Chapter 13 – Step One
Lillian was the first to wake up late in the morning. Her eyes flickered open, cringing at the light streaming through the window. She wanted to go right back to sleep but through her drowsiness she noticed she had her arms wrapped around Harry's torso hugging him tightly from behind him. A tingle of contentment languidly travelled through her body and she snuggled into him further. She yawned into his neck and felt pins and needles prickling the arm under Harry mercilessly.
She winced and rolled away, drawing her arm sharply as the feeling intensified. "Bloody hell," she groaned and yawned again.
The swift withdrawal of her arm jerked Harry and he awoke from his deep slumber. "Wasshapnin?" he mumbled, eyes still closed but mind shirking of the sleep.
"Pins and needles," Lillian grunted, rubbing her arm, trying to get the blood flowing again. She pushed herself into a sitting position and glared at the room blearily.
Harry, too, sat up on the bed with great effort and blinked rapidly, getting rid of the drowsiness. His stomach growled loudly and it made him wide awake. He summoned his wand and cast the spell to check the time.
"It's almost one," he sighed. "The last time we ate was almost 24 hours ago."
Lillian took a deep breath and shook her head. "Shower first?"
"Together?"
"Why not?" Lillian replied grinning. "We could work ourselves an appetite."
Harry laughed. "I don't know what can be worse than this kind of hunger."
They looked at each other grinning, wanting the same thing. Both moved towards each other simultaneously and pressed their lips together. Heart rates jumped up a notch and the excited elementals shifted closer to each other running their hands through their hair, bringing them as close to each other as possible. The kissing got more heated, icy; in Harry's case and he put his hand on her inner thigh, rising up towards her pussy. He ran his fingers around the edge of her panties, teasing her and slid his hand further up the soft flesh under his Quidditch jersey.
Lillian moaned into his mouth slid her own hands into his shirt, sliding over his hard skin, his broad chest, the taut abdomen, his spine; while they continued their passionate lip lock. She adjusted her position and slid onto his lap.
They never broke lip contact. They sucked, they bit, they wrestled their tongues and it never felt enough.
With Lillian straddling his hips, Harry hand went up her shirt and grasped her breast, squeezing those rubbery capped hillocks while the other hand groped her arse, helping her grind her cloth covered damp pussy over his straining cock.
They broke apart for a moment to allow Lillian to remove the jersey and Harry wasted no time in dipping his mouth over her tits, sucking on them turn by turn.
Lillian moaned and arched her head back, allowing him better access. Supporting her lower back with a hand he arched her back further trailing kisses around her breasts, over her abdomen, the top of her thighs.
He quickly got onto his knees, moved back and laid her back on the bed while continuing the kisses, which were igniting a blaze wherever they touched, inside Lillian. He kissed her thighs, inside and out, went down her calves and all the way to the tip of her toes.
She was gasping and panting, as the fire grew brighter and her toes curled when he kissed her foot. He trailed kisses up the other leg that was built to perfection and paid extra attention to her inner thighs.
He looked up, from between her legs, at her panting face and grinned, his pupils dilated with arousal. He pushed her panty aside, exposing her moist pussy and kissed it softly.
"Haannrgghh!" Lillian gasped, her eyes widening and legs locking around his neck. "H-Harry!"
Harry was delighted with the reaction. He stuck his tongue out and lit a blaze of fire inside Lillian as he trailed his tongue all over her labia lips.
Lillian's abdomen was rising and falling rapidly as her breathing became erratic.
He kissed the hood covering her clit and then pulled it back to lick that highly sensitive cluster of nerves.
"Oh god!" she cried, her hips jerking up. "S-stop!" she said, breathing harshly. "Ha-harry stop!"
Harry pulled back and got up straight, looking at the sexy visage of his girlfriend, panting in confusion.
"I want to do it under the shower," she breathed excitedly.
"Right, that was the plan," Harry said, his breath coming short too. Her moaning voice turned him on greatly.
Lillian quickly removed her panty and Harry divested himself of clothes too. She winked at him and hurried to the shower. Her swaying hips and round arse tugged Harry along behind her with his erect cock bobbing as he hurried behind her.
A wave of his hand turned the ceiling shower on and their lips were on each other's again, this time moving with frenzied desire. With water cascading down on them, Lillian wrapped a leg around Harry's thighs, inviting his cock into her depths.
Harry wrapped his hands around her thigh, lifting it higher for better access while Lillian's warm hands guided his cock into her pussy.
Both moaned when his cock pushed into her tight canal and Lillian wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing his head down. She didn't want to let his lips leave hers. Not when they were sending such incredible bolts of pleasure through her mind.
Harry shuddered when the intense feeling of having a warm, wet, tight and soft pussy engulfing the tip of his cock made his legs go weak. His strength was failing him, unlike the time with their elements in control and the sexual pleasure was weakening his ability to thrust. "F-Freckles!" Harry gasped, tightening his grip on her leg and waist and he pulled her in.
"Lie down," Lillian moaned. She was being split apart inch by inch and at the point of intrusion, there was a fire that was ruining her ability to stand on just one leg. "Lie down," she said again, her voice low and weak.
Harry drew back, unable to go fully in with the way they were and he lay on his back, the water from the ceiling falling all over them.
Lillian crossed her legs over him and stood above, giving him a great view of her dripping cunt and erect tits. She knelt down, placing a knee on either side of his torso and slowly lowered her hips onto his throbbing cock. She grasped his cock in her hand and positioned it below her opening before pushing her weight over it, allowing it to disappear inside. "Nngh!" was the sound that instinctively came from her throat, triggered by his cock. She placed her hands on his chest and slowly sank down, her expression tight with rising pleasure and discomfort. Her mind was straying away from her as she sank, right down to the hilt of his cock.
Harry's eyes were clenched and he was holding her taut thighs, while he fought against the bursting feeling in his balls. How amazing it was, to have your cock buried inside a pussy. He was breathing slowly and trying not to thrust up and hurt Lillian. This was so unlike what they had experienced in their elemental states. It was difficult and felt even more intense.
Her body stayed buried for a few seconds while Lillian mentally and physically adjusted to the penis.
"Move Freckles," Harry groaned and she managed to rise again, shivering at the feeling of it withdrawing before slowly descending back again. She didn't move too much, she didn't think she could handle this pleasure if they fucked like last time. Added to that, her mind was being sent into a tizzy of anxiety because of the intrusion. It felt like his cock wasn't supposed to be there but the pleasure was overriding all such thoughts and discomforts.
Her dilated blue eyes met his lust filled green and removed her hands from his chest and bent down to kiss him.
Harry wrapped his arms around her neck and drew his feet back; helping her move as they kissed and Lillian managed to move her body with a little more control, getting past the anxiety and slight pain. She grinned at him when they finally separated their lips and they gazed into each other's eyes, unblinking, their noses barely a centimetre apart.
Her hair was cascading around his face and after a few minutes of easing into the motions of sex, Harry began to gently raise his hips, meeting her thrusts midway.
Their pace was still slow; they were still pecking each other's lips now and then and panting loudly as they felt the now familiar feeling of climax come closer. Harry fondled her breasts, pinching and pulling her tits making her pussy clamped harder and her reaction was a little gasp and a harder thrust.
Lillian put her elbows on his chest and pushed herself up again. A wild emotion was flooding her senses. It was egging her to move faster and take him deeper. She arched her back moaning and Harry grabbed her waist, helping her rotate on his pelvis. Juices from her sex were coating his stomach and thighs as she moved back and forth, never letting his cock leave her depths, with incredibly harmonized movements. Her eyes were closed, body flushed and her thighs tightened their grip beside his waist as she sensually ran her hands all over her body, whispering indecipherable words.
She rubbed her clit, ran her hands through her hair and down her neck to squeeze her breasts as her gyration got wilder and Harry's thrusts kept pace with near perfect coordination. His wide eyes, filled with to the brim with barely restrained pleasure were riveted on her incredible form and he was thrusting up with greater force and speed.
The sound of the water was lost in the midst of their loud moans, grunts and cries. Their bodies began to move hurriedly, urging their climax nearer which was held at bay behind a door holding back an ocean of pleasure.
The door to Harry's orgasm slammed open and he exploded deep inside her pussy. The ice cold cum reacted with Lillian's fiery pussy and her walls clamped down hard, spilling juices like a new born stream.
They cried out, blinded by their orgasms, thrusting and grinding against each other erratically. Harry's arse lifted off the ground and he spilled rope after rope of freezing cum into Lillian's cunt, triggering multiple orgasms that had Lillian shaking uncontrollably.
Lillian was leaning into him, her teeth biting into his shoulder and Harry's fingers dug into her fleshy arse, keeping his cock buried deep in her until his orgasm subsided. Just like the chill of his semen sent waves of pleasure coursing through her body, her burning pussy had his mind wrapped in a cocktail of a heavy dose of bliss enhanced with a thrilling pain that he didn't want to let go off.
It was the growl and gnaws of hunger that brought them out of their spinning ecstasy and the sound of the water along with their laboured breaths came back, their volumes being turned up as the bliss went out.
Lillian giggled when his cock slid out with a pop and his cum followed; washed away by the water. Harry chuckled too. "Do you think sex would feel this way if you and I were normal humans," Harry whispered.
Lillian stretched her legs, entwining them with his and she lay on his chest with her arms folded and chin resting on them.
The water never stopped. It kept the emotions alive, in a constant state of flow.
"This wasn't just sex," Lillian whispered hoarsely.
The words remained unspoken but their impact was felt. It was unchartered territory for both of them and more so for Harry.
"It wasn't like last time, that's for sure," Harry said quietly. "Last time was…" he chuckled, "It nearly blinded me and I think we were at it for a much longer time."
"Nearly an hour as compared to what...?" She asked him to check and about fifteen minutes had passed since they awoke which meant the actual sex had lasted a little over five minutes.
"Huh," Harry said, a little surprised. "Felt much longer."
Lillian's stomach grumbled again and they finally decided to take the shower that their bodies needed. They soaped each other, laughing while they did it and eventually dried themselves. Lillian dried herself by heating up her body and Harry just rejected the water clinging to his skin.
Finally they dressed and head down to the great hall, one hunger satisfied and the other making itself known ravenously.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
For a moment, when they stepped into the great hall and saw the hundreds of wizards, children and muggles eating and chatting, they felt like nothing had changed in the past year. They were still reasonably innocent students who were going to the great hall like any other day. Nostalgia filled their senses and they realized how much had actually changed.
"Mary!" Hermione's very recognizable voice pierced through the noise in the great hall and before Lillian could react, a blur of bushy hair slammed into her and hugged her tightly. "We heard what you did! Oh my god, Mary! What the hell were you thinking?!" she scolded, her eyes alight with worry, relief and happiness. "You could have been killed!"
Harry rolled his eyes at the melodrama.
"Why didn't you see us the moment you got back?!" she demanded.
Ron was skulking behind Hermione with an odd expression. He seemed to be pleased and indifferent at Lillian's return. "Good to see you Mary," he said. "You've changed a lot."
Hermione took a step back to examine her friend and realized Ron was right. Lillian had grown taller, she had lost the childish looks that defined children of their age and her eyes had a more mature and powerful feel to them.
"What happened to you?" Hermione asked, horrified at the massive changes.
Harry was standing beside Lillian, but his existence was completely ignored. "I'm going to eat," he said to Lillian. "Are you going to join me or catch up?"
"Come on, Hermione," Lillian said grinning. "A lot can change in a week and apparently I did." She snaked her arm around Hermione's shoulder and dragged her along to the long tables that were loaded with food that wasn't tinned.
It made Lillian and Harry drool.
Hermione's questions turned into a dull buzz and Lillian began to load her plate with relish and Harry bypassed the plates and shoved the delicious steak and beans straight into his mouth.
"My god," Harry moaned. "This is unreal!"
"Yousaidit," Lillian said through a mouth full of mashed potatoes.
"Are you even listening to me?!" Hermione shouted. She wanted to know what happened to Lillian was Lillian was ignoring her completely.
"Let her eat, Hermione," Harry barked. "Its been a long trip and you harassing her for answers is not helping."
Hermione grew indignant but Ron put a hand on her shoulder calming her down. Lillian raised an eyebrow at the display. Now when had that happened? She wondered; Ron calming Hermione down with just a touch? That was even more unreal. Had they really been gone for a couple of weeks?
"We spent most of the time looking for our target, Hermione," Lillian said. "And when we found him, we were smart enough to stay hidden until we completed our mission."
"Which was?" Hermione pressed, unyielding.
"Capture him and find out about their operations," Harry said smoothly. "He's in Croaker's custody now."
Neither Hermione nor Ron believed him for a second. "And what about the vampire king?! The whole castle is talking about it and not to mention Dumbledore returning with monsters that aren't in any books I've ever read!"
"You've read all the books the world has to offer Hermione?" Harry asked laughing. "That's quite the boast, don't you think?"
"That's not what I meant."
"No, it certainly wasn't," Harry retorted.
"Let's not fight please," Ron said softly.
Harry and Lillian exchanged another bemused look at each other. What had gotten into Ron?
"I have to ask," Harry said, "Why is Hermione doing all the questioning and Ron being so meek?"
Hermione's expression turned dull and Ron looked away.
"What?" Lillian asked, now afraid.
Hermione looked at Ron and he just nodded. "We lost Mr. Weasley and Charlie on the Asian front," she said painfully.
"Oh my god; I'm so sorry Ron!"
"This is war, isn't it," he said indifferently. "We're not the only ones to lose family." He got up and slunk away suddenly and Hermione followed him.
"Gloomy," Harry muttered.
"Don't be insensitive," Lillian hissed. "I should go after him."
"Eat and go," Harry said firmly. "We're not going to be here for long, remember that. The war isn't over and Voldemort is not gone. The appearance of the Drakons shifted the power in our favour but you can guarantee the other side is going to get new reinforcements too."
"Depressing," Lillian retorted, not swayed in the slightest. "I'll eat after I talk with Ron. He needs to know I'm there for him."
Harry rolled his eyes. "I really can't bring myself to care."
His words invoked a spike of anger in Lillian but she held it back. "You should try," she said quietly and got up to follow Ron and Hermione.
Harry knew he had made a mistake, but he couldn't help but tell the truth. He really didn't care. He cared about two things. One was Sirius and the other was… it was her and just thinking about it sent jitters of uneasiness through him.
He sighed and mentally thumped the thoughts to the back of his mind. He finished his meal alone and after drinking a glass of grape juice, he made his way to the lake. There were just too many emotions playing checkers in his head and occlumency was needed to clear the board.
As it turned out, he needn't had to worry because all thoughts were silenced when the six foot tall Drakon intercepted him by smashing into the ground a few metres ahead of him. The ground cracked, magic filling the cracks and then it reformed as the light dissipated. The Drakon's body glowed brightly and its wings folded and disappeared into its back.
"Where is your partner?" it thundered as softly as possible. Its voice was too powerful to be soft.
"She's busy consoling some guy," Harry grunted, continuing his walk.
The Drakon got in stride and Harry could feel the magic clashing against him. This was the first time he had felt magic so strong in its ambient form.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Harry asked. He extended his own ambient magic to its full power in attempt to measure whether he was capable of subduing this magnificent creature.
"Your nature," the Drakon said. He too flared his magic and Harry could feel its power pushing his magic back with ease. The ring of silver flickered in his eyes as he dug deep into his magical core and increased the strength of his magic.
"My nature?"
"I can see the threads that draw you to darkness. They are strong in you, just as strong as the threads that bind you to our side."
"So?"
"When Evil returns, those threads will pull hard. They will twist your mind and encourage you to change sides. I am here to ensure that doesn't happen."
Harry laughed. "I could care less what you are here to ensure or not ensure," he said. "My threads or whatever the hell you want to call it, are not confused as to which side they fight for."
The Drakon was silent for a moment, but their invisible battle intensified. Its body glowed brighter and passing people stopped and stared at the Elemental and Drakon. Harry summoned his element to full power and viciously stabbed his magic against the Drakon's magic.
He was winning and a barely noticeable sign of strain appeared in the Drakon's feline eyes.
"You are strong," it rumbled. "The more you use more magic, the stronger you get. The growth is extraordinary."
"Thanks," Harry grunted and by mutual consent, not by words but by magic, their short battle was over.
"What do you know about your kind, Harry Potter? This is what I truly wanted to talk to you about. I know you have questions and I have the answers."
Hundreds of thoughts bombarded his senses, all of them wanting to be heard first. Harry decided to go for the one that had been affecting him so deeply this past year.
"The lust for battle," he asked. "Why is it so intense and why does my element like it?"
"The power summoned by the humans was through a dimensional portal that was aimed at finding a power capable of standing above all living magical creatures. Such power is born only through lust for violence, something that is in tune with Evil's belief. Every time you use this power, you lose a part of yourself to this lust. You can either crush this feeling or learn to live with it."
"Will it make me insane?"
"That depends on your own mental strength. Fifty humans bound this magic to their core and twenty nine went mad with the power and had to be put down. You and your partner aren't even close to insanity."
He sniffed in the air and curled his nonexistent lips into something like a smile. "I can smell what you both have been doing to counter the effects of the blood lust."
Harry snorted. "What can't you sense?" he said sarcastically. "Is your nose a mind reader or something?"
"No matter what happens," the Drakon said, ignoring the jibe, "Do not let the darkness in you overpower your righteousness."
Harry rolled his eyes. He was finding this creature to be quite full of shit. "What about you? What sets you so apart from our tendencies to embrace darkness? Why are you the moral authority when you are capable of levelling cities with just a couple of breaths? And what's with this ridiculous way of referring to your side as Good and the other Evil? I mean, isn't it a kind of arrogance to call yourself the forces of Good?!"
Steam rose from the body of the beast with a hiss. Its eyes contracted and magic expanded, but Harry was easily able to stand up to its power. Most his annoyance stemmed from his stupid statement to Lillian, but for some reason he couldn't stand it when this Drakon spoke to him like he was going to be responsible for the destruction of Good.
"Humans came up with the names," it said. "We called the other side the enemy and nothing more. Humans are an anomaly which resulted in the shift of power. If it weren't for humans, then this world would still be locked in an eternal battle."
"So then why do you distrust us?"
"Because your species cannot be trusted, it's as simple as that. Do you trust all the members of your species unconditionally?"
Harry was silent.
"I thought not. We do not question our existence. We know our purpose and we trust all life created by Good. We exist in harmony and have existed since the end of the first war in peace. Can you say the same for humans?"
"So how did Good and Evil come to exist in the first place?" Harry asked.
"There is one common link between all life," the Drakon said. "Water."
Harry was startled. That was his element.
"All I can tell you is through water - the root for all life, came magic and through magic came two powers whose will to live is unmatched. We are the creations of one of those powers and humans are a result of both. Do not think to hard about it, it's just the way it is."
Harry sighed.
"Do you want to ask me anything else?"
Harry raked through his mind for a moment before reaching a startling question. "You said Evil is like this big black smoke of dark magic right?" he asked slowly.
The Drakon nodded. "It is a being of magic; it has no particular physical form."
"So then where is Good? If it was undefeated then where is it?"
"After Evil took refuge in a dimension of its own making, Good adopted the same method to transfer its consciousness, feelings and power to all life. Good is magic that is all around you. It the magic you channel through your wand and it is the power that induces feelings of love, empathy, forgiveness, happiness. In contrast Evil is what inspires greed, violence, destruction, murder, the list goes on. The mode of battle changed after Evil's defeat. Humans were now the means to victory and in a sense you could say both sides were trying to influence them. The difference was Evil used the last threads of its power to create something that could corrupt and convert the magic of a human allowing it to steal it and power itself."
Harry absorbed the words and dissected them. "So we are pawns," Harry said acidly.
"To Evil you are," the Drakon replied immediately.
Silence relapsed and Harry stared at the seemingly endless stretch of water of the lake.
"I refuse to believe it," Harry said after a while.
"What?"
"We are not pawns or tools. We are not an accident of two insane sides that have a single track mind. We were born into existence to end your mindless war and build a world based on the entire spectrum of emotions. Are you telling me that you can feel only emotions of kindness, love, happiness and all that horseshit? You enjoy killing just as much as what we call Evil. You get angry when I oppose you and you said it yourself, you hate humans. Isn't hate an emotion, ahem, in tune with Evil?"
"You do not have a clue about what goes on in our souls," the Drakon said.
"And I don't want to know," Harry retorted. "Let's make this simple. You are here to help us defeat your enemy. Lillian and I are the elements that can help you win this war. You need us just as much as we need you, so stop disrespecting my kind and have the courage to return the respect we have for you."
The Drakon's furious eyes were crackling with power. But it didn't attack and instead its wings erupted out of its back and it rocketed into the sky before disappearing in a burst of magic.
"Good and Evil," Harry scoffed. "What a load of crap."
A burden had been lifted from Harry's shoulders. He had wanted to say this for a long time and saying it to the Drakon gave him a sense of calm. He felt more at ease and his mind was free of the doubts about the past and his role in the present.
There was no good or evil. There was just power and three sides vying for the most of it.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Several hours later
Harry's talk with the Drakon had made him realize something else as well. He had to get reduce his tendency of being cold hearted and indifferent to the pain of others; at least to the pain and suffering of those who revolved around the people he cared about.
He enjoyed being with Lillian. He liked it and he didn't want to lose the relationship because of the wall he had built around his heart. His past with the Dursley's had damaged him but he was finally ready to move on and forget the injustice of the past. There were friends to be made and bonds to be formed. He was not going to let the hate that the Dursley's had pounded him with during his childhood guide his heart anymore. Sirius was the first to crack that wall and Lillian was slowly filling it. It was time to throw away the shackles of his past and embrace the future.
With that thought in mind, he made his way to the Gryffindor tower and searched for Lillian and her friends.
He found them by the fireplace. It wasn't just Lillian, Hermione and Ron. All the Weasley's, Blaise and even Draco sat there, in the cosy room. Orange light was streaming through the open windows as the sun set and warmth was being radiated from the fireplace.
Dozens of teenagers he didn't recognize were there too, talking and joking with the students of Hogwarts. Harry summoned his courage and joined the group.
They were surprised to see him.
"Harry!" Lillian said. "I've been looking for you all over the castle. Where did you disappear?"
"I was talking with the Drakon," Harry replied.
Silence befell the common room. Hundreds of eyes filled with awe and excitement looked to him, hoping for an elaboration.
"You alright there, Harry?" Blaise asked smiling. Draco and he were playing a game of chess and the winner got to challenge Ron.
"I'm good," Harry replied. "You guys holding up okay?"
"Potter was talking with the Drakon," someone whispered in awe. The whisper was loud enough to travel the length of the room and muttering broke out.
"Anyway," Harry said uncomfortably. "I came here to talk to Ron and you guys as well," he said, making eye contact with all the Weasley children. "I'm very sorry for your loss and if there's anything I can do… just… I mean… well, say it."
Ginny responded immediately. "It means a lot coming from you Harry," she said, smiling. "Thank you so much!"
"Yeah," George mumbled and a host of weak smiles and words of acknowledgement greeted him.
Harry wanted to roll his eyes and say something sarcastic at the over flow of sappy emotion but he held himself back and fixed a polite smile on his face. "I know you guys must be having a hard time and we will avenge your family's loss and everyone else's as well," he said.
"I know we will," Ron said. "Say, do you want to join us?"
"Na, I got to find Dumbledore," Harry said, declining the offer.
Lillian was staring at him, mouth open, throughout his short conversation. Her mind had short circuited the moment he offered his condolences to the Weasley's. She couldn't believe Harry had brought himself to do that and she was feeling an unbelievable amount of shock and happiness as well.
"But damn Potter," George said suddenly, grinning. "Both you and Mary have aged a couple of years in a week! What the hell did you guys do?! Was the mission inside a freaking time machine?"
Harry laughed. "Couldn't tell you," he said shrugging. "It's a mystery to us as well. Anyway, I'll see you guys around."
He turned and left.
Lillian cursed and scrambled to her feet. "Wait up!" she shouted, running after him. She caught up to him on the other side of the Fat Lady and stood on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. "That was for…"
"I know what it was for," Harry interrupted. He didn't want to hear her say the words but the smile that grew on his face after her kiss was difficult to remove.
"Why?" she asked instead, keeping pace with him as they walked towards the headmaster's office. She wanted to know the reason.
"Something the Drakon said," Harry mumbled.
Lillian looked at him expectantly, waiting for an elaboration.
Harry sighed. "They don't trust us. They don't respect us because we don't even respect our own kind. He was worried about me turning against them and he gave me some bullshit about how things went down in the past."
"So what changed?" Lillian asked. It wasn't like this was something new that they had never known. What was it that made Harry change?
Harry heaved another sigh. "I grew up distrusting everything and everyone around me except for magic. I figured it was time to change that."
"Corny," Lillian commented grinning.
"Shut up," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "What have you been doing all day?"
"Answering thousands of questions mostly," she said. "The most taxing round was when Sarah cornered me and quizzed me about our roll in the hay."
Harry raised his eyebrows in interest. "And?"
Lillian blushed. "She was very impressed and envious. She also had a lot of advice to give as well."
"Heh."
"She was stunned by our timings; especially yours."
"We're gods among mortals, Freckles," Harry joked, adopting a deep and superior tone. "Any advice you want to share with me?"
"Well, Mr. God," Lillian retorted sarcastically, "You might want to keep it in your pants for now. We're here."
"Harry Potter and Lillian Austin, here to see Albus Dumbledore," Harry said to the Gargoyles. The gargoyles jumped aside, revealing the moving spiral staircase.
Harry didn't bother knocking and twisted the door knob open. Oddly the office was empty but another door was open on the other side and they walked through it into a room that was way out of character to be in Hogwarts.
Casey, Sarah, Dumbledore and more muggles in uniform were inside and they were surrounded by large flat screens, computers and wires linked to devices they had never seen before. It was a surveillance room and the elementals were stunned to find such a room in a castle saturated with magic.
"Harry, Lillian!" Dumbledore said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"What's going on?" Lillian asked.
"Ground teams waiting for you command General," voices crackled over through speakers attached around the room.
"The word of the hour is Trident," Casey said tersely into his microphone.
Harry looked closely at the monitors and realized they were satellite images of all the cities that Voldemort had remodelled. There was one Drakon with every team of muggles and wizards and they were armed to the teeth, ready to reoccupy the world.
It was breathtaking - the moment when every Drakon on screen took a deep breath and spewed a column of magic so powerful that the wards protecting the magical cities were destroyed in an instant. Hundreds of soldiers, armed with weapons created by the formerly known as - Department of Mysteries streamed in through the gates of the cities. Every city had a magnificent entrance gate even if there were no walls around it. Their walls were the wards and now the wards were gone.
"Hey Professor," Harry whispered, getting close to Dumbledore.
"Yes?"
"What about all those people living in those cities? There's got to be thousands of them!"
"Hundreds of thousands Harry," Dumbledore murmured. "We're going to keep them confined to the city for now. There's no place where we can hold them prisoner."
"Where did they all come from? How come they never sided with us?"
"It was the Order of the Phoenix which was fighting the war with the little too late support of the Ministry," Dumbledore replied. "One percent of the magical population is what we are Harry."
"Damn," Harry whispered. "What are we going to do with all those traitors?"
"Nothing for now. Look closely, no one inside the cities is even putting up a fight."
Dumbledore was right. As the armies of the Resistance poured into Voldemort's cities, there were dozens of wizards waving white flags in surrender. No one was even trying to oppose them. There were no signs of the Werewolves, Vampires, Dementors or the hybrids that Voldemort was breeding. The dark army had gone into hiding abandoning the citizens they had recruited to populate their cities.
"I spoke with the Drakon by the way," Harry added, a little annoyance creeping into his voice.
Dumbledore smiled. "They were worried about your wand primarily," he said. "Apparently, since it is a creation of Evil, only someone capable of being a vessel can be the master of it."
Harry scoffed.
"I told them their worries were baseless and they shouldn't suspect you of being anything but a force for righteousness."
"They didn't believe you," Harry said. "Bunch of pricks the lot of them. They could have ended this madness centuries ago if only they had the balls to do it."
Dumbledore clucked his tongue in disapproval of the language. "I saw their realm Harry," he said. "I have never seen such a world of peace and beauty. It was truly magnificent."
A few feet away, Lillian was apologizing to Chuck.
"How could you not even use the weapons even once!" he was saying, feeling crushed at the dismissal of his awesome hand guns. "The entire army is now equipped with various models of it!"
Lillian curled her fingers into the shape of a gun. "This hand is a hundred times more powerful than any weapon you could arm me with," she said haughtily.
Sarah sniggered at Chuck's crestfallen expression.
"Will you morons keep it down?!" Casey snapped loudly. "We're in the middle of an operation here. Either keep it down or leave!"
"So where are they?" Chuck asked sourly.
"After the first day, they just felt uncomfortable and annoying so we stashed them in our backpacks. But they sure are awesome."
"How awesome could they be if you forgot about their existence," Chuck grumbled. "The others loved it."
"Stop whining Chuck," Sarah said, rubbing salt into his wounded pride. "Science isn't everything for some people."
"Magic is powering every piece of equipment in this room, Sarah," he retorted. "How do you think we accomplished that?!"
"Zone one is clear," a voice crackled over the radio. The army was securing the cities in parts, leaving behind a small squadron at every zone. The Drakons were standing outside the city while the humans swarmed inside.
Harry and Dumbledore continued their conversation in the midst of military codes and commands.
"Imagine this tree," Dumbledore whispered. "This gargantuan tree, the size of an entire city, rising into the sky beyond the clouds and its branches moulded into homes. This endless tree that is home to thousands of elves, who live in this tree without the slightest worry about anything bad and harmful to them."
"Sounds perfect," Harry drawled, not really interested.
"It was, it is perfect Harry," Dumbledore breathed, his eyes shining with wonder. "They exist without conflict. They can't even comprehend turning on each other," he said. "The Elves live above the ground. The Dwarves live under the ground among another mind bending network of roots and Earth. There was an ocean around this tree and these creatures of water, called Neytons lived in the ocean. All of them coexist with harmony binding them together. It made me realize what harmful beings humans really are."
"Not you too," Harry groaned. "Perfect means there is no room for growth professor! I thought you'd know that! They are a stagnated race who, I'm pretty sure haven't changed a bit since they were created. As far as I'm concerned they're a bunch of flaccid dicks."
"Your language seems to have taken a hit since I left," Dumbledore said. "But don't judge them based on the Drakon alone," he said knowingly. "The Drakons are the guardians of their realm. They are the power created to protect every life that lives behind those gates. Each species that lives in that realm has a role. The Elves are masters at healing. The Dwarves can forge any stone, any metal into a tool that will last for eternity. The Drakons are the guards and the Neytons are the providers."
"Providers?"
"That's what they told me. The can and will provide anything the realm needs."
Harry sighed. "Well you can have wet dreams about that realm. What about the whereabouts of Voldemort? That should be more important right now. If we can kill him now, then we can systematically eviscerate any means for Evil to come back."
Dumbledore hesitated in his reply and Harry's eyes widened. "They want it to come back!" he exclaimed. "That's why the Drakon was interrogating me. They want to know whether I'm up to the task!" he shouted furiously.
"They have a compass," Dumbledore said softly. "It measures the chances of Evil returning and lately it's been fluctuating a lot."
Harry dug his hands into his pocket and removed the compass given to him by Flamel. He threw it and Dumbledore with betrayal in his eyes. "Something like that? It's at seventy percent now," he hissed. "I check it every single day."
"Before you direct all your anger towards me, you should know that I vetoed their plan immediately."
Harry's mouth shut abruptly and he looked at Dumbledore in confusion. "You are not a pawn Harry," Dumbledore said gently. "I would never let anyone treat you that way. I am on your side so please don't forget that."
"Sorry," Harry apologized, feeling all the anger leave his body in a rush. "It's just that that Drakon really got under my skin."
"It's his duty to ensure nothing can turn against our side. Humans let them down in the past and they don't want to see it happening again," Dumbledore said.
"City has been captured," several voices crackled over the radio one after the other.
The muggles monitoring the drones and satellites cheered wildly.
"No resistance from the enemy?" Casey questioned.
"None at all. They had white flags ready."
Casey was worried and he wasn't the only one. "We have to find Voldemort," he growled. "No one leaves the city until we dose every last one of them with truth serum," he barked into the radio.
"Roger that."
"I hope Croaker is ready," Casey said.
"He'll show himself when he is," Dumbledore said calmly.
Casey grumbled under his breath. "Chuck!" he barked. "Any luck on Voldemort's hideout?"
Chuck shook his head, "No General. We're scouring every part of the globe but so far we got nothing except nuclear wastelands."
The General clicked on a switch on the radio panel connecting him to Sirius, who was in New York, the magical version. "Any hits on the atmosphere machine, Black?" he asked.
"We found it but it's a complex runic structure," Sirius replied. "Moody, Bill and I are working on duplicating it."
"Keep me posted," Casey said.
The entire operation had taken less than two hours.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Midnight - The Forbidden forest
"The Hummingdinger hums away, bringing humming hummers here, all the way the hum and sing, the Hummingdinger song. Their voices are invisible, visible to those who hear, the Hummingdinger song. Snorkacks, Snorkack, Snorkacks love the humming song, they sneak and crawl to the humming song, oh where, oh where, oh where."
The spectre of the Witch Queen Nefertari, a pale green distorted ghostly appearance of the former queen, was attracted to this strange language. The voice belonged to a human, a powerful human that was a compatible host, it though excitedly. How long had she been floating around looking for a vessel capable of hosting her spirit! She floated closer to the soft singing and observed a young girl plucking mushrooms from the foot of a tree.
She had long blonde hair, nearly touching the back of her knees. She was thin and frail looking with mysterious grey eyes that were suddenly looking at the creepy visage of the spectre. Those eyes, brimming with hidden power called out to the female spectre and with a screech, it shot itself into the body of her new host.
What the Witch Queen expected to happen was not even close to what actually happened. The spectre had expected an easy grasp on the young girl's soul. She had expected to crush it and take over the lovely body to once again assert her dominance on the world of men but instead she was assaulted by images and sounds in the millions.
Two shrill screaming voices mixed and tore from the young girls vocal cords and one soul was almost instantly taken over by the other.
Luna Lovegood blinked as her blurry world turned razor sharp and for the first time since her mother's soul departed the world, she was able to think and see clearly. She could differentiate between every dimension that her eyes were able to watch and more frighteningly, the soul, personality and power of the Witch Queen was absorbed by her own soul.
Strength of a different kind rushed through her veins and her grey eyes glowed eerie green. Her mind dissected every dimension she could look through and she found the answer to the most important question in the world.
"Snorkacks are in Canada!" she exclaimed in delight.