Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter either. It belongs to its creator J.K. Rowling and probably Warner Bros. too. I'm not too sure about that. This piece of literature is simply the work of a humble fan. I also credit Jim Butcher for various themes, subjects, or references that I may use.
Author Notes: This is a Harry Potter crossover with the Dresden Files the book series. All my knowledge of the Dresden Files comes from the books. I've never seen the TV series. For the timeline that will be stated later. Thanks to the folks at DLP for help with editing.
Awaken Sleeper.
Chapter Seventeen: Burn Them All to Ash
by: Water Mage
A werewolf pack, a lumberjack, and two wizards walk into a bar – it sounded like the start of a bad joke. No one was laughing. Replace bar with a cramped off campus apartment and you have the gist of it.
When the werewolves were fully human they were a group of college co-eds who looked like they should be sunbathing at the beach. The guys could double as Rugby players and the girls had curves like Victoria Secret models. These Alphas, as they called their pack, could shift at will, and Harry was reminded briefly of Remus Lupin and what could never be.
"So you're like some holy roller with a sword?" asked one of the Alpha's, a stocky boy with a red faux hawk.
Jerking his thumb at the loudmouth, Dresden aimed a smirk at Michael. "Kids today."
"I'm my father's humble servant," said Michael with a half smile. "I do the best I can with the tools available to me."
Billy cleared his throat. He was pack leader and his girlfriend, Georgia, sat next to him and earlier kept apologizing about the clutter in the apartment much to Billy's embarrassment. "Is it true your sword was forged using one of the nails from Christ's crucifixion?"
Michael nodded and laid his hand along the hilt of the sword resting across his knees. "This is one of the three Swords of the Cross. Amoracchius has been at my side through good times and bad."
"Holy sword, you're some type of knight of a bright and shiny order, and you kick ass," said Harry, causing all heads to snap in his direction. He shrugged at Dresden's glower. "This is lovely but we need the cliff notes version. We're on a time schedule. World's ending, mate."
Dresden rolled his eyes. "There goes the myth of every British gentlemen being polite."
"Jealous," said Harry with his poshest accent. "You wish you had my manners." He faced Michael, and the humor faded from his face. "You said you were sent here? Should we expect more allies, because we're going to need all the help we can get."
Michael shook his head, mouth tilted in a somber frown. "There are matters the other knights must attend to. I was sent not only to help, but I also carry a message."
"From?" asked Dresden, pointing a finger up toward the ceiling.
"An angel came to me in a vision," said Michael without missing a beat. "I was told an old friend needed my help to battle frightening and terrible forces, and I was lead to you, Harry."
Dresden grinned without much warmth at his old friend. "Welcome to the team. We're in the fourth quarter, and frankly we could use a miracle at this point."
"Wow," Harry muttered. "Optimistic you are not."
Michael faced Harry and he went silent at the utter seriousness on the knight's face. He might look like a lumberjack but Michael Carpenter carried the same supreme confidence that Professor Dumbledore once exuded.
"The angel told me that in the battle to come, Harry Potter must stand up and be counted," said Michael staring into Harry's eyes without blinking, as if he could hear how fast Harry's heart was beating from across the room. "The angel said I mustn't forget to tell you—three words: don't hold back."
"Heavenly voicemail. Great," Dresden said, turning to Harry with a raised eyebrow. "You know what he's talking about?"
Harry's mouth went bone dry, and his eyes were long since fixed on the back of his hands. When he did answer it was quiet, but his tone carried certainty behind it, "Yeah—I know."
He crossed the room muttering an excuse about getting fresh air. He was outside on the porch before anyone could question it. Harry squinted up at the sun. Somewhere there was an identical sun beaming down on a planet he once called home.
Don't hold back. It wasn't a conscious decision on his part, the way he'd been limiting his magic in public. Rather it was a survival instinct on not showing just how different he was from the locals who'd put him on trial for even casting a confundus charm, or outright kill him. Survival instants were a bitch. Magic was much more fluid here. It wasn't a tool like he was taught to use it as. Wizards here couldn't sidestep space/time with a turn, warp reality to expand the dimensions of an interior with a few charms, or call matter into being from nothing. And yet he'd seen and heard of how terrible their magic could be— necromancy to raise entire graveyards, curses that could burn through a family's bloodline, and awful spells that unleashed demons into the mortal world.
Was it really necessary for him to show his hand? Don't hold back. Heaven apparently knew something he didn't. It's not like it was the first time he'd gotten advice from upstairs—he never told anyone about meeting Dumbledore in the limbo-Kings Cross after Voldemort killed him that last battle.
"Don't hold back, huh?" he muttered to the empty air.
His wand felt heavy in his pocket. Well, if this was the end of the world. He might as well go down fighting like the Auror he used to be. Heaven wanted him to act like the wizard he was, and Harry wasn't going to disappoint. If he could get in a shower before then and a little sleep that would just be a bonus.
"Excuse me, you're blocking the stairs."
Harry shook his head clear. The voice came from a scrawny boy carrying a stack of pizza boxes. Harry moved just as the front door opened and Billy came striding out of the apartment. He grinned at the sight of the towering stack.
"I thought I smelled pepperoni. Here let me grab a few of these, Fix," said Billy, transferring the load to his arms and leaving Fix with only one box, which he didn't seem to mind by his relieved smile.
Dresden held the door for them as they darted inside. He stepped onto the porch beside Harry and was about to say something when a young woman came striding across the lawn. Her hair was the same green as the grass, and her blunt face and rather muscular body triggered the thread of knowledge that was pulling at him since spotting Fix moments ago.
"Changeling," Harry murmured.
The white dandelion hair of Fix's was the first clue these two weren't human, or rather weren't fully human. They were half mortal and half fae. They had the choice to remain a mortal or become wholly fae. Changelings they were known as, or Meanwhiles, depending on if people were being rude or not.
"Winter Court," said Harry, staring at the changeling girl. "You and your friend both serve Winter."
She stiffened, shoulders visibly tightening. "Only because we haven't chosen. We're under the rule of the Court of our fae father. Winter. Who are you anyway?"
"Relax, Meryl." Dresden stepped forward, holding out a hand to the woman who was staring at Harry with narrowed eyes under a curtain of muddy green hair. "He's with me."
Harry was marveling at the new sensation of his Summer power reacting to the changeling like a sonar. Her aura gave off an invisible coldness, but it was light like an echo. Like it was not really a part of her, yet nonetheless it was still a tie to Winter as faint as it was. Okay, so that was kind of cool.
"Your friend got a name?"
He tried to appear nonthreatening, because it wasn't his intention to bait her. "Harry Potter."
Meryl's eyes flew open. "You!"
"You've heard of me?" said Harry with faux delight, making Dresden sigh exasperatedly.
"You're Aurora's husband. Ron told us about you," replied Meryl, looking decidedly less hostile now.
Harry's shoulders slumped. "Oh yeah, that. Can't deny that one. Wait, Ron—as in Ronald Reuel, the Summer Knight?"
Meryl nodded. "Ron was our protector. He protected us from the Winter Lady and her Court. They liked to torture me, Fix, and the other changeling kids." She rolled her lips between her teeth and the show of vulnerability made her look suddenly young. "I think Lloyd Slate might have run off with Lily now that Ron's gone."
"The Winter Knight. He got off on pushing around her friend, Lily," Dresden explained under his breath to Harry.
Meryl looked pleadingly at Dresden. "Have you gotten any leads on Lily yet?"
"I'm sorry. Not yet. I will find her though," Dresden promised.
The post-it note Harry found in Reuel's apartment came to mind and its allusive message was clear now the blanks had been filled. The signer of the note was named Meryl and turned out she found him before they found her.
"I'm sorry about Reuel's death," said Harry. She looked away with a sad frown. "I only met him once but he was kind to me. We'll find out who did this."
"They call you the Sun Sorcerer in some circles," said Meryl.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "And in other circles?"
"Aurora's lonely boytoy."
Harry rolled his eyes ignoring Dresden's snort of laughter. That was probably just some Winter Sidhe gossip. Those cold bastards loved relating something back to kinky dungeon sex. It was the way they rolled. Dresden leaned against the porch's railing.
"I think the second one is pretty spot on," said Dresden, crossing his arms with a ridiculous grin.
"So," said Harry, mirroring Dresden's smile. "You're a dick."
"Don't be like that. I thought we had that give and take thing going on."
"I don't recall this."
Meryl walked up the stairs. "We don't have a lot of time left do we?"
Dresden's smile dropped, as he racked a hand through his shaggy hair. "Afraid not. I feel like it's all there I just can't see it."
"Good luck. I hope there's still a world to live in for Lily to come home to." Meryl went into the noisy apartment and shut the door.
A crackle of thunder exploded in the distance disrupting the quiet of the afternoon. Lightning flashed across the sunny sky. It was fascinating to watch but utterly heart stopping knowing that it was precluding supernatural Armageddon.
"The Courts are about to destroy this world," said Harry. He stared at the lightning shooting through the clouds.
"We have to find that damn mantle," said Dresden, scowling. He looked at Harry. "This won't end until we find out who killed Reuel."
Harry shrugged. "I'm open to ideas, mate."
Dresden shoved his hands into his jeans. "We have to talk to the Mothers. They're the strongest of the Queens. They know the most. "
"We'll be lucky if we can get information out of them without getting killed by one of their stray thoughts," Harry pointed out. He knotted his hands together against the rail he leaned against. "They're practically considered goddesses in Faerie."
"Which is why we have to be smart and damn it, a little lucky, too. Look I know this is insane, but we're out of options. And like you said, end of the world. What else have we got to lose, huh?"
A grin tugged at Harry's lips at having his own words thrown back at him, and Harry looked down at the ground so Dresden couldn't see the burgeoning smile. It's been a long time since he met someone who challenged him like this, made him go against the grain and defy the odds. Dresden was a genuinely fascinating person, the closest thing to a Gryffindor here. It was refreshing.
He shuffled his feet. Okay then. "Fine. Looks like I owe the misses a phone call."
If only it were that simple. He hoped that Aurora was in a good mood. She absolutely loved drawing out the opportunity to make Harry jump through hoops for a favor. It was a Sidhe thing. Harry pulled out his wand and then turned to Dresden.
"Mind opening a Way for me?"
"Are you insane?" said Dresden, he paused and held up a hand. "Wait, don't reply to that. Married to a faerie answers that. Anyway, you have no idea what's waiting on the other side if I open a gate here into the Nevernever. A gateway here could lead into Mab's throne room for all you know."
"Aww, are you worried about me?"
"Quit batting your eyelashes at me. It makes you look like a baby clown. And dumb."
"That's rude!" Harry said cheerfully, laughing at Dresden's glower. "Oh, come on. Like Mab's throne room isn't warded against gating directly in. Second, it doesn't matter. We're not going in. Prongs Two is."
Dresden squinted at him suspiciously. "What's that mean?" He sighed loudly at Harry's sphinx like smile, muttering about Elaine and bad manners
Dresden flexed his fingers and there was a tingle in the air as he thrusts his arms out. Dresden's hands blazed with scarlet and gold light, and he muttered a word that made space tremble. The gathered light in his hands cut the air and burned it away like fire to gasoline, like rain water pooling in the street—and reality was torn away as the magic ripped open a gigantic hole between the two planes. The gate looked like a child had taken a pair of scissors to a sheet of construction paper; it was messy and uneven looking at its glowing edges.
"A little sloppy," Dresden said defensively to Harry's incredulous stare. "Not bad without my staff for a focus."
Harry stared at the massive gateway. "I can see how you started a war with the Red Court and still live. Without that staff you're like a flamethrower without a safety valve."
"You have no idea," replied Dresden and left it at that.
Harry cobbled together a happy memory. It definitely wasn't a recent one. An image of Ron and Hermione came to mind—the three of them in the Gryffindor common room, and while they weren't doing anything special, the memory of his two best friends effortlessly lightened his heart with a joyful fondness.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Light exploded from Harry's wand and the glowing form of his patronus galloped into being. Dresden actually jumped back from the incorporeal stag with a curse. The ethereal looking beast looked around for danger and finding none it turned to Harry with an almost expectant stare upon its silvery face.
"Hell's bells," Dresden swore, staring at the patronus. He looked impressed and bewildered all at once. "Did you just conjure a spirit guardian of earth with a goddamn wand wave?"
A what? Harry would have to look that up later. "This is Prongs Two. He's right useful in a fight or for things like this." Harry held the wand tip to his throat and said, "Aurora it's your dear husband. Do me a favor and ring up granny and arrange a chat for me and Dresden. We have to talk to the Mothers like yesterday."
He dragged his wand away from his throat, and a golden orb phased from his skin hovering above the wand's tip. Harry flicked his wand sharply sending the orb catapulting through the air. It shot straight into the side of the stag's long, elegant neck, and the patronus shimmered gold momentarily.
"Go straight to Aurora," Harry ordered.
The stag galloped away so fast that it was flying as it leaped into the gateway. It disappeared between the trees of the dark woodland scene on the other side. Leaves scattered in the wake of the gust of wind it kicked up, blowing green and brown tinted leaves onto the lawn—substance of the spirit word, which fell apart into gelatin like goo, clear and already evaporating, the ectoplasm left over when spirit matter returned to its natural state.
Dresden closed up the gate behind the patronus and fixed Harry with a piercing stare. "Okay, so what was that?"
"Prongs Two," Harry said slowly. He tilted his head. "I thought I said that."
And that earned him an eye roll. "Stars and stones, Potter. What was Prongs One?"
"There was no Prongs One. It was just Prongs. Prongs One sounds terribly silly don't you think. Prongs was my dad and Prongs Two looks just like him, so." Harry shrugged at Dresden's blank stare. "I know. It's not very original. Do you think I should come up with something cooler?"
"Your dad was a deer?"
"Stag technically."
"You're being difficult on purpose, aren't you?"
"At this point it's so easy I can't stop."
Dresden and Harry shared a small smile. It really was kind of fun having a go at each other. At the very least it helped take their minds off everything gong to shit soon. Dresden stared at a car passing by. He didn't take his eyes off it when he asked Harry, "You're not White Council. Magic is different around you. I can't explain it."
It wasn't surprising he was being questioned. It was surprising it hadn't come up sooner. Harry cleared his throat. "I'm a wizard," he took a breath and said, "Like you."
The car turned a corner and disappeared. It was three heartbeats before Dresden's quiet but sure, "Not like me," followed.
Harry didn't have a single clue as to what ideas were growing in Dresden's head. No doubt there was a mental list with possibilities and he was ticking off what Harry could or couldn't be. He hoped Dresden wouldn't go off tattling to the White Council. The man was good in a fight.
"When we soulgazed you saw I was a good guy. Is that enough?"
Dresden rubbed at the shadow of a beard over his left cheek. "Looking at your soul knocked me on my ass. Never had a soulgaze do that."
For Harry it wasn't the first time someone had looked upon his soul and suffered. "So what did you see?"
"What didn't I see," said Dresden grumbling. He paused for a minute, thinking back. "I saw this comet. It was like death and it gave off this green light. It was heading toward you, but there was this girl, a woman really. She was beautiful. Her eyes reminded me of yours, and she had red hair. She's sitting on her knees in front of you and her hands were together, like she was praying. You stood behind her and there were these three lights, they might have been objects or something, they were so bright I couldn't tell—but they kept circling around you. And at your back was a firestorm. I don't know how else to put it. It was like the damn sun was linked to you or something."
Harry was reeling. He wished he could say he didn't understand what the hell Dresden was talking about. But everything was making sense. Too much sense actually. And he didn't know how to feel. Dresden continued talking—
"Then I looked left and right and that's when I went on a bad acid trip. It was you, all of them were you, shoulder to shoulder, and they were the same and different all at once. Then there was this whisper and it was like hundreds and hundreds of people in my head and then it hurt. I think it would've made me insane if I continued looking."
Harry looked at him, and the thing is. The thing is, it wasn't so much shocking that his soul was basically a maelstrom of metaphysical imprints. It was shocking that looking at the core of him drove people to hysterics. And he had no idea why. It couldn't have been Voldemort's handiwork. Every piece of him was destroyed with steel, fire, venom and sacrifice. He was dead as dead got along with his influence.
"Defense mechanism," said Harry, lying through his teeth. "I had my soul tampered with once before. Wasn't fun."
It wasn't a great lie, but there's no way in hell he was admitting to not understanding why his soul brought on madness. That wasn't normal. It didn't even sound human. The sad part was he couldn't even blame Aurora. This was older than his first dealing with faeries.
Dresden didn't poke holes in his lie. He was too busy staring down the street again. A fog rolled in from nowhere and not even half a minute past before a carriage smoothly slid from its depths. It rolled down the street, drawn by a pair of horses. One horse was blue-white like it had been drowned, and its hooves made the ground ice over. The other was grass green, its mane sown with wildflowers. When its hooves touched the ice it melted instantly to pools of water. The carriage was driver-less just like at Hogwarts. The horses came to a halt directly before them, the horses' hooves startling silent and the carriage door swung open. Inside it was empty.
"Definitely not thestrals," Harry muttered. He smoothed his frown into something that could be considered a smile. "Harry Dresden, get your coat. Our rides here."
Dresden took a glance around. The muggles didn't seem to notice the out of place carriage or its otherworldy horses pulling it. Glamour was a faeries most potent magic, and the Mothers wielded it to supreme perfection. If it was enchanted to go unseen it would take a hell of a wizard to break it, probably more than one wizard.
"I'll go get my stuff," said Dresden. "Time to nut up or shut up."
Whereas the Hogwarts carriages were a bumpy ride, this one was so smooth that it felt like they were barely moving. Dresden and Harry sat on opposite benches facing each other. Dresden's gym bag rested between their feet on the floor. Harry toed at the bag and Dresden looked like he was about to stab him in the calf.
"What's in the bag, an armory?"
Dresden shot him an opaque smile. "You'll see."
"Hey now, secrets don't make friends."
"You're a chatty thing, huh?" Dresden asked, glancing out the window. "Hope you ready for this."
Harry was probably more ready than he was. In the back of his mind he always knew in the end he would go head to head with faeries. He'd been running for so long because he didn't want to get sucked into their mess, and here he was riding to see the Queen Mothers themselves. Hopefully they wouldn't tear him apart. Aurora would probably save his life once more, and then he would owe her again. Probably a baby. He shook his head to clear it.
The veil that masked the carriage was so strong that cars gave it a wide berth, like the ministry cars from his world. It slid through traffic without problems and nearly a minute later the fog rolled up again. The mist brushed against the windows and blocked out the view of the city, along with the noise. It was strangely silent except for the hooves of the horses. Dresden hummed the theme of what Harry thought was the Twilight Zone.
"It's not creepy enough or anything."
Dresden chuckled without much mirth. "It's either that or I start thinking too much. And I need a clear mind when talking to the Mothers."
"I hear that," said Harry with a nod. The last thing he needed was for another faerie queen to one-up him. He couldn't shake Aurora after her last machination.
The ride ended not even a full five minutes later, and the door swung open. Harry looked up from withdrawing his wand to witness Dresden zipping open his gym bag. He took out a long staff and a short rod, and a sword cane that he slipped through his belt. Then he pulled out a silver pentacle amulet to lie open on his chest.
"What?" Dresden asked to Harry's stare.
Harry gave him a flat look. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was traveling with Batman. Got enough weapons?"
Dresden made a show of patting down his pockets. "I'm missing my grenades, so no." He smirked at Harry's wand. "Whenever you want to upgrade from that training stick I'll throw a party. We can have ice cream cake."
"I swear to God if that's another crack about me being younger than you," said Harry, as they go out of the carriage.
"Think about it, Hardy Boy."
They took a look around their surroundings. The grass was wet and spongy and they were surrounded by low, rolling hills covered by thick fog. Harry wondered if it was the same fog that veiled the carriage in the mortal world. Trees dotted the landscape, twisted and battered looking things worn by time. It was sad when a place was drearier than the Forbidden Forest.
"We sure aren't in Mab's lands. There's not a lick of frost anywhere," said Harry, peering into the distance. Titania's influence was strong in her dominion and there wasn't a wildflower to be seen. "We're past Titania's reach, too."
"Maybe this is neutral territory," Dresden pointed out, tracking a single raven flying above their heads. "Or the edge of Faerie. There's more to the Nevernever than the realm controlled by the Queens."
Like the Outside and the Netherworld, and his own universe somewhere beyond. Harry snorted. "Trust me. I know."
Dresden shot him a speculating glance, but Harry wasn't elaborating. He was watching the raven now. It landed on a nearby tree. The bird was a sad looking creature. Like everything else here it looked like it had seen better days. It stared at them with beady black eyes.
"You don't think…"
"What?" said Harry, raising an eyebrow. "You don't think we should follow it or something, do you?"
The raven let out a loud caw that carried into the empty air. The carriage started up without warning and it vanished into the mist, even as the raven flapped its decrepit looking wings and settled on another tree branch, a lot farther away. Even from this distance, almost out of sight Harry could feel the thing's eyes on them.
Dresden didn't bother hiding his smug smile. "Does that accurately answer your condescending question?"
"Oh, I see. Being right for once has made you cruel."
"And being wrong hasn't made you any less of a chatterbox."
Harry started forward after the bird. "Really, Dresden, keep on and you might hurt my feelings."
"This bantering makes me feel like we're in a bad buddy cop movie," Dresden replied, as they stalked off across the swampy marsh following the raven, as it flapped from tree to tree. Harry kept his eyes peeled and wand out, because he might be of Summer but there was no telling what lurked in the otherworldy fog creeping around them.
The raven led them to a slopping hill and the ground was wetter here, softer. The mist was no less thick in this place and on a slight rise of ground was a stone cottage. The roof was made of thatch and the lit up windows were bright even in this distance. The raven landed on one of the stone obelisks surrounding the mound in a loose ring. Well, one of the standing ones at least, some fallen and others were cracked. They had seen ages come and go, and would see those that were to come.
"Smells like mildew," said Dresden, as they came to the door.
Harry took a long sniff and nodded. "Smells like dying things, like decay. But there's something else, like roses and the smell of dirt after rain. Weird." He regarded the snowflake carved into the weathered looking door. "Wintermark. Looks like we have the right place."
The door opened with the sound of rusty hinges just as Dresden raised his hand to knock. His eyebrows shot into his hairline and he and Harry shared a look. It shouldn't be creepy, considering the shit he'd seen, but this was the de facto God Queen of the bad fae door they were knocking at. If he wasn't a little nervous then that made him a fucking moron.
The voice that came from inside drifted out in a mere whisper that made the hairs on Harry's neck stand up. "Don't be scared dearies, come in out from there. Winter is coming. You won't like the cold that's returning this year."
If Dresden audibly gulped Harry didn't call him on it. They stepped across the threshold into the cottage. It was all one room, and it looked like he'd stepped back in time about two hundred years or so. The floors were wooden and dry, and the shelves along the walls were old and lined with knickknacks. Like dear Merlin, were those sets of teeth, curved knives set with jewels, an iron horn, and a copper colored skull with fanged teeth and three eye sockets. Near the fireplace was a loom resting in the corner, and a spinning wheel before it. A rusty pair of scissors looked ancient in the fire's light resting on the table beside a rocking chair, occupied. It squeaked as it moved, a shrouded and bundled figure in black cloth moved minutely underneath all that fabric.
"I would think all this was worth it if only to lay eyes on you two fascinating magi," said that whispering thin voice from the chair. "Very fascinating."
A noise of agreement came from the other side of the cottage. Dresden and Harry spun around to face the newcomer who hadn't been there when they entered. The woman was wiping down jars on the shelves and cleaning dust like she'd been doing it all along. She was stooped with age, but there was wisdom and a whisper of power in her green eyes that peered at them from an aged face. "Indeed. I feel it, too. You're to be her spear, Grandson. Come here."
The no was on the tip of his tongue, but Harry didn't care to have it ripped out. "Um," he said unintelligently, crossing over to the woman. "You're Mother Summer?"
"Yes, dear. And this is Mother Winter," she gestured at the creaking chair. "She would stand to get a closer look at you, but the weather isn't agreeing with her yet. She and I have been curious about you. Most curious. The human wizard who lived and lived."
His heart tripped. Harry fought against taking an instinctive step back. "How do you know that?"
"The fire that links you to her connects you to me. I sit at the heart of that flame. I can see all that you are and were, from your first flight from death until you became its Master." Mother Summer stared at him with glittering eyes. She turned to Dresden then. "You've walked a hard road. There's strength in you, boy. You must remind her of—yes, I can see why Mab chose you."
Mother Summer went back to dusting and Harry gave him a look. Dresden cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but um—we're a little pressed for time. We've actually come to ask you ladies some questions."
It was eerie when Winter's head turned slightly toward him, as simultaneously Mother Summer stopped in her cleaning to regard him with sharp eyes. Harry's fingers twitched and it took effort not to draw his wand or apparate the hell out of here. Mother Summer put him on edge with her earlier words. She didn't just claim to know about him, Mother Summer even named dropped his Master of Death title that even few in his world knew about it. He hadn't brought it up since waking up here ever.
"What would you ask of us?" said Summer. "You presume we give answers freely, because you're Sidhe-contracted. We're the Queens of Queens. We answer to no one."
Mother Winter chortled underneath her shawl. "Quick to anger the fire is. Our cooperation isn't free, wizard. Answer your questions we will and you'll answer ours."
Impatience was visible across his face as quick as it appeared and Dresden nodded. "Okay, fair's fair. Ask."
The Mothers didn't dally. They went right in asking him what was more important, the body or the soul. Dresden deliberated and said in a stilted but thorough answer that the soul was more important than the body. Mother Summer smiled and walked to the fire. She removed a baking sheet with a long handle from the flame and set it on a rack to cool.
"He sees it just as she does. But the child is doing what's necessary. Even if it's not our way." Mother Summer sighed and shook her head.
"Reconsider your words, Halcyon Queen," whispered Winter. "Half truths is our way, the Sidhe way. Yet, nevertheless she is what she is. It's her nature now."
"I knew it!" said Dresden, interrupting them. "It's Maeve, isn't it? That's who you're talking about."
If Harry hadn't spent the better part of his life grasping at clues and following the subtle advice of Professor Dumbledore he would've been right there with him. But the patience to see through a parting of information-disguised as tea time stilled his tongue. Mother Summer chuckled as she poured steaming tea into a pair of cups. She added cream and honey and gave one to Mother Winter. They took a sip and it was Winter who eventually answered him.
"Your kind are called wizards for a reason," said Winter in a wheezing voice. "It means, the wise. Use your brain, boy. What will happen tonight?"
Dresden sighed impatiently. "It will be Midsummer and the balance will tilt back to Winter, and Maeve will try and use the Stone Table to steal the Summer Knight's power for keeps."
And that was a damn good theory, Harry had to admit. Things weren't looking good for the Winter Lady. But there was something missing. This was looking like the sorcerer's stone all over again. Then, Harry and Hermione and Ron had been ready to stop Snape at any cost, when in fact it had been Quirrell all along, or Voldemort—he wasn't really sure who was the brains behind that operation in the end.
"Why?" said Harry, speaking up and making them all look at him. "Ask why. No— I mean ask, how. "
Summer let out pleased noise. "Very good, grandson."
It was the only question now. They knew the why's. Theft is theft and power is power. The stolen mantle started a war between Winter and Summer as it should have, both sides expected treachery, and they were gathering now at the Stone Table to do battle.
Dresden crossed his arms, frowning thoughtfully. He started to think out loud. "All that power has to go somewhere. The power of the Summer Knight, his mantle, it can't just exist on its own. It can't just evaporate. It has to have a vessel."
"That's correct," said Winter. "Within one of the Queens or the Knights."
Dresden looked suspiciously at Harry, and Mother Summer shook her head. "Or a Lord."
"Oi!"
"And it isn't with one of the Queens," he murmured aloud.
"It's not," said Summer. "We would sense it, were it so."
"That would mean it's already in another Knight," said Harry. Something was missing, still. "If that's the case, there shouldn't be an imbalance. So that—"
"I got it," said Dresden grimly. His eyes were dark. "There wouldn't be an imbalance if the power has been changed. Unless the new Knight has been changed. Turned into something else, transformed into something that would make all that power useless, trapped and inert."
The Mothers stared silently, their gazes heavy, and the wizards knew they were on the right track.
"Ask it," they said together.
Dresden took a breath. "How does the mantle pass on to the next Knight?"
This time when Mother Summer smiled there wasn't anything warm about it. "It returns to the nearest reflection of itself. To the nearest vessel of Summer. With the power invested in her, she will then choose the next Knight."
Then there was silence.
"No," said Harry, surprising himself with the vehemence behind it.
Dresden wouldn't look at him. "It makes sense. Titania wouldn't go to war against Mab if she knew where the mantle was. Mother Summer wouldn't be telling us this if she did it, so that only leaves—"
Harry clenched and unclenched his right hand and muttered, "Aurora."
"The hour grows near when paths will be chosen and the lost will be found," said Winter.
Mother Summer set her teacup down. "Things must return to their natural order. You will be our hand in this matter."
"The catalyst of change is upon us," continued Winter.
"Be the guiding force upon which the wheel turns."
Dresden held up hands. "Hey now, let's just shut the barn door on that. Can't I just take this to Titania and Mab. That's what I'm supposed to do."
"The time for talking has passed. The Queens have called up the land of Tir Na Nog. The fae go to war this day," said Winter.
Harry frowned. "But can't you two do something. You said you're the Queens of Queens, so stop them. Call Mab and Titnania off. You can make them listen."
Winter's creaky voice made his blood freeze, "Not that simple, lordling."
Summer nodded. "The power we have cannot be used in all matters, even ones as dire as this. Bound, we are, like all ones ascended to the place we sit. We cannot interfere with the Queens or Ladies. It's taboo."
"Typical political malarkey," Dresden muttered. He narrowed his eyes and said with a touch of sarcasm, "What can you do?"
Mother Summer glanced at Harry and then looked again at Dresden, "I? Nothing."
They both turned to Mother Winter sitting in her noisy rocking chair. She lifted an aged, bluish-tinted hand and beckoned Dresden. "Come closer, my daughter's chosen. Winter's Emissary you are."
Dresden jerked and stumbled over to her, like she was a puppet master pulling his strings. He knelt in front of Mother Winter's rocking chair. She lifted a pair of rusted sheers and cut away at the trailing threads of a square cloth she'd been knitting. He took it from her weathered hands.
"You didn't tie it off," said Dresden.
"It wouldn't be, if its purpose is to be utilized," Winter said. "It is an Unraveling."
"A what?"
"An unmaking, boy. As Mab is the Queen of Air and Darkness, I'm the Queen of Time and Destruction. In my hands is the power to bring wreckage. Within these threads is weaved the same power to undo any enchantment done. Touch the cloth to that which must be undone. Unravel the threads. It will be so."
Harry's mouth fell open. She was talking about a magical phenomenon that bordered on the edges of godhood. Some enchantments were forever, bound in the very fabric of reality once spelled. Such an artifact could destroy the magic that breathed life into Hogwarts, or undo the wards of the Ministry, it could even make the Hallows into ordinary pieces of gaudy junk.
Dresden realized the potential too. He started to ask something but seemed to think about it before he asked. He shook his head as if he caught himself at something. His hands were shaking slightly, and Harry was dying to know what enchantment he wanted to wipe away so badly. Dresden swallowed and rose, slipping the folded cloth in his pocket.
"What am I supposed to do with it?" asked Dresden. "Is this a gift?"
"No," Winter's raspy reply came. "It will become clear soon enough, Emissary."
"Please make haste before I lose anymore hair over this matter," said Summer.
"You go with our blessings and all we can do for you," Winter whispered.
"Alright, let's go kick this war in the balls," Dresden muttered. He gave each of them a short bow and turned for the door. Dresden stepped over the threshold and paused when Harry was stopped by Mother Summer grabbing his arm.
Mother Summer's grass green eyes remind him of Aurora's for a split second, and he felt something curl low in his stomach. "You're part of my House now, grandson. Our sigil is the sun with a six-pointed star in its center. Our House words are Burn Them All To Ash. Do not fail your family."
Harry nodded and then his eyes widened as Mother Summer's hand snaked down to his ass. He jumped when she pinched the cheek and that was enough. He mumbled something that could've been sorry or whatthehell, it was hard to tell, because he thought his face was going to melt off from blushing.
The door shut on its own and Harry didn't bother to turn back to gape at the wood. Dresden stared at him as they walked back the way they started. "Incest? I guess that's how the old families did it. Kinky though."
"First of all we're not even blood related, so it's not really like incest, incest," Harry rambled out quickly, and then sucked in his breath, "Bloody hell! I mean, shit. Okay, so again, you're a dick. And how weird was that?"
Dresden raised an eyebrow. "You talking about the weirdo riddle hour we just played, or the fact your grandmother in-law just played ass grab with you."
"I hate you," Harry swore. "And definitely the first one." Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "They never really outright said Aurora did it."
"I know," said Dresden slowly. "But it fits. I don't know her motive, but she's the only one who could redirect the Knight's power."
It freaking hurt but Dresden was right. He didn't even like Aurora, but he had hoped—Harry gritted his teeth. He ran a hand down his face realizing that Dresden hadn't noticed that he had fallen behind, his much longer legs giving him a naturally long stride that wasn't easy to match. Harry saw a shadow dart in the mist. He pulled out his wand and called out just as a figure blurred from the shadows.
Unfortunately it wasn't the only target. Lord Talos shimmered into existence coming at Dresden from under a veil. His sledgehammer slammed into Dresden's face as the wizard made an aborted move to block. He crumpled to the ground before the veil was even fully dropped.
A shift of air and a static of magic made Harry dive away as a club swung into the empty air where his head momentarily was. Korrick's running swing gave him too much momentum to stop in time, as Harry's wand slashed the air, and shockwaves of magic burrowed into the soil rupturing up stone spires from the earth in his direct path. The centaur couldn't halt his forward acceleration as the ground erupted under his hooves and stone spikes impaled nearly every vital organ of his body.
"You…" Korrick coughed up blood and still more oozed from the penetration wounds. The blacksmith and man-at-arms stared at Harry with confusion and blood dribbling down his chin. "You're…just…mortal…trash…"
"Go to Hell." Harry turned his wand clockwise and the spire impaling the centaur's right lung twisted sharply, and the last thing Korrick saw was furious green eyes and he was dead.
The Lord Marshall's hair was in a fighting braid, and he wore glittering, black metal armor made of mail that fit him close, probably for maximum flexibility for his ninja-esque moves. Flashy bastard. Killing him would be a treat. Harry made to apparate when his arm was grabbed in a vice-like grip. He got the sensation of coldness all across his skin as the newcomer that could be no other than the Winter Knight came out under a veil, Elaine close beside him. He caught her sad eyes before her power slipped into his mind like motes of faerie dust each one whispering sleep. Too easy for someone who'd already seen his soul and to the core of him, and her power slipped past his Occlumency shields like cake. Then there was blackness.
Harry came to just as Dresden was matching wits with their four captors. Talos was still his dumb self standing there with an underserved sense of self-importance. He had Harry's wand in his hand and was idly twirling the stick around. Then there was a stranger that could be none other than Lloyd Slate. Dresden wasn't the only one that could play connect-the-dots. Everything was making too much sense now and he was pissed. The Winter Knight wore some strange mix of biker leathers, but there was added bits of mail and a few metal plates added to make it cool or something. Or maybe he was so badass he thought he didn't need a full set of mail. Whatever. He had a sword at his hip and another at his back, and there was a gun at his other hip. His expression of nervous anger made his gaunt face borderline skeletal.
Aurora was the first to notice him before he could analyze the treacherous woman at her side. His wife was clothed in a battle gown made of silver mail that clung to her from the top of her throat down to her wrists and ankles. A garland of living leaves rested upon her pale hair and they were as green as her eyes when she regarded Harry with an unreadable expression. She rested her hand on the hilt of the sword resting on her hip.
"Husband," Aurora said, "I'm glad you're here with us."
Harry stood up and tried to take a step forward only to find some kind of invisible wall blocking his way. He growled in his throat at the circle of toadstools around him. He narrowed his eyes. "A faerie ring. Scared I'm going to get out and curse you from here to the Outside?"
"Yes," said Aurora simply. "What is to come cannot be stopped. Not by you or the winter wizard. Done is done. You'll see this course is right in time. That's why I won't kill you."
It's not like he believed that. She wasn't going to kill him because her power was tied to him and his to her. Kill him and she lost access to his wizardry. Simple. He didn't buy the platitude.
"Oh, goody," Dresden deadpanned, clapping his hands. A glance showed he was trapped in a similar faerie ring.
Aurora turned to him and her voice was too soft, too gentle. "He won't die. But you will."
"Unfair," muttered Dresden. "I hadn't gotten around to revising my Will. I hope someone can find a good home for my cat, then. He's a feisty thing, you see."
"Can I please just kill this bastard," Slate said.
"Psycho," Dresden said under his breath.
Harry sent Dresden a grin that didn't reach his eyes. They were in deep shit, but pretending they weren't seemed like a better alternative. "You're killing it with the one-liners, mate. Catch me up, what'd I miss?"
Dresden shrugged. "Aurora had her own Knight killed. She masterminded Reuel's death, the Faerie War, even this meeting. In fact, she had the Winter Knight kill Reuel—he's like her bitch or something. Elaine took him inside Reuel's building through the Nevernever. Aurora redirected the power of the Summer Knight into Lily, the changeling girl."
"Meryl's friend?" asked Harry, with sudden insight.
"Bingo. She transformed her into a statue." Dresden pointed at Aurora. "You've got her stashed in that secret garden on the roof of the Rothchild. I've seen it. It was right in front of me."
Aurora nodded, stilling Slate's hand that was reaching for his sword. "And what else did you figure out?"
"That Maeve must have ordered Slate to take Elaine out, so they faked her injury. It might have been real but she played it up and you helped. You wanted to keep us worried and off balance."
"So that was you behind those wyldfae attacking us at the lake?" Harry demanded, glaring at her. He wanted his wand so bad. He couldn't even feel Summer fire. The faerie ring made it a distant echo, numbed almost. "Sending the ghoul, too, was a bit of overkill."
Aurora waved a dismissive hand. "I hired no killers. This ghoul was not dispatched by me." She looked at Dresden and even through the faerie ring, Harry could tell she was pushing glamour on him as something pooled into Dresden's eyes or something went out. "Tell me my next objective, Emissary."
"You knew that if you bound up the Summer Knight's mantle, Mother Winter would provide an Unraveling to free it and restore the balance. You waited for her to give it to me. Now you'll take it and the statue of Lily to the Stone Table. You'll use the Unraveling to undo the enchantment and free her from being stone. There you'll kill her on the Stone Table after midnight. The power of the Summer Knight will be Winter's forever. You want the balance of power destroyed. I just don't know why."
"It's like he's Sherlock Holmes," said Slate. He looked pleadingly at Aurora. "Can I please kill him now? His voice is so annoying."
Dresden lifted his chin, freed from Aurora's glamour. "Right back at you, big guy." He held up his hand. "It would be better you don't even talk. You're the dumbest lackey to ever lackey. What do you even get out of this? You know working with her will make you public enemy number one in Winter."
Slate's left eye twitched. He decided to ignore the first part of that and drew himself up. "Maeve thinks she can get away with treating me like shit. That bitch has another thing coming. I'll have Reuel's power and be twice the Knight I am now. Then we'll see who has the biggest balls in Winter. Me or Maeve."
Harry didn't bother telling him that whole thing was absurd. For him to even think that power would go to him was presumptuous. Second if it did work that way, Maeve he could go toe-to-toe with, Mab was on a whole different scale of badass. She was going to make him bitch of Arctis Tor when the score was settled.
"Peace be with you, my Knight," said Aurora, laying a hand on his shoulder. His eyes went a little cloudy at the touch, and Harry shook his head. Glamour."This will all be over soon. I'll make sure of it. This endless battle. Winter and Summer. Summer and Winter. The mindless games and the poor mortals dragged into the plans of things they can't grasp. There must be peace. I will end this senseless cycle tonight."
Dresden shook his head, his pupils blown wide. "The fighting of the courts will send the world into chaos! And if Mab wins then the world will see winters that last a lifetime, if the cold doesn't kill us off first. Then the coming ice age will."
"But there will be peace. So be it."
Harry faced Aurora and stared at her, head on. "Bullshit."
For a fleeting moment, Harry thought he saw a gleam of something like triumph in Aurora's eyes. But the next second, Harry was sure he imagined it, for Aurora's face was just as stonily determined as it had been since he came to.
"Explain yourself," she said in a low voice.
Harry frown returned twice as heavy. "Never once have I ever known you to care about humans so much. You hate Winter. So giving them your Knight's power is so unlike you, I can't even figure it out. What angle are you working?"
"You would know me as well you think if you hadn't run away from me two years ago," Aurora's impassioned voice was cold and sent a shock down Harry's spine.
He almost missed Dresden pleading to Elaine to help them. She was wearing a green cloak and her hair was in a tight braid. In that moment Harry wished that looks could kill. He laughed hollowly at Dresden's attempts to sway Elaine to help them.
"Don't bother, Dresden," Harry said. "Elaine's always been Summer's lapdog. It's always been about saving her own ass. Doesn't matter that people are going to die."
"It's better them than me," said Elaine, grey eyes infinitely sad. "Why shouldn't I pick me?"
"Better us than you, too, huh?" asked Dresden.
Elaine's eyes were filled with unshed tears. "Looks that way."
"It gives me no joy in this, wizard." Aurora nodded at Lloyd Slate. "Kill him, my Knight."
Dresden muttered something a dark smile slid across his face as Slate drew back his blade. Elaine caught Slate's wrist. "Wait."
Aurora looked sharply at Elaine. "What are you doing?"
"Protecting you," said Elaine, staring at Dresden with flat eyes. There were no tears there. There was only an awful blankness that made him shiver. "When you kill a wizard you leave yourself open to his death curse. He'll take you with him if you kill him. If not, you'll wish he had."
Aurora regarded Dresden carefully. "Is he really so strong?"
"Those on the White Council fear him. The Red Court wants him dead for a reason," replied Elaine in a clipped tone. "I wouldn't take a chance. He's one of the most powerful wizards I've ever met."
"What the hell's wrong with you?" Dresden looked wild, his eyes flashing. He looked like he was going to tear Elaine apart. Harry would pay to see that show. "You backstabbing witch. Damn you!"
Elaine and Aurora actually took a minute to talk back and forth about the best way to kill Dresden. Harry felt like he was in the middle of a James Bond movie. He eyed Talos, still lazily twirling his wand like it was a damn baton. Elaine finally settled on, "Drown him, Aurora. Call water and I'll hold him place with a binding of my own. On Harry, too. Mortal magic will last, even after I've left. Your power will leave with you."
Aurora nodded. "Are you certain your magic can hold them both?"
"I know their defenses," Elaine responded, dispassionately. "I'll hold them as long as necessary."
When Aurora looked at Harry he stared into her eyes and tried to find something he could reason with. There was a terrible emptiness in her eyes that he'd never seen before, even at her most inhuman moments. The lights were on, but no one was home.
Elaine murmured something and Dresden suddenly looked like he was trapped under a full body bind. At the same time a tingle raced over Harry's legs. It locked him in standing position, but it wasn't a total bind like Dresden's. He struggled against the invisible restraints like he was trapped in a straight-jacket. Aurora raised her arms and the ground beneath Dresden gurgled and gave a great ripple. It bubbled and suddenly Dresden was slowly sinking beneath the ground. Merlin's might.
"Let's depart," Aurora said, and opened her eyes once her spellwork was done. "The hour's almost upon us. Time for pleasantries is through."
"This isn't over," Harry called out as they started to walk into the mist. Aurora stopped and the entourage did as well. "You better leave me here Aurora, because I swear it I'm coming for all of you."
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and Aurora turned and swept away into the mist. Slate followed at her heels. Talos turned, mouthed for Korrick and there was a horrible cracking sound. Nausea slammed into his gut. Harry watched as his wand fell to the ground in pieces. Talos sneered at him and followed his lady into the mist.
"Good-bye. It's just like old times," said Elaine in a bland tone, before she too followed Aurora into the mist. She had barely spared Harry a glance, and while teary it wasn't a way out.
Dresden was cursing Elaine to Hell and back and only his upper torso was above the ground, and he was slowly but surely still sinking. Harry struggled against his bindings. It was like there was hardened air covering everything below his knees. The mud was now up to Dresden's chest, and Harry struggled so hard he fell over calling out to the other wizard. Dresden let out an odd noise suddenly, it sounded almost pleased.
"Don't worry!" Dresden called out to him now that the mud was at his throat.
"I'm not the one sinking!" Harry shouted back, struggling against the binding. Something was digging into his side. He pulled at it and as he did so, he realized it had been stuck in his back pocket. Cool fingers touched the wood and warmth flooded his veins like nothing else before.
In the back of his head he could hear the roaring of fire, rain water against the forest leaves, and the blooming of flowers in the spring. It was Summer, plain and simple. He stared at the stick, runes etched down one side and there was the sigil of Mother Summer's House carved around the handle, a sun with a six pointed star in its center. Harry stared at the wand, shocked.
"Please make haste before I lose anymore hair over this matter." The words echoed in his head. A wand crafted by the Mother of all Summer using her own hair as a core. It was—Harry gripped the wand tight, feeling warm and alive and strong—brilliant.
Elaine's binding collapsed with a flick of the wand and fire exploded into being around him at the same time. Almost instantly the entire ring went up in a blaze of waist high flames. As Harry walked through the fire, he was already levitating Dresden up from his sinkhole. The older wizard sputtered up mud when Harry sat him down on solid ground. And he was moving.
"Hey, how'd you break Elaine's binding?"
Dresden wiped his face, grinning tiredly and panting. "A bit of her is still the girl I loved. She gave me a clue on how to break the spell. We came up with that binding as kids. Just like old times. You get it?"
"Fine," said Harry, because honestly he wasn't ready to write Elaine off just yet. Someone he knew was playing double agent? Story of his life. "Doesn't excuse Aurora."
Dresden nodded, expression going grim. "You bet it doesn't."
She'd played him for the last time. Aurora was going down.
"I told her never to double cross me." Harry stared into the mist and promised, "I'm going to gank the bitch."
Thanks for the constant reviews about the story. I couldn't manage spare time to write for awhile there, but I finally got a system worked out where I can get some writing done. Things are drifting from canon storyline in SK with Michael and Harry added, and Korrick dead, and will veer even more so in hopefully surprising ways as things continue.