weasley, naked, by her feet. Her red hair fanned out beneath her head, stopping just inches above a rectangular pool of steaming, bubbling water. Her eyes were closed, and evil looking runes were drawn in black all over her pale, freckled flesh. Deatheaters stood in a line around the pool, chanting and with wands touching. The torchlight made their silver masks glisten as their voices filled the chamber, and Harry recognized the chant.
It was in Celtic and Harry knew it was a rebirthing ritual. It required many ingredients and one of those happened to be the lifeblood of a virgin witch. Harry ventured a guess that Voldemort was laying in the bottom of the pool, waiting for the chant to reach the point when Ginny was gutted like a pig and her blood filled the water.
The voices rose in a crescendo, and one deatheater raised a long sickle, holding it up towards Ginny. The blade was silver but glinted and shone with a malevolent light.
Harry had to act fast. 'Ergoth' He thought and stone floor several yards in front of him rumbled and shook as it formed into a great hand, fingers reaching up into the air.
Several deatheaters turned in shock but spells came too late to their lips as Harry pushed his hand forward, and the stone hand swept into the deatheaters sending them flying into the pool. The wizard with the sickle paused for a moment at the distraction, but then turned back and swung. Harry summoned her, and the chain swung towards him, moving the girl just enough so that the crescent blade missed her throat, but cut her shoulder wide open, the blood spraying into the pool that hissed and cracked as the evil water consumed it along with the deatheaters who had been pushed in. The water was a deep red now, gurgling as it boiled and steam and a foul stench rose up from it.
Harry cut Ginny's chain with a wave of his wand and she flew into his arms. Several deatheaters saw where she had headed and cast killing curses in that direction but the stone hand blocked them, chunks of it being exploded by the deadly magic.
Harry disillusioned Ginny, and threw her over his shoulder, taking off in a sprint across the chamber. He didn't bother casting any curses as he didn't want the deatheaters to see where he was going but he continued to direct the stone hand, adding more material to it as the deatheaters hit it with spells and sought for its conductor.
Finally Harry reached the other side where there were stairs leading down to the lower floors and the dungeon. Before he set off down them he turned and spoke the words "Car laerthos oin garto arthros" softly. He breathed and out of his mouth came a silver radiant spark that flew across the chamber and into the giant stone hand, which for a moment shone silver. Harry felt a sudden deep exhaustion but the hand would no longer need a conductor.
With soft feet Harry ran down the stairs, careful not to make any noise. The first deatheater he saw running up to the chamber he stabbed through the throat with his dagger, and then disillusioned him, laying him against the wall of the stairs, where he would be out of the way. Two more he dispatched in a similar manner, unseen by them. Finally, after passing several floors, he came to the bottom floor of the dungeons. Voldemort and the deatheaters had only been in the temple for a few weeks, but had stayed there in the past, and Pettigrew had scurried around its entirety in his rat form. Harry had learned from his mind that Voldemort liked to keep prisoners on the bottom floor because the temple's foundations were built on the bodies of the many men and women whose skulls made the walls and roof of the temple . They had been embalmed by a necromancer centuries ago in such a way that their souls were still trapped in the temple never to escape, and their presence was felt most keenly in the lowest level.
Harry could feel them now, and it was a hundred fold worse than any dementor encounter he had had. The souls were old, and the years had aged their wrath at being unable to move on. It was like they were swirling about him now, taunting him, filling his head with their hate filled voices. They were jealous of his life, and wanted to take it from him. The pressure built up in his mind and his ears and Harry stopped walking, almost dropping Ginny and clasping a hand to his forehead.
He fell to his knees, his consciousness wavering, but he began to fight back. The souls pushed harder but the beast rose up inside him with a roar, and suddenly they fled. Harry could feel their terror and smiled in grim satisfaction. He took a moment now to heal Ginny's wound which had been bleeding heavily but the curse had been a very dark one and Harry knew the healing spell wouldn't hold for long.
Now that the voices were gone Harry could hear screams and hurried towards them. They definitely weren't Mckennon's, as they were female. He came to the stone door, and placed Ginny carefully down against the wall besides it, before blowing the door open with a "Bombarda Maxima!'
Inside the dungeon chamber there was a body length ritual table that stood waist high. On it lay a girl, and standing over her, a deatheater unmasked, and with his pants around his ankles. The deatheater turned his head at the explosion as pieces of the door hit his back and Harry saw that it was Crabbe, his classmate. The girl was Luna Lovegood.
Crabbe looked around for his wand but Harry grabbed him, pulling him off the girl, turning him around and slamming him into the wall, his hand around his throat.
"Ler go!" Crabbe tried to move Harry's hand which wasn't going to budge. Harry had disillusioned himself because he wanted Crabbe to see him before he died.
"I'm going to have to kill you now Crabbe. That was my friend you were having your way with. But first-"Crucio!" Harry pointed his wand between the boy's legs and Crabbe screamed in agony before passing out, his eyes rolling back in his head. Harry dropped him and then cut his throat with a flick of his wand.
Two deatheaters rushed in through the doorway waving their wands. Harry kicked one in the chest and he crashed into the wall. He blocked the second one's spell, and waved his wand, transfiguring the man's eyes into acid. The deatheater fell to floor convulsing as it ate through his brain.
"Avada Kedavra!" A green light enveloped the deatheater he had kicked into the wall, and who had been trying to get back up. He fell over, dead.
Harry turned around and saw that was Luna was staring up at him with wide frightened eyes. One of them was swollen shut and the girl's nose was broken. There was also a deep bruise along her jaw. He moved towards her, and she flinched away.
"What is there something on my face?"
Luna nodded and Harry realized there was probably blood all over his mouth and chin, and probably over the rest of him for that matter. Bile rose in Harry's throat at the thought of what Crabbe had done to the poor girl, and he came to the conclusion that Crabbe definitely deserved a violent death. Harry spotted the girls clothes and levitated her robes towards her. She didn't move to put them on and Harry noticed that one of her arms was broken.
"I'm just going to heal this for you, Ok Luna?"
She just nodded, and Harry moved his wand over her left arm.
She let out a cry as her arm snapped back together and after it was done, she wrapped her arms around Harry and sobbed into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get here faster, Luna."
"It's ok. He-he didn't rape me. He was going to but I was fighting him, that's why he broke my arm, and hit me. The worst part is the voices, they're all around me, and so full of hate. "Harry pushed her back and healed her nose, and her bruises, and then handed her robes again.
"I can't do anything for you about the voices but we need to get out of here, I'm not sure how long my distraction will last. Now have you seen any other prisoners? I have to rescue someone else."
"I heard a man being dragged past here, just after they threw me in here. He was shouting. You're not going to leave Ginny here though, are you?"
"No, I have Ginny, she's right here." He moved outside the door and Luna followed him. The spell had worn off on Ginny and she was now visible. Harry pulled Luna's wand out of his pouch and handed it to her. He then picked up Ginny and they hurried off down the hallway. At the end Harry could see an open door.
Peering in, Harry saw Mckennon shackled to the wall. He was stripped down to the waist, and blood dripped from his head which was bowed, his hair covering his face. He looked up in surprise as Harry entered. The stone tiles of the wall behind him and the floor beneath him were stained with blood. Most of the cell was dark, there was no light, except that of Harry's wand which somewhat illuminated it.
"Harry! What the hell are you doing here?"
"You left your map on the table, genius. Now shut up so we can hurry up and get out of here."
"Oh, and how are we going to do that? there's disapparition jinxes cast by Voldemort himself on all of us except you, and the only out is up is the stairs and through the chamber. There's no way we'll make it."
"Wrong. I caught Pettigrew and looked through his mind. The beautiful thing about dungeons is there's always at least one secret passage somewhere. The one in this dungeon is in the last cell on the right, which happens to be the cell across from us."
Harry laid Ginny down and after much wand wiggling and frustration finally got Mckennon's enchanted shackles undone, and helped him to his feet, casting a few healing charms on his many cuts and bruises.
"Here's your wand, the deatheaters left it at the Burrow."
"Thanks." After pulling the wand out, Harry also pulled out two brooms, his Firebolt, and Mckennon's Silver Arrow which was a very old broom but highly modified by the hit wizard.
"The passage is long and pretty steep so this should make it quicker. Here take Ginny, I'm sick of carrying her."
"She's bleeding." Mckennon stated as he took the girl.
"Ugh again? Suo!" The wound glowed first green and then black as the curse battled the healing spell but finally it closed, but probably not for long.
"Can you conjure a robe or something? This is kind of awkward."
"Why the fuck do I have to do everything?" But Harry complied and the sleeping girl was soon covered.
"So did you have a little fun on your way here? You're covered in blood."
"Ah, most of that is Pettigrew's. Couldn't resist taking a little bite of him."
"You're sick." Mckennon shook his head, and walked across the corridor, stopping at the door to the opposite cell. Luna stared at Harry with wide eyes.
"Don't worry Luna, I won't bite you." He grinned. Luna reached up and poked at his teeth with her finger.
"What pointy teeth you have!"
"All the better to eat you with my dear."
Luna giggled, and Harry felt glad to hear something happy from her. She had seemed so broken in the cell.
"Are the voices still bothering you?"
"No, not so much. When everything seemed hopeless it was bad, but now that you're here I know I'm going to be alright."
Harry looked at her strangely. "I wouldn't count on that Luna, we've got a long ways to go yet. Mckennon what about you?"
"My occlumency is up to par so it wasn't that bad. But right now I'm concentrating on this door. It only opens outwards and there's a fucking hardcore locking spell on it that I'm trying to unravel."
"We'll you're better at that kind of thing than I am. How much time do you think it will take?"
"A few more minutes probably."
Harry could hear footsteps starting to pound down the stairs from the chamber.
"I'm not sure we have that Charlus, hurry the hell up! Luna get behind me!"
Luna complied and Harry stood in front of them both, adrenaline building and the beast coming forth. He grew taller, thicker, time his robes tore audibly as his shoulders hunched. Blood dripped from his fingers as his nails lengthened and widened into claws, cutting through skin. One hand gripped tight on his wand, and another hung at his side, ready to tear through flesh and tendons.
"Harry I'm not going to get this open in time!"
"I'll make time for you then!" Harry's voice was a deep growl now and he charged forward. As the first deatheater appeared in the hallway Harry met him, throwing him into the wall with one hand. The next got his throat torn open by Harry's claws.
"Holy Shit!" McKinnon said as blood splattered the walls.
Two more deatheaters appeared and one cast a killing curse at Harry who leapt aside.
"Confringo!" Harry yelled and collapsed the ceiling above the stairs, killing many of the deatheaters who had been making their way down.
"It's always fucking stairs! Why Stairs?"
The two deatheaters cast two more killing curses at Harry who levitated a large piece of rubble, blocking the curses and then pinning the deatheaters to the opposite wall with it.
The blockage on the stairs was quickly being levitated away by more deatheaters and Harry took the time he had remaining to create a few much larger than man sized golems out of the rubble and the floor.
He had not the energy to breathe life into them but he could hopefully keep them coordinated.
As the rubble was cleared away and a deatheater emerged one golem slammed his fist into his face, killing him and another golem grabbed a different deatheater, tearing him completely in half.
A third deatheater cast a stunning spell at Harry who blocked it and laughed.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Avada Kedavra!" The deatheater died.
"Stupefy!" Harry turned around just as a deatheater who had sneaked up behind him fell over, stunned by Luna. Harry immediately rethought the uselessness of the stunning spell before cutting the man's throat.
"Mckennon, are you about there yet?"
"Ya just about!"
"Fuck we don't have all day man!" Harry's golems were getting blown apart by the deatheaters. He growled and grabbed a deatheater by the back of the head, slamming his face repeatedly into the wall in frustration.
The deatheaters were starting to crowd around him now. 'Where the fuck are they coming from?' Harry thought.
He waved his wand in a frenzy, blocking curses, casting them, and levitating rubble around him in a circle. There was no use conjuring more golems but he could still use the rock.
He gathered energy and then banished all the rock in a quick burst, surprising and killing many of the deatheaters who had figured he was going to use them to block the killing curse.
Another deatheater got too close to Harry and Harry grabbed him by his hair biting savagely into his throat and spitting out a chunk of flesh along with part of his jugular vein.
A few deatheaters almost dropped their wands at the primal display and Harry killed them quickly with a multitude of curses.
A killing curse sailed at Harry who pulled a deatheater in front of him to block it and then threw the corpse into the crowd beginning to surround him again, knocking over a few deatheaters.
A cutting curse caught him in the arm and he hissed in pain
"Turo!" Light exploded outwards from Harry's wand in a circle blinding many.
"Saggittos Horriblis!" The dark arrows leapt from his wand, all of them finding their mark and a number of the deatheaters fell to the ground screaming.
A dark light was shining in Harry's eyes now, as his sharp teeth gleamed, his mouth set in a snarl. A few of the younger deatheaters stepped back, terrified at the monster in front of them.
Horrible spells of fire and darkness began to leap from Harry's wand. His voice became guttural as he incanted from a language long forgotten. A deatheater who tried to circle around him was consumed by a torrent of flame, and another casting spells at Harry was torn apart by his own shadow which leapt from the wall to attack him. Any deatheater who got in range of Harry's hands had their throat slit, or was bashed or thrown into a wall. The cracked stone of the walls and floor were quickly becoming covered in blood. It pooled around Harry's ankles and soaked his boots and the hem of his robes.
"Harry it's open! Confringo! Bombarda! Bombarda!" Mckennon pulled Harry backwards while collapsing the ceiling. They turned and ran down the corridor, slamming the door of the last cell on the right behind it. Mckennon quickly barred it with many spells and deadly hexes.
"Alright Mckennon, you take Ginny, I'll come behind you with Luna."
"What? No, I'm making sure you get out of here!"
"Look you know I duel better on a broom, but I can't do that with dead weight, and I'll be useless in front of you." Harry was beginning to tire now, and he shrank, his claws again receding.
"Alright fine, but you better be real close behind me." Harry walked in front of Mckennon and tapped his wand thirteen times on different places of the wall. It ground open into a pitch black passage with stairs leading up for what looked like forever.
"Ya whatever hurry up!" There were several screams as Mckennon's hexes took their victims. The hit wizard mounted his broom, pulling the unconscious Ginny on in front of him. He looked back at Harry once and then kicked off, zooming up into the darkness.
"Get on the broom Luna!" Harry could feel a presence approaching that he wasn't sure he could deal with. The door was suddenly blown inwards and Harry ducked as it passed right over his head. There stood the Dark Lord, terrible in his wrath and more hideous and terrifying in appearance than ever.
The ritual seemed to have failed and all Voldemort's skin was burnt and blistered. In places Harry could see the black sinew of his musculature where the flesh had been completely burnt away. Deatheaters were lined up behind their master, and Harry's heart sank. There was no way he could fight that many, let alone Voldemort.
"I've allowed you to live for entirely too long, Harry Potter. Tonight you die!" Harry leapt aside and the curse hit a wall, wreathing it in flame.
"It looks like you didn't enjoy your bath. Did the water get too hot?"
Voldemort's snake like nostrils flared and he cast another curse but Harry leapt aside again.
"Turo!" This time he pointed his wand directly at Voldemort.
"Arghhh!" Voldemort groaned in pain as the pure light blinded him, and Harry grabbed Luna who had fallen to the ground when the door was blown in. He pulled her onto the broom and they shot off into the dark passage.
The flew at a tremendous rate and soon Harry could see moonlight. Finally they were out, and Harry shot up above the canopy of the forest. The moon shone bright and he could see clearly the dark canopy of the trees, and the temple far below. Mckennon he couldn't see anywhere. Out of the temple began to pour broom mounted deatheaters and Harry cursed mentally before speeding off. They were on fast brooms and soon some began to catch up with him.
Harry climbed higher, cold wind began to chill him to the bone, and he cast warming spells on himself and Luna, whose teeth he could hear chattering. He wasn't sure how long they would last though; his magic had long begun to wane. He kept going further up, until he was above the clouds. The stars and moon shone clearly, bright orbs of silver and white in a dark void.
The deatheaters still followed and Harry stilled for a moment, before pointing his broom down and plummeting. They shot after him. Luna's arms were wrapped tight around him, but he could barely hear her screaming over the wind roaring in his ears. He closed his eyes and let all fear evaporate. They continued to spiral downwards and Harry reached out with his mind. He could feel the fear of the deatheaters behind him, and it was delicious.
Harry opened eyes to see the roof of the forest getting rapidly closer and he jerked his broom upwards, the tail just barely scraping the boughs of a tree.
One by one the deatheaters crashed into the woods, not having the same skill on a broom that Harry possessed. Every single one hit a tree, and Harry had no doubt they were dead. He could no longer feel their minds.
A few had pulled out of the dive and Harry sent spells at them knocking them off their brooms and then shot off again. Relief settled in on Harry as he began to think he was finally free, but it soon turned to dread as a great cloud of black smoke flew up from the temple.
It amassed into the Dark Lord, who flew after Harry, his wand outstretched, and a terrible wrath in his eyes. Harry flew faster, but the magic that Voldemort possessed was much more powerful than the enchantments of his Firebolt. Luna clutched at Harry in fear.
Voldemort was almost within 10 yards of him. They were nearing the edge of the forest, and were over a lake now. It's surface mirrored perfectly the moon and stars and they now shown up at Harry as well as down at him. Trapped between two heavens he was with hell flying straight towards him. The water rippled as Voldemort flew over it, and the image of the sky was distorted.
The Dark Lord raised his wand, his eyes flashing manically and a great dragon of fiendfyre burst from it, rushing and roaring towards Harry, an inferno with his destruction as its only purpose.
"Valwe!" Harry yelled, his voice full of desperation and much of the water of the lake rose up forming into a great cavalry of horseman. They charged the worm, spears crashing into its belly and there was a great explosion of steam as the water consumed the dragon, and rushed even past it.
The wave suspended in midair was now formless and it surged around Voldemort trapping and taking hold of him. The Dark Lord fought against it, his wrathful magic pushing it back.
Voldemort's immense power struggling against his magic was almost too much for him but Harry was aided by the magic inherent in the water and made one last effort, crying out as he thrust his wand forward with both hands. The shaft of holly exploded with a Bang! and the Dark Lord screamed in anger as he was cast down into the lake.
A plume of water and foam rose up almost knocking Harry off his broom, which began to slide downwards, its rider slumped and almost unconscious, and Luna having no ability on a broomstick. It tilted further and fell straight downwards towards the surface of the churning water. Harry and Luna were about to join the Dark Lord in the lake's depths when a hand shot out of the foam and gripped the broom's handle, jerking it upwards and directing it to safety.
An: This chapter didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to and I kind of wanted to take more time with it, but it's been awhwile since I posted anything. If anyone wants an excuse for that it's because I'm taking accelerated summer courses that don't leave much time for writing but I'll still definitely working on this story.
all the new spells in this chapter are in giant speak
Ergoth = stone
"Car laerthos oin garto arthros" = From my soul I give life
Turo= light