Author's Note: Here's Chapter Two. The end of this chapter and the next chapter are going to diverge more and more into the Lord of the Rings world until Harry is immersed in it completely. Please thank my lovely Beta, Soccerqueen237, for saving this story!

"Speech"

~Parseltongue~

*Flashback*

Letters

Bloody Bloody Warfare

"War is cruel. The crueler it is, the faster it is over."

Harry stood rooted in place on the battlefield, staring at the complete and total destruction around him. He had been prepared, along with the rest of the D.A., for the inevitable deaths, but he could never have imagined the true massacre that had taken place.

His battle robes, covered in blood both his and others', seemed to be the only thing not destroyed. Open cuts and abraisions still oozed all across his face and hands, the only body parts exposed. Harry's eyesight had been fixed so he wore no glasses, his uncovered green eyes looked ethereal in the post-dawn light. His longer hair was matted with dirt and debris from the spells that had hit the ground, the explosions sending bits of earth flying. An earlier spell had shattered his phoenix wand.

Harry gazed at the smoking corpses with a distant sense of horror, his mind detached from what he was experiencing. Friends, loved ones, and even enemies were piled atop of one another, with no regards to the boundaries set in life. All were human, finite; he was not.

The castle was in ruins, rubble tumbling to the ground. Everyone outside of it's protecting walls had been caught in the blast, including Voldemort. Hermione had been at his back, fighting off the Death Eaters to buy him time and let him focus purely on killing the snake faced bastard. Now, she lay face down on the ground, her back side a charred mass that was barely distinguishable from the others except for an untouched shock of bushy brown hair.

Ron, Neville, Luna, Ginny, Remus, Tonks, Moody, Dumbledore, all dead. All because of him, they were now fleshy, charred remains for the vultures to feed upon. But on the bright side, so were Voldemort, Lucius, Bellatrix, McNair and all the other Death Eaters that had been outside. Harry didn't really know what had happened. He hadn't been prepared for this outcome. Thinking back on his training, he could remember how happy everyone had been, despite the serious times.

*Flashback*

After finally figuring out how to leave Merlin's Castle, Harry had found himself standing once again inside the trunk. His next move had been to activate the portraits, no longer plagued the nervousness that had crippled him earlier. For long hours he talked with Sirius, his parents, and his ancestors, gaining confidence through their reassurances that they would help him. He took the portraits off the wall and put them in his trunk so they could help him train. The trunk itself had changed, just as his father had said in his letter. It was now made of a dark, smooth mahogany wood engraved with scenes of a forest complete with panthers, snakes, and other such animals that moved. The edges were a fiery obsidian with mother of pearl locks that shone with radiance. His initials appeared on the top and sides, engraved in emerald.

Well, he thought, it suits me more than the previous red and gold.

Shrinking Sirius' trunk, he put it and the rest of his things, except Merlin's Amulet and staff, the Devil's Bag and wand holster, and his new battle robes, into his trunk. First, he looked at the battle robes, shining softly like silk in the torch light. Deciding that putting them on now would be a good start, he disrobed and slowly fastened on the new clothing, saving the boots for last. The shirt and pants fit like a glove, while remaining flexible and breathable. The long-sleeved robes fit over that and the boots went up to his knees, the tread allowing for good traction and the fit tight enough for good control. Harry fastened the cloak over-top, leaving the hood down. He'd thought the clothing would be extremely hot, but was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't.

After strapping on the wand holster and fitting Merlin's Staff into it, Harry conjured up a mirror to take a look. He almost didn't recognize himself. He looked dangerous and fierce and ready to do battle with anyone or anything. It suited him, with his slightly shaggy hair framing his face. Harry smirked in pleasure and banished the mirror before turning and looking through the rest of his vaults.

He started grabbing items of interest or books of importance, flitting from one room to the next, and threw them in the trunk. When he was satisfied with his sweep, Harry closed the lid. Making sure it was sealed, he said the charm to shrink it and attached it to the Amulet's chain before pulling the chain over his head and tucking the amulet into the front of his robes. He transfigured a sturdy, black leather belt with a silver buckle from his old school robes and clipped it around his hips. The teen then took the Devil's bag and charmed all the gold in the vault to fly into it, leaving the room achingly bare. Tying the bag's string onto his belt, he covered it with his robes and started for the doors.

Harry stalked out of the vault with his possessions on his person, looking every inch the warrior that he was aiming to be and Griphook nodded his approval. Walking back to the cart, Harry asked Griphook if he could have a map of Potter Manor in London so he could apparate. When the goblin said yes, Harry nodded to him in respect and they rode the cart up to the surface. It was strange to think of how much he had changed since going down, and that a simple trip underground had changed him so fundamentally. Harry left Gringotts with the promise to be back tomorrow to collect the map to his ancestral home. He was never going back to the Dursley's again.

After staying the night at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry went back to Gringotts to collectthe map, apparating to Potter Manor afterwards and resizing his trunk in the master bedroom. Deciding to get started on his training, he stepped inside and was whirled away. Harry spent the summer being trained at Merlin's Castle by Merlin, the Founders, Sirius, and his parents. The castle was somewhat sentient, much like Hogwarts. He learned that if asked politely, the castle could provide him with the things he needed. Harry had the training room set up with magical dummies to battle against and spent most of his time in there. At night he would curl up in bed to read his dad's journal, or sometimes he would write in his own.

The young teen recorded his entire life from what he could remember up to the present in his journal; He left nothing out and detailed how he thought, dealt with, and felt about certain situations. Harry learned from Merlin, and from the writings of his dad and the other Magi, how to use and control his gift. The changes started slowly, at first just being able to feel a flicker of his magical core while in meditation, but everyday it seemed to grow larger. More magic adding to it, the spark encompassing more and more of his body until one day, it swelled to engulf him entirely. As it did, his world burst into glorious colors and pulsing auras. He could see the wards and magic of the castle, the paintings, and even himself.

It was beautiful and amazing. As he got used to this new quirk of vision, he woke up one morning to find that his magic had fixed any physical imperfections he might have had, erasing all scars except the famous bolt on his forehead and correcting his eyesight. He also saw the faint beginnings of colored tattoos on his skin, as to what they would be, he could not yet tell. After talking with Merlin and his father, he also learned that as soon as he mastered his gift he would be immortal, ceasing to age. Harry could be killed, but the extreme amount of magic in and around his body would replenish his cells constantly, causing him to heal slightly faster than normal mortals and assuring his agelessness. He was not looking forward to that and hoped to not master his gift until he was at least twenty.

In the meantime, his mum had been working with him on his fashion sense. One of the only times Harry had left the castle was to go clothes shopping. He shrunk his mother and father's portrait and made it into another charm for Merlin's amulet. Going into his first Wizarding stores that were not Madame Malkin's, both parents helped him pick out robes of different colors, styles, and fabrics.

After grabbing everything he would need from the Wizarding section, Harry trekked into Muggle London to a mall the Durselys had once dragged him to. While trying on a few outfits, his mother had thrown out the comment that he would have to beat the girls off with a stick. This led to him revealing to his parents that he might, in fact, be just a little bent.

After a very embarrassing question from his father on whether he was dominant or submissive, to which his reply was a stuttering unsure with submissive leanings, his mother squealed and directed him over to another section. There they made him try on skinny jeans and some leather pants that were extremely tight. Combat boots and some trench coats followed, as well as some black army cargo pants and regular jeans. Some regular Converse All-Stars in a myriad of colors were next.

He liked the sort of punk rock style, as his mother called it, and decided to complete the look. Lots of mesh and "Saying" t-shirts in royal purple, red, and black. Some ripped jeans. Chokers, wristlets, and arm braces were next. Moving on to body jewelry, he decided to get one ear and his tongue pierced. It wasn't too painful, but he had to argue with his parents about it before they finally gave in after the statement that he had never really gotten anything he'd wanted living with the Dursleys.

Looking over the different tongue bars, he bought one platinum with Emeralds at both ends and one 24k gold with Rubies. After looking at the earrings, he decided to get a couple custom made. One was designed to look like a pheonix in 24k gold, Peridot and Ruby stones detailing the feathers with Opals for eyes. The other was a basilisk made of platinum with Citrine eyes and Emerald and Russian Diopside scales.

After that, it was with dubious interest that he headed to the make-up station. The extremely nice emo man there showed him how to line his eyes with Kohl, so they stood out. After some prolific flirting that had him trying to cover his mother's giggles, he learned that he didn't need anything else as his complexion was near perfect. His father laughed as they left the shop with hands full of bags, some different colored sticks of Kohl in one of them.

After a quick trip to the loo to change and put his things in his trunk, Harry walked through the mall in one of his new outfits with some of the black kohl he had just bought lining his eyes, making them look larger than normal. While he attracted many stares, some envious, some leering, and others hateful, he just ignored them and continued his shoppng.

He was wearing black skinny jeans with a black tank top and one of the nicer black leather trench coats he had bought. This one had a red silk lining, while the other two had emerald green and black. A studded, black leather belt held his Devil's Bag and keept it hidden. Black standard combat boots were laced onto his feet and a black choker accentuated his graceful neck. His hair, longer since the beginning of summer, was tied back with a red velvet ribbon, and his tongue and ear were graced with the Ruby tongue bar and Phoenix earring. He portrayed the seductive soldier style his mum had planned.

Passing a fountain depicting an angel holding an urn spilling water, he saw an Apple store and his curiosity overwhelmed him. He had heard the Muggleborns in Hogwarts talking about their iPods, complaining that they didn't work around the ambient magic. The Dursley's never let him have anything relatively expensive, so Harry immediately wanted to have one just to spite them.

Entering the store, he was spotted immediately by a busty brunette clerk who rushed to help him. The teenage Muggle girl sidled up close to him, pressing her breasts to his arm as she guided him to the assistance desk.

"Hi!" she fluttered her lashes in a way that, to her, seemed seductive. Harry thought she looked like she was having a seizure. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, actually." Harry said, disentangling himself from her arms. "I would like to see the different iPods you have, and could you explain the differences to me, please?"

The girl gave him a disappointed look, but went around and reached under the counter for her displays. After explaining the different technology, Harry chose a 64 gigabyte 4th generation iPod. Figuring he would need a laptop also, he bought one of those as well. He got a case for the iPod and the laptop with the same design, a very macabre painting with the words 'Dark Subconscious' on it in purple, gothic writing. (link to painting on profile)

He placed the items on the counter and then sprinkled them liberally with iTunes cards, paying for them and thanking the clerk, who pouted as he walked away. Across the way was another store that peaked his interest. It was called Hot Topic. He went in and immediately started to go crazy, buying things left and right. Knee high lace up boots, bracelets, bangles, and different knick-knacks plus some headphones he'd thought looked cool. The box came with two different sets and a splice, which the clerk explained to him.

Soon, he came upon a whole wall of band T-shirts and other shirts with designs on them. Looking through them, he bought ten shirts of bands that he liked, having heard Dudley listen to them. Incubus, Three Days Grace, A7X, Staind, and Linkin Park amongst them. About half way down the isle he stopped and doubled over laughing, not quite believing his eyes.

There was a black t-shirt with a square picture on the front. It was of an old man dressed in wizard robes very similar to the crazy confections Dumbledore wore, Wizarding hat and all. He was holding a staff with an orb of crystal at the tip, standing at the edge of a cliff with roiling waves at the bottom. He had summoned the wind and it caused the waves to come up and soak him. Beneath the picture were large white letters saying, 'Silly Wizard!'

Harry couldn't stop laughing! It was just too rich! Finally calming down, he put two on the pile that he was buying and took it all over to the counter. After making his purchases and walking out of the store, Harry headed out of the mall and into a dark alleyway between buildings. First he discreetly took out his wand and cast a mild healing charm on his tongue to stop the swelling, his Magi gift would heal it the rest of the way later. Shrinking all his packages, he put them in this trunk and then apparated away to Potter Manor.

When he first wore the shirt to practice, everyone laughed, even Merlin, whom the wizard resembled slightly.

*Flashback End*

It had been two years since then, and after the summer was over, Harry had headed back to Hogwarts for his final year. Hermione and Ron had greeted him enthusiastically and asked about his summer. He'd told them everything, except his status as Magus, even taking them to Merlin's Castle to meet his ancestors.

Nothing too extraordinary happened that year. He learned magic by day, and his gift and physical fighting by night. Time basically stood still when he was down in Merlin's Castle, Hermione theorized that it was in another dimension, so he accomplished much more that he wouldn't have been able to otherwise. Dumbledore didn't pry, only smiled slightly in amusement and left him to himself. It wasn't until his friends and he had graduated from Hogwarts that things really began to stir.

Over the next year Voldemort and his ilk became exponentially more active. Raids happened almost every other day. The Order started sending him and a select group of others to assassinate or arrest known Death Eaters. Harry's eighteenth birthday passed him by. By his nineteenth birthday, the Wizarding World was ravaged with fear and depression. People on the streets begged him to end it.

And the end was nigh; he could feel it in the air. The war was coming to a close. Soon.

One hot August day, Harry was in St. Mungo's visiting the people and families who had been injured in the latest raid. It boosted moral when the Wizarding Community could actually see their Savior in person, knowing that he cared for them individually. He was currently holding the hand of a little blonde boy who'd had the entire left side of his face charred away by an Incendio that had merely grazed him. He was not even Hogwarts age. His mother and father had escaped unscathed and were sitting beside his bed. When he'd come in, they had stood and looked at him with awe.

He was still in his torn and ragged clothing from the raid the night before, not having the time once the alarm had sounded to put on his battle robes. Dirty and smudged with sweat and ash from the burning buildings, he had made quite the picture standing on the threshhold of the boy's hospital room. The parents had told him that the boy, Dalton, had said he would come today and they hadn't believed him. When Harry looked at Dalton, he could see the seer abilities hovering about the boy, his aura clearer than ordinary people's. He had strode to the boy's side and asked if he had seen this visit.

Dalton said he had and was so happy Harry was here. After telling the parents what the boy was, to their awe and confusion, they'd told him he was Dalton's idol. A hero, causing Harry to flinch inside. He hated being the hero. Eventually he'd sat down in a chair next to Dalton and they'd talked for over an hour, some of the boy's comments actually making Harry laugh. As Harry was retelling the adventure of the Chamber of Secrets to the excited boy and covertly rapt parents, a frantic Medi-witch rushed into the room screaming for Mr. Potter.

Harry jumped up, his expression guarded until the young woman slid to a stop in front of him.

"Mr. Potter! Thank Merlin! I just got an urgent Floo from Headmistress McGonagall saying Hogwarts is being attacked by Death Eaters with You-Know-Who in the lead!" the woman panted with her hand to her chest, trying to catch her breath.

The parents, Dalton, and the Medi-witch witnessed a frightening change in the young man before them. His expression morphed to one of pure fury and determination. His eyes glinted with power and anticipation. The Medi-witch curled into herself and the parents backed against the wall as Harry's wand flicked into his hand and the Sword of Gryffindor appeared in the other. Dalton just stared at him with wide eyes.

Harry looked up to the ceiling, but snapped his head around to Dalton as the boy whispered something into the deafening quiet of the room. "Please sir. Help my sister. She's in there. Please."

The pitiful pleading struck something in Harry, something that before had been unattainable; but it strengthened his will and forged the core of his being just a little bit stronger. His tattoos glowed, swirling across his skin in waves of all colors, causing the people in the room to gasp. He stalked closer to the bed, leaned over, and looked deep into the one eye that was uncovered on the boy, his emerald green connecting with sky blue.

"I will. I will save every child in Hogwarts if it kills me, including your sister."

The boy looked at him seriously, as if he had just made him the greatest of vows, and indeed it felt that way. Dalton nodded once and his eyes unfocused as Harry's continued to meet them. In a small, lost voice the young boy whispered something for Harry's ears alone that sent a chill down his spine.

"You will save my sister and all the students of Hogwarts, but it will come at a terrible price. You will lose everything, but gain something eternal. After this is over, you will never be seen again." Dalton's eyes closed in exhaustion and Harry stood back up, collecting himself and turning to look at the Nurse.

"Floo the Ministry, make sure they're informed with haste," His voice deep and commanding as he flicked his wand and his battle robes appeared. He had no modesty anymore and disrobed right there infront of all and sundry, causing the adults to blush and turn away.

As soon as the Medi-witch acknowledged that she'd heard him, he apparated right through the wards of St. Mungo's with a smirk and right into the middle of the battle taking place on Hogwarts' grounds.

Immediately, Harry gathered some of the residual magic of St. Mungo's and Hogwarts' broken wards and sent it out in a blast wave. Any enemy within a 20-yard radius was killed instantly, leaving the defenders untouched. The battle halted for a moment at the massive display of power, allies and not all turning towards his grand entrance to stare with either awe and hope, or fear and hate. Blushing a bit at their stares, and thinking to himself that this was the most ridiculous time to blush, Harry fired a curse at the nearest Death Eater, breaking the moment and resuming the battle.

Harry fought his way up to the castle and stood in front of the massive broken doors, killing any enemy who tried to enter. This bought time for McGonagall to try and repair the doors with some of the older students. He stood there, killing Death Eaters left and right until the doors were fixed. Turning back, he saw that McGonagall and six 7th years were gaping at him as he fired off another curse without looking and it struck it's target perfectly, his Magi senses coming into play.

"Professor," He said as calmly as he could while making sure she could hear him over the noise of the battle. "Don't you think it would be prudent to close the doors now?"

This seemed to snap her from her trance and she gathered the students and closed the doors to the school. Harry put up a powerful shield around him as he drew the rest of the magic from the ruined wards. Harry put his hands to the repaired wood, bracing himself against it. Gathering the magic into his hands, he warded the door with the most powerful wards he could think of. The blood from one of his hands where he had caught a curse only helped to make them stronger. Now, no one could open them from the outside, only those inside could open them.

Turning back to the battle, he felt his shield collapse under the pressure of an overwhelmingly strong curse. Harry was thrown back against the doors with a loud boom. As he slid down the doors, he could see out of the corner of his eye, the faces of McGonagall and some of the students staring at him in horror from the warded windows of the entrance hall. His mind diverged back to when he learned that the windows of Hogwarts were warded separately so students didn't accidently break or fall out of one.

Shaking his dizzy head to clear it, he rolled to the side as another curse flew towards him, watching in satisfaction as the wards around the doors held as it smashed into them.

Getting to his feet, he forcibly pulled his head back in the game as he spotted Voldemort standing less than ten feet from him. He dodged the killing curse as he thought of what to do.

"What? No inane, boorish banter today Tommy boy?" He taunted, trying to buy himself some time to plan. He almost smiled as he heard the gasps from inside the castle and around the battlefield. Yes, he had just taunted the big bad Dark Lord, so what?

Voldemort snarled and sent a barrage of curses his way, which he either dodged or deflected. The fight went on in this manner, both of them taking and giving hits until both were sporting several minor injuries. Sometime during the fight, Hermione had come to guard his back from the Death Eaters that had decided to try to aid their master. They had migrated to the center of the battlefield and Harry could feel his strength waning. He might have unlimited power, but it still took focus and strength to channel it. The only good point was that Voldy looked worse. Both were panting for breath and struggling to dodge the spells sent their way. Eventually a spell would hit one of them, and after another minute one did.

Harry got hit with a powerful disarming spell and his wand, already mostly burned out from the powerful magic coursing through it, shattered. The phoenix feather wand no more than ash in the wind. The few still alive and fighting watched in shock, awe, or horrified silence as it happened.

Harry had forgotten Merlin's wand on his arm and thought he was done for as he watched the Dark Lord smirk and his aura flare as he readied one last mega blast of magic to finish his long time enemy. At that moment, time slowed for Harry as he watched the magic travel down Voldemort's wand. As he anticipated his coming death, a strange memory assaulted him. It was of him sneaking into the living room while Dudley watched Saturday morning cartoons. He had sat in a shadowed corner and watched as a coyote kept trying to get this roadrunner. He was pumping water into this cave to try and draw him out, but the smart roadrunner stepped on the hose. The water backed up and the hose exploded the coyote up into the air.

As he pictured it clearly in his mind, his brain kept focusing on the backed up hose and it exploding until finally he took the impromtue clue from Merlin knows where! It was the only way he could think of to save himself and to not fail those he had promised to save.

In the slowed moment in time, Harry exploded into action. His hands came up and squeezed in front of him, blocking the magic from leaving the tip of Voldemort's wand. The Dark Lord had only a moment to look confused and then horrified as he felt his own magic doubling back down his wand towards him.

With a flash of white light so bright Harry had to shield his eyes to keep from going blind, a blaze of heat flashed over him, burning him alive until he thought he would collapse or turn to ash. Harry felt something inside his head scream piercingly before withering. Then all of a sudden, everything was eerily silent, too quiet to be natural.

Harry slowly opened his eyes to see the field blackened and charred for yards around him. Black lumps of ash and char made the landscape seem lumpy as he failed to comprehend what had just occured. But ignorance couldn't last forever. It was slowly coming to him what was lying on the ground. And that was where he was, standing on the battlefield taking in those who had died.

He felt utterly alone standing by himself in the middle of the destruction. No words came to him for the devastation he felt at this moment. What had happened? And then he thought about it. The backlash must have been more than he thought and it had burned everything in the vicinity, but then why wasn't he dead? Oh, yes. The Horcruxes. He had learned of those and the Hallows whe n he was seventeen and hadn't given much thought to it after that, having had a plan for destroying those. It appeared the magic had done that for him. But at what price?

Looking around, he couldn't say it was worth it. Unbound hair flowing out behind him, Harry turned towards the castle as he heard the giant doors creak open. Headmistress McGonagall and the rest of the students were flooding out of the entrance hall to see the gruesome aftermath. Even the first years, which Harry thought was wrong. They shouldn't see this.

He looked at McGonagall, about to tell her this when he saw her expression. She was looking at him with a mixture of emotion. Despair, horror, awe, anger, joy, confusion, and grief were just some of the ones he saw, all fighting and clashing together in her eyes. That was when the children started crying, and then it all crashed down on him at once.

Everyone he loved, gone. Dead by his hand. Harry then realized he still had Merlin's wand tucked in the holster on his arm. He could've used it instead of doing what he had. It didn't have to be this way. This was his entire fault, all because he forgot he had an extra wand. It was a stupid mistake for people to die for and he wanted to weep, but he couldn't even manage that. He turned from McGonagall and looked up at the sky in anguish, his exhaustion finally catching up to him.

Right as he was about to collapse, several things happened. First, he heard several pairs of running feet and concerned calls of his name, but that wasn't possible! Everyone must hate him now! Even he hated himself for his dumb mistake, how could they not? Second, he imagined the fresco on the ceiling of Merlin's castle, the peaceful glen full of happy creatures and statuesque elves. They all looked so untouched by war or anything real life could throw at you, and in that moment he wished with all his heart to be there.

Somewhere, in a magical castle, in a magical land, a High Elf in a painting on a ceiling smiled mysteriously and laughed in joy, raising his hands to the heavens.

A multi-colored beam of light fell on Harry as he collapsed, to the astonishment of those watching. McGonagall stuttered to a stop in awe and fear as the beam's light grew in intensity and then vanished, taking the boy-who-lived, Savior of the Wizarding World, with it. The old Professor resisted the urge to fall to her knees and cry out in frustrated agony as she lost yet another of her students to unknown means.

Gringotts Bank

On that very same day, just a few moments before everything went to Hell, a lone goblin sat undisturbed at a desk in a small, familiar office. He was looking over a list of clients when all of a sudden the paper burst into flames and one name disappeared from the list. Instead of jumping up in alarm, the goblin simply folded his hands before his face, smiled a grim smile and said in the barest of whispers, "Goodbye, Harry Potter."

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