Chapter 15
...The most sublime act is to set another before you...
~William Blake
James and Rose Evans' Cabin
Vermilion Bay, Ontario ,Canada
Ignoring all pretext and subtle codes, Harry tried to warn his friends. But his mouth wouldn't make the sounds.
"Run", he fiinally choked out. "RUN!"
Ginny, Lilliana, Ron, and the Weasley twins started sprinting towards the cabin. They had a two hundred yard dash to get to the edge of the wards protecting the cabin. 'How did they find us', Harry thought turning to run. When he seen the distance they would need to go, he knew that they weren't going to make it without someone protecting their rear.
Just as he turned around and raised his wand, two loud cracks echoed within the woods. Harry heard a sinister 'whizzing' sound before the tree bark exploded beside him. Little pieces lodged into his face and shoulders and pushed him to the ground. He expected the second crack to explode into his chest, yet it didn't.
Instead, Harry heard Ginny Weasley's piercing shriek, crying out for her brother George. He had been running behind the group when the bullet penetrated his skull. His body fell lifelessly to the ground and slid a few feet. The others stopped and looked in horror.
Harry didn't need to look to see what had happened. Again he raised his wand and this time he was able to cast the physical barrier shield. "RUN", Harry screamed again. Fred lifted his twin brother magically while Lilliana pushed the other two forward. Harry held his shield and started backpedaling when the forest erupted in flashes of light and sound.
Falling branches, the snow that was resting on top of them, and chips of bark and wood exploded all around Harry. It seemed like the Earth itself was falling around the young assassin. Harry used wandless magic to send his own barrage. He alternated between cutting curses that neatly sliced the tree trunks, explosive curses that left them no bigger than toothpicks, and the Lumos Maxima spell to blind his enemies.
Harry was halfway to the ward line when the trees beside him pulled themselves out of the ground and stood on it's roots like legs. The sight caused Harry to lose his concentration which led to his shield charm to die out. The whizzing and whirring sounds of incoming bullets made Harry cringe. Before he could put up another shield, he was violently thrown backwards onto his back. His left shoulder burst with pain and burned at the same time. Looking down, the young assassin seen that he had been shot.
The closest tree stumbled in front of Harry to provide him cover. Several others converged on his location to give him a clear path the rest of the way to the cabin. Harry crawled back a few feet before stumbling onto his legs. He ran as fast as he could. The rapid hollow pops from the other side of the trees sounded like a thousand woodpeckers trying to chip their way through. Harry fell onto his knees. The blood loss and pain were taking it's toll. 'I have to get moving', he panicked. He took a deep breath and looked up to see Remus Lupin run to assist him. The werewolf's unnatural speed allowed him to reach Harry in seconds. He pulled the assassin over his shoulders and took off back to the cabin.
Harry felt the buzzing of a ward before immediately being hit with the pressure of magical power. Dumbledore stood just inside the ward line with his wand dancing in the air. His eyes were closed in intense concentration as his animation spell commanded the trees to form a wall around the ward line. The branches twisted and hugged one another as the trunks squeezed close together. Dumbledore's wife, Minerva, was completing the same task on the opposite side of the cabin.
Remus continued into the house and into the living area. He laid Harry on the floor and started to cast spells to heal the gunshot wound. Lilliana ran up to him and tried to help but the tears in her eyes prevented her from seeing straight. Harry could hear Ginny and Mrs. Weasley sobbing somewhere behind him; no doubt over George's dead body.
When Remus was finished healing Harry's wounds, the assassin sat up and looked towards the weeping women. His eyes caught four feet lying on the hard wood floor, one next to the other. Harry looked to Remus who whispered, "Ron was shot protecting Ginny. He bled out before we could get to him."
Bella floated a still comatose Davin on a stretcher and set him on the couch and watched mournfully as the remaining Weasley's cried over their dead family members. When the front door opened she ran to help a struggling Minerva sit in a nearby chair. The old transfiguration teacher was drenched in sweat from the exertion of animating so many trees. Dumbledore, who had just walked in from the back door, didn't look any better.
Harry hung his head in silence. 'How the hell did this happen!' He tried to think of how Riddle's soldiers found them. He was absolutely sure that nobody would snitch their location. Their was only one logical conclusion, "Remus, check Bella, Davin, and me for tracking charms."
The werewolf complied. The results floored Harry when Remus told him of the positive result. "I was careless", he whispered to himself. "This is all my fault!"
"Now is not the time to place blame Harry", Remus said quietly while canceling the tracking charm. "We need to find a way out of here before it's too late." Lilliana hugged her boyfriend and tried to reassure him as well, "you didn't know Harry."
An explosion shook the cabin. They could hear glass breaking and furniture hitting the floor. Drywall from the ceiling rained down on all of them. Harry looked at the ceiling as if it was responsible for killing Ron and George. Then, he looked around the room and seen all the frightened faces. The faces of those he had been living with for awhile now. The faces of his friends...of his family.
Harry wasn't there when Riddle destroyed his last home under Bowes Castle. He sure as hell wasn't going to make it easy for them bastards to destroy this one. He stood up and looked to Dumbledore, "get them out of here. Go somewhere safe."
Without looking back, Harry walked out the front door. Lilliana tried to grab him and shake some sense into him, but he wandlessly shut the door on her and put a weak locking charm on it. Dumbledore, Remus, or Bella would remove it easily enough when they leave the cabin. It proved difficult for Lilliana though, the thought of using her wand never entered her mind. Her only thoughts were on getting to Harry.
Harry knew for a fact that he had the strength to deal with hordes of men trying to kill him. But if he seen the panicked, tear stained look of fear in his girlfriend's eyes, it would kill his resolve. He had to buy them as much time as he could so his family could escape. It was the least he could do to make up for his carelessness, he thought.
Harry looked into the sky and seen the broom riders flying overhead. One of their spells came through the failing wards and hit the roof. It was powerful enough to spill the contents of Dumbledore and Minerva's room onto the yard around the side of the house.
Harry conjured three kunai knives in his left hand. With his wand in his right hand, he levitated himself in the air and conjured the thick black smoke to follow his path. Using a slower form of apparition, Harry propelled himself above the tree line. His shroud of thick smoke spread around his shoulders and extended out past his feet. It whipped and furled as Harry flew higher past the wall of trees Dumbledore and Minerva had created.
An unlucky broom rider met a nasty end when a kunai knife pierced his neck. His broom was summoned and sent through the chest of another. Other wizards noticed and took flight to intercept the assassin. Harry flew around them, between them, and amongst them killing all that followed. The Reaper's smokey cloak obscured him from view and scared onlookers shitless. Bodies fell from the sky two, sometimes three, at a time. Their discarded brooms were used as wooden missiles for the soldiers on the ground.
Harry flew past two soldiers planting C4 at the base of Dumbledore's lumber barricade. Their severed heads followed their bodies to the ground a split second later. Harry used his wand and sent the explosive to a cluster of soldiers that were shooting at him. A bullet grazed his thigh before the C4 exploded; killing or severely maiming his attackers.
The assassin took into the air again, killing several more broom riders, before landing behind another squad of soldiers. Harry jammed a knife under one man's chin while spinning and throwing another into his friend's eyeball. He tossed the dying man aside and ducked low to kick the legs out from another soldier who hit the deck hard. He gasped for breath from the impact, then gasped for breath again from the two knives sticking in his chest.
Harry stomped his left foot and the snow on the ground raised up a few inches. Harry used his wand and swirled it higher into the air like a cyclone. Using it to conceal his movement, he then ducked behind a tree and cast a disillusionment spell on himself. He quickly climbed above the heads of another squad trying to find him. After using a spell to turn the ground to quick sand and a couple of cutting curses later, Harry soared into the air a third time.
A cluster of men in the distance caught his eye. Namely a man in a different uniform yelling and shouting orders. It was a man that Harry remembered, the Colonel he had run naked around the base Cuba.
Harry flew in their direction as fast as he could. By the time he came upon them, the Colonel was screaming at the soldiers to form a defensive line. Then the Colonel pushed a pudgy soldier in the same type of camouflage fatigues into a fox hole. Harry flew at the ground as fast as he could, his cloak of black smoke whipping behind.
When he landed, Harry brought his hands forward and commanded his cape of black vapor to fill the area. The soldiers immediately started firing their weapons in Harry's general direction until the smoke obscured their vision. Harry moved from soldier to soldier as silently as the smoke that had engulfed them. Using two knives, one in each hand, the assassin slashed arteries, stabbed vital areas, and cut through windpipes.
The dark fog slowly dissipated. Blood coated the snowy patches and stained the exposed grass permanently red. Nothing moved except for the last surviving soldier who cowered in his foxhole. Harry walked up to him slowly. The smell of urine and released bowels assaulted his nose. It was the soldier the recently deceased Colonel had pushed. His body was shaking in uncontrollable fear as he took a quick glance at his killer. Harry didn't see any rank insignia on the man's collar and he just barely caught the glimpse of a name tag that had 'Parker' printed on it.
The young assassin was about the strike the pathetic wizard but he took pity on him instead. Harry knelt down and whispered in Private Parker's ear, "this line of work doesn't seem to agree with you."
Parker shook his head 'no' and started to sob and plead for his life. He never should have gotten involved! He knew that he wasn't soldier material before he enlisted but the pay seemed too good to be true. "Please, please, please...I don't want to die", he choked out with tears.
"Don't make me regret this", Harry whispered in one ear. He moved around to the other ear, "because I will find you!" Before leaving the wizard, Harry patted the man on top of his head. Then he disappeared under the disillusion spell and levitated back into the air.
The gunfire had stopped. The death of their command staff had sent the remaining teams in disarray. As Harry flew, he cast another Homenum Revelio spell. Only a few scattered fire teams and a handful of broom riders were left. He flew over the largest grouping that looked like they were trying to find the command area. Harry sent an overpowered Bombarda spell before flying off to check on the cabin and make sure his family had escaped.
He reentered the wall of trees and landed near the back door. Not seeing any blue outlines signifying a human presence, Harry canceled the Homenum Revelio spell and entered the house. Other than the damage to the ceiling and two blood stains on the carpet, nothing was out of place. Harry walked past the living area and out the front door. He seen the tracks his family made in their escape attempt. He ran in their direction hoping to meet up with them. He came across several soldiers who had been knocked out, incapacitated, or petrified along their trail. Another blood stain in the snow had Harry praying that it didn't belong to someone in his family. But the lack of a body showed otherwise. 'I hope they are alright', he thought.
He followed the trail past the wards where the trail went cold. 'They must have used a portkey or something. How the hell am I going to find them?'
"FREEZE! SHOW ME YOUR HANDS! DO IT NOW", a voice screamed behind Harry.
Harry did as he was told and extended his arms to his sides, a quick look over his shoulder showed only a single soldier with a rifle pointed at him. "Don't move", he hollered.
"I don't need to move to stop you", Harry said. He flicked his wrist and petrified the man with Petrificus Totalis spell. Harry turned and walked towards his 'would be' captor. He grabbed and tossed away the rifle before using his wand to conjure ropes to secure him. The soldier's arms were tied across his chest. They snaked down his body and looped under his feet before returning. Harry tightened the ropes until the soldier was involuntarily squatting, then he release the petrifying spell.
"Before you say a word", Harry told him, "I want you to know that I can kill you at any time in any manner of my choosing. Are we agreed?"
The soldier quickly nodded his head in agreement. He knew he was no match for a magical without backup or shooting first; which is what he should've done in hindsight he realized.
"How many of you are there?"
The soldier remained silent.
"Ok, ok. I get it." Harry walked around the man like a predator toying with his prey. "I'm only going to ask you two questions. And if I don't get a response to my liking...I will kick you in the dick until I do!"
The soldier looked at Harry and then looked down at his squatting position. His eyes widened slightly before he schooled his facial features to resemble that of a 'bring it on' attitude. The fear and expected pain was evident in his apparently resolute face.
"They're not even hard questions. I'm sure you can answer them", Harry said. The assassin moved to the front of the man and positioned himself five passes away and over two on his right side. "Ever watch American football", Harry questioned, "because I'm about to punt your cock into your chest."
The man tried swaying back and forth to fall but Harry prevented him by using magic on the ropes. "Question number one", Harry said. "Have you taken any prisoners?"
The soldier remained quiet. After a few seconds, Harry attempted to make the noise of a frenzied crowd by cupping both hands over his mouth. He breathed into them heavily and moved them rapidly back and forth. It was a piss poor attempt but the soldier understood what he was trying to do.
"The crowd is on it's feet as Potter attempts a fifty yard field goal. He checks for windage and nods to the quarterback that he's ready."
Harry looked at the soldier and cupped his ear, "anything?" Harry gave him a few seconds before he resumed his commentary, "here's the snap...laces out...Potter kicks...". The wanna be American football player kicked right into the man's nether regions with all his might. Then, Harry watched the soldier as his eyes rolled in the back of his head from the vicious blow.
"It's going...it has the distance!"
Harry released the spell holding the man in place. He promptly fell onto his back and vomited before passing out. "It's good", Harry cheered. "Potter wins the championship! Potter wins the championship", he hollered. He gave the soldier a second of blissful unconsciousness before waking him up and resetting his squatting position.
"Next Question and this one is very important", Harry said to the wobbly soldier. "How did the group that came by here escape?"
Again, the soldier remained quiet, well...as long as you didn't count his sobs. Harry's eyes hardened. "Are you fucking serious? It's two simple questions! Surely you can tell me...you know what? Fuck it, I'll ask someone else!"
Harry petrified the soldier and pointed his wand to the ground between his legs. "Incendio", Harry whispered. A small fire appeared and quickly grew double in size. The flames licked at the soldier's legs and set his pants, at his crotch area, ablaze. The man hollered in pain until the fire reached his face and into his lungs.
Harry knew the soldier's screams would bring back up, so he hid behind some brush and waited. Before he was even set, Harry heard a small four man fire team curse and rush to the burning man. Harry used wandless magic with his left hand to summon their weapons. He used his wand to conjure more rope to bind them together.
Harry walked up to them, "you see what happens when you don't answer my fucking questions? And he burnt balls first." The four soldiers looked at the burning man and back at Harry. "All I want to know is: have you have taken any prisoners and how did the people in the cabin escape. That's it! Now who wants to answer my...", Harry attempted to rant until a soldier cut in, "I heard them say three dead and they escaped by portkey."
'Ron and George make two, the blood stain on the trail makes three. But I wonder who', Harry thought. "Was a body taken from here", he asked. When they replied a negative, Harry sighed with relief. 'Maybe a third didn't die', he hoped.
"Now that wasn't so hard was it. This fucking guy", Harry said pointing to the smoldering man, "was a right asshole!"
"So you're going to let us go", one of the men asked.
"Ummmmm no, I never said that. BUT...I won't let you suffer if that's any consolation", Harry said.
"But we answered your questions", another soldier said.
"Yes...you...did", Harry drawled,"and I appreciate it. But you guys still killed three members of my family AND you attacked my grandfather's cabin. Soooooo yeah." Harry pointed his wand and cast two strong cutting curses and four heads dropped.
Harry quickly looked around for any other combatants before leaving the area. He didn't know how he would meet up with his family now. He didn't even know they had a portkey! If they had apparated he could have tracked it like he did when Davin was captured. Harry can feel the pull in the magic for an apparition, but the magic for a portkey is different.
'My cell phone', Harry thought. He turned around and started back to the cabin. If he could call Davin's phone then he could find out where the hell to go. He ran past the still burning corpse and the group of headless soldiers and quickly made it to the house. Harry seen a few soldiers standing near the door and walking around inside.
It didn't faze him though, he continued running full speed. He conjured two knives and threw them at the men near the front door. They fell clutching their chests as Harry entered the house. He threw another knife at a man near the back wall and jumped off the couch to stab two others before running up the steps. He met a soldier going down as he was going up. A quick jab to the throat and a toss over the railing later, Harry continued onward.
He ran right into his room and picked up his cell phone. Knowing that he had some time, he packed a bag with some of Lilliana's and his possessions. Then he went room to room and did the same for the others. Unfortunately, one of the items packed was Davin's cell phone. Which meant calling them was not going to work. Still, he shouldered the bags and ran back out the cabin.
He continued down the same path when one of the book bags he was carrying jerked ahead of him. Harry held on tight as it swung him around and dragged him on the dirt path. He started cursing as he passed the soldiers he had killed, only there were a few live ones standing around. They were just as dumbfounded and comically looking as Harry when he skidded past them.
After a brief look at Harry and another questioning look at their squad mates, they started to pursue the assassin. Harry sent a Bombarda hex that hit the lead soldier head on. Bone fragments and blood exploded outward and covered his friends in a soupy mess. They stumbled and fell to the ground disoriented and slightly harmed from the blast.
Harry continued to slide on. It felt like he had been dragged for miles by the time he came to a stop. "Well this is quite unexpected", a grandfatherly voice said above him. Harry squinted his eyes from the Sun to see Albus Dumbledore standing above him. "Come on Harry, you look a right mess!"
Harry smiled and stood on his feet to meet the old man's gaze, "I packed what I could."
"Very good, Harry I..."
"...who else died", Harry cut in.
If possible, Dumbledore aged another ten years on the spot. "Remus was severely wounded. It's touch and go, however, we expect him to recover. Come, grab hold of this and I'll take you to them." The old wizard held out a tree branch for Harry to grab, yet the young man hesitated.
"This is the second home I've been chased away from", Harry whispered. He looked at Dumbledore, "it's the second time we've all been chased away from our homes."
"What are you getting at Harry?"
"It's not gonna change. He'll still come after us...and I'm so tired of hiding. My whole life has been in the shadows...and now...I just don't want to lose what I have."
"We just have to be more careful, that's all. Minerva and I will cast the same protections as Thatcher's Lane. With you and Davin helping...", Dumbledore stopped and looked beyond the young assassin. "They are coming Harry...hurry now, touch the stick."
"I'm not going", Harry said sadly. He pushed all the bags into Dumbledore's hand. "I don't want to live like this Albus. I'm going back to England...to end this."
"Harry...", Dumbledore croaked, "you don't have to do this."
"But I do Albus. Otherwise, it'll never end."
"Lilliana will throw a fit if I don't return with you Harry. The only reason she is not here right now is because her mother knocked her out."
Harry smiled happily, "she is a special woman. Tell her I love her."
Just then the trees behind Harry rustled. The assassin quickly turned and raised a shield to block the physical projectiles. Harry unleashed a cutting curse that neatly cut all the waist level brush while Dumbledore used a spell that sent shock waves right after it. "Here", Harry said digging into his pockets.
He handed the old wizard his cell phone, "I'll call you when I'm ready to come home."
Dumbledore looked like he was about to stay something, but instead his expression turned more melancholy. "Hurry back to her Harry...", he said as he took the cell phone.
The young assassin nodded his head with a slight smile. When Dumbledore used the portkey, Harry ran further into the woods. After running a safe distance away, he apparated to a nearby town named Dryden and, after waiting an hour for someone to show up, he harshly persuaded the pilot to take him as far south as he could. From there, he easily entered the States and made his way to Minneapolis and hopped onto another flight. Harry refrained from using magic since he didn't think the electronics in the airplanes would survive.
Ten hours, one flight change in D.C., and a taxi cab later, Harry was standing at the Norfolk, Virginia Port Authority. After a quick investigation, he made his way onto a ship that was headed overseas.
...Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity...
~ George Carlin
Riddle Manor
March 7th, 2000
Tom Riddle sat in his plush red chair reading over proposals from his council. His mood was completely relaxed while he sipped his white wine; it had taken him hours to get to this state. The past week had been frantic to say the least. He kept the entire law enforcement department on standby when he ordered Colonel Ericson to attack the assassin's hideout. An excruciating ten hours after the assault began, he received the call that ninety percent of the attacking force, including Colonel Ericson, have been slaughtered. Private Parker, the soldier that managed to put a tracking charm on the assassin, must have been taken hostage or vaporized. His was the only body not recovered from the cabin.
Speaking of the cabin, Riddle was shocked to learn that it was the home of Joseph and Rose Evans. With that information, he figured out that the assassin that decimated his forces in Cuba had to be the young Harry Potter. The identity of the blonde haired assassin that he rescued is still unknown. Riddle pondered the start of the events when the late Lucius Malfoy identified the Potter boy at the Muggle Magical Task Force building. Tom realized with a morbid chuckle that the situation went to shit from then on.
It was a surprise when a Sergeant, not a low rank yet not an officer ranking, informed him of the casualties. Right off the bat, Tom knew that it was bad. But he could accept a ninety percent casualty rating as long as the assassins were dead. They are still unsure which three were killed from the small group that fled. The last soldier to see the enemy reported a dark haired twenty year old 'blowing up' their friend before he met an ancient looking man with long white hair and a longer white beard.
'That means the Potter boy and Albus Dumbledore were still alive at least', he thought. Tom was waiting for the fallout of the assault. For the past week, he has had Aurors and cops on every street corner looking for suspicious people. Plain clothed soldiers were stationed in every building around the Imperial Center with the regular army garrisoned inside. It was only a matter of time...
Tom blew out a long breathe, it was lonely without his friends he thought mournfully. Yet he still maintained his vision! His resolve was strengthened with each death of his closest friends. The plan for World War III was being finalized and recalculated. Soon it would be time to strike and the real change to the world...to humanity...can begin.
Tom signed the document he had been reading and was about to grab another when his phone rang. "Tom Riddle", he said. He had to pull the receiver from his ear from the shouting on the other end.
"Slow down", Tom told the man. "What's on the shore of Bournemouth? What man", Riddle asked yet he had a sinking feeling he already knew. He spaced out for a minute thinking, hoping, it wasn't who he thought it was. "Say that again...they have him surrounded...
"...They HAD him surrounded! Talk some sense man! What are...", Riddle tried to asked but the phone line clicked and died out. "Hello? Hello!"
"Shit", the Emperor cursed. He punched in a few numbers on his phone, "General? It's happening. The Potter boy is in Bournemouth. I need you to mobilize and get down there!"