STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I own nothing and I'm not getting paid anything for writing this, so keep your damn lawyers away. BEGONE!
The Omnipotence Paradox
Chapter 4: The Unbreakable Barrier
The Dark God Voldemort had always found it ironic, that the place where he had felt the most at home had always been the domain of those who posed the greatest threat to him. The orphanage had never been his home, and after he finished school, he had traveled the world and had never found a place to settle down and call his own. The only place he had ever known any semblance of peace at was at Hogwarts. He was drawn to the castle like a moth to the flame; even after Dumbledore had denied his request to teach, his yearning to return had never faded. With the elderly headmaster there, he was always in danger when returning to the grounds; and now that Dumbledore had been completely surpassed, the Potter brat instead stood in his way.
Approaching the castle under the darkness of the total solar eclipse, Voldemort was forcefully reminded of his first boat ride towards the school. The eleven-year old Tom Marvolo Riddle was so happy, for the first time in his life, and he was filled with amazement and wonder at the massive castle above him. After years of searching for comfort and acceptance, and of yearning to belong, he had finally found a place he could call 'home'.
As much as someone may enjoy something, they can't truly appreciate it until it's gone; Voldemort never realized just how much he enjoyed the old castle until it had been bared from him forever. Now, after decades of being away he was finally returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Voldemort was coming home.
If the situation wasn't so serious, Harry Potter would have laughed; he never knew Voldemort could be so sentimental. Voldemort's thoughts practically screamed of a comfort and warmth that Harry had never previously detected from the former Dark Lord. Harry couldn't truly find fault with Voldemort on this point, seeing as they both saw Hogwarts as more of a home then any other place in the world. Neither of them had found any sense of comfort and belonging in their respective childhoods, and Hogwarts was the first place they had both found acceptance; needless to say, the castle had left a lasting mark upon them both. Their lives had been shockingly similar, but because of different choices, they now stood on opposite sides of a war. It was ironic that the one place in the world where they both felt truly at home, the one thing in the world they could both agree on, would end up being their last battleground and the last place where one of them would be seen alive.
Voldemort, in robes of seemingly infinite darkness, gently floated down form the floating Azkaban, with his trusted lieutenants behind him. Harry would easily be able to compare the cheesy event to some 'sacred deity and his angels descending from on high'; Voldemort really was a pretentious bastard.
"How is it that at every turn, I find you standing in my way?" Voldemort quietly asked, his glowing red eyes glaring into Harry's glowing green ones.
"I'm here because you're here. Year after year, you keep dragging me into your damn games of conquest, and I'm sick of it. It ends now" Harry glared right back.
Voldemort snickered at Harry, and although neither had moved, the raw energy surrounding both of them literally clashed with the others, causing the air to ripple. The wind began to pick up between them as static filled the air while the two groups faced off.
"Defiant right up till the end; you truly are something else, Harry Potter," Voldemort chuckled; it was a very disturbing sound. "What possible chance can you have against a true God?"
"Plenty I figure, due to your continuous cock-ups," Harry snarled. "You linked our minds with a Horcrux when I was one, and then our bodies with my blood when I was fourteen. Considering you couldn't beat a defenseless toddler back then, and have continued to fail in your half-assed schemes since, I'm not all that worried."
Voldemort growled in rage, as the earth started to tremble with his anger. "You insolent little…"
Not waiting for some more annoying banter, Harry flicked his wrist, causing the waters of the Black Lake to rise up and swipe at the rear flanks of Volemort's followers, dragging them down into the water's depths. The Dark God's followers scattered, as did Harry's resistance after them.
"Kill them all!" Voldemort screeched, rising into the air above the chaos to dodge the massive water tendril, "But the boy is mine alone!"
Gellert Grindelwald was a truly wrenched creature; he had spent his entire life in pursuit of a way to cheat death through the Deathly Hollows, and in the process forgot to actually live. His pursuit of the Hollows and repeated use of the Dark Art's had warped him and destroyed his conscience. Because of the horrible acts he had committed, he had been thrown into prison for decades, ironically the same prison he himself had built: Nurmengard.
The years may have slowly stripped his looks, but not his keen intellect. When the new Dark God had approached him in his prison cell in Germany and offered him freedom from his own prison for his sworn loyalty, Grindelwald carefully agreed. The aged wizard was clever enough to word his oath so that he could still act independently, so long as it did not personally inflict harm on Voldemort. He was now using that freedom to head towards the Forbidden Forest, giving the still turbulent Black Lake a wide berth, as he headed towards the wild Acromantula colony within; Acromantula's were ravenous creatures, and in the end would obey there stomachs over all. There would be enough prey from the battle being fought to satisfy their hunger; he didn't really care which side their victims came from. And considering all he requested for his cooperation was a little venom…the deal was simply too good for them to pass up.
Acromantula venom was the last rare ingredient needed in a potion that would sever all ties and bonds to anyone living – including oaths. The best part was that the oath he made with Voldemort stated he would never harm the fool directly. Freeing himself from Voldemort would give him time to figure out a way to kill the man; Grindelwald had never believed in God and certainly didn't think Voldemort was completely immortal. Grindelwald had lead wars and toppled nations before that little shit Riddle was even finished schooling; there was no way he would ever truly submit to this new 'Dark God'.
As Grindelward ran deeper into the Forbidden Forest, a wall of solid rock rose up before him. "What are you searching for Gellert? This forest had been abandoned," an aged voice arose from behind him.
"Albus!" Grindelwald cackled, "Just the man I needed to see! I believe you have my old wand - I'll be needing it back," he said with a harsh edge to his voice, as he raised his wand.
"I'm afraid killing me will do you no good," Dumbledore countered calmly, as if discussing the weather, "the Elder Wand, and any right of ownership I once had over it, were both destroyed when I was killed in the Ministry of Magic by your new master."
"That man is not my master!" Grindelwald roared, "I bow to no one!" With an angry swipe of his wand, a bolt of white light shot out towards the elderly headmaster, who summoned a boulder to block the shot were it was completely disintegrated.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Gellert. Following either Voldemort or you own selfish ambitions will lead you to ruin again," Dumbledore tried to reason with his old friend. "There's still time to change..."
"…'for the greater good', Albus?" Grindelwald laughed, "I invented that line, you old fool, so don't preach to me about change; the only 'greater good' that exists in this world is my own. Why do you persist in annoying me Albus? Do you actual still love me? How touching" he chucked as he dodged a small, thin whip of fire, which ended up wrapped around a large tree trunk.
With an angry yank, the tree Dumbledore had caught had been uprooted, and as he swung the large tree towards Grindelwald, the former Dark Lord cast a severing charm on the whip, launching the tree high into the air out of the forest. "Oh, did I make you angry Albus? Are your feelings hurt? As I told you before, I'm not gay, and even if I was, why would I go with a man who fought me, stole my dream, and then threw me into my own prison?" Grindelwald growled, directing a nearby tree to pound the ground where Dumbledore stood.
The headmaster cast a Severing Charm on the tree trying to kill him, then a Banishing Charm to send it straight towards his former friend and love interest. Grindelwald quickly leapt over the rock barrier that Dumbledore had made earlier to protect himself and cast a complex Concealment Charm to change his appearance, before he used a Blasting Curse to send the rock wall exploding outward towards his opponent.
Dumbledore quickly summoned a large silver shield, which took the brunt of the blast and protected him from stone shards and boulders, but as he lowered the shield he froze: standing before him was a fourteen year old girl with blonde pigtails and bright blue eyes - his long dead little sister, Ariana Dumbledore.
"Why brother?" Ariana quietly begged, "Why did you kill me?" Tears silently flowed from her eyes as she stared straight into his. "Why did you leave me alone? Why didn't you love me?"
"I…" Dumbledore sputtered, trembling form head-to-toe. He knew that Grindelwald was tricking him, but the sight of his sister again was wreaking havoc with his mind, and his body began to act of its own accord, slowly stepping towards his fake sister.
"NO! STAY BACK!" Ariana shrieked in terror, falling to her knees. "Don't hurt me anymore! Please! I don't want to hurt anymore. I'll be a good girl, I promise!" she sobbed, hands covering her face.
"Ariana…" Dumbledore rasped from between his parched lips, as he too fell to his knees, tears flowing down his face.
'Ariana' peeked from between her fingers, and a mad gleam entered her eyes. As she slowly raised her wand, before she could cast a spell a massive tendril of green flame cut though the air, creating a large, flaming gouge between herself and Dumbledore, forcing them both back to avoid the flames.
Dumbledore quickly looked around him through the blazing green fire, trying to search for his sister, but unable to find her, was forced back out of the forest to avoid the spreading emerald inferno.
"Hey! I recognize you; Your Emeric the Evil and Loxias, right?" James Potter said as he blocked their path towards the castle.
"Our reputation precedes us," Emeric said with a smirk. He was a rather pale faced man with lank, black hair that reminded James of a certain former potions master.
"Not really," James commented casually, "your faces are on the Chocolate Frog Cards; little snott-nosed kid's like to bicker about which of you is uglier."
"Wretched fool!" Emeric growled, unleashing a blast of concussive air that tore up the ground that James had just been standing on.
"That's it?" James taunted while he dodged, "I thought you were supposed to be 'Evil', or did your mum name you that?" James laughed as Emeric shot a volley of sickly yellow orbs after him that melted the ground where they hit.
"Now James, there's no need to taunt these men; just because they can't fight without their little 'Death Stick' doesn't mean we should rub it in," Lily casually chastised her husband.
"Be silent you useless woman!" Loxias spat, uplifting a jagged rock before launching it towards her.
"And he's a sexist too," Lily said with a charming smile that hid her anger. With a flick of her wand the rock flew back towards Loxias quicker then he had sent it, nicking the edge of his black cloak.
Emeric thrust his wand forward, sending a brilliant bolt of lighting streaming towards the Potters, where they both dodged the attack as it went flying past. James quickly transfigured the jagged rock from earlier into a lion that he sent towards the former Dark Lords, before Loxias brutally removed its head with a Severing Charm.
A massive rip in the ground opened up close by, spewing forth rivers of molten hot magma into the sky; Emeric quickly took advantage of the situation and redirected some of the flow towards James, who quickly pointed a Banishing Charm towards the ground, sending himself flying to the side just before the torrent of lava hit.
"Ohhh, now your getting serious? You must have been a terrible little twat when you were two for your mummy to call you 'Evil'," James continued to taunt his opponent's as he transfigured the grass they were standing on into shiny nails, piercing Emeric's feet and sending him into a rage. Emeric shot a massive dark blue orb of energy at James, blasting the ground to pieces and launching the man backwards before he could shield himself.
"JAMES!" Lily cried, as she dodged a swipe made by Loxias, who had a thick beam of pink light extended from his wand and was using it as a sword. With a quick swish of her wand, Loxias' robes tightened around him and started to choke him; the former Dark Lord tripped over his animated robes and fell forward onto his improvised blade, slicing himself cleanly in two diagonally across his chest, killing him instantly.
The now limping Emeric hobbled towards the fallen James, who was looking around himself for his wand. With a growl, all the glistening nails that James had previously transfigured were ripped from the ground and hovered before Emeric, aimed straight at the fallen wizard. Swiping his wand downward, the nails flew straight towards James in a hail of lethal metal. Finally spotting his wand, James dove to the side and grabbed it, but still had several nails lodge into his leg. With a cry of pain, he pointed his wand back at Emeric and with a circular wave, sent gale force winds towards him. Emeric summoned a large silver shield to buffer the winds, but Lily was close and added a blast of raging fire to James' attack, turning the windstorm into a towering inferno. As the fire swirled around Emeric, he was burned to death and his charred corpse collapsed to the ground in a smoking heap.
"Never mess with red-heads," James joked, gritting his teeth through the pain in his leg.
Herpo the Foul was a man that rarely ever took any enjoyment out of life, but for the first time since he could remember he was genuinely amused: standing before him was a Muggle, dressed in shining armor and clutching a sword as if it would do any good against the first Dark Lord in history. Using a sword against a wizard was the same as using a pebble against a dragon – utterly useless
"You're a brave fool, I will give you that," Herpo chuckled," but what hope can a Muggle have to stand against me with such a trinket?"
Far quicker then Herpo would have thought possible, the Muggle rushed forward and nearly sliced through Herpo's arm. "You're the fool if you continue to underestimate me," the armored man said.
As Herpo angrily stood up, he quietly asked, "Tell me the name of the man I'm about to kill."
Steadying his sword the man proclaimed, "I am Aurelius Ambrosius, defender of Briton. We both share blame in this current travesty, and we both shall pay for it,"
"What nonsense are you speaking of? Are all Muggles as foolish as you?" Herpo growled, shooting a lance of red light at the knight, who nimbly dodged.
"You are the sorcerer who created the foul Horcrux, which made Voldemort's ascension possible; and I am the man who was tricked into giving the order to move the Giant's Round to Briton. We both share a piece of the blame for the world's current chaos, and we will both pay for it."
"You're an imbecile, and you will die," Herpo growled, and started to fire a line of lime green blasts toward Ambrosius, who continued to swerve between the attacks with an agility that should not have been possible with the heavy armor he wore. One shot managed to hit Ambrosius' left side, where it heavily dented the armor before veering off course and hitting the ground with a blast.
"Iron armor?" Herpo quietly asked himself, before raising his wand and hissing into the air, causing a gigantic serpent to appear between himself and the knight. With another hiss, the snake lunged at Ambrosius.
The knight quickly rolled to the side, barely dodging the snake's poison fang's, before he took a swipe with his sword, making a large bleeding gouge in the serpent's side. With a howl of rage, Herpo shot a blast of purple light at Ambrosius, which was deflected towards the snake by the knight's iron shield, killing it in an explosion of blood and gore.
Covered in the blood of his summons, Herpo angrily slashed his wand, causing a wave of purple fire to erupt towards Ambrosius, who easily dodged, before he pointed his wand towards the ground, and a seven-foot, three-headed Runespoor appeared. Casting a quick Engorgio Charm, the Runespoor grew to over fifteen-feet long. With a long hiss, Herpo pointed at the knight, causing the Runespoor's left head to quickly thrust forward, attempting to strike. Ambrosius barely dodged only to be almost bitten by the poisonous right head, which never seemed to stop hissing.
The massive Runespoor swiped with its tail, knocking Ambrosius to the ground; looking up to the darkened sky, he could see large glimmers of reflected light heading straight for him. Rolling to his right, Ambrosius barely dodged a large hail or obsidian rock, glinting in the low light, as it embedded deeply into the ground beside him.
Quickly back-pedaling, Ambrosius dodged another angry strike from the Runespoor's right head, before the left made another quick strike. Unable to dodge, Ambrosius quickly raised his shield in front of himself, before he was completely knocked back by the force of the blow, loosing his shield. The right head launched a final strike, sinking its poisonous fangs deep into the gaps of Ambrosius' armor. With a howl of pain he fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
The left Runespoor head opened its fangs wide, before it stopped as the right head seemed to keep hissing insistently, almost as if arguing. The middle head suddenly snapped out of whatever daydream it had been lost in the entire time, and it swiveled back and forth between the other two, as if watching a tennis match. The three head's were quickly all hissing angrily at each other at the same time, while Herpo hissed angrily at the entire Runespoor in turn.
His body tingling painfully as the poison quickly spread through his veins, Ambrosius dragged himself up, and seeing his opponent's distracted, used the last of his energy to throw himself forward, slashing his sword horizontally and removing Herpo's head in a large spurt of blood. As the headless corpse of the first Dark Lord collapsed, Ambrosius fell to his knees, clutching at his bloody sword.
The last thing Aurelius Ambrosius saw was the middle and left Runespoor head band together and rip off the nagging right one before his sword was pulled out from under him, and he fully collapsed to the ground, consumed in darkness.
From a very young age, Arthur Pendragon had learned that monsters existed; not the gigantic, ugly hairy kind that lived in children's imaginations, under beds and behind closets. The monsters that young Arthur grew up with looked just like regular people, but their hearts and souls were as warped and deformed as any legendary beast. Later in life, when Arthur had grown he wasn't overly shocked to learn from his father Uther that the gigantic, ugly hairy kind of monster also existed, and in many cases were friendlier then the one's he was used to, but there were of course, certain exceptions to that rule.
Staring up into the sky, the former legendary King Arthur couldn't help but watch the swirling cloud of darkness that surrounded the dark fortress Azkaban as it moved closer and wondered aloud, "Why are such vile creatures still allowed to exist?" The Dementors had been a scourge upon the planet for generations before his birth, and although Arthur had tried valiantly to rid the world of them in his time, the endless, blood-sewn battlefields of his era gave them plenty of weak and dying prey to feed upon.
"They truly are foul creatures, with no other reason for existence then to cause suffering," Uther Pendragon said beside his son, "The fools of this period believe they can be harnessed and reasoned with, and like rats they have multiplied. Do you think you can handle them without your favorite sword?"
Arthur smiled wryly at his father, "You know as well as I do that the weapon does not make the warrior; but that the warrior pours his skills into the blade that makes it lethal. I will be fine."
Looking over his shoulder, Uther saw two wizards quickly approach. "They think us defenseless without wands," He chuckled, "the fools are walking to their death."
"Leave them to their delusions," Arthur responded quietly, as the air chilled around them, "the hoard is coming."
The swirling black mass of Dementors from above had quickly struck, two landing before Arthur, attempting to pin him before they both lost their arms to his iron blade, followed by their heads. Uther quickly joined in and, using their iron swords, began to carve their way through the Dementors ranks.
A massive pillar of rock, shaped like an obelisk, suddenly rose from the ground in the center of the Dementors, impaling several on its sharp, pointed tip as it traveled upwards. Uther quickly grabbed on to the jagged side with his left hand, slashing and killing several of the Dementors with the sword in his right hand that had been previously out of his reach. The obelisk then started to tremble and tilt, and releasing his grip, Uther slid down the now diagonal slope of rock to join his son on the ground, watching as the now destroyed obelisk collapsed, smoldering in green flames, and crushed several more Dementors.
Arthur felt the disturbance before he saw it, and quickly ducked the gout of black flames that was shot at his back by the two wizards that flanked him. Arthur knew that the young God had mentioned their names earlier – Godelot and Deverill. As the Dementors behind him withered in pain from horrible burns, Arthur shot forward and with a quick slice, removed Deverill's left arm. With a howl of pain, Deverill shot a violent orange light, which Arthur reflected off his sword towards the Dementors, causing three of them to quickly turn to ash and disappear. Dashing forward, Arthur went to finish off the wizard before a wall of rock rose up and trapped his blade.
Quickly swinging around, Arthur ducked a red blast of light and delivered a right jab to Godelot's stomach with his gauntlet covered fist. As Godelot swung his arm down to blast Arthur, the former king used his shield to re-direct the blast towards the rock wall, completely destroying it while he used his right fist to deliver a vicious uppercut, breaking the wizard's jaw. As the wall exploded outward, Arthur reached up after making the uppercut to grab his flying sword, before bringing it slashing down, cleaving Godelot's head in two.
Turning behind him to see Deverill impaled on shard of rock from his own barrier, Arthur quickly returned to his father's side, who had just dodged a bolt of horizontal lighting from another battle which had further decimated the Demontors ranks, arcing between them. Uther hadn't turned around to check on his son once, because after all, Arthur had lead a kingdom through the harshest wars and most grizzly battlefields – if he couldn't kill two measly wizards, he wouldn't be worthy of his legendary title, now would he?
Watching from a distance, Sirius Black couldn't help but marvel at the lethal efficiency that the two legendary kings used to carve their way through the Dementors ranks – it was simply mind boggling. Like most boys, in his youth Sirius had dreamed of one day growing up to be a knight in shining armor and rescuing some beautiful damsel in distress. As he grew, Sirius did learn how to use a sword, but the only 'princesses' he could attract were the loose, 'one night stand' kind; all the virtuous princesses didn't want to settle down with the bad boy, the ones that came to him just wanted to get fucked hard and fast. It didn't exactly match up with the old classical ideal that was romance. Then again, the inbred pureblood idiots of the magical world were no fierce dragon to slay, but they sure as hell were annoying.
"I'm surprised you're here, Lucius," Sirius taunted the approaching blonde Death Eater, "If you fight me, you might mess up your long, pretty golden hair."
"Be silent, you filthy mutt," Malfoy growled back, "Gutter-trash like you should be put down like the rabid little dogs you are." With a swipe of his wand, a wave of crescent neon light flew towards Sirius, who quickly shifted to his canine form to dodge.
Weaving between Malfoy's insistent attacks, Sirius got close enough in his Animagus form to physically attack the Death Eater, but quickly ran left when Lucius raised a large silver shield to defend himself. Swiftly transforming back into a human, Sirius sent a Severing Charm towards Malfoy's unprotected flank, forcing the man to quickly duck or be beheaded. Long strands of silky golden hair fell to the ground as they were caught in the curse, giving the elder Malfoy's hair a rather bizarre, lopsided look.
"Whoops, sort about that Lucy. I was aiming for your neck", Sirius chuckled, not sounding sorry at all.
Sputtering in incoherent rage, Malfoy screamed, "AVADA KEDAVERA!"
Sirius quickly fell to the ground, narrowly escaping death, and transfigured a nearby piece of a former obelisk into a large Grizzly Bear. "Watch out Goldilocks, it's the big bad Papa Bear!"
As Sirius aimed to kill the now distracted Malfoy, he heard a familiar voice behind him scream, "Get back here you sniveling little coward!"
Looking behind him, he saw his friend, Remus Lupin, rapidly firing curses towards the ground. In the dim light of the eclipse, Sirius could just barely make out…a rat.
Sirius almost literally saw red, as uncontrollable rage filled him up completely. Screaming in anger, he fired a dark curse that surrounded the rat in a large cage of fire, which had also trapped his friend, Lupin.
Lupin fire a spell at the cornered rat, forcing him out of his Animagus form, "Its time to pay for your treason, Wormtail," Lupin spat, as if the name left a bad taste in his mouth.
The cowering Peter Pettigrew shot a small, red bolt of light at his former friend, who easily batted it away and countered with a Killing Curse. With a terrified squeak, Wormtail shifted back to his rat form and dodged the curse, before he ran towards the enraged Marauder.
Dodging another Killing Curse, Wormtail quickly changed back into a human before sending a Reductor Curse at close range; Lupin erected the Protego Charm in time to deflect the attack, but Pettigrew's silver fist managed to collide with his face, burning the skin on his cheek. Falling to the ground, Lupin lashed out with a kick, sweeping out Wormtail's legs from beneath him, causing him to crash to the ground. Using inhuman strength, Lupin grabbed Pettigrew's leg and swung him around, before sending him crashing hard into the ground. Pointing his wand, Remus screamed, "BOMBARDA!" In a flash of white light, Wormtail's silver hand exploded, taking his entire arm with it.
Sirius watched with a twisted grin, taking a sick sort of pleasure at seeing the pain of the man who betrayed their friends to death. So caught up in Wormtails pain, Sirius didn't see Malfoy eviscerate the Grizzly Bear and then aim his wand at him. A quick blasting curse destroyed the ground Sirius was standing on, sending him flying backwards.
"Avada Kedavera!" Malfoy hissed, sending a green blast of death straight towards Sirius. The falling Marauder could only watch the Killing Curse head towards him, and be forcefully reminded of the last time he remembered falling like this at the Ministry…
Without warning, a massive dumping of water landed on the four combatants, knocking them all down and washing away the ring of fire encircling Wormtail and Lupin. The raw force of the water was enough to divert the Killing curse slightly, so that it just missed Sirius. Sputtering to regain his breath, Sirius pointed his wand towards Malfoy, who was struggling to get up, and used another Cutting Curse, hitting his mark this time and beheading the Death Eater.
Before the body had hit the ground, Sirius had already turned and at the same time as Lupin shouted, "Avada Kedavera!" both curses hitting Wormtail at the same time and finally killing the traitor.
Tenderly rubbing his scorched left cheek, Lupin held out his right hand to Sirius. "You know, you really need to stop taunting your prey Snuffles, they might just get you next time."
"Nonsense, Moony," Sirius replied, "I'll be young, healthy, and beautiful forever!" he declared with a ridiculous pose. As Lupin shook his head at his friend's foolishness, neither man saw two dark shadows rapidly approach them from the sky.
It had been more than a millennia since Salazar Slytherin had seen the magnificent Basilisk he had hidden away in the Chamber of Secrets. All he needed was to enter the girl's bathroom on the second floor and he would be safe to summon his monster and destroy his enemies; he may not have been able to obtain his Godhood, but he would not be denied the joy of killing the Hogwarts founders that had destroyed his other dream of a magnificent pure-blood world.
Naturally, before he could enter the castle the heads of the 'birds' and the 'badgers' would once again seek to meddle in his affairs. "Move!" Slytherin hissed, sending a jet of grey light into the ground, splitting the earth between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff and knocking them both away. Dashing between his two former colleagues, Slyherin ran straight for the main doors before a towering brick wall formed in front of him. Turning, he could see Hufflepuff with her wand pointed downward, manipulating the earth, and Ravenclaw with her wand pointed directly at him.
"We will not allow you to enter the school, Salazar," Ravenclaw said quietly.
"Lest you forget, I helped build this castle, Rowena," Slytherin countered, "I have just as much right to enter this school as you do."
"Don't play your games with us, Salazar!" Hufflepuff growled uncharacteristically. "You never truly saw Hogwarts as a school, only as a platform for your pathetic global revolution!"
"Don't you dare mock my dream!" Slytherin raged, "First you took away my revolution, then Godric took away my ascension! I may not be a God, but the Pure-Blood Revolution will commence, and you pathetic harpies cannot stop me!" With a downward arc, two green blades of light sliced through the ground, heading for his opponents.
Hufflepuff quickly built another wall and reinforced it, while Ravenclaw shot her own charm towards the attack, neutralizing it, before sending a lethal gust of wind at Slytherin that sliced anything it hit to ribbons. Slytherin summoned a large silver shield, which barely held up against the wind blades striking it; he the banished the ruined shield towards Ravenclaw, before turning around and blasting the wall that Hufflepuff had erected earlier to prevent entrance to the castle. Ravenclaw melted the shield while Hufflepuff used the current wall she was behind to send a hail of reinforced bricks towards the dark wizard. Forced to duck and swerve the initial blast of bricks, he quickly sent a concussive wave of destructive energy once he found out the bricks would home-in on him if he ran. Dealing with Hufflepuff's assault, he was unprepared for the whip of liquid metal that was once his shield lashing out at him and wrapping around his limbs, trapping him in place.
As an angry Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff approached his defenseless form, he saw his salvation behind them; quickly hissing out a set of instructions, a bestial roar was heard behind the two female founders. Turning, they saw a gigantic two-headed Runespoor barreling angrily towards them to attack. Hufflepuff quickly raised another wall, which trembled seconds after it was erected as the middle head impacted heavily with it, before the left head rose over the wall to strike. Dropping her metal whip, Ravenclaw used a Severing Charm to remove the left head, before Hufflepuff used the same charm to remove the still dazed center head. The corpse of the now headless Runespoor collapsed to the ground with a large thud and twitched, but when the two founders turned around to deal with their captive, they couldn't see him.
Salazar Slytherin had escaped into Hogwarts.
Caught in Potter's initial attack, Bellatrix Lestrange had been swept out into the Black Lake with many of her fellow comrades. Bellatrix franticly swam through the tumbling waters towards the surface, not even caring that several feet away her husband Rodolphus was slowly drowning; only the thought of being reunited with her master entered her warped mind. As she broke the surface, she changed herself into a smoky haze – a favored method of travel for the Death Eaters. Exploding form the water and narrowly hitting an elderly wizard, Bellatrix flew high over the battlefield and watched the delicious carnage unfolding below. She finally spotted her master and the Potter brat, fighting high in the air above the rest. She watched amazed as her Dark God flung magic around as if it were a simple child's toy, but did not interfere – her master had given his followers specific instructions that Potter was his alone. Sensing another Death Eater escape the lake, she turned to see Fenrir Greyback appear beside her. Considering any Death Eater that couldn't escape the lake waters as a useless waste, including her now former husband, she then took off towards a familiar target she had seen with Greyback trailing behind.
She quickly landed and locked eyes with the man she had once killed, her traitorous cousin Sirius Black. "Dear cousin Siri," Bellatrix purred," I never imagined I would get the chance to kill you again. Now I get to finish you off nice and slowly," she cackled.
The still waterlogged Sirius readied his wand to face his deranged relative and kill his former killer, while Remus growled and pointed his own wand at Greyback, the Werewolf that had originally infected him with Lycanthropy.
The tense situation was unexpectedly broken when a large tree came sailing in from the Forbidden Forest like a massive javelin and crashed into Bellatrix, crushing the witch and killing her instantly, leaving only her twisted, bloodied legs still visible. Everyone was frozen in pure shock at the unexpected event when Lupin's inhuman instincts kicked in, causing him to duck a hail of nails that hit the still stunned Greyback, causing him to scream in pain before frothing at the mouth and falling over, dead. Lupin cautiously walked over and saw a familiar glint form the nails that had killed the Werewolf – silver.
"Well…that was anti-climatic," Lupin faintly said to himself, while Sirius danced in the background merrily singing "Ding! Dong! The witch is dead!" over and over again.
Myrddin Wyllt was having an absolutely miserable second life. Not only had he spent decades in his first life tricking and deceiving those around him to become powerful and learn the secrets of immortality, but after nearly completing his plan, he had died in possibly one of the most ridiculous ways imaginable. Now, having been brought back to life, some little snot-nosed punk had taken advantage of his hard work and ascended to Godhood, while he now had to deal with the psychotic bitch he betrayed in his former life.
Myrddin quickly ran out onto the turbulent waters of the Black Lake, knowing it would be the only area where he may hold the advantage. Running along the waters turbulent surface, he barely dodged a black mist that shot form the lake's murky waters before he reached the water's center, and braced himself for the inevitable.
He could see her from the distance, like an angry red star streaking towards him. Water turned to steam as she flew over it like a rocket, splitting the surface and moving far quicker then should be possible, till she abruptly stopped just in front of him. Flames rolled around her as she hovered in the air above the water, her fiery hair and crimson cloak swaying in a non-existent breeze, while her pink eyes burned into Myrddin's like hot embers.
Morgan le Fay was extremely pissed off, and now she was out for retribution.
"You miserable, useless, waste of flesh!" Morgan shrieked, as flames literally sprang from her eyes. "Do you remember the pact? The oath I made to you before you beheaded me?" she hissed out, the flames surrounding her spinning faster.
"What need have I to listen to the useless ramblings of the damned?" Myrddin casually replied, still maintaining the air of a benevolent and kind old wizard, while his wand was behind his back, making complex movements.
"You're the one who's damned!" Morgan roared, "You killed a Fey, one of the immortal protectors of this planet! Any who successfully kill a Fay will be cursed by magic itself as penance for their crime. Do you truly believe the way you died was in any way normal?"
"That does explain some things," Myrddin said wisely, pointing his wand into the lake, as several tendrils of water shot up to wrap around Morgan. "So it's because of you that my Stonehenge plan failed," he snarled, all vestiges of kindness gone, now revealing his hidden cruelty.
Releasing a wave of heat, the water surrounding Morgan completely evaporated, and she slashed her wand, causing a blast of raw power that arced out and severed the water where Myrddin was just standing, leaving a trench in the lake waters that refused to close. Evading another smoky shade that escaped the lake through the newly made water trench, Myrddin sent several lances of light towards Morgan, who focused her flames like a shield, deflecting the attacks.
"Quit squirming you miserable little traitor and die!" Morgan spat, actually sending a blast of flames from her mouth, which Myrddin blocked with a barrier of lake water.
"Is the little fool upset she got duped? Do you feel betrayed?" Myrddin snarled, causing his water shield to fly towards Morgan with a wave; Morgan easily evaporated the water with a quick blast of searing fire.
"I trusted you! We all trusted you!" Morgan screeched, pointing at him with her finger, causing a concentrated beam of heat, similar to a laser, to shoot out and pierce the elderly wizard's left shoulder who couldn't evade in time.
"You whore!" Myrddin spat before sending a bolt of light into the water and causing a large pillar of water to shoot up, but Morgan was once again protected in a wreath of fire. "You were just another stepping stone on my way to power. Do you honestly believe you were the only fool who I deceived?" Myrddin taunted, sending a wave of blue light towards Morgan, who blocked it with a glowing golden barrier, "You pathetic woman, why must you take things so personally?"
"You had me hunted down like a dog! You killed me yourself, you bastard!" Morgan screamed, throwing several balls of fire at the sorcerer. "How else am I supposed to take it?"
Drawing a line in the water, a massive wave quickly rose up in front of Myrddin and intercepted Morgan's attack, before crashing down on top of her. Her flame barrier completely overwhelmed, Morgan was quickly submerged by the lake's water. Myrddin filled the lake with his magic as he began to try and suffocate Morgan under the water, making it denser. Morgan's limbs were pressed into place by the raw pressure of the water around her, and if Myrddin kept it up, she would pass out from lack of Oxygen.
Morgan was saved when a massive wave of sub-zero winds swept over the lake, freezing the surface and forcing Myrddin to defend himself or be instantly frozen. Once again free to move, Morgan pointed her wand towards the surface and blasted a hole trough the ice. Quickly swimming through the water, Morgan saw the ice from the surface race downward and begin to form…something. Out of air, Morgan surfaced and sputtered as she gasped for breath and she began to drag herself up. Seeing the sorceress resurface, Myrddin deactivated the glowing blue pyramid-shaped dome protecting him and was about to attack her while she was struggling when the ice behind him exploded upward, showering the area in tiny ice shard as a massive beast made of ice flew upwards towards the battle happening in the sky. Myrddin's shock at what he saw gave Morgan enough time to get to her feet and flash-heat her cloths enough to dry her.
Slashing his wand, Myrddin sent a series of large ice shards towards Morgan, forcing her to dodge before she sent a wave of pink light at Myrddin that blew a huge hole in the ice that the aged wizard had previously stood.
During this entire exchange, Myrddin had been monitoring a spell he had cast while Morgan had been raging at him earlier – a Detection Charm. He had been searching for an iron weapon that he had seen several knights possess in Potter's resistance group, and the charm had just locked-on to one. With a quick Summoning Charm on the blades thick leather grip, he dodged another blaze of spellfire from the enraged sorceress and waited for his trump card.
A small whistling was the only warning Morgan got before the summoned blade nearly removed her head. She was barely able to roll out of the weapons path before Myrddin caught the sword. Examining the blood covered blade, Myrddin saw that it was the sword of Aurelius Ambrosius. 'Well, at least I no longer have to deal with that fool,' Myrddin thought bemusedly.
Morgan saw the sword and felt a chill run up her spine; using iron to attack was the only way to kill a Fay.
Noticing her tremble, Myrddin laughed sadistically, "Are you afraid, little Fay? A wizard can survive a iron sword's strike, assuming nothing vital is hit, as we can live without magic; you however, much like the planet, are held together with magic to the point where it is vital to survival. Just one good hit," Myrddin chucked, swinging the blade, "and you're dead…again."
Sending a wave of raw heat towards the sword, Morgan desperately began trying to destroy the weapon before she could be killed again. Myrddin poured his magic into a magnificent shimmering shield that he held over himself and the blade, trying to get close enough to physically strike the Fay. Weaving through and deflecting Morgan's increasingly panicked attacks, Myrddin got close enough to slash at her left arm, causing her to cry in pain. With another quick slice he cut across her right leg, making her collapse to the ice.
The aged wizard stepped over the fallen Fay, holding the iron sword to her throat. Morgan's wounds had turned an ugly black color, signifying extreme magical loss from the wounds, only from a few quick cuts – Iron was truly a wondrous metal.
"What of your pathetic oath now, little Fay?" Myrddin taunted. "You always were overly emotional; too much forwardness in you without enough thought to back it up. I wonder if one can be cursed twice for killing the same person" he pondered, "No matter, no matter…farewell, undying enchantress."
Before Myrddin could make the final cut, the sky darkened further and the ground trembled; all the ice beneath them cracked and shattered as the water sloshed violently, attempting to defy Earth's gravity and head upward. Unbalanced, Myrddin stumbled, where Morgan took her chance and formed a ball of raw heat and light in her clenched right hand, before plunging it into her adversary's chest. Myrddin choked on blood as he looked one last time into Morgan's angry pink eyes.
"I always honor my word, apprentice," Morgan snarled, before opening her fist, unleashing all that heat and energy directly into Myrddin, causing his body to flash and turn to ash from the inside out. Watching as the remains of her most hated enemy scattered, Morgan rose to hover over the Black Lake's turbulent waters before she looked skyward and her eyes widened in terror.
Gellert Grindelwald hobbled out of the Forbidden Forest, which was still consumed in green flames, in a raging temper. Going into the forest had been a waste – there were no Acromantula's left in there and worse, he had run into Dumbledore. He may have been able to kill the old meddler if that searing green fire whip hadn't set the forest ablaze and badly burned his leg with the flames.
His last hope to find venom was in Hogwarts' potion stores, down in the dungeons. Looking at the condition of the school grounds was awe inspiring – just what the hell had happened while he was in the forest? The grounds looked like a true battlefield, with no trace left of the peaceful landscape that existed only a few hours ago. As he stumbled around the lake and into the heart of the battles, he was hit from behind with a large shard of ice, going straight into his left shoulder and stopping halfway through. With a cry of pain he fell onto his injured leg, grasping the icy spear above his arm. He looked towards the lake, where the projectile had come from, and saw lights were flashing brilliantly at its center. He was so focused in rage on the distant battle he didn't notice the sword that ripped past him, cutting through his right arm and severing it beneath the elbow.
With another shriek he clutched at the stump that was his wand arm. The cold from the ice spear in his arm and from the loss of blood made his body feel numb; he didn't even notice the Dementor creep up on him till it was too late. His last conscious thoughts were on getting the Acromantula venom and overthrowing Voldemort so he could rule, before his soul was sucked out of his body.
Grindelwald would be the last victim of a Dementor attack as Arthur Pendragon had caught up and ripped his sword through the creature, ending its species.
"So this is where it ran off to," Uther mused as he caught up, "Well that's the last of those vile creatures. Who was its last victim?"
Arthur shook his head as he looked into Grindelwald's empty eyes," Just another foolish Dark Lord," he said quietly, before he hefted his sword and strolled away, without a glance back.
Salazar Slytherin flew through the Entry Hall into the castle; he was so close to seeing his Chamber and Basilisk again…
As he quickly progressed through the large hall, he nearly ran into a golden lion that stood quietly in front of the stairway leading to the second floor. "Cute," Slytherin growled, "Show yourself, Godric!"
Stepping out from behind a tapestry, Godric snickered, "Cute? I thought you only found cold, scaly things 'acceptable' Salazar, but never cute."
Slytherin sneered, "I have no time for games, Godric. Do you mean to stand in my way again?"
All traces of humor gone, Griffindor stated, "If you continue to pervert the tenets and goals of this school, then I will stop you."
With a scoff, Slyhterin ran for a hidden staircase, but Gridffindor's lion attacked; a quick spell from the Parselmouth dismembered the proud beast, before a red whip wrapped around his waist and threw him backwards, sending him crashing through the massive doors leading to the Great Hall. "Do not stand against me Godric!" Slytherin hissed as he stood up, "Or do you hold no value on your new life? Shall I kill you again?"
"We both died last time, Salazar," Griffindor growled, "and this time you don't have your little 'pet' to attack me – Your Basilisk was slain."
With a primal scream of rage, Slytherin threw a Killing Curse at his old friend, barely missing and blasting the podium to pieces. Griffindor retaliated with a wave of golden flames, which Slytherin threw the Hufflepuff table towards, protecting himself and destroying the table. Snarling, the Slytherin threw a purple curse at Griffindor, who dodged the destructive attack which carved out the wall behind him. With a swipe upward, all the floating candles flared to life and dive-bombed Slytherin, who launched a wave of heat which melted all the wax, causing it to coat the floor. Sliding across the wet wax, Griffindor swiped at Slytherin with his sword, but only nicked his robes.
"You still fight with that useless sword? What good is it against a wizard?" Slytherin mocked.
"Against you? Plenty," Griffindor countered, before dodging another Killing Curse. The ground started to tremble, before a massive explosion shattered every window in Hogwarts, knocking both combatants to the floor. Quickly regaining his wits, Slytherin summoned all the glass shards in the Great Hall and sent them straight at Griffindor, who transfigured them all back to sand.
"Your skills are slipping Godric," Slytherin taunted, "you can't even come close to me!"
Another earthquake started this time fiercer then the last; it felt as if the entire planet was trembling. The floor of the Great Hall was splitting straight up the center, before a massive wave of glowing green light erupted, swirling chaotically, as if it were alive, before it was pulled upward, seemingly against its will, into the Enchanted Ceiling before crashing through and continuing onward.
'That couldn't have been…,' Slytherin wondered in shock, before he sidestepped a quick slash made by Griffindor, who managed to nick his arm. "Why do you insist upon using that sword?" Slytherin growled, clutching the small cut in his arm. "Stop fighting like a Muggle and attack me like a wizard, damn you!"
"There will be no more fighting," Griffindor said solemnly, trying to keep standing on the quaking ground. "My sword is Goblin wrought, and has very minuscule traces of a rare substance within – Mythril." Slytherin's eyes widened as he felt an acidic burn start from his cut and slowly travel up his arm, burning through his veins. "You can feel it, cant you? This was the very sword that slew your Basilisk, and with the mythical properties of Mythril, it absorbed the venom of your snake and can now be used as its own. You will know how I died Salazar, all those years ago."
Collapsing to the trembling floor, Slytherin felt the burning venom head towards his heart, where it would all end. "It matters not," Slytherin said with a final chuckle, "for if I am correct, this world will soon perish. Gloat, Godric! Savor your victory, for it will only last for a scant few minutes." With a final painful lurch, Salazar Slytherin fell forward, his face still bearing a twisted grin, dead.
'That sick bastard is enjoying this,' Harry thought, as he watched the self proclaimed 'Dark God' rise above the battlefield, putting on a show for his own amusement. Canceling out the rules of gravity that held him to the ground, Harry flew skyward towards the man who had destroyed his past and present, and was dead set on destroying his future.
"That was a dirty little trick, Harry," Voldemort chuckled, "Angering me before attacking your distracted opponent…It's positively Slytherin."
"You're an asshole, Tom."
"I am a God," Voldemort snarled, "Tom Riddle no longer exists. I am the beginning and the end; you have no place in my new kingdom!"
Harry braced himself; they both knew this wouldn't be a quick and easy fight, seeing as the Killing Curse wouldn't affect an immortal. Magic repelling iron was also out, so they were both in for the long haul. Voldemort launched a volley of different spells, which streamed from his bare hands like machine gun fire; Harry quickly apparated behind Voldemort, who dodged Harry's wave of golden flames and knocked him back with a blast of pure air pressure. Moving at a speed that broke the sound barrier, Harry blasted through the air and launched a glowing punch at the Dark God, who flipped through the air and kicked Harry away. Sailing backwards, Harry threw his hands out to stop, and a massive obelisk rose from the ground, while impaling several Dementors, to stop his flight. With a loud thud, Harry impacted the stone, tilting it and forming several large cracks in the obelisk.
Harry then looked up at the sky, where a massive wall of water was streaming down towards him; 'That's my trick!' Harry thought, slightly irked, as he blasted the water with heat intense enough to evaporate a lake, turning it to steam, before clenching his fist and focusing the heat like a massive laser towards Voldemort. With a wave, the laser blast simply veered upward towards the sky, while Voldemort launched several blasts of condensed air at Harry, who was temporarily blinded by the steam. Frustrated, Harry condensed all of the steam back into water and let it fall, while dodging the numerous blasts of air and, oddly enough, a flying tree. Harry launched a stream of fire, before manipulating time and space to launch another simultaneous blast behind Voldemort. When both blasts connected in a massive explosion, the Dark God was simply not there, and appeared behind Harry before cracking a massive whip of glowing green fire that tore through the Forbidden Forest and the obelisk but thankfully missed Harry.
Growing annoyed, Voldemort then opened up a crack in the ground and sent a massive torrent of molten lava towards Harry, who swiped his hand and froze the lava in sub-zero gales. Harry let the cold continue on down to the lake, where it froze the water, while he dashed forward and smashed the now cold obsidian tendril that Voldemort had summoned and sent the majority of the shards straight towards him; With a snap of his fingers, all the shards that came near the Dark God turned to ash and blew away. Feeling the cold spread into the Black Lake, Harry raised his hand, and a massive Hungarian Horntail, formed fully of ice, rose from the lake's frozen waters.
With a roar, the ice dragon quickly flew towards Voldemort, taking a swipe at the Dark God, who dodged and blasted off the beast's arm with a lance of fire, before sending a stream of steady, green flames towards the frozen monstrosity. The icy Horntail sent a blast of sub-zero air from its mouth to stop the flames, but Voldemort quickly grew annoyed, turning the flames black and intensifying the heat, which completely engulfed and melted the massive dragon.
While Voldemort may have considered the frozen Horntail a nuisance, it gave Harry enough time to gather his power to his hands, which sent out massive glowing golden chains which encircled the Dark God in an attempt to hold him. Furious, Voldemort let out an inhuman roar before his own power overwhelmed the chains, shattering them, before spreading his hands, which began to glow with a black and purple fire, and then pointing them at Harry.
It took a few seconds to understand what Voldemort was doing, before his eyes widened in horror; the eclipse's corona was no longer visible and the sky was getting darker, while the ground began to tremble and the waters of the Black Lake became turbulent enough to shatter the ice - Voldemort was summoning the Moon to impact Earth.
"You maniac!" Harry screamed, "Are you trying to destroy the planet?"
"Who cares?" Voldemort cackled, "I can just rebuild it all once you're dead!"
Thrusting his hands before him, Harry concentrated on his goal, and as his hands began to glow with white and golden flames, the approaching Moon started to slow as the two Gods fought for control. With no intention of being locked into a stalemate for all eternity, Harry collapsed the Moon inward on itself, before the raw energy exploded outward with enough force to make the Earth tremble and extinguish the emerald fires of the Forbidden Forest.
Voldemort let out an ear piercing shriek of unrelenting rage. "Why wont you just die, Potter?! Just die!" Raising his arms, the Earth began to split and fracture as massive, flowing rivers of glowing green energy emerged. "Come onto me, blood of the planet; give me the power to rule all!"
"Dammit!" Harry grunted, as the magic of the planet rose up and entered the Dark God. As Voldemort was engulfed is streams of raw, glowing energy, Harry thought he could hear an inhuman cry of pain – Earth itself was wailing, as its life-blood was drained and it was slowly dieing. Surging forward to stop the chaos, a massive tendril for green energy impacted Harry's scar, connecting him to Voldemort. Harry was frozen in pain as the life energy of the planet's ley lines entered his body, forcing him to listen as Earth's death wails echoed throughout his head, while he was completely unable to change anything.