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 Nineteen: The Blood Soaked Lord and his Lady
by: Water Mage
The Summer Lord stood at the crest of the hill of the Stone Table with all eyes upon him. He was sweaty, bleeding from multiple lacerations and breathing heavily, but his green eyes were as piercing as ever. Right now they burned with anger and within them shone a promise waiting to be fulfilled.
"You," Aurora whispered into the sudden silence.
Harry looked up at her through his lashes, glaring. "Three years ago I told you it would come to this if you ever betrayed me."
She was a vision in her gleaming battle gown. The stars shimmered in the twilight above and the light of the Stone Table was aglow around Aurora. In that moment she looked like a shining angel from heaven sent down to enact God's vengeance upon the world. And Harry was the blood covered mortal standing in her way. He readied his wand. So be it.
"You can't stop this. Change is coming, my husband. There will finally be balance." Aurora's eyes were bright and there was an unyielding fervor lurking there. She really believed what she was saying. Nothing was more powerful than belief in a cause. Voldemort taught him that. "The cycle of mindless struggle ends now! The wheel of destiny will turn no more."
"People are going to die, Aurora!" Dresden snapped, pushing away from Talos.
"After death comes rebirth." She smacked Fix away with a backhanded slap and the force sent him tumbling down the hill to its bottom. Aurora clenched the Unraveling in her hand. "I won't be stopped by anyone be they wizard, beastchanger, heaven," Her eyes slid from person to person and then she said, looking at Harry, "Or family."
Harry made sure Meryl was stabilized. The wound was healed but she needed time to recover. He stood up. "You know I can't let you do this."
"Mutually assured destruction, I remember your words," said Aurora, there wasn't a trace of emotion in her voice now. It was flat and her face was perfectly composed. "Now you hear mine, I am a queen of the Summer Court. Do you really think you're a match?"
The White Wand was so very warm in his hand. "You didn't marry me just for my looks, sweetheart."
There was a loud bang and a viridian shield flared briefly two inches in front of Aurora, concentric circles of pale light expanded out from the bullet's impact. Harry held a gun in his left hand, barrel smoking, and he innocently smiled at the surprise on Aurora's face.
Harry shrugged. "Well I had to try."
That broke whatever spell that was freezing everyone's movements. Somewhere someone yelled a war cry and the fight was back on. The hill was charged with a renewed sense of vigor as the brief interlude seemed to rouse both sides back to their purpose. The wolves fanned out around the mounted Sidhe cavalry, flanking the soldiers around the front and rear and leaping through the air to drag them off their steeds with their jaws clamped tight around whatever body part in reach. The wolves nimbly avoided the spears jabbed at them by working as a pack. A wolf darted in to distract a soldier only to jump away, and then another would repeat the maneuver, distracting the Sidhe from seeing another attack from their blind side—and a honey colored wolf blurred into motion ripping into the jugular of a warrior in yellow armor.
A barrage purple pulses blasted out uphill each accompanied by a flash of silver fire. Elaine ran down the hillside to flat ground throwing out at an arm and another pulse speared the air only to be cleaved into nothing by Amoracchius glowing blade. Over the next ten seconds a dozen more blasts followed, each one Michael deflected or evaded by a dropped shoulder or a sidestep, moves that bordered on lucky but the sword's holy light whispered at a secret power, a higher being's Grace.
Elaine was decked out in green crysteel armor, but that wouldn't protect her against a heaven blessed blade, and she knew that. So she wisely kept her distance from the knight, holding him off with lightning and shadow and those pulses of pure force. Her braid whipped over her shoulder as she skidded to a halt mid run, thrusting her palms in the direction of the ground and shouting a spell in Egyptian.
Michael grunted as black holes sporadically appeared in his path in huge, gaping maws beneath his feet. He jumped over one and spun out of the path of another. The insides of the portals dripped entropic eddies and a pale glow that shone light on some abysmal land of the Nevernever. If he fell through one he'd survive but who knows what lived on the other side of those Ways.
Nearby, Dresden leveled his blasting rod in Talos's face, and the Lord Marshall didn't have time to react against the spell exploding in his face at point blank range. Angry red light lit up between them and Talos went soaring downhill landing at the bottom in a crumble, armor visibly smoking from the blast. There wasn't much time. Dresden ran downhill raising his hand as he went, two middle fingers curled into his palm and the others extended out, muttering the counterspell in a string of Latin. He swiped savagely at the air with his staff, and the pits closed on his command, that was narrowly close to dragging Michael down into some forgotten land of the Nevernever.
"Justin taught us that one, Elaine. Forgot I know the counterspell?" said Dresden, panting heavily. He pointed his staff and rod at her position.
Elaine's gray eyes were hooded. "I haven't forgotten anything."
Then the whole world twisted and turned, molecules vibrated, as a sense of wrongness swept through the valley. Harry lifted his head to the table and knew that doom was at hand. Aurora held the Unraveling to the statue of Lily upon the table, threads coming apart beneath slender fingers, and with it the stars screamed as the universe was defiled. In this world when life was transmogrified into non-life there's no coming back, the spell was constant and netted into the universe as an eternal variable, that life was no more. The end.
As Aurora undid the Unraveling, she defied the universe and returned another's fate back into alignment. Everyone felt a terrible ache arising in their heart, raking at their minds with an awful feeling of nausea as gravity warped around them. But in that moment of struggle a voice broke through the entropic wave of warring order and chaos.
"Accio Unraveling!"
The gears of reality went spinning back into place with precession and the world went abruptly right again. The Unraveling shot through the air, summoned by Harry's spell, and Aurora's eyes blazed with fury when Dresden of all people jumped up and neatly plucked it out the air. He gave her the finger and took the hell off.
"Curse you to the Underworld!" Aurora's voice was a scream of stabbing rage that flooded the ears with unbridled pain and sent the lesser creatures stumbling.
Harry closed in on Aurora, slashing his wand in the air as she simultaneously raised her arm. At first it looked like he missed, but she jerked her arm to her chest clutching at her bleeding palm. He extended his wand again and unleashed a bolt of crystal blue light. Aurora lifted that same hand with her palm now instantaneously healed, and the attack splashed across a viridian shield. She watched him with contempt as the blast was stopped cold. Her eyes narrowed and vines sprang from the ground like living creatures to wrap themselves around his legs.
"Arctico Manos!"
The hand of ice spell froze the vines and they exploded in a shower of ice flakes. Harry threw himself to the ground as two fireballs raced above his body, streaking into a squad of leathered armored trolls mustering down below the hill. Both balls impacted into the horde of bulky creatures, turning their formation into a burning pyre. A plume of black smoke curled up rising into the sky.
"You know those were your guys, right?" Harry said, standing up and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Aurora's expression was uncaring. "There are always casualties in a revolution."
"I don't think you're using that word right."
Armageddon was the right word and end of the world fit just as nicely. He watched her carefully, wary of her ability to cast with barely a sign. The surprise attacks were getting old fast. Harry hoped Dresden was far away by now, handing the Unraveling to Mab or something. It'd be easier to torch the damn thing. Faerie craftsmanship was the finest thing he'd ever encountered. If Mother Winter made it then that thing was probably indestructible. Pity.
"It's a shame you can't see this is the best course for everyone," said Aurora. She shook her head. "You should be thanking me."
Harry let out a bark of laughter. "Thank you for betraying me, thank you for starting a war, thanks for trying to end the world, you crazy, soulless bitch."
Her lips pursed into a thin line of dissatisfaction. "That attitude is why you weren't involved in my plans."
"Look at me. Look at this sadness on my face."
Bless her soulless heart she actually peered at him a bit earnestly. Harry needed to work on his sarcasm. It was opportune because he took that moment to attack. Shadows streaked from his feet in countless tendrils of black nothingness. They flew at Aurora too fast for her to dodge. Only she didn't even move. Instead she reached back, slamming her hand against the Stone Table. The sigils and runes blazed with golden light as she tapped into the well of Summer power at its nexus. The light burned through the shadows and turned them into nothing.
And from that ancient conduit of power she called forth something from the deepest dark of Faerie. Light twisted and bent as Aurora chanted, staring at Harry with a grim frown, as if she was sad it had to come to this. From the nexus of the table, from light and fire, it came. Its presence was felt like a star burning in the sky. It came in a crushing force of otherness. Long arms appeared from the blistering golden light, hands the size of his entire torso reached out into the world. The fingernails were long and dirty and Harry took a step back, heart thudding in his throat at what came next. Ragged clothes clung to huge, square shoulders, and it was twelve feet tall standing when it arose from within the light. All the while Aurora chanted as the thing's oversized head pulsed with throbbing veins. Dread eyes turned to Harry and he gaped at the skinless creature. There should be blood from the raw and exposed flesh, but it was decayed and red and pulsing.
Madness swirled in Aurora's eyes as the giant creature appeared fully from its ancient stonecage. "Look upon the Executioner, the Hound of the Halcyon Queen of Before, Rawhead and Bloody Bones!"
"You've got to be kidding," Harry muttered.
Aurora laid a hand on the thing's thick, muscular arm unminding of the raw flesh. "I must go claim the Unraveling. I free thee of thy chains for this task. Stop him."
The mad queen took off without a backward glance leaving Harry and Bloody Bones. Great. He wasn't done with her yet. So she wanted to delay their fight, okay. It was coming, ancient immortal faerie or not. Bloody Bones moved and the motion just seemed wrong, so very wrong. This was something that just didn't belong.
Harry brought his wand to bear on the primordial faerie. "Alright, let's do this."
"Mine," said Blood Bones, shocking Harry that something so hideous could speak. Its voice was like nails against a chalkboard: a grating noise, screeching and terrible.
Bloody Bones slid his long fingers across his stomach, and they sank into the exposed flesh like butter. Harry blinked; well, if the thing was going to commit suicide he wasn't going to complain… Bloody Bones arm extended and he jerked a bone sword out in a wash of gore. Vomit later, Harry thought, preparing himself. The sword was pearl white, dripping with ichor and it was as long as Harry's entire body.
There was no more speechifying. The faerie rushed at Harry, closing the distance between them at supernatural speed while raising the sword to strike. Harry wallowed in a split second of shock at its speed before instinct kicked in and he threw himself to the side. He barely saw the long leg lash out and kick him in the spine mid-air. His back exploded with pain and he fell to the ground, rolling narrowly out of the fall to avoid the sword striking the ground where he once had been. He cast a numbing charm on his lower vertebrae and his pain went away in a wave of cool tingles.
Ruby beams speared the air as Harry unleashed a salvo of spells downrage. Some went wide, but twenty of the thirty bolts hit home and an impossibly bright flash consumed Harry's sight, bathing the area in a wave of blue fire.
Danger!
Bloody Bones's sword stabbed through Harry's chest, and his body exploded in a shower of stones. The faerie roared at the traitorous illusion, looking around for his wayward target. Harry watched under a Dillusionment Charm, ignoring the rest of the fights going on around him. He only had eyes for the immortal faerie. The creature had taken the full brunt of that spell and there wasn't a damn scratch on him. If he was wearing crysteel armor Harry could understand, but direct contact from the Dance of the Broken God Curse should've incinerated him. The creature looked as ragged as ever, only a little angrier. Damn.
Harry regrouped under the cloak of concealment magic. That bone sword was fit for a giant and the weapon's molecular sharp edge was etched with runes. There was a subtle glow about it that made him wary. One strike would rip him in two, no blocking against that.
Suddenly Blood Bones lifted his head, nostrils flaring and he gave the air a long sniff. His head snapped to Harry's veiled form and he froze. Maybe he didn't see—Bloody Bones took a step in his direction. Shit! Harry swept his wand in an arc and a crescendo of water erupted forth. The wave flooded the ground and the earth beneath its feet turned angry red as the soil's atoms were rearranged and turned into molten lava.
The lava licked at its feet and the faerie bellowed. The giant sword blurred and slammed into the bubbling lava; there was a subtle glow and a hissing noise as the enchantment broke. The lava instantly turned dark and cold, inert. Bloody Bones turned his gaze to Harry. It was not a friendly look.
Harry was waving his wand even as the faerie rushed forward. The sword slammed against Harry's hastily cast shield and there was a crack,and the barrier exploded in a shower of blue sparks. In that split second Harry took the opportunity to jab his wand at its torso. At blank range there was no escaping the blast of lethally compressed nitrogen. It was like stop action; one moment Bloody Bones was flesh and the next he was frozen in ice. Harry lifted his wand skyward.
"Obsidione Draconum!"
A black lightning bolt pierced the sky and before it could strike the ground, it coalesced into a rearing Chinese Fireball. The elemental dragon gave a mighty roar, and electricity danced within its flapping wings. It swooped through the air and from its gullet blasted a torrent of lightning entwined fire. The deadly inferno slammed into the ice statue, and the fire curled into itself in a blazing column. Harry nudged the summon with a flick of his wand, and the dragon circled a wide ring in the sky and came back around. It plummeted through the air at high speed, monstrous jaws opened wide and fire swirled within their depths. The dragon leveled off for the terminal phase of its attack run, and there was a great crack like the sound of two boulders colliding.
Without warning the inferno flexed and imploded. Harry braced himself as a wave of compressed air raced across the hillside. Everyone around the immediate area of the hill went staggering or was outright flattened by the powerful gale. Harry threw up his arms as the savage winds threatened to carry him away. He gritted his teeth only to witness Bloody Bones step out from the flames, unharmed. His long, hideous arm lifted and the immortal caught the dragon by the thick of its neck as it descended upon him.
"Bloody hell," said Harry, staring.
Bloody Bones held the thrashing dragon like it was a misbehaving child. It roared furiously and arcs of electricity crackled over both their forms, lethal volts of blue light. A sound came from Bloody Bones, then. It was a long terrible warble that evoked haunting images reminiscent of a Dementor's despair. Harry realized it was laughing. The faerie manipulated the dragon's neck sending its dual elemental fire roaring at Harry.
He waved his wand in a figure eight and the fire transfigured into a trio of thrashing tongues. They shot backward and wrapped around the faerie at lightning speeds, trapping him. The tongues throbbed as one and sword tipped spikes erupted from every square inch of organic matter. They met flesh and went through it like paper, skewering the entity through his legs, abdomen, chest, shoulders. His holler was a mix of pain and rage.
"The bigger they are," Harry muttered, twisting his wand clockwise.
The dragon summon's luminescent skin flared brightly and it wavered momentarily in compression before detonating fiercely in a wash of green light. Bloody Bones disappeared within the cloud of debris. It wasn't over. Harry counted off in his head. It was about nine seconds when the monstrous faerie made his reappearance stepping out of the blast zone. There were gaping holes all over his body. The meat inside shown through, but there was no blood. The veins pulsing on his head were throbbing faster and he looked pissed.
One second he was there and the next Bloody Bones was suddenly at the spot Harry once stood, slashing at the air with his giant sword. Behind him Harry stepped out of the thing's shadow, unbending light to hide his presence. It spun around just as Harry lifted his wand.
"Avada Kedavra!"
Green light slammed into its hideous face point blank. The monster took a staggering step back, pausing. It moved… Harry's eyes widened. You've got to be shitting me. It shook off the Killing Curse like a stunner only to receive a spear of ice through its chest courtesy of Harry before he took off down the hillside.
He hated the ones that could shrug off a Killing Curse, himself not included. The last being to do so had been a dammed Outsider, a being so unimaginably horrible that there was a law of magic dealing with those that sought out their knowledge. Titania herself had taken out the one that almost killed him. This faerie couldn't be on an Outsider level of power, there was no way. But it was something almost as fearsome. Nothing was truly immortal. If it lived it could be killed. End of story.
"Lovely time to be out of bullets," he panted, running full speed across the flat land below the hill.
It wasn't possible to conjure true cold iron to harm fae, especially so with the faerie hair core of both his wands. Otherwise he would've rained iron waste right down this fucker's throat. Harry ticked off his other options. There weren't many. Something about the being made it magic resistant to a degree that was worrying. It wasn't armor, it was his very flesh. An idea brewed to life, and Harry would have smiled if he wasn't running full out away from the faerie juggernaut.
His sprint took him around the hill to witness a quartet of Sidhe knights in yellow and turquoise armor fall to the glimmering silver arc of Michael's sword. Amoracchius was a shining beacon, and its light blazed like silver fire deterring evil from getting too close. Sure enough, Bloody Bones saw the light of the sword, and it threw up its arms like it was blinded. Michael's eyes narrowed, raising the sword up with two hands and setting its point at the beast chasing down Harry. Bloody Bones saw the knight's challenge and it brought its own sword to bear, dead eyes aglow with malicious intent.
"Blinkspawn," Michael growled, sliding into an offensive stance. "Go handle your true mission. I've got the hybrid, Potter."
Bloody Bones raced forward, and it was just a blur. The sword swung out to cleave Michael in two and suddenly Amoracchius was there sparks screaming from each blade as it came up to block the bone sword. The sword blurred again and Michael's blade deflected it once more as he parried the next attempts in succession, showering their duel in dreamlike, flashing rain. Whatever speed advantage Bloody Bones had was negated by the sheer timing of Michael's own sword strikes that bordered on miraculous.
Harry gave a silent word of gratitude to whatever person upstairs that sent Michael. He had a hunch the knight came for a reason other than a warning. Magic resistant the faerie may be but that sword's holy fire was touched by divinity, and there was no counter against that.
Harry was running back toward the hill and to the Stone Table as the two whirling blades countered each other at near inhuman speeds. He past the Alphas on the way, and the wolves were still holding their own. They unhorsed all the cavalry and the pack were dodging lances and swords to attack like a well oiled machine. It was almost surreal at how efficiently they worked together to take out their foes, and Harry didn't have a chance to marvel before he was running past the battle and further uphill. The Stone Table was up ahead at the top and there at the hill's waist was Dresden lying on the ground, struggling against some invisible bindings. Aurora was there looking at the wizard with contempt, clutching the Unraveling in her hand and making her way back up the table.
"No, you don't," Harry growled, as Aurora turned back and gestured with a hand.
Harry sprinted past Dresden as the ground between the wizards and Aurora rumbled. From it, whipping upward with trashing, violent contortions came a wide thicket of thorns, ferocious and longer than his forearm. It rose into place under Harry, and his feet lifted off the ground mid run as he flew the remaining distance even as vines grew up below his heels. His shaky flight carried him uphill and he touched down in a crouch as the barrier settled into place behind him. The thorns were so dense that it completely blocked the battle still going on below the hill's waist.
Aurora's expression was not happy. "Not many can escape a skirmish with Bloody Bones and live."
"I get that a lot." Harry leveled the White Wand at her. "He's no dark lord and neither are you."
He was through with the banter. The wand cut through the air and a crescent pulse spiraled outward, trailing super-heated air. Aurora narrowed her eyes and that viridian shield flared to life before her, blocking the spell cold and its remaining potential raced up and down the shield in arcs of white light. A fireball followed a half second later plowing into her shield, blowing two meters of earth apart in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics. In effect all it did was move Aurora's hair around like it was a stiff gust of wind. Harry gritted his teeth. That shield was irritating, and that was an understatement. It was pissing him off, frankly.
"You're trying my patience, dear husband."
Aurora lifted her hand and Harry jabbed his wand into the ground as the air before her palm flashed to life. The earth rose up in a solid wall and formed a meter thick barrier that withstood the fireball that slammed into it like a flaming hammer. Harry threw himself down to the ground as the explosion threw up a cloud of earth and stuck to the remaining bit of barrier like napalm. Harry picked himself up and ran from behind the wall slinging bolts of blue light as he went, hoping one of the stray spells would hit and punch a hole through her. This bitch needed to go down now.
Aurora stood there countering and deflecting his spells with one hand without breaking a sweat. Her beam of golden light went wider than he thought and stabbed into his shoulder. Hot pain made him bite his tongue and Harry grabbed at the wound, ducking behind a boulder. He risked a quick glance to examine it. He got lucky the attack had been so hot that it cauterized the wound as it tore a chunk of flesh from his shoulder.
Medium depth, manageable. He couldn't get full movement out of it, but it wasn't his wand arm. He wouldn't be bowling anytime soon, though.
Slapping a numbing charm on it, Harry popped his head over the boulder and launched a bright indigo curse. That damn shield went up again, but that was the point. The curse smacked into the shield, but the shockwave pulverized Aurora into the ground as a curl of purple smoke rose into the twilight. Harry traced a rune in the air and it hung there in blazing red light. Then he stabbed his wand in the center where the thunderbolt shaped symbols converged.
"Postrema Somnium Fati!"
Intensely bright light blossomed above Aurora and from it a kind of dark gravity filled the air. A two dimensional portal of black light appeared, accompanied by a sense of awful, gathering power. Wind suddenly blew furiously across the hilltop as the distortion grew more intense, more deadly, and Aurora's eyes widened as it threatened to suck her up into its maw. The portal to the Netherworld was opened and its inhabitants on the other side were angered. They sought freedom but couldn't exist in this planular domain, so they took from here what didn't exist there: life.
"Accio Unraveling!"
Harry summoned the cloth and Aurora held it so tightly that her body jerked with force. With a whispered word she broke the spell and Harry didn't have time to ponder how the hell she did that, when all of sudden her eyes glowed with raw, tangible power that swept out in a wave of scalding wind.
Aurora cupped her hands above her chest where her heart went and said, "BEGONE! YOU HAVE NO PLACE HERE."
From her cupped palms a tremendous blast of brilliant, gold energy shot directly upwards. The power of Summer met the door to the Realm of the Dead and Eternally Dreaming and it could not stand. It simply burned away as the fires of Summer mercilessly tore apart its anchor to this domain. The wind died and Aurora rose to her feet, her eyes licked white flame around her face. Seeing her this angry made a little part of him happy. It meant she was done fighting with that careless air about her. Harry knew she finally was taking him seriously. That's right, sweetheart, pay attention to the mere mortal.
Sheets of fire didn't come from her. It came from everywhere. The air itself turned against him and Harry reflexively cast a shield as the world around him was torn apart violently and everything turned white, plunging his consciousness into a sea of pain. Through his haze he dizzily witnessed the Stone Table shimmer and cold blue light replaced the warm gold, as the depicted symbols and runes now filled him with a chill. The stars were aligned and the hour was at hand. The table now belonged to Winter. Meaning…
Aurora was already at the Stone Table holding the Unraveling to the statue of Lily set upon the surface. Harry fought past the pain to bring the world back into focus.
He lifted his wand…
The Unraveling's threads fell apart against the head of the kneeling girl…
"Ultu—"
Harry's spell was lost in the undiluted wave of cold white light that screamed across the hilltop, a sense of shifting and warping that ached at his eyes and made him think hopeless thoughts of a spring never to come. The crushing power of destruction that was Mother Winter's dominion met the spell that trapped Lily, and it broke beneath that cold breath of Winter's kiss. Marble reverted into sun kissed flesh and her long emerald hair went blowing back as Lily's eyes snapped open and she took a deep gasp of breath, looking around dazedly.
Aurora slapped the girl hard, and Harry crept up behind the faerie queen as the changeling fell to the surface of the table. Lily screamed in pure terror as Aurora pulled a knife from her belt. Now! Harry's wand cut the air deploying a burning red energy whip, lashing at Aurora's unprotected back and drawing a scream from her. It didn't cut through her armor, but it had to hurt like hell. She turned around with fury writ in her eyes, only to catch the ball of tightly compacted lightning straight to the chest. The white blue energy ripped into her, blowing her off balance in a brilliant detonation that sent her careening wildly through the air where she skidded to a halt almost four meters downhill.
Harry reached for the changeling and she jerked back, scared out of her mind. "Hey, don't be scared. I'm here to help. You've had a lot of people worried about you."
Her pupils were blown wide and she nodded, feebly. Lily reached to take his hand when she screamed and abruptly rolled off the table to the ground. Harry threw himself to the right and a ruby beam ripped through the air where his head once was. The smoke cleared and Aurora stood with her hands spread, ruinous red light dancing between her fingers. Harry's previous curse insured she was covered in cuts and scrapes leaving her a bleeding mess. Hey, at least they matched now.
"I've indulged you enough," Aurora grated, the dancing light above her palms solidified into red pulsing orbs.
Sending that giant faerie boogeyman to rip into him was indulging him—typical fae logic. Aurora whipped her hand forward and Harry's world rocked with a disastrous red explosion that impacted against his erected shield. He crossed his arms in an X as the force sent him skidding backward. A flash appeared in his peripheral and Harry brought up his forearm reflexively, shield flaring brightly as a second red sphere streaked in from a different angle. He gritted his teeth riding out the compressed shockwave of the blast.
Harry used the lack of visibility from the blast to conjure a barrage of crystal spikes before another one of those lethal balls of death bombarded him. The dozen foot long spears were batted aside by a well-timed spiral wave front of high pressure. Aurora's face was contorted into a fearsome scowl as Harry retaliated with a cold front, mixing the hot and cold waves together to form a catalyst.
The words of the incantation were lost in the howl of the wave vortex, but its effects were true as Harry's spell took root. The swirling maelstrom went silvery white and it imploded all at once, and everything in its path was flash frozen. It was almost beautiful to see. Aurora didn't even have time to struggle before the ice flowers sprouted over her body and the entire hillside surrounding her in a twelve meter ring. The flowers continued multiplying exponentially becoming so dense that it trapped Aurora in a pillar of ice as tall and immense as Gryffindor's tower at Hogwarts.
"Lily!" Harry called, wincing at the strain in his voice.
His muscles ached something awful and he would sell a kidney for a pepperup potion right now. The changeling girl peeked her head up from where she'd been hiding under the Stone Table. Harry mustered up a half smile, tasting the blood dripping onto his lip. He probably looked as bad as he felt.
Harry made his way over to the table and to the crouching girl. "Let's get you out of here."
Pulling her to his feet he found Lily was a head shorter than him, and there was something extraordinarily exotic about her face. She was gorgeous. A terrible cracking noise was heard over the din and it sounded like the earth itself splintering open. Harry spun around to see hairline cracks race across Aurora's ice pillar. Bloody hell. Why wouldn't this bitch stay down?
"Get down!" Harry said, staring at the cracking prison. If the table wasn't here he would've scorched this entire hilltop. But he couldn't risk destroying the Stone Table, if it could even be destroyed.
Lily went back to hiding as Aurora's trapped form began to glow within the icy tower. Her golden aura pulsed once, twice, and then the ice shrieked and Harry braced himself as the entire structure shattered in a surreal, snowy shower of ice flakes, bathing the entire hilltop in a preview of the neverending winter that could be.
Aurora was breathing heavily, aura resonating a dark angry light, and she snarled, "Give. Me. The. Girl."
Harry didn't recognize this angry demoness before him. This couldn't be his wife with blood soaked armor and hell in her eyes. The truth of the matter was this was exactly what he always feared would come to pass. In fact, it was worse.
"If you want her you'll have to get through me first, dearest."
"And me."
Dresden ran onto the hilltop from a gap in the wall that sprang close the second he was through. He didn't look as bad as Harry, but he'd seen the wizard look better. Dresden's coat must have quite the protective charms on it. He wiped at his bloodied nose and leaned a bit on his staff. He sent Harry a companionable nod.
Harry spared his friend a smirk. "Took your time. Had to stop to tie your shoe, did you?"
"You look like shit," Dresden deadpanned.
Nothing like a row with Dresden to keep him down to earth, and with that, he knew they were both still in this fight to the bitter end. Those deadly red balls coalesced in the Summer Lady's grasp again. Dresden was already lifting his blasting rod before she could fire off.
"Fuego!" Dresden shouted, unleashing a bright lance of crimson energy, white at the core, directly at the powering up faerie queen.
"No, wait!" Harry said, too late.
Aurora lifted her arm and the ray of concentrated fire was sucked into the sphere growing above her palm. It grew ten times the size and she grinned, almost ferally. It was a decidedly worrying expression to see.
Aurora's dark grin turned into a sneer. "You would use fire to harm me? Me, who was baptized in the scorching flames of the volcano Mt. Anlun, beyond the corona lands of Spring's End."
"Shut up!" Harry snapped, tracking her with his wand. "Enough with the damn speeches. I'm not here for that."
A massive bright blue arrow of energy ripped away from Harry's wand in an echoing boom, and the recoil jerked at his injured shoulder, fiercely. It tore through the twenty meter space in under a second, and Aurora with her Sidhe reactions was already sending her spell to meet the bolt of concentrated white magic. Wizardry met faecraft and the two forces warred upon meeting before igniting violently.
"Protego Maxima!"
Harry's shield flared into existence in a wall of glimmering silver that stretched to protect the two wizards and thankfully everything directly behind them, including Lily's hiding place. Everything turned white. The initial shockwave impacted against the protective ward, immediately followed by golden flames that lashed at his shields and he held on tight to his wand repeating the incantation, praying to whoever was listening that the freaking barrier held.
Aurora came out of the lingering cloud of dust. Her hands were moving into a series of casting gestures and the ground below their feet trembled. Dresden and Harry dove out the way as the earth gave way to a chasm that erupted a geyser of angry red lava. Harry pointed his wand at the volcanomancy curse incanting the counterspell, as Dresden darted forward with his staff yelling a war cry like he was Billy Badass. Merlin's might, that man was such a Gryffindor.
Then a horse neighed above them and a stallion vaulted over the wall of thorns, only the leap didn't take it far enough. No matter because it's rider jumped off the steed as it fell short into the poisonous thorns, doing a controlled flip in the air and landing in a crouch. The rider lifted his head and snow white hair fell from his face to reveal the Lord Marshall's smarmy face.
"Kill the wizard, Lord Marshall!" Aurora commanded at once.
Talos pulled out his rapier from its scabbard. "Done, my lady."
"You again," Dresden groaned, gripping his valise that he hadn't let go of since he came onto the hilltop. He leveled his blasting rod and shouted, "Forzare!"
A curtain of scarlet energy wreathed into place in front of Dresden. The blast of pure concussive force slammed into the ground as Talos dodged the spell and came in on the wizard's left with his sword ready. Dresden feigned and suckered the Sidhe, stepping in with his foot and putting his full weight into the punch that connected solidly with Talos's face. Dresden was a big guy and the force of the punch sent the Sidhe staggering back with blood gushing from his nose.
"Huuzah!" said Dresden, pumping his fist into the air. He then slouched into a crouch and flicked his fingers in a classic come get some motion.
Harry's cheek twitched, half expecting the older wizard to pull a V for victory sign next. Talos was Sidhe fast, and he wiped his nose with a passive face before he was blurring forward again. Dresden didn't see the sword dart in till it was knocking away his wizard tools, staff careening left and the blasting rod went next when he brought it to bear. Talos stalked him, eyes cold. Harry finally broke Aurora's volcanomancy spell and the geyser went lifeless.
Before he could help Dresden a cold, cold wind blew across the hilltop followed by a warrior's cry that even gave Aurora pause. The wall of thorns shook and then frost spread along the thick hedge impossibly fast. The cry came again and then the frozen section of the wall shattered as a bulky figure charged through, into the open. Harry almost swallowed his tongue as he recognized Meryl, apparently recovered and vengeance shone in her eyes.
"I have no quarrel with you, child," said Talos, as Meryl set her sights on him.
Meryl looked unimpressed by his sword. "I have one with you though."
She charged him and Talos didn't bother moving, looking unperturbed. Meryl pulled back her fist and frost began to streak away from her extremity. Talos's eyes widened, shocked. He wasn't the only one. It was too late because Meryl's frost bitten arm came down, hard. The blow sent him rocketing backward, like he was hit by a freight train. Meryl took a breath and ran a hand through her hair, revealing a deep icy blue streak running through her muddy green tresses. Dresden put it together before Harry.
"You took Slate's place," said Dresden, staring as Meryl manifested a sword of ice. "You're the new Winter Knight."
"Maeve came to me on the field," said Meryl, dark eyes darting everywhere, looking for Lily. "I have to save her. I couldn't say no."
There was a scream and they saw Lily being dragged up on the table by her hair. Aurora held her down with one hand and the dagger was in the other. Lily was struggling too much that Harry had to get closer or he'd hit her, too. He stayed out of Aurora's peripheral, darting up behind her back.
"Finally!" Aurora said, raising the dagger high. Her eyes were bright with madness.
Dresden dropped the valise on the ground and undid the clasp. "I don't think so. Meet some friends of mine."
A shrill, piping blast erupted from inside the valise and a little faerie flew out of the bag. He was decked out in some make-shift armor, and his dandelion white hair suited his little cherubic face. He saluted Dresden and in his arms like some bastard sword he held an orange plastic box knife, its slender blade extended from the handle. Harry frowned at the steel waiting to see what Dresden had planned, so he held his position.
"Wyldfae know your place," said Aurora, laughing. She arched a brow at Dresden. "What do you plan to do with your little soldier?"
The little faerie blew on his trumpet and shouted, his shrill voice piercing, "In the name of the wizard, our Pizza Lord Dresden. Charge!"
Harry didn't have time to fathom what the hell that even meant before the valise was awash in a cloud of glittering multicolored motes of light as a swarm of pixies, all armed with cold steel blades sheathed in orange plastic, rose up and streaked toward Aurora in a cloud of flashing light and glinting knives. That much human steel in a faerie war was the equivalent of bringing nukes to a knife fight. Aurora's face reflected Harry's own surprise at Dresden's secret ace.
A pulse of power filled the air and the pixies screamed as they were incinerated by streams of yellow death. No, it couldn't be… Lily cut off the attack and the golden light dimmed as she dropped her hand. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear with the other hand, looking sorrowful. Harry ignored Dresden's angered holler or Meryl's confused shout, he was darting toward Aurora's unprotected back before he lost his chance. His wand stabbed into her back and light flared between tip and armor.
"What," Aurora murmured, surprised. She stared down at the glowing blade of violet light, as long as her upper body, spearing through her stomach.
Something was wrong.
White hot pain made Harry drop his wand, and the blade of burning energy dissipated in motes of light. He staggered back slapping a hand on the gaping wound that appeared in his stomach. No, that wasn't possible. She couldn't have... His wound was a mirror image of the one he just delivered to Aurora.
"I don't understand," he said through gritted teeth.
Aurora's hand covered the bleeding wound in her own stomach, only she had faerie healing speeding her recovery up. "We're connected or have you forgotten."
No. Harry's vision turned spotty as the pain dragged him down under. "I—"
"Don't worry this wound is mortal to humans, but it won't kill me. So it won't kill you. You'll live yet, my husband."
Nothing was making sense anymore. Everything turned kind of foggy and he was only dimly aware of the goings on around him. Elaine appeared next to Lily when he came to focus seconds or minutes later, who knows. He heard her tell Aurora, "it's done" before the heavy fog settled back over him. He wanted to just float away. He was so damn tired of it all. Dresden was at his side when he came to consciousness again. He could hear him arguing with Aurora. It was all garble to him. It wasn't just the wound that put him in this state.
"Get away from him," Dresden said, standing over Harry.
He was exhausted, no sleep, too much magic, plus he'd been put through the wringer. Harry stared around without comprehension.
Aurora smiled, and it wasn't the mad smile from earlier. It was her normal smile—was that a good thing? "I already forfeited, wizard. Now pass. He's my husband and I desire to speak with him."
Green eyes blinked and the world snapped back into focus.
The hilltop had turned into the clusterfuck since Harry had blacked out. The wolves formed a ring around them and there was Michael with his sword at his side, talking to Meryl and Fix. Lily was next to them, but sort of apart, tears in her eyes and her lower lip was between her teeth. The three friends looked so sad, unsure, and a line of anger ran down Meryl's cheek.
Elaine sighed. "Please, she's telling the truth."
"And I should believe you?" snapped Dresden.
Harry sat up. "I'm up," he said, clearing his sore throat. "I'm good. Let her through."
The wound had healed like Aurora said. It was tender but it was better than bleeding out. Husband and wife were a bloody mess next to each other. Harry didn't let her get a word off before he was reaching for his wand next to him. The tip stabbed into her throat and burned bright with crystal blue light.
"You bitch, I'm going to—"
Aurora grabbed his wrist and stared into his eyes and simply said, "Look."
Their eyes locked and their skin contact opened the door that had been closed since the day they first took vows years ago. Some forced grabbed him and he fell into her eyes, deep, deep down he fell and he saw it. It was nature's first golden green, all bound up, small, but it was growing. This was the beginning of something beautiful, all the joy of springtime, renewal, and it was a green island that was becoming a country that would one day be a world.
Harry fell out of the soulgaze, because that's what it was. "That's not possible. You—you have a soul."
"And so do you. It's marvelous." Aurora took some hidden pleasure at his stunned expression, her smile widening a bit. "He didn't expect that either. He thought he could use me. I'm no one's catspaw." Her eyes went distant.
What.
"Aurora I don't understand," said Harry shaking his head, so very confused. He was still reeling from seeing her soul.
Her eyes held him in place, a fierce expression crossing her face. "This whole thing was a diversion, dear Harry. Not mine, but I'm taking advantage. Pay attention now, because I have a plan."
Well there goes canon. So this is the true divergence point where things go completely left from the book series. Aurora's "plan" reveals a pretty big surprise that wouldn't fit with everything that already went down in this bit. Plus there's the whole explanation that's coming, too. Thanks to everyone that had a hand in shaping this chapter over at DLP, especially Nargles who did a huge chunk of on the fly editing that saved me a bunch of time to get this posted quicker.