Title: Harry Potter: Four In One
Author: Joshua
Disclaimer:J.K. Rowling created Harry James Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Hogwarts, the whole gosh-darn HP-universe and wrote the 7 "Harry Potter" books that we all love and enjoy. Spoilers for Book 1, and Book 7. In fact there may even be some direct quotes from Book 7, so be warned. I'm not writing this for profit, I may not even let anybody but my dearest and closest friends even read this and they'll get it for free, so thankfully this won't get me sued or anything. Everything AFTER Chapter Nine in Book 7 is going to be changed anyway and even those chapters that I do quote, they won't be quoted very well or for very long as I'm changing EVERYTHING after those points. Assume, for Wizard-Harry, that everything between the stated timelines in Book 1 and Book 7 is identical to what happened in the rest of the Books and the HP-universe.
Summary:A mysterious stranger interferes in the timeline and in Harry's life, splitting the young wizard into four and giving each a different magical education. Wizard, Warrior, Priest, and Spy.
Story:
Once he was decided and fully committed to his actions, Harry stopped listening to the wizards and witches around him, effectively ignoring them, focusing inward and gathering the magic needed to perform the spells he would have to use to make this work. It had to be flashy, it had to be showy, and as a result it also had to convey absolute arrogance in his own abilities, otherwise the overall plan wouldn't work.
Harry was under no delusions about killing Voldemort. As long as there were still those four, maybe even five other Horcruxes out there, the slippery snake would just come back another day, much later, probably even weaker, but all the more cautious and devious for it. Lesson # 62; the weakened opponent that lives to retreat is tomorrow's Apocalypse.
Unfortunately, Voldemort had to leave this battle fully intact, albeit suitably impressed. Which is why Harry was going for Big, Flashy, and overall Wasteful and Useless in Warlike conditions. But were absolutely perfect for Ambush and Demoralizing conditions.
Harry allowed himself a small, evil-intent grin as he brought his hands before him and formed a seal, pointer and middle fingers of both hands pointing up, other fingers curled in, right hand encircling left hand's fingers, thumbs together.
Around his feet, a blue, ethereal circle of fire began to rotate around his body, not even reaching up to become real flames, just the wisps of a blue fairy fire. Hunching down and gathering even more magic to him, Harry began to subconsciously pre-cast every one of the spells he would be using, those that would take several minutes to fully conjure that is, while the easiest and first instantly took form in a twister of glowing magic feathers, and a pair of brightly glowing angel wings sprouted out of his back.
Flapping them once, more for the effect of his audience than real need, Harry gave the group one last smirk, saying, "See you in a few minutes," and then took off into the air at half the speed of sound almost.
In a matter of seconds, he was flying several kilometers above the city, and in those same matter of seconds, every Death Eater in the sky at that moment locked onto him and flew in to cut him off. Although they had been anticipating him on his broom, or even with several people as guards with him. So it could be reasonably understood why it was that they held off from casting curses at him at the shock of seeing Harry Potter flying through the air with a pair of glowing white angel wings coming out of his back.
Things happened very quickly after that, and Harry didn't really have time to analyze every little detail, as his training took over and he just reacted and followed the plan.
Flying up several miles, Harry was very quickly surrounded by nearly thirty Death Eaters on brooms, robes and masks fluttering about them as clearly as their dark auras of malevolence and violence. Harry seriously doubted that there were even enough like-minded Pureblood wizards left in the world to fill out a full Death Eater assault of this magnitude, so no doubt more than half of those present were either half-bloods or muggleborn as the terms went, and were just as likely under the Imperius Curse.
Just then, the curses, hexes, and whatnot began to fly, so Harry started casting right back. First he drew out his Holly Phoenix Feather wand and silently cast about sixteen stunners with a disarming charm between each, making sure that the stunners hit only real Death Eaters, easy to tell from the dark magic seeping their cores, and the disarming spells only hit those that were either iffy or under Imperius, also easy to tell.
Then he was past the first line and now many miles above the city. London itself was in clear view and even if they were visible to the naked eye, most would think they were either high-flying birds or dismiss it as a trick of the eye. Seeing that they were no longer all bunched up together as before, Harry decided to start the plan in earnest. He put away his wand and gathered his magic.
Once about five or six Death Eaters were almost within arms reach of him and they were preparing to strike despite seeing him there flying with angel wings, he released the spell.
"SONIC BOOM!" The spell flashed gold around him as a spiral wave of energy, first one, then two, and finally four arcs swirled around him at high speed and cut down and knocked all the Death Eaters off their brooms. The golden white spinning attack revolved for a few more times before finally each arc flew away as magical cutting discs, flying after the nearest Death Eater.
Seeing a few far off wizards pointing their wands at him and mouthing the words for the Death spell, Harry, very quickly, cast a long-range spell of his own.
"FLAME ARROW!"
Ruby lightning sparked from his upraised hand until a fireball flashed into existence and very quickly grew to the largest any wizard in England had ever seen. Then, faster than the Death Eaters could even finish mouthing their words, Harry cast the fireball at them, which flew faster than anyone could've imagined, growing exponentially as it did until all of that group were incinerated the moment it struck.
Unfortunately, that group weren't the only ones casting curses and hexes at him, and he was forced to switch to defense sooner than he would've liked, but all the same in the end. Just out of the corner of his eye, he caught the red streamer of probably one of the more lethal curses being cast, but not the Death curse, so it wasn't a problem as he activated his Shield charm.
The spell hit, but then ricocheted off into the ether. Harry then noticed a half a dozen others, just as close, and he hit the Shield charm up to the next level, silently casting a Battle magic spell called "Riryoku!"
Instantly, a golden-green flaming aura surrounded the flying wizard, and his already wild hair flew up like it was charged by static electricity as the spells hit him and they either were absorbed by the field, or reflected immediately back to the source if the curse was powerful enough. The odd glow the flaming aura produced also seemed to enhance the visible contours of Harry's muscles and likewise giving him the appearance of suddenly being a lot stronger than he was only moments before.
Of course that was just an illusion and a trick of the light. Harry was in fact several magnitudes stronger than he appeared to be, even after the effect of the aura.
"Nice try," the flying battle wizard called out to those still trying to attack him. "My turn!"
Forming a series of seals with his hands, Harry then cupped his mouth and breathed out. Giant fireballs, not quite of the strength of the 'Flame Arrow', but still giant fireballs shot out and exploded against the numerous Death Eaters. He 'breathed out' another dozen or so of the fireballs and then switched tactics by suddenly twisting around and snapped out his fist in a karate-like punch. Except that another giant fireball shot out from the end of his fist and he did that for another few dozen Death Eaters until they regrouped once more.
Seeing them gather closer together there, Harry charged a different spell this time. He moved his arms in intense concentration, pooling all of the nearby surrounding ambient magic and focusing it inwards and into a powerful attack. He didn't have the time for a full power version, at least not yet, so he had to settle for the first-stage version as he gathered all the magic energy into his cupped hands near his right hip, and then shout out the attack while shouting the spell, "HADOKEN!"
A bluish-white energy orb shot out at the speed of light and before the Death Eaters even knew what hit them, it blasted all of that group out of the sky.
Behind him, Harry heard the once dreaded words, "Avada Kedavra!"
Quickly forming another seal with his hands, Harry screamed the spell, "Astral Barrier!"
Out of nowhere, a ghost-phantom image of Harry Potter, minus the current wings, instantly appeared in front of the Killing Curse and 'took the hit' as it were. The spell and phantom image both vanished after colliding, and Harry suffered no ill side-effects. The Death Eater that had witnessed the "unstoppable, unbeatable curse" being... well, stopped, suffering from some severe shock, which was understandable, just floated there on his broom, mouth agape.
Harry didn't allow him to recover, instead hitting the Death Eater with another fireball from his fist, sending the dark wizard off his broom to fall screaming hundreds of meters to the earth.
Deciding to get creative, Harry began to ascend at high-speed again, forcing the Death Eaters to chase after him once more, but this time Harry put away his wand and pulled out his staff instead. It's actually somewhat of a misnomer to call it his staff, as it is a magical artifact in and of itself, though it is more than capable of channeling his magic just as much as his wand is. The artifact is actually known as the Compliant Rod. Yes, that Compliant Rod, albeit calling it the Compliant Rod, when there are actually several thousand in circulation is further deceiving.
Harry's staff, (because it is so wrong to call it "Harry's Rod"), was a brilliant emerald green color, capped with golden caps on both ends. Caps that can go spear-sharp at a moment's notice, and can expand into a full shield even faster. The seven-foot staff is also capable of shrinking down so it's no bigger than a toothpick, and likewise expanding so large that a giant would call it unwieldy, and despite it's solid-looking state, and it's impregnable nature, it could also bend and twist like rubber into all manner of forms. Combine that with a wizard able to channel Battle magic through it and a few years mastery in its usage, and that makes Potter's Compliant Rod the most dangerous weapon in the air for several hundred kilometers in all directions.
A pair of fast-flying Death Eaters were barreling in from the East, hoping to use the cover of night to hide further, but Harry could sense their very magic, making the tactic rather moot. With a rapid half-twist, the flying wizard extended the rod the twenty feet between him and them, knocking them clear off their brooms and flying through the air, screaming the whole way.
Before that motion was fully completed, he twisted back around, widening the rod to shield against a few stray hexes, and then extended the larger end face-first against the Death Eaters that had cast them. Then for good measure, he slammed them three more times until they finally fell off their brooms. They weren't screaming though, probably because they were unconscious, he idly noted.
Retracting the rod, Harry quickly spun back around to defend against a lone Death Eater and twirled the rod around him to create a temporary shield against the curses being thrown. This Death Eater, for some reason though didn't seem to be as shocked at Harry's actions, nor at the 'impossible' feats he was performing. Making extra sure, while still defending, that this was a Death Eater and not some innocent wizard under the Imperious curse, Harry was relieved to see that it was actually Goyle Sr.
Relieved of any need to hold back, and seeing that they were all adapting to his show quicker than he'd expected, the boy decided to up the ante, so to speak, and break out the Very Impressive Stuff.
Stopping his defense for only a single moment, Harry cast back his staff and shouted the spell, "LIGHTNING BOLT! COME FORTH!" ending the spell by pointing the business end of the staff right in Goyle's face. The nanosecond the last syllable left Harry's lips, lightning bolts from the sky, the earth, and the tip of Harry's staff all converged upon the helpless dark wizard, leaving behind a crispy husk that vanished into ash on the wind before the winged battle wizard had even flown away.
Seeing another few lone Death Eaters floating about, Harry decided to be more proactive and holding the Compliant Rod in the exact center, he channeled the attack spell through it, shooting it out both ends and taking out several more targets.
"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON! FIRE!" From either ends of the rod a spiraling beam of orange-red energy exploded out, like some kind of magic drill, except that it drilled through a couple of bodies before finally exploding in twin explosions on either side of the flying winged wizard.
Another half dozen Death Eaters came flying up on brooms, trying to surround him from six sides at once. Not wanting to do any repeats if he could help it, Astral Barrier not withstanding, Harry flapped the Lighthawke Wings and silently manipulated the magical energies tied into them, and tapped into a few others at the same time.
"SHEARING SCYTHE TWISTER!" came the cry as he flapped the magical wings in a flurry of motion and safe in the eye of a small tornado, F2 at the least, F3 at the most, meanwhile the Death Eaters were nearly torn to shreds from the cutting wind that surrounded the flying Battle Mage. Moments later the twister dissipated, taking whatever shreds of the Death Eater remains with it.
Harry smirked as he did a rather large loop, flying even higher, but encountering few, if any Death Eaters. 'I can't have gotten them all already, could I? Besides, Tommy-boy is still out here somewhere, I can feel it. And I haven't even gone through half my arsenal of battle spells yet.' Seeing no more Death Eaters after completing a full loop around Little Whining, Harry thought, 'So much for making an impression. Guess I'll have to take the rest of them out in one big swoop. And I was hoping to save Summoning for the Big V. Ah well, can't have everything.'
Relying no more on his eyes, Harry opened his ethereal senses and quickly located the remaining Death Eaters. Pleasantly surprised to find them grouping together, Harry quickly flew to where he was directly over and above them. Once he was in place, he quickly placed a concealment charm on himself, and made it so the Lighthawke Wings were translucent, making it difficult to spot him. Then he began casting a new spell.
Whispering the incantations of the 72-word spell, Harry focused his magic in a way that he hadn't had time to practice in the week since his fusion, and the few times that he did use this spell-combination before... he didn't have enough energy to fuel it to its ultimate completion. That was OK though, for the time being he could stop at stage two, although the first stage would be more than enough to terrify the remaining Death Eaters. As his eyes snapped open, they shone with blazing green power, twin rings tracing the pupils of his eyes, rotating in opposite directions to demonstrate the level of power that he was tapping into.
In Battle magic, there are five necessary aspects of spellcraft. They are Knowledge, Control, Strength, Speed, and finally Limits. Knowledge is exactly what it is, knowledge of different types of spells and ways of using magic. Control is also what it is, being able to control the flow, extent, and use of one's magic. Strength is the intensity and power behind each spell, and comes after Knowledge and Control. Speed comes with experience and has to do with how quickly one can form spells out of raw magic, and represents the pinnacle of one's training in Battle magic.
Then, there are the Limits, which is three-fold in and of themselves. Limits of the Body, Limits of the Mind, and Limits of Magic. There is only so much stress, both magical and mundane, that a human body can withstand, but likewise there are ways of increasing those limits, slowly removing them. Limits of the Mind are more difficult, but likewise not impossible to overcome, having to do with opening oneself to the possibilities they normally wouldn't, and then further limits of skill and study and understanding. Simply altering one's perspective is enough to break through such barriers. But there are only two Limits of Magic. They are called Gates. It is actually more accurate to call them limiters instead of limits, as they are designed, or rather in place, to prevent any one being from having more magic than they know what to do with.
The First Gate, is individual to the wizard, witch, or magical creature that can access it. Even for identical twins, both able to open their Gate, one could be the Gate of Fire, the other the Gate of Water. It is the release valve for the very power that most resonates with the soul of the magic-user.
Harry Potter's Gate... is theGate of Gaea.
He's only ever been able to open it for the power it provides, yet unable to use any of its powers. Each Gate, when fully opened, allows the Gatekeeper to use powers and abilities they normally would never have, and Gaea is the Spirit of the Earth, Mistress of all the Elements and Wielder of Magic and Gods alike. And until now, Harry has only ever received a tiny boost in magic strength by opening it.
"GATE...OPEN!" screamed Harry as he forced open the Gate.
Instantly, his power boosted a full level beyond and he knew something he didn't before. Below him, two concentric rings appeared only a few meters beneath the gathered Death Eaters, who had looked up at his shout. The rings were identical to the ones filling his eyes, only several thousand times larger. Then, Harry's spell completed, fixing itself to the center of the opened Gate, and just as suddenly all of the Death Eaters found they could no longer move.
"Spellbinding Circle!" Harry finished the trap spell.
Knowing that, while the spell would last until dispelled, he didn't have the luxury of taking his time any further, Harry tapped into the power of his Gate as much as it would let him, and summoned forth one of the two creature-types that agreed to his Summoning Contract. The latter was currently impossible, since that contract required the use of a Familiar, but thankfully, dragons were a bit more lenient, asking only for a one time payment that cost him nothing in the long run, yet still worked to benefit all parties.
He called forth the first summon, casting his hand down at the trapped Death Eaters, "Water Dragon!"
Sapphire energy sparked around the edge of the circle, before spreading at an unnatural speed to reveal a rearing and massive red-eyed dragon made entirely of water, snarling and roaring down at the now terrified dark wizards before it.
Casting down his other hand, he quickly summoned the second, "Fire Dragon!"
As with the first, a ruby bolt of energy traveled the course of the circle before quickly forming into a blue-eyed dragon made entirely of orange-red flame, just as big and terrifying as the first, perhaps even moreso. The two elemental dragons glanced at each other, judged the situation, then somehow seemed to smirk evilly down at the puny humans they'd been summoned to vanquish.
Harry flew down until he was just above the influence of his trap spell, dispelled his concealment charms, and spoke to the dragons he'd summoned. "Judge them each and every one as you see fit. Destroy the evil ones, free the innocent ones, and punish the wicked ones. Once this task is complete, if you wish, you may go. I place no hold over you, and ask only for the retribution of True Justice."
The way he had spoken, both in the words and the fact that he'd just given commands to two elemental dragons scared the Death Eaters even more than anything they'd felt before now, and his words of True Justice almost sounded like a holy name, as one spoke of Old Magic. Not something one did lightly.
The dragons, however, seemed to understand this even more than the wizards did, and they nodded in unison up at Harry and then descended upon the Death Eaters, granting them all, (except maybe the three there that were still under the Imperious Curse), a very quick and very painful death.
Glancing at the circle in which they were in, Fire Dragon made a gesture with its head and suddenly the circle was surrounded by a giant ring of fire that promised to incinerate any and all who tried to cross that line. The second the ring of fire was in place all of the Death Eaters in the circle were allowed to move once more, but it wasn't like they had many options in that regard anyway.
A few tried to go down, but the ringed energy representation of Harry's Gate was the same as a stone floor and so they tried going up instead. Exactly what the dragons were waiting for.
Water Dragon seemed to take a metaphorical breath and then out of its mouth shot out gigantic water spheres that sped so fast through the air that there was an audible crack, like a bullet being fired off. Each 'water bullet' struck a Death Eater, who either collapsed dead from the high-speed water pressure, or was quickly encased in a sphere of water that then turned into a solid icy prison. Those trapped as thus, the dragons determined to not be in control of their actions at the moment, but would not be freed without closer examination. Unfortunately, the remaining Death Eaters very quickly learned to dodge any further projectiles from the dragons, forcing the summoned creatures to get... more creative.
Fire Dragon started it off by igniting the entire field, within the confines of the Gate representation, in a giant massive inferno straight out of the worst imaginings of the Underworld. Water Dragon and the Ice Prisons didn't seem to be inconvenienced by this in the slightest, however the Death Eaters were now scraping for every inch of altitude they could get.
Water Dragon decided to end the stalemate and opened its mouth once more, this time letting loose with a spray of needle-like ice-spears. Well, in comparison to the the elemental dragon's size they were needle-like, but when they impaled upon the Death Eaters they fit well with the description of ice-spears, quickly sending the souls of that group of Death Eaters on to the afterlife. Fire Dragon just helped by sending up streams of dragon fire from the inferno up to incinerate the bodies.
Meanwhile...
On the ground, the guards sent by the Order of the Phoenix, which is to say all of Harry's friends, stood looking up from the back yard of 4 Privet Dr. Without Omniculars none of them could be certain of what precisely was going on up above, but from the flashes of light from spells and curses, they could all take some pretty accurate guesses. When the massive Gate opened up in the sky however, and two elemental dragons appeared at Harry's command and then proceeded to annihilate a large group of Death Eaters, they all began to wonder just how well they did know their friend Harry Potter.
"Dumbledore must've taught him more than we thought," Fred said to George.
"Think he'll teach us? It would make a great addition to the shop," George replied to Fred.
"Professor Dumbledore never taught him how to do that!" shouted Hermione. "It's not even possible to do that! One can't just summon a pair of dragons! Especially not ELEMENTAL Dragons!"
"But sweet Hermione," George began.
"Harry's already done it," finished Fred.
"But... but... but..." stuttered the bushy-haired witch. "How?" she finally asked, at a complete loss.
"Dumbledore himself couldn't've done anything like this," grumbled Moody. "Maybe Potter's been learning from another source. I heard You-Know-Who has a connection to Potter's mind?"
"Well... once," Hermione hesitated before continuing, "but Professor Dumbledore had Professor Snape teaching Harry Occlumency and he says that he doesn't even get flashes from... from You-Know-Who anymore! Besides, why would he teach Harry how to summon dragons?"
"Might not have taught him, so much as allowed the boy to learn," answered Moody as he looked back up in the sky, his electric-blue magic eye focused solely upon Harry. "My thoughts were if You-Know-Who has a connection to Potter, maybe Potter has a connection to him. Maybe he learned a few things that not even Dumbledore knew about."
Suddenly, there was another explosive flash in the sky and they all felt overwhelming dread from the pits of their stomachs when they saw a black figure flying without a broom, robes flapping in the wind. But it wasn't Harry. Quite the opposite, as the black figure was heading straight for Harry, streams of sickly green light leading it's charge. Voldemort had entered the fight.
Back in the air...
Harry had enough time to feel a blast of pain from his scar that once might've had him screaming and dropping to the floor, and then to silently cast around six "Astral Barrier" spells before Voldemort was upon him. Voldemort had cast eight Death curses at Harry, but by the time those first six had been defended against, Harry had just enough time to cast the spell twice more.
The explosion of astral energy and green sparks was nearly blinding, but Harry, or at least half of him, was used to fighting in conditions like these. Not much point in learning Battle magic if you're never in battle, is there?
Flying back and away from Voldemort, Harry very nearly ran right into another group of four Death Eaters. Unfortunately, this time, he only had time for one spell, and Riryoku wasn't going to cut it. Forming a quick seal with his hands, both hands clasped with fingers interlocking as though praying, Harry focused his magic and felt the spell complete literally at the same time as the four dark spells hit him. Thankfully, rather than Unforgivables they had cast a few 'maiming' curses, those for bludgeoning and cutting and slicing.
When the spell 'dust' had settled though, Harry was still floating there before them, Lighthawke Wings supporting him, and for the large part was mostly unharmed. Except for the definite cracks in his skin. Cracks that one usually saw in stone or rock rather than skin. Until one of the Death Eaters recognized it as the Stone Skin spell, seeing a piece flake off and then float off as grains of sand.
"Bloody Hell," one of them muttered from beneath his mask. Right before Harry grinned evilly at them and cast his free hand towards them. Straight from the air, the ground, and the chips that had been blasted off of him, particles of sand and grit flowed together from nothing and quickly expanded and then entrapped the lot of them in a group of sand coffins. Still grinning darkly, he squeezed his hand shut and they couldn't hold back their screams if they wanted to as their bodies were partially crushed into a fine paste, and then he finally ended it by tossing the lot of them off towards the still-present summoned dragons. Fire Dragon saw them coming and very quickly gobbled them up right out of the air. Spitting out the masks, the dragon then let out a content belch of black smoke, drawing a disgusted look from Water Dragon.
Harry, unfortunately, didn't have time to fully appreciate that though, as Voldemort was quickly chasing after him, leading the charge with Death curse after Death curse.
"Honestly," remarked Harry as he continued to dodge and cast the occasional Astral Barrier, "doesn't the blighter know any other spells? Even the Cruciatus Curse for a bit of variety here and there. I mean, here I am, the only spell I'm using with any repetition is the Astral Barrier because short of splitting off my own soul or using a few dozen Familiars and Summons, it's the only way to defend against the Death Curse, while every other spell I cast is bigger and better than the one previous. No wonder he wants to destroy the wizarding world, if he's the best the wizarding world can produce, I'd want to destroy it too."
This went on for about another minute or so, Harry bobbing and weaving, casting Astral Barrier every chance he had, with Voldemort chasing and casting Avada Kedavra with the same speed and conviction. Finally, the whole thing seemed to have gotten to the Dark Lord on some level, and he hissed out a taunt, "What's the matter Potter? Still too afraid to face me? A coward just like your pitiful father! Or that weakling Dumbledore!"
'OK, there's keeping your cool, not losing your temper and sticking with the plan,' Harry thought to himself with mounting rage, 'and then there's THAT'
Faster than anyone thought he could, let alone what Voldemort anticipated, Harry stopped, turned around, formed another three seals for another spell, and then he literally blurred, after-images trailing after him as he faced Voldemort and charged at the snake-man's head. All within the time it would take a normal human to blink. Once.
Startled by the movement that was faster than even his snake-like reflexes, Voldemort ducked to the side, which is probably all that saved him from being decapitated by Harry's blazing pass. Hovering in the air for only a moment before turning to face his young foe, the being once known to the world as Tom Marvolo Riddle actually took pause at what he faced.
Harry Potter, glowing angel wings blazing with power, flying unsupported with a golden-green flaming aura surrounding his body, jet black hair waving wildly in the energy of his own magic, spiked upward as further testament to that power, muscles bulging beneath the simple jeans and t-shirt he wore, and the green eyes, the burning emerald green eyes that were literally filled with rings of power.
"After this fight, Voldemort," growled Harry, "you and what remains of your followers are going to be questioning exactly who the cowards are in this war. If you're smart, you'll run now. It is not my aim to kill you here and now, on the contrary, it's simply to demonstrate to you how much of a bad idea it is to continue trying to kill me. Or my friends. Or the ones I call family. You've taken quite enough of what belonged to me. My goal for today is to get you to recognize that I will no longer allow you to take anything else."
"Is that supposed to be a threat, boy?" laughed Voldemort.
Harry's face didn't so much as twitch as he replied. "It is my Oath."
Scowling, Voldemort forewent wasting any more time and raised his borrowed wand, preparing yet another Death Curse. In his pocket, Harry felt his wand twitch. He patted it for a moment, understanding the subtle pulse of magic it let out at said touch. Silently, he thought to it, 'I understand, I do. But it's too soon. I have to make him understand what it is he's up against and demoralize what remains of the Death Eaters first.'
"Bloody hell mate," Harry rudely interrupted Voldemort's casting, "don't you know any other spells?"
Ignoring what he thought of as helpless cries for mercy, Voldemort cast the borrowed wand forth, an ugly green flash shooting forth from the tip. Until Harry, almost casually, raised his right hand and cast wandlessly, "Astral Barrier!" Instantly a ghost-phantom of Harry was right in front of the green flash and then both shattered like so much broken glass.
Lord Voldemort stared, uncomprehending, eyes wide and mouth agape. "Not... possible..." he gasped.
"What's the matter Moldy-shorts?" teased Harry, "You look like you just saw a ghost!" Harry laughed.
"Now," continued the winged-wizard, "before I finish you off, lets see who's still left. Ah, yes! My three favorites. The rabid dog, the insane witch, and my most favorite of them all, the traitor. How ya doin' there Professor Snape?"
Harry thought it particularly potent to finally acknowledge the man's title and position now that he'd lost it by killing Professor Dumbledore and running from Hogwarts, where normally he only referred to the "Half-Blood Prince" by his surname. The three appeared, flying brooms around their Dark Lord, as though summoned by magic. Actually, Harry had felt them approaching behind him, and by calling them out had canceled any plans of them ambushing him.
"No matter!" raged Voldemort suddenly. "There are many, many other ways that I have to kill you!"
"Used to be, no matter how hard you would've tried you couldn't kill me," spoke Harry conversely. "And something very recently has changed that. You actually can kill me now. Meaning where before you couldn't no matter what, now it's actually possible. Doesn't mean you'll succeed any better."
"What are you babbling about Potter?" hissed Voldemort.
"It's actually too complicated for you to understand," replied the boy patronizingly. "I mean, after all, it's quite clear the only way you know how to kill somebody is with that stupid puke-green curse. If you were really intelligent, you'd have over a thousand ways of killing somebody, and you wouldn't need a stick, somebody else's stick at that, to do it either. In fact, Tommy boy, I think our conversation here is concluded, seeing as if I wanted intelligent communication, I could turn just as easily to the rabid dog or the traitor. And while it's always... interesting when encountering them, I'm just not in the mood today."
All of the Dark Wizards were growling with suppressed anger and rage by this point, yet some base instinct forced them to be more cautious than they normally might have been predisposed towards. Finally, the source of that instinct was revealed as Harry waved over their heads and the two dragon summons arched over and flew to either side of the small group of Death Eaters.
"You two can go now. I can handle the rest here. And thank you very much for your assistance," he said to the pair, who briefly bowed in acknowledgment before vanishing into thin air.
"Now," commented Harry, turning back to Voldemort and his few remaining Death Eaters, "Where were we?" He chuckled with violent-intent at the looks on their faces.
"Ah yes!" exclaimed the Boy-Who-Lived, who then brought both his hands to his front, cupped together and pointing downward. At the precise moment he made this pose, large sparks of bluish-white electricity came from the cup of his hands, forming what looked like a ball of pure lightning and sounding like a flock of a thousand crying birds. "LIGHTNING BLADE!"
Instantly, moving even faster than he ever had before, Harry charged the Dark Lord, leading with the ball of gathered lightning in his right hand. He blazed past the paralyzed creature, leaving a sharp blue-line afterimage, making it look like a true sword of electric power had cut the thing in half. Unfortunately, Harry's control over the advanced Finishing Spell wasn't as concrete as many of his others, and he missed hitting Voldemort full-on. He did put a nice sized rent in the black robes though.
Turning back around, Harry called out, "That was a warning shot Moldy-wart! Not a miss!" (Although it was, he didn't think Voldemort was insightful enough to call his bluff.) "You have two minutes to leave, or I'll make sure you don't bother anyone ever again. Especially me or mine."
For several long moments that seemed to stretch into infinity as each man judged the youth's threat, from what they knew about him and what he had just demonstrated, yet overall it did not take Voldemort himself very long to decide on how to react.
"Very clever trick-sss, Boy!" the snake-man hissed, his eyes turning crimson with rage. "But no matter what tricks you use, you are no match for my power!"
"Ninety seconds," Harry intoned, not changing his position in the slightest.
Voldemort sneered, then he chuckled out loud and turned to the wizards flying behind him. "Snape, Lestrange, Fenrir. Call a retreat, gather as many... survivors as you can find and go regroup. Come when I next summon you... for the victory party. Potter is all mine."
Harry sneered back at those words, but he also trusted at least one or two Death Eaters to stick around long enough to see him wipe the floor with Moldy-Shorts here. Otherwise, he'd have to make an actual attack to get them to back down afterwards and this whole exercise would be a waste of time. Oh well, just have to cross your fingers and hope it all works out in the end. Thats what he wound up doing every other time he'd been in a life or death situation anyway.
Knowing that he could no longer play around, Harry pulled out his Compliant Rod and extended it to quarterstaff length and thickness, holding it at the ready, he likewise charged it with his magic, causing the golden tips to flare with magical potential, glowing brightly in the fading sunlight. Mentally, Harry was preparing his 'Ultimate List of Spells', the depressingly few number that would deliver the most damage as quickly as possible without letting him die or draining him too fast. Likewise, it also took away almost all but one of his most powerful spells available, and likewise ruled out any future Summons.
Oh well.
The remaining Death Eaters flew off to lick their wounds, while Voldemort and Harry glared at each other across the short distance in mid-air.
"Avada K—"
"I said try something NEW!!" Harry screamed, moving in faster than Voldemort could complete the spell, his staff physically knocking the dark wizard back for a loop.
Not letting up for even a second, Harry continued the physical attacks, extending or expanding the Compliant Rod upon need, depending on how far he'd knocked Voldemort back. Likewise, from the glowing tips of the staff, the elements began to bleed off to add further damage. Mostly just Fire and Lightning though, albeit on a few hits even the people on the ground could hear audible cracks upon the impact.
Unfortunately, Voldemort wasn't just standing there and taking it. When he flew, it was more like gliding or a plane, and it was in one direction only. Directions like forward, left, right, up, down, but one moving in curves or abruptly going diagonally, the snake-man seemed to have a little more difficulty with. On the other hand, he seemed to have taken Harry's "advice" finally and was rapidly casting a multitude of spells, curses, hexes, and other very dark things at the other flying wizard.
Once, Voldemort actually got close enough to physically strike at Harry, and given the way things were going he just about gave into the temptation. Seeing this however, Harry acted immediately, not leaving it to chance or Voldemort's arrogance to not deign to fighting dirty, without magic for once. The Boy Who Lived didn't have time for the seal, but since he was tapping so heavily into the elements as it was, he conjured an aura of pure Lightning Armor to come into existence around him, arching out to strike at anything within range. Voldemort quickly retreated after the shock it gave him and resolved himself to long-range combat.
After another jarring blow from the insufferable extending rod, Voldemort conjured the same snake-shield that he'd used in his last duel with Dumbledore, over a year ago at the Ministry of Magic. Surprisingly, to Harry anyway, when the Compliant Rod slammed into the shield, it neither buckled or even dented. To Voldemort's ever-lasting surprise however, he was tossed back a dozen feet through the air. The force behind that blow was stronger than that of an enraged giant's!
Seeing them at another stalemate, Harry frowned and furthered the distance between them. When Voldemort tried to move in, Harry extended his staff in a rapid maneuver and slammed the shield, knocking the snake back another dozen or so feet. When Voldemort threw out a few more violet-black and dark-purple hued curses, the distance merely gave Harry a little more room to dodge.
Knowing that this was little more than a delaying tactic, Harry's mind raced through the available spells. If Voldemort caught him preparing his magic in any way, he'd have adequate shields in place before the younger wizard was even half done. He needed something fast, something brutal, and something distracting while he did gather enough magic for one of his bigger spells. Arrow of Light would be the perfect spell in this case, both long range and extra damaging to Voldemort's very magic core! But, it would take him at least three whole minutes to complete the forms in his mind and another two minutes after that to gather the necessary reserve amount of magic.
Regardless, he went ahead and began constructing the spell diagrams in his mind, the less time he had to spend on it later, the better. The rest of his concentration he focused on coming up with an adequate distraction, that did not look like a distraction.
Then it came upon him. A very, very, very simple spell that was all power. And since his merger, Harry had become all about power. The 'Cutting Turtle Shell' attack was in fact the simplest offensive spell Harry had in his arsenal, simply requiring the user to gather as much magic as possible between their hands and then channeling a steady stream out of it as you said the spell, then it all went down to a battle of power.
Harry didn't really like to rely on it, as magic was more about thought and intent rather than just power, and Battle Magic was entirely about strategy and tactics, using power in the right way. But Voldemort was stupid enough to confuse that distinction as an actual attack on Harry's part and therefore would put all his concentration on it, not expecting Harry to even be able to prepare and use multiple spells simultaneously.
Smirking, and focusing the majority of his concentration on preparing one spell, he let his body flow into performing the other automatically, drawing and focusing the magic as needed.
Shrinking and putting away his Compliant Rod, he cupped his hands at his waist and began to gather magic into a pinpoint of bluish white light. As more and more magic began to flow, the point became an orb, and the orb began to grow and grow until a large ball of bluish white energy was formed and barely contained between his hands. "See if you can handle this Tommy boy!"
Scowling at the name, Voldemort took one look at the advanced spell the boy was forming and had to admit that he was adequately impressed. Just from what he was seeing, the spell had a single effect, but the effect was proportionate to the amount of power that was put into it. Unlike all of the English-based spells he was familiar with though, this one though did not seem to have an upper-limit to how much power could go into it. It might even be worth adding to his own arsenal, if it caused enough mayhem and destruction that is.
Not willing to either overdo it, and likewise not having enough time to gather enough energy to completely destroy his enemy, Harry finally cast the spell once the orb was the size of a basketball, thrusting his hands and the bluish white power towards the flying Voldemort.
"KAMEHAMEHA!"
In the space of a single heartbeat, a blinding beam of energy shot from Harry's hands and impacted with a heavy explosion against Voldemort and his shield. Some hidden instinct, buried deep in his reptilian brain, made the Dark Lord wary just enough that on top of his physical shield, he cast numerous fast-acting and potent shielding spells on top of it, just in time too, as the explosion of the impact careened him back through the air, pushing him back until he oriented himself enough to begin pushing back.
Harry didn't let up on his attack however, keeping the beam going for as long as he could while he hastily, but exactly, completed the form for his next spell, the one that he hoped would finish this fight. The bluish-white beam of blinding power stretched almost a mile and connected the eternal enemies in an odd recreation of their battle in the Riddle graveyard three years ago.
At that precise moment, the sun was fully set below the horizon, only reflective rays providing any natural lighting, and so Harry and Voldemort were cast in the shadows of the blue twilight of the spell that linked them. Down on the ground however, pandemonium would've been the nice and understated way of describing the situation.
"I'm goin' up there!" Moody screamed, struggling to do just that.
The reason he was struggling at all, however, had to do with the fact that Hagrid, Lupin, and a few of the other men all had a hand on him, doing their best to restrain him and keep him from the brooms. Everybody else was staring up in the sky in ever-mounting awe.
"How is this possible? None of this should be possible..." Hermione whimpered, never taking her eyes off the dot in the sky she knew was Harry.
"Beats the hell out of me Hermione," Ron answered, likewise starring and stunned.
"Did 'Arry ever zell an-ee-one zat 'Ee could do tings like zis?" Fleur begged the question, her accent even more pronounced due to stress.
"I think it's safe to assume that nobody knew Harry could do things like this," Bill answered his wife.
"Cor Blimey," Mundungus slurred, "I didn't sign on for this!"
That grabbed enough of Moody's attention that the ex-Auror was on the part-time thief like fleas on a dog, "YOU WILL REMAIN HERE UNTIL I TELL YOU OTHERWISE, IS THAT UNDERSTOOD?!"
"Y-y-y-y... Aye," Mundungus finally stuttered out.
"And would someone, anyone mind explaining how it is that Potter can perform spells that I've never even heard of, let alone be able to fly?!" Moody exploded on the rest of them.
Ron and Hermione were not taking their eyes off the sky, but Tonks decided to answer for them, "It really doesn't matter by this point. He's fighting You-Know-Who right now, and from the looks of it, he's winning even! What does it even matter how he learned how to do it?"
"Itmatters!!" Moody growled.
"Well, I don't know where he learned these kinds of spells," she finally admitted, "For all I know ever since Dumbledore... y'know... he had his head stuck in the Hogwarts Library and has been reading up on them."
"Dear, allow me to assure you, with the exception of maybe one or two of the spells we've seen Harry use tonight, and methods on how to fly without a broom or other means, nobody can find these kinds of spells in the Hogwarts Library. Not even the Restricted Section," Lupin explained to his wife.
"How many times has Voldemort cast Avada Kedavra at Harry now?" Hermione suddenly asked.
"Well right now Harry's shooting that really big spell of white-blue light at You-Know-Who, so he hasn't for a while now, and I wasn't keeping track earlier," Ron admitted to her.
"What's your point, Hermione?" Mr. Weasley questioned.
"Why isn't Harry dead yet? Yes, he dodged a lot of them, but I saw that there were so many, not even Harry could dodge them all, so why isn't Harry dead yet? The Death Spell is an Unforgivable and as such there is no spell known that can block or stop it. So... why isn't Harry dead yet?"
Everyone, even Ron, turned to glare incredulously at the poor girl. "That's what has your knickers in a twist? That Harry isn't dead yet?!" Ron exclaimed.
"Because if Harry is still alive, and he couldn't dodge all of them..." Hermione continued in her thoughts, still gazing upwards, "then that means that not only is there a way to block the Avada Kedavra, but Harry knows how and can use it in his own defense. Which means that Harry has knowledge of spells that nobody in the entire Wizarding World can even imagine."
That dropped quite a few jaws in the backyard there. Moody was the first to recover, as he observed out loud, "Not even You-Know-Who knows of a way to stop an Unforgivable. Which means that Harry didn't get these new powers from Him, nor from Dumbledore. Believe me, if Dumbledore could've he would've been teaching everybody from First Year Dropouts to 7th Year Heads at that school of his the way to stop an Unforgivable. Especially Avada Kedavra. So, the question is, who taught the boy?"
"Mate, I think it's pretty safe to say..." Fred began.
"...that Harry ain't no little boy anymore," George continued.
"He's a Man," they both finished together.
"Boys," growled Mr. Weasley.
"Yes Father?" chorused the twins with innocent expressions.
"Shut up."
"Yes Father," they chuckled.
"I've had just about enough of this," exclaimed Moody once again. "I'm going up there and if I can't talk Potter into running, I'm going to help him do some killing!"
"Mister Moody, sir?" came the soft voice of Hermione. When the old wizard's electric-blue eye swiveled around to glare at her, she continued, "Given what we've already seen, do you really think that Harry's going to listen to you at all, or do you think you'll just be getting in Harry's way?"
Wheeling around to shout at the girl, the old Auror was about to give her a piece of his mind, when his blue eye happened to glance back up at the raging battle between Harry and You-Know-Who, and it gave him enough pause to actually bother thinking about his answer. When he couldn't even come up with one, he deflated and just stood there, looking up with all the others. At least he had the advantage of his eye, that included telescopic range on top of ultra-high clarity.