Crumpled Horned Plot Bunnies
A Harry Potter fanfic by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling and Warner Brothers, please support the official release.
The Wand Chooses the Wizard: Revised
It was dark. It was stuffy. It was cramped.
It was familiar.
"No," Harry murmured, blinked in disbelief. The walls of his cupboard expanded but it did not alleviate his discomfort, only making him feel smaller and more vulnerable. "This-This can't be real!"
"It is as real as you imagine it to be," a cool, feminine voice said. Harry spun around, searching the darkness for the source of the voice, but there was nothing. Only the vaguest hint of feathers and long curly hair brushing against his mind, just as quickly vanishing.
"Who... Are you my wand?" Harry asked. The voice laughed quietly, sadly.
"Your wand? I am no one's wand..."
The cupboard had grown to the size of Hogwart's main hall, and Harry felt an all encompassing fear and helplessness fill him.
"I had one... One who might wield me," continued the voice quietly, yet it was almost as if she was speaking right into his ear. "One who might speak to me. One who was strong, and would tap, reach deep enough to almost hear me..."
The voice sighed. "But here... Here is where he dwells. Where he was broken."
"I'm not broken," Harry growled. "This isn't-This is not where I am! Not anymore! NEVER again!"
"Then why do you allow your strings to be tugged?" The voice inquired. "Why do you allow them to keep you here? Helpless? Lost?"
"I... I don't want them to be! I don't want to be controlled anymore!" Said Harry. He looked at the walls in fury. "I AM NOT HERE ANYMORE!"
His magic flared into existence around him, the air humming and churning as his power boiled it. The walls of the cupboard began to break apart, began to shatter into nothingness, leaving only clear, blue sky behind.
Harry started, and gazed around. Here... He was standing on a cloud, looking down upon the Earth stretched out before him. He looked up, and saw the hints of twinkling stars far above. Warm wings wrapped around him as a very female body pressed against his back.
"Don't feel fear," she whispered. "Don't feel angst. Don't feel helpless. Trust in you. Trust in me. Trust in the power you wield, the power you have." A smile was in her voice as she breathed in his ear, and he blushed.
"You feel the wind, you see the sky. This is freedom, Harry... This is power. To fly above all others and feel the sun glowing down upon you, without doubt. Others try to pull you down, others try to clip your wings, but you know who won't. You know what won't."
Harry shook and looked down. "What... What do I have to do?"
The woman pushed him forward just a bit. Harry saw that his cloud was vanishing, that gravity was aching to yank him back into his grasp.
"Trust, Harry," she whispered. "Trust yourself... And trust me."
"I..." He closed his eyes. "I'll fall..."
"You have been falling for a very long time," she said. "But that's how you learn to fly."
Harry took deep breaths. He felt a soft hand reach for his own, and he grasped it tightly. He nodded.
"I'm ready..."
"Then go forward, Harry..." She laughed in an extremely familiar way, as Harry took his first step. "And know that I will catch you..."
Harry kept his eyes firmly open, felt the sun upon him... And leaped out into the clear blue sky.
"I will give you power over that which your enemy fears above all else," the wand's spirit whispered sensually into Harry's ear. "You will become that which that snake loving bastard flees, if you take it. You will be FREE. Now, what is MY NAME?"
"PERSEPHONE!" Harry roared, eyes opening.
Sitting in the stands with his other mates and classmates, Ron Weasley was pale and felt hollow. He had watched the three older Champions each take on a dragon, and narrowly escape by the skin of their teeth. All older, and all stronger than Harry.
Harry... Who had to go up against a Hungarian Horntail. The worst of the lot.
Guilt was burning in his guts as he saw Hermione walk up into the stands, and sit by herself near the front. Hermione, who hadn't abandoned Harry.
Who had stood by him... While he hadn't.
Ron felt... Something inside him. A nudge. And he got up, and walked down to sit next to her.
She looked over at him, briefly surprised. Her eyes narrowed.
"Ron."
"Hermione."
Silence fell. Ron sucked in a deep breath.
"You and Harry... You have a plan, right? He's... He's going to be okay, right?"
Hermione scowled at him.
"What do you care? Don't you want to see him fail in getting more glory?"
That hurt.
"Damnit Hermione!" Ron hissed, "what do you want me to say, huh?! That I was a git?! Fine! I was a git! Are you happy?! Just tell me he's gonna be okay!"
Hermione sucked in a deep breath between her teeth and looked down at the arena. The Horntail was snarling and hissing, unhappy about the noise and attention.
"We worked really hard on some... Special magic," she said. "Stuff we found in the Chamber of Secrets."
"Blimey," Ron mumbled, "but-but it'll work, right?"
"I hope so," Hermione whispered, as Harry entered the arena. Ron stared intently at his best male friend.
He looked nervous... Very nervous. Who wouldn't be? But he also looked determined. Like he was going in to do or die.
"Can't wait to see Potter get fried!"
Ron clenched his fists hard. He shot a venomous glare up at Draco Malfoy, who was heckling Harry.
"Get stuffed, Malfoy!" Ron shouted back.
Draco grinned viciously.
"We've got the best seats to see him die, Weasel!"
Ron made to get up and punch the smug jackass in the face, but Hermione held onto his wrist.
"Don't," she muttered, "just... Believe in him. Okay?"
She was very pale, and almost shaking. If Ron left her, she'd be all alone.
So Ron sat down, and watched, and prayed.
Please Harry... Don't die... Not before I apologize...
The noise of the crowd faded in the background as Harry walked into the arena. His fist clenched around his wand tightly, as he sized up the dragon. It bellowed in rage, baring its steak knife sized teeth.
Relax, Persephone spoke soothingly in his mind, I'm with you. You will note, Harry, that the chains have been weakened.
Intentionally? Harry thought back. Persephone shook her head.
I can't tell. More than likely, this entire fiasco is poorly planned. In which case... These people came for a show, did they not?
Harry frowned.
Do I want to show off all I can do?
Of course not, Persephone laughed, but you can show the ones who entered you into this mess just enough to make them worry...
Harry nodded, and held out his wand. He held onto his wrist, and focused.
"PERSEPHONE!"
The wand's power exploded around him, blowing up a huge cloud of dust and smoke. He heard some screams, but paid them no mind. The dust cleared, and Harry stood, transformed.
His robes had become gray and black, like funerary garb, and waved in a non-existent wind like flames. A scarf of pure white waved from around his neck, ghostly and ethereal. His eyes glowed green. His wand had turned into a dagger-like shortsword: silver, green, and black metal alloys in triangular patterns up and down the hilt and blade.
His robes ended in two tails that waved behind him, resembling the wings of an owl. Hedwig would like that, he supposed.
The Horntail roared at him. But he could still hear Ludo Bagman's voice over the din.
"Well! Our youngest champion has... Transfigured his clothing? And his wand-This is quite extraordinary-"
Harry held up his hand.
Reducto, he thought, and the weakened chains holding the dragon shattered.
He heard gasps and cries in the crowd as the Horntail, now free, charged him with a furious roar. It closed the distance with him in mere seconds, its hungry jaws seeking to snap him up. He heard Hermione scream... And Persephone's comforting voice, through it all.
Wait... Wait... Wait... NOW!
And Harry flew straight up, as the Horntail plowed headfirst into the reinforced stone arena walls. The magically enhanced wall cracked and splintered from the impact, as the dragon bayed in pain. Harry hovered overhead, letting his wand's power carry him.
Faintly he could hear gasps, screams, and cheers... But he didn't pay them any mind. The Horntail shook off the impact, and spread her wings. She leaped off the ground, and bellowed flames up at him!
Harry accelerated straight up like a bullet, focusing his magical power to fly as fast as he could. The Horntail spread her wings and tried to catch a thermal, ascending fast after him. He abruptly slowed and dove back down, performing what he recalled was a Stall Turn. He rocketed past the Horntail, and then pulled up to speed away from her over the arena.
The dragon pursued, using its larger wings to try and stay with the far more nimble Harry. He went into a barrel roll, and the Horntail spat flames, trying to hit him where she thought he'd come out.
Clever girl, he thought, jinking to the right as the heat rushed right behind him. He pulled up and accelerated, before diving in a roll. A spout of flame caught his sleeve, and he felt the heat burning away at his robes. He fell straight down, smoke flying behind him as he shot for the ground like a rock.
The Horntail roared in triumph, diving right after him, opening its jaws to catch him. He could see Dumbledore already preparing a spell, Hermione and Ron screaming in fear... The Weasley clan yelling in horror... So many others...
Ready... Ready... Ready... And... NOW!
At the last possible second, Harry pulled up, right above the rocky arena... And the Horntail plowed into it with a loud crash and thud! It collapsed into a broken heap-Stunned, dead, Harry didn't know. And he didn't care to.
He flew back over the boulders to the nest, snatched up the golden egg, and flew right back out of the arena. He landed hard on the grassy ground, going into a roll to put out the flames.
He was breathing hard... His heart threatened to pound of his chest... But there was a savage grin on his face.
It wasn't the cheers or the prize in his arms that did it... It was just the rush. The feeling of pushing his limits, of becoming more.
Of being more than some freak in a cupboard.
Well done, Harry, Persephone said, well done indeed...
Persephone Wand Release:
Abilities: Enhanced Magical Ability Overall, Flight, Ghost-related abilities
By all means, give into the weeb side and write some characters figuring out how to release their wands!
