Digital
Chapter 13
Rise of the phoenix
Chapter edited: 7/3/11
A big thank you to everybody who reviewed the last chapter.
Previously on Digital:
Hermione screamed in horror as she realized what had happened. With an anguished howl of despair, which could nearly be heard miles away, she ran forward, breaking free of her fathers grip, then, completely ignoring her fathers screams and threats, ordering her to return, she proceeded into the debris.
"Hermione Jane Granger, get back here this minute," Dan screamed, completely at the end of his nerves. This day had just officially become the most horrible day of his life.
Hermione however, in her madness, didn't listen and continued to run towards the ruins of what had at one stage been an inn, only one thought left in her mind: she had to find her friend.
"COME BACK!," Dan roared again his voice changing to a pleading tone as he watched his daughter disappear into the debris, before finally releasing a howl of anger and despair as he collapsed to the ground, then started to cry, completely missing a bright beam of light which suddenly came from the sky.
All around them Death Eaters, lead by Bellatrix Lestrange appeared, then with a smirk she started to advance.
And now the continuation:
Hermione never realized the great peril she had left her parents in as she raced towards the debris of what had once been an inn. At that moment she didn't think or care of anything else other than of finding her best friend. Nothing else seemed to be as important.
During her brief yet eventful life so far, Hermione had once seen a documentary about Earthquakes and their after effects. What she saw reminded her of one particular picture of a house which had completely collapsed on top of its residents, crushing them beneath tons and tons of rubble. Not a pretty sight to say the least, and what was worse: there had not been any survivors.
Roof, ceiling, walls, windows, furniture, you name it, that and so much more was now mixed together into one huge heap of debris, and somewhere in that pile, somewhere in that vast chaos, her friend was most likely trapped, scared…and most likely of all dying… if he wasn't dead already.
She knew that it was very rare for a person to survive a building collapsing directly on top of them. Even less, if any at all, did so without injuries of some sort. Hermione did not want to believe it; that Harry could be dead. She just couldn't, didn't want to even consider it.
As Hermione arrived at ground zero, the spot where the damage was at its worst and where it had most likely started, her mind was in complete turmoil. Images of a dead and broken Harry kept appearing, clouding her mind and judgment, as she feared the worst.
Looking around she didn't know where he could be, she didn't know where to start looking. All she knew was that he was somewhere near by, most likely covered by rock, rubble, wood and sleet. That was all she needed to know, all that was important as she began to frantically lift a few stones randomly, in no particular order, wherever she could, hoping to somehow find her friend.
Looking at her, anybody would have soon realized that she obviously didn't have a clue what she was doing. Randomly lifting on rock here, then another there, was not going to be very effective when looking for a buried person, but in her absolute desperation Hermione didn't seem to care, she simply continued, all the time completely forgetting about the danger which was still near by: the Death Eaters.
She was so focused on 'rescuing' her friend that she never noticed Death Eaters, led by Bellatrix Lestrange circling around her parents.
It was probably for the best. Had she known she would probably have shared her their fate.
Unknown to Hermione, Death Eaters were in the process of circling around her parents.
Emma, had gone to Dan's side the moment she had seen him collapse to the ground. It didn't take her long to realize what had happened and for the next few minutes she tried to calm him down. Unfortunately by doing so, she was so focused on her husband that she didn't realize the danger they were in. Dan would have, had he been thinking straight at that moment, but his current mental state and the fact that he had been out of active army duty for quite a few years and was therefore not as attuned to danger as he could have been, made him sloppy.
So it was that the two elder Grangers soon found themselves surrounded on all sides by the remaining members of the once fifty head strong Death Eater Platoon, one Bellatrix Lestrange, leader of the group cackling loudly as she observed the emotionally unstable couple.
The moment Emma and Dan saw the Death Eaters, they knew they were defeated.
Both knew that they, being muggles, would have little or no chance against one of these Death Eaters, a fully trained magical person, even if they tried. A whole platoon of Death Eaters was simply overkill.
Sighing in despair, knowing defeat when it evidently bit him directly in the butt, Dan looked around himself. All around them Death Eaters, were leering at them and looking at them with what could only be described as the utmost anticipation in their eyes. Dan did not need to be a seer to known what that meant. Looking around once more, he nevertheless allowed a little half-smile escape his lips as he noticed that Hermione was not there with them.
'At least she survived,' he thought already accepting his fate. 'Please look after her Harry… I leave her in your hands,' he thought, just before the first spell came and the evil woman began to cackle once more. Then, the next second onwards, all he knew was pain, blocked out only momentarily by the synchronized screams of his wife. Then he knew no more.
Meanwhile, Ground Zero, back with Hermione.
Meanwhile, while her parents were being tortured, Hermione, their daughter was becoming frantic, though for a totally different reason.
It had finally occurred to her that she didn't have a clue about what she was doing. The small mountain of debris, in front of her was just too much for her to handle.
Becoming more and more desperate with every passing second, panic started to take over and Hermione collapsed to the ground. Having nobody near by to comfort or to otherwise help her, she soon started to become hysterical.
"NO!…not Harry!...Please not Harry," she began to mumble under her breath, raising her voice every few seconds.
"NOOOO! Somebody HELP!" she screamed out loud…
...then, as if her cry had been heard and answered by the heavens, help came.
Unknown to Hermione her latest emotional outburst was just what a certain best friend turned Best-Digimon, and a certain digital entity in a far far away digital world had needed.
At the direct moment of her scream for help, a part of a several millennia old prophecy was fulfilled as emotional outburst, love and sheer digital power, combined with the mystical forces of prophecy and nature, to create a powerful link, binding together two distinct individuals, creating a bond so powerful, so pure, that it would last for the end of their lives. A fledgling Tamer-Digimon Partnership was in the process of being created. A bond of mutual partnership, trust, complete co-operation and understanding, so strong, that it would one day change history.
Unknown to everybody a bright beam of light, traveling nearly as fast as light itself, had just arrived from a brief journey from a different parallel world to our own, a world known only as the digital world. Nearing its target, the light descended on the hysterical girl, then, came to a direct stop in front of her, to hover a few inches away from Hermione's face.
Taken completely by surprise, suddenly finding a glowing sphere of light hovering in front of her, Hermione instinctively reached for it and without thinking, grabbed it out of the air.
The moment her hands covered the sphere the glow disappeared and the light changed into what looked like a small box, complete with buttons and a small screen. This box was red and black with gold stripes and looked similar to a remote control, just like one used to change channels on a television.
Surprised, Hermione brought the box down to eye level to have a closer look at it.
She was just about to study it in more detail when a bright white beam suddenly shot out of it and headed right toward a certain spot in the debris.
Frightened out of her wits, Hermione dropped the box and took a few steps away from it. The beam however continued unhindered and undisturbed and went right into, and through the debris as if it wasn't even there.
Mesmerized, Hermione watched as the beam of light continued to move forward at a steady speed. Then she heard a small feminine computer voice came from the box:
WARNING! UNKNOWN DIGIMON DATA RECEIVED!
ATTEMPTING DIGITAL DATA REGISTRATION PROCESS!
PLEASE STAND BY!
"What!" said Hermione, looking in shock at the box, which she had dropped. Then the box spoke again:
DIGIMON DATA RECEIVED!
EVALUATION IN PROGRESS!
PLEASE STAND BY!
"Evaluation… What?" asked Hermione confused, freaked out. This was something she had not expected.
DIGIMON ACCEPTED, REGISTERING DATA!
PLEASE STAND BY!
"Eh?" said Hermione, not understanding a word.
JUST A LITTLE LONGER. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! came the voice again.
"Er...Right," said Hermione. Her mouth was now hanging open.
DIGIMON REGISTERED!
ACCESSING DATA!
DATA ACCESSED!
DIGIMON CLASS ESTABLISHED: DIRECT ROYAL LINE - FOX KITSUNI!
TYPE: DATA TYPE LEVEL ALPHA!
CURRENT DIGIVOLUTION LEVEL: ROOKIE!
DIGIMON NAME: UNKNOWN! ATTEMPTING TO ACCESS!
DATA RECEIVED!
DIGIMON NAME: KITSUNIMON!
ACCESSING DIGIMON ABILITIES!
ABILITIES ACCESSED!
SPECIAL ABILTY – PRIMARY: FIREFOX STORM – LEVEL 5 - SHORT AREA LONG RANGE ATTACK!
SPECIAL ABILITY - SECONDARY: KITSUNI FLASH – LEVEL 6 - SHORT RANGE CLOSE-COMBAT ATTACK!
REGISTERING ABILITIES!
END ABILITIES!
ACCESSING MILITARY DATA!
DIGIMON MILITARY COMMAND CLASS EXPERIMENTAL ENHANCED GENE DETECTED! CLASSIFICATION: AETG EXP E101-1-999-A!
ATTEMPTING HIGH LEVEL DATA ACCESS!
ACCESS REQUESTED! GENE CLASS OMEGA LEVEL ACCESS REQUIRED! INSUFFICIENT DATA CLEARANCE! ACCESS DENIED!
ATTEMPTING HIGH LEVEL SECURITY HACK! PLEASE STAND BY!
ERROR! HACK LEVEL INSUFFICIENT!
EMERGENCY ABORT!
ABORTED!
CONTINUING DATA ACCESS!
DIGIMON DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE!
REGISTERING TAMER DATA!
PLEASE STAND BY!
SCANNING!
Suddenly the box seemed to light up and make a few noises. Fascinated, her earlier fear forgotten, Hermione cautiously stepped forward to take a closer look. Picking it up again she could make out the words 'scanning for human life signs' on the screen.
These words then changed to: 'Compatible Human life sign detected!'
HUMAN SIGNATURE DETECTED!
ATTEMPTING DATA TRANSFER!
The moment she heard those words a second white beam flew from the box and headed right towards her. Hermione didn't even have a second to blink before the beam connected with her, freezing her in place.
HUMAN SIGNATURE CONFIRMED!
TAMER IDENTITY CONFIRMED!
DIGIMON-TAMER COMPATIBILITY CONFIRMED!
REGISTERING DATA! PLEASE STAND BY!
Now Hermione was really scared. Now covered completely, from head to toe, in the bright white light she tried to run away, only to realize that she couldn't move anymore. Something was holding her in place.
DATA REGISTERED!
ACCESSING DATA!
DATA ACCESSED!
TAMER CLASSIFICATION: HUMAN - FEMALE!
TAMER NAME: GRANGER, HERMIONE JANE
ORIGIN: TERRA - SOL!
SUB SPECIES: MAGICAL!
MAGIC INTERFERENCE TO DIGIMON: MEDIUM!
ATTEMPTING TO COMPENSATE!
ADAPTING MAGIC-DATA LEVELS! PLEASE STAND BY!
MAGIC INTERFERENCE ADAPTED!
MAGIC INTERFERENCE: STABLE!
CONTINUING DATA ACCESS!
TAMER PRIORITY LEVEL: CRITICAL PRIORITY LEVEL OMEGA!
LOCKING TAMER SIGNATURE!
SIGNATURE LOCKED!
TAMER REGISTRATION COMPLETE!
REBOOT!
ACCESSING DIGIMON DATA!
WARNING! CRITICAL POWER LEVELS DETECTED! EMERGENCY ROOT ENERGY TRANSFER INITIALIZED!
Hermione had been extremely quiet during the whole ordeal, soaking everything she heard up like a sponge. She was shocked therefore at what she had just heard. The machine was taking about her. But why? And what did it mean about registering? Why was it registering information about her? What was she being signed up for she wondered.
Her musings where interrupted by a few more words from the machine
"EMERGENCY DIGIMONIFY! DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"
KITSUNIMON DIGIVOLVE TO...
Unknown to Hermione, the moment the beam entered the debris, it continued on until it reached Harry, who was stuck in the middle, unable to move and dying.
Close to deletion, his last bit of energy nearly depleted, the beam suddenly hit him, and then continued to rap itself around his digital body until he was completely covered by it. A few seconds later, Harry suddenly felt his energy returning to him at an extremely accelerated pace.
Harry could practically feel his energy returning at an alarming rate. "6 percent 15 percent, 20 percent, 30 percent. Then it sped up even more, 50 percent, 80 percent then finally 100 percent.
But it didn't stop there: suddenly Harry felt his body begin to lift up into the air, somehow lifting and pushing away the debris around him, then he saw himself glow bright white. In his mind EGO woke up again and began to smile viciously. 'OH YEA! She did it! She did it! I knew she was the right choice! This is going to be so good!' he said almost giddily, just before Harry's body started to change.
Harry could literally feel his body change. It was the weirdest feeling he ever felt before: First he became larger, his skin tearing itself off his body before reconstructing itself back together again, he felt his arms change into legs. His body's shape changed so that he had to run on all fours. His body still retained the red fur it had had before, but his tail started to turn black, grow longer then split into eleven separate tails, covering the back of his whole body in a wide arc. Three of the top most tails continued to grow slightly larger, coming to a stop just above the rest.
As if that wasn't enough, his two huge white feathered phoenix wings started to become larger, change colour from their former white to silver and red with black stripes, then grow out until they hovered around his larger body in a majestic arc. His head grew to twice its size with his green eyes glowing out from his face. Finally the middle of his forehead started to glow a bit and a golden lightening bolt extended out of his forehead, to be prominently displayed for the whole world to see.
During the whole procedure, his body was pushing itself out of the debris, then with a small explosion, like from an erupting volcano, the debris were all blown out of the way.
Slowly he emerged then stood up, releasing a loud roar he waited for the smoke to clear.
Hermione didn't understand what was happening. Unable to move because the white beam of light didn't seem to allow her to do so, all she could do was stand rooted to the spot in great fear where she was standing, as the small mountain of debris suddenly began to grow upwards, then explode all around her.
Miraculously nothing seemed to hit her. Instead the bright light simply absorbed or redirected everything that flew at her.
The explosion, while small, created a lot of smoke. Hermione watched the smoke clear then gasped.
PHOENIXMON said the box, completing its last phrase, a phrase, which was promptly complimented by a loud ear-spitting roar from the creature.
Hermione was silent; shaking in fear, she simply looked at the creature in front of her in awe, her mouth wide open.
At that very moment the light around her vanished, realizing that she was no longer trapped and immobile, she turned around and ran.
'Opps!' thought Harry slightly dismayed. This was not good.
"Hermione wait!" Harry screamed out to his best friend, but somehow it came out more as a roar than as eligible Human speech.
Scared out of her wits, not realizing that it was Harry, thinking that the creature was after her, Hermione screamed then ran even faster.
'Here let me try,' said EGO taking control.
"Hermione, wait, I… we mean you no harm!...It's me… it's Kitmon…you know… Harry… Wait!" he called out, this time in human speech.
Harry retaking control over his body tried a different approach:
"Hermione, remember the time when we rescued Sirius in our third year…we used Buckbeak and your time turner to do so," he called out, this time in proper human speech.
That seemed to do the trick. Hearing those words Hermione stopped running and turned around, shock evident on her face.
"HARRY!" she called out, shocked. "Is that really you?" she asked.
Staying a few meters away from her, so as not to frighten her, Harry nodded his head. "Yes Hermione it's me," he answered.
"But your so… different," said Hermione confused.
"Yes well, that's because I…we… are different," said EGO, taking over again.
"You see…I'm currently in my champion form… we digi…"
Whatever else he would have said was at that moment was interrupted by a loud scream of agony coming from the far side of the field, back where the inn had once stood.
Hermione hearing the scream froze, wide eyed. She recognized that voice. Harry could practically see her face colour turn to a creamy ghostly white.
"Mom? Dad?" Hermione said out loud as she realized what that scream had been.
With another scream of NOOO! She started to run to where the scream had come from.
"Hermione… Wait!" EGO was about to attempt to hold her back when Harry stopped him from doing so.
'It's no use… Let her go. Instead we should help them!' said Harry sadly. He knew what was happening. What had probably already happened.
EGO, understanding what Harry was thinking, mentally nodded.
'Yes your right… we do. We are a team now, Tamer and digimon, to the very end. That includes helping her family. Just remember, as our tamer she is our first priority, not her parents. We can not let anything happen to her,' he said and started to pad after Hermione, catching up to her in record time. 'If it's a choice between her and her parents she wins.' Harry simply nodded.
Catching up to her, with a quick flick of his head, he flicked Hermione into the air. Ignoring her scream of terror, as her body suddenly left the ground and put her on top of Harry's back.
"Hang on tight!" EGO said out loud. Hermione nodded wearily as she realized what was happening and did so, she grabbed on tightly on to Harry's fur.
"Hey, not so tight, it hurts," Harry said, flinching slightly.
"Sorry," said Hermione, loosening up her grip a bit.
Seeing that she was ready, EGO increased his speed and shot off. Only mere seconds later they reached the inn. That's when they saw them.
A few minutes ago, back with the elder Grangers.
Where is Harry Potter? Where is your daughter? Answer me!" Bellatrix said furiously, sending another crucio at the elder Grangers. "Answer me!"
Both Grangers cried out in pain again as the curse hit them for the umpteenth time.
"Fuck off bitch," said Dan spitting into her face.
"CRUCIO!" Bellatrix screamed, putting even more power into the curse. Dan's roar of pain reached a new height of agony.
Beside her another Death Eater stepped up beside her. "Captain…forgive my intrusion, but this doesn't seem to help…maybe we should try some veritaserum…I happen to have some with me," he said in a silky voice.
Bellatrix, annoyed with her failure, nodded her head and stepped back, motioning two other Death Eaters over to help.
Two Death Eaters stepped forward and grabbed Dan while the one who had spoken to Bellatrix took out a bottle from his robes and, grabbing Dan's mouth, he held it open, then poured a few drops of the liquid into his mouth.
Emma could do nothing but watch worriedly as her husbands eyes glazed over as he fell under the influence of the powerful truth drug.
Happy that Dan was sufficiently drugged the first Death Eaters stepped back again and motioned for Bellatrix to proceed.
"Where are Harry Potter and your daughter, muggle?" she asked again, spitting out the word muggle as if it were a disease. Unable to resist the truth serums effects Dan answered: "I have no idea…" Bellatrix growled. "Where did you see them last?" she asked glaring, now even more annoyed than before. Dan struggled for a second but in the end he answered: "I saw Hermione run towards the ruins of the Inn…I saw Harry inside the inn before it was destroyed."
"I see," said Bellatrix, unhappy with the information she had just been given, but was surprised that Harry Potter had evidently been in the inn the whole time. "That means they have escaped us," Bellatrix added angrily, turning towards a few fellow Death Eaters. "Find the girl and kill her. She should be around here somewhere. Look for Potter, he might have died in the inn, but he's a tricky and overall lucky bastard. I wouldn't put it past him to have found a way and survived the inns destruction, even if he was inside at the time. Find him, and bring him here…I want him to die slowly, painfully…I want to hear him beg for death before I refuse it to him and hand him over to the dark lord," she said before turning back to face the elder grangers, leaving the other Death Eaters to obey her orders.
"As for you...he he he he…CRUCIO MAXIMUS!" she screamed then began to cackle loudly as the elder Grangers rolled around on the ground in outrageous pain, screaming wildly. It was this scream which Hermione heard.
Bellatrix was still at it a minute later when Harry and Hermione arrived.
The first thing Hermione saw was her parents motionless on the ground. They weren't even screaming anymore, yet Bellatrix was still busy torturing them.
Almost immediately Hermione began to cry. She couldn't help it. She knew just by looking at her parents that she was too late.
Harry, recognizing the symptoms of crucio overexposure from a brief visit to Nevilles parents at St Mungus, swallowed painfully and stared in horror at what had happened. Then he briefly closed his eyes.
When he opened them again mere second later they were glowing bright Avada Kadavra green with anger.
He was furious. "Stay here, and hide," he said angrily to Hermione. "DO NOT interfere," he added before dropping Hermione onto the ground, then he threw his head into the air and released a deafening roar.
Leaving Hermione where she was on the ground he charged forward, leaving a trail of fire behind in his tracks.
The first thing Bellatrix knew of the new arrival was when she heard Harry's roar.
It was like a deep rumbling sound of thunder which briefly made the ground shake with its intensity.
Then she noticed the distant rumbling of heavy feet touching the ground as they came closer and closer.
Startled she abandoned torturing the elder Grangers and looked up. Almost immediately her eyes opened wide in terror and then she screamed.
It was probably the first time anybody had ever heard her scream in fear. As it was, it was for a VERY good reason.
Bellatrix only had a few seconds to react.
Showing speed and skill the likes only seen by the elite of Voldemort's top inner circle members, Bellatrix quickly turned, waved her wand and cast the strongest shield charm she knew. Just in time too as a second later Harry smashed right into it with all the force of an angry rowdy bull in a Texas rodeo.
The force of the impact against the shield was so great that it promptly smashed forcing Bellatrix to dodge.
A lesser person would have died, but not Bellatix Lestrange. Seeing it break, Bellatrix just managed to throw herself out of Harry's way in the last millisecond before Harry tore past her, catching and tearing her pants right off her as he swept past, before coming to a complete stop several feet away.
Breathing heavily, a wet stain clearly visible on her panties, which showed just how scared she had been, a now half naked and red faced Bellatrix glared furiously at the creature which had dared to run over her.
Harry for his part glared back, than allowed a brief smirk. "Oh did little Trixie Poo, dirty her panties?" he said loudly, expecting a few laughs to follow and rile her up and therefore hopefully make her careless. But none came.
Nobody dared to laugh, least of all the Death Eaters. They all knew better. Any Death Eater who would have, would have been killed on the spot. Just looking at Bellatrix's furious face was enough to deter anybody from doing so.
"YOU LITTLE… CRUCIO!" she screamed, casting her favourite spell at Harry. Harry seeing the spell come, quickly side stepped the spell and let it fly past him.
"BOMBARDA, AVADA KADAVRA, CRUCIO" Bellatrix screamed again this time in quick succession.
FireFoxInferno
Almost immediately Harry's three top, slightly larger tails glowed blue, then three phoenix shaped balls of fire flew from them straight into the incoming spells. With three small explosions all three spells were neutralized.
Bellatrix growled as she saw her spells cancelled and stamped her foot hard into the ground like a little child. "GET HIM!" she screamed to the remaining Death Eaters, who had until this moment been watching the battle. Almost immediately twenty odd wands slashed through the air casting spells.
'Oh oh, now I wish we had a shield' said EGO snatching control away from Harry who had been fighting until that point. Only too happy to relinquish control at that moment, Harry settled down to watch.
EGO, lost no time. Quickly dodging the first few spells he let himself fall flat to the ground for the rest, letting the rest of the spells fly past above them.
'My turn,' said EGO.
Phoenix Tornado
The moment the words left his mouth, Harry's whole body started to glow bright red and burst into flames. These flames then started to twirl around Harry's body becoming faster and faster, growing in size.
The Death Eaters could only gap in wonder and immense fear, unsure of what to do, as the huge fire ball started to grow larger and larger before it had the size of a small tornado, then it was suddenly blasted right at them.
Multiple swear words rang through the air.
"Oh shit!" said a single Death Eater before throwing himself face down on to the ground as he saw the fire tornado come right towards him, a foolish move.
"Sweet Merlin!" a few other Death Eaters uttered before quickly casting shield spells, hoping that they would be strong enough to survive the fire blast.
While a few others conjured obstacles around them, into the way of the blast, hoping they would protect them.
Bellatrix however did neither. Instead she stood her ground. "Aguamenti Maximus," she roared pointing her wand right at herself, blasting herself with a jet of water.
The rest simply apperated away, not caring that they would be punished for it later on.
The next second all anybody could hear were numerous screams as the tornado blasted through them.
Near by, hidden in a bush Hermione could only watch in amazement as her best friend, turned digimon, turned into a huge blazing tornado, completely turning the tables on the Death Eaters.
"What was that?" she asked shocked, her mouth open as she watched. She had already been amazed by his previous attacks in his other form, but this took her breath away.
Suddenly the small box, which she had completely forgotten she had been holding the whole time, came to life.
DIGIMON DATA ACCESSED!
SPECIAL ABILITY: PRIMARY- PHOENIX TORNADO - LEVEL 10 - WIDE AREA LONG RANGE ATTACK!
"Ah, I See…and what does it do?" Hermione asked the box, interested in what it would say. She held it up so that she could see it. 'It seems to accept voice instructions. Interesting! Seems to be an encyclopaedia of sorts! I wonder what else it can do,' she thought.
Suddenly writing appeared on the screen.
Phoenix Tornado: Champion Level ability. A powerful, fairly large, wide area, long-range attack of above average power: The Digimon is encased in a red-hot fire tornado, which is then fired at the opponent in the form of a tornado. Attack can only be fired in a single direction but is extremely powerful. Extreme caution should be taken when engaging a digimon with this ability, as its power can be quite destructive.
"Ah…thanks!" said Hermione looking back up from the device. Just in time to see the effects of Harry's newest attack.
Looking at the Death Eaters Hermione noticed that the one who had thrown himself face down, on to the ground, had mysteriously disappeared. Hermione could only guess what that meant, she had her suspicions and none were good. Not that she cared.
Those who had cast shield spells were now lying on the ground, breathing heavily, exhausted from magic over exertion. The blast seemed to have taken a lot out of them.
Those who had cast obstacles into the way of the blast, were looking at the molten, charred or glassy remains of said objects in amazement, but were otherwise relatively unharmed, if a bit singed. All were looking at Harry with respect and great fear. This was obviously something they had not expected.
Bellatrix however was a different case altogether.
While relatively unharmed with only a few burns, due to her somewhat unorthodox water protection…the same could however not be said for her clothes and hair.
Unfortunately for her, her head was now bald, her hair having been burnt away by the fire, as were her eyebrows. As for her clothes...well…let's put it this way…what clothes?
Her parents momentarily forgotten, Hermione had to physically bite her tongue and put her hand in front of her mouth, to keep herself from exclaiming loudly at the sight of a naked Bellatrix Lestrange.
Said woman was staring at the damage done around her with wide-open shocked eyes which looked even larger now that her eyebrows were missing.
Slowly she looked down and blushed a deep scarlet red. Shock slowly turned to extreme anger, then loathing.
Harry took one look at the woman then burst out laughing. He was practically rolling around in his head. Luckily for him however, he was securely hidden away in the back of his mind and it was EGO who was currently in control of his body. That did not however stop EGO from smiling, though he chose not to comment or visibly show it. Now was not the time.
Some of the remaining Death Eaters couldn't help it, they started to laugh. The other survivors simply stared in shock.
"AVADA KADAVRA," Bellatrix screamed, pointing her wand at one of the laughing Death Eaters who instantly dropped dead.
Immediately all laughter stopped.
You will pay for this," Bellatrix snarled looking back at Harry, fury and utmost hate evident in her eyes, doing her best to ignore her less than adequate attire. Her Master would not care about that. All he cared about was results. If she couldn't have Granger and Potter than maybe she could at least have…
"Avada Kadavra," Bellatrix said again, pointing not at Harry, but at the nearby forgotten elder Grangers.
FireFoxInferno
Seeing what she was about to do, EGO reacted before the spell even left her wand. The three top tails glowed blue, then three phoenix shaped fireballs flew from them. Directed by EGO, one intercepted the spell, the other two flew straight at Bellatrix.
Said witch hardly had enough time to respond. Taken completely by surprise she tried to apprate away and succeeded in the very last second, appearing again a second later a few meters away. However her escape came at a cost.
Almost instantly after reappearing she collapsed to the ground screaming in pain. Her right arm was missing. It seemed in her frantic haste to apperate away, she had splinched herself and had left her arm behind. That arm was how nothing but ash, thanks to Harry's Fireballs.
Gasping at the great pain of a splinched arm, Bellatrix just managed a strangled scream of: "Retreat!" before disappearing in a flash of light. Unknown to Harry one of her teeth acted as an emergency portkey with the activation word being: 'retreat'. The moment Bellatrix screamed out said word it activated and whisked her away.
The other Death Eaters were only too happy to oblige. Seeing their leader portkey away they promptly followed, leaving Harry and Hermione behind, alone with two unconscious, unresponsive parents.
The moment the Death Eaters disappeared, Harry relaxed. EGO, more cautious than his host, waited for a few more seconds, then, when he couldn't sense them and when it became clear that they wouldn't be returning any time soon, he did the same. His usefulness currently at an end, he relinquished control of the body back to Harry.
Hermione, realizing that the Death Eaters had left soon came out of her hiding place and ran to Harry. A second later she threw her arms around him and hugged him fiercely, placing a quick kiss on his head, an awkward experience for Harry, who due to his current form did not know how to hug her back.
The hug, as one sided as it was, lasted for several seconds, before Hermione turned to check out her parents. Slowly, hesitantly she turned to face them. She already knew what to expect but that didn't make the occasion any easier…far from it, if anything it made it more difficult instead. The moment she saw her parents lying on the ground, unresponsive, her fears were confirmed and tears started to come once more.
Standing beside her for extra comfort, Harry gave her a few minutes to grieve. Sure, they weren't dead…yet, but they might as well have been for all it was worth. Both were completely unresponsive and would most likely remain that way until the end of their lives, an unfortunate and terrible side effect of prolonged exposure to the cruciatus curse.
'What next?' he wondered out loud in his mind as he waited for Hermione to calm down.
'Not much we can do is there, Harry,' said EGO solemnly. 'All I know is we should leave this area fast, before more unfriendlies come,' he added. It was moments like these EGO hated the most. Moments were he couldn't help, moments where he, his skills and his vast knowledge were practically useless.
Sighing, Harry turned his attention back to his grieving best friend turned partner, turned tamer beside him. Harry had felt the connection form the moment her digivice had accepted her. He knew what it meant.
Contrary to popular belief it was not the tamer but the digimon who chose the partner. The Tamer just had to be willing to accept. He had chosen Hermione as his Tamer. She had come to his aid, wanting him badly enough in her life that it had been enough to create the bond. They were together now, come hell or high water, until the bitter end. It would be his job to protect her now and Harry would do it the best he could.
Suddenly more pops of apperating people sounded throughout the area.
"Oh what now? Can't you people give us even a moment of peace?" Harry asked angrily, turning around to face their newest arrivals before groaning as he saw who it was. It was the Order.
"Oh…it's you lot! I was wondering when you would arrive!" he said sarcastically, giving them an evil glare.
"I don't suppose we could be friends...could we?" Harry asked in a tired voice. He really had had enough fighting for one day.
"It's Granger and the beast, seize them," came a voice.
Harry sighed again, "I guess not."
Quickly dodging a few incoming spells, Harry grabbed Hermione, threw her onto his back and started to pad away as quick as his feet could carry them. He wanted to avoid another fight if he could.
"Wait, what about my parents," Hermione screamed.
"Hate to break it to you Hermione but …there is nothing we can do for them. If we are lucky they will be brought to St. Mungus…if not…well…let's not think about that, OK? Either way we wouldn't be able to do anything for them anyway…I'm sorry, I really am! But, we are on the run. The truth is we can't have them with us," Harry answered apologetically, hoping that she would somehow agree.
"But…" Hermione began to say, but broke it of. She knew he was right. There was nothing they could do. They had to be left behind. As much as she hated to admit it, it was for the best. She was on her own now. Well… nearly. She still had Harry. Slowly, reluctantly she nodded, then gave one last shuddering gasp before concentrating on not getting hit. She would have more than enough time to grieve again later.
As he dodged a few more spells, Harry made a silent verbal promise to the elder Grangers to look after their daughter with his life. It was a promise he would keep to the end of his life.
Unnoticed by him and anybody else, his body briefly glowed white, sealing the deal he had unknowingly agreed upon with the elder Granger. He may not have known it but at that moment, he Harry Potter, last Potter and scion of the noble and ancient house of Potter, Digital Partner of Hermione Jane Granger; by accepting Dans last wish, he had gained full parental rights over his tamer and was in turn emancipated by magic itself.
It was something nobody would ever find out, but at that moment all ministry tracers, tied to himself, seized to function as he became an adult – Lord Potter - in the eyes of the magical law.
Harry padded away as fast as his four legs could carry him, doing his best to dodge numerous spells on the way. It really was becoming second nature to him lately. With all the battle experience he had received that day alone, it was hardly surprising that he had already evolved, or as EGO called it: digivolved. Luckily from EGOs lessons Harry knew what had happened, that it was an important and natural process and so hadn't been too surprised at the time. Had it been something bad, he felt sure that EGO would have warned him about it.
Thinking that he would be safe as soon as he left the area, Harry sped up even more. He was therefore surprised when he suddenly felt a spell whizzing past him a minute later. Looking back he saw a few members of the order following him on brooms.
'I can't believe this,' he mentally screamed. "Worse than mosquitoes on an evening sugar rush," he said furiously. "And on firebolts too!" he gasped as one spell grazed him.
"This is ridiculous," he said a few seconds later, this time actually getting hit directly by a spell, feeling a small portion of his strength leave him. He was just too large at present to dodge them all. One of the downsides of his evolved champion form. Luckily though it didn't do as much harm to him in his current form as it would have in his weaker rookie form. Still it did weaken him. Too many hits and he would be in trouble.
'I can't shake them,' he thought desperately. 'Looks like we have no choice but to fight…again,' he added sadly, already preparing to slow down and face their newest enemy of the day. He really didn't want to fight them, most of them being old friends, but they left him with no other choice. It was either him... or them.
'I don't suppose you have another trick up your sleeve,' he asked EGO with another sigh as he stopped.
"Hey what are you doing? Why did you stop?" Hermione asked, extremely worried. Harry ignored her.
'As a matter of fact, yes I do,' said EGO suddenly. 'Your not going to like it though,' he added.
"Harry?" Hermione called out, only to be ignored again.
'Oh…well…we had that before…I trust you. Do it!,' Harry answered watching as the order members surrounded him, their wands out, ready to fire spells at a split seconds notice.
"Give up you are surrounded, don't move. Surrender and you will not be harmed." Dumbledores voice suddenly rang through the air.
"Oh look the old coots here…anytime NOW would be nice!" Harry said nervously. If they fired any more spells now, he would be hard pressed to dodge them at all, let along protect Hermione.
'Hang on I'm working on it,' said EGO. He seemed stressed. 'Give me control,' he added.
'Gladly,' Harry said, relinquishing control again.
'Hang on tight, I'm opening a gate,' EGO said with a mental weak smile.
'A what?' Harry asked incredulously, wondering what crazy scheme EGO had planned this time.
'A gate…to the digital world…It's usually dangerous, extremely so, not to forget painfully exhausting and it wasn't possible until now, but… considering the circumstances…'EGO trailed off…
Harry paused for a second, but seeing the order members around them and considering the alternative he quickly agreed. 'Whatever, just get us out of here!" Harry answered. He really didn't care anymore.
All around him order members were coming closer and Hermione was looking like she was about to finally give up.
"As you wish, brace for immense pain," EGO said, grimacing slightly as he said those words, before adding "DONE!"
Harry didn't even have enough time to comprehend EGOs last words before pain stuck him like several tons of bricks smashing into him all at once and the whole area around them suddenly started to distort as space and time where altered and a rift opened in front of them.
Multiple order members cried out in alarm as the rift suddenly formed near by and immediately started to apperate, or those who could not, run away. Those who did not, collapsed.
Harry gasped and cried out in alarm as he felt his energy leave him at an incredible rate and his body would have collapsed too had EGO not been in control. Even EGO screamed at the sudden overwhelming loss of energy and pain that followed but just managed to stay in control.
Hermione passed out the moment the rift started to open, followed a second later by Harry.
With the last of Harry's remaining strength EGO stepped closer to the gate then let his host's body fall through. A second later EGO too lost consciousness and all went black.
Albus Dumbledore could only stare in horror and utmost fear as most of the order collapsed around him as air itself suddenly began to tear itself apart, then rip open, to create a small crevice in mid open air.
Being one of the few of the order who was far enough away at the time, he was spared from the worst of the pain that soon followed. Even so, he gasped and fell to his knees. It was worse than a crucio.
'What is happening?' he wondered wildly, very afraid, even more than when he fought against Grindlewald back in the Great War.
"What is this power?" he asked aloud, before screaming as the largest part of the pain reached him and he blacked out.
Nobody saw the large red creature suddenly distort and become unstable before it suddenly changed its shape, twice, first to a smaller fox, then to something smaller again, before finally falling though the rift.
A few seconds later the rift closed and then they were gone and all was quite once more.