Monster
Later at night Harry made his way to the entrance hall secret passage when he felt like he was being watched again. He continued to walk with nonchalance and navigated his way back to the common room. He couldn't see the haze but he was sure he was being watched.
Harry felt the frustration well up in him. He was going to slaughter his watcher when he found them!
He entered the common room through the hidden door opened with an inconspicuous eagle door knob curiously hidden beside a statue of Godric Gryffindor.
He made his way through the warm common room, through one of the two split corridors leading to the back and stopped before the door that said third year dormitory.
He walked in and noted the presence of his roommates sitting in the beds with their bed curtains drawn close.
They all had light shining their curtains showing they were either studying or wanking. Harry had seen something he wished the Void could erase when Anthony Goldstein had forgotten to lock the shower door and since then his awareness about others had sort of spiked, where before he would ignore, now he was observing both colours and faces. Human behaviour was beginning to interest Harry enough for him to observe when he wasn't buried in rune theory.
The window was open and facing the forest. Harry had thought about going out that way but considering the risks he hadn't done it yet. Today however, he was frustrated and angry. He was feeling murderous. So without thinking about consequences and having second thoughts, Harry took two big strides and jumped out of the window.
Outside the Ravenclaw common room undercover agent for the order of the phoenix; Tonks, frowned.
She released her cloaking spell and stared pensively at the eagle door knob. She wondered if she should enter and have a last check up on Harry. Today it was clear he wanted to go somewhere but somehow detected her. Again. It was incredible how he could sense her. The cloaking spell was an Auror level disillusionment spell and was capable of fooling most wards. How Harry could sense her she didn't know, but she had learnt to maintain her distance just like Dumbledore had warned.
There was a feeling she had about him she couldn't shake. As a metamorphmagus she was skilled at reading people. And when she saw Harry, all she saw was a mask. A well-made human mask that seemed to be hiding so much more than what was shown.
A moment later she decided against going in. She couldn't risk getting into close proximity with Harry. Instead she decided to go the Slytherin common room and surprise Daphne. Getting close to Daphne was part two of her mission and in the short time that she had known the girl, she had grown to like her. Daphne was a girl who knew how to dish it out.
Tonks walked towards the dungeons and smiled. She was beginning to enjoy spending time with the spunky blonde.
Outside the castle walls. A boy jumped from four stories above and halfway down he suddenly began to slow down until he gently touched the ground.
Harry laughed in exhilaration. He didn't care if anyone heard him. That had been amazing! The feeling of weightlessness. The risk of being splatter against the ground if his rune of ascension didn't work. The thrill of facing death and winning. Harry suddenly felt like he was rediscovering what it meant to be alive.
Pulse still racing, Harry turned towards the forest and set off with a fast pace. He wanted to try out his new rune structure and he needed live bait. The adrenaline of flying ebbed out of him and the magic of the forbidden forest took hold of him.
Harry felt his heart beat slow and his pupils dilate as his senses grow sharp.
The magic of the forest felt his purpose and sent a message of warning. It was the same magic Harry had felt when he had first entered the forest. Magic that warned him to get away. Now the forest was warning other creatures away from him.
Harry walked among massive tree trunks and stony uneven ground in search of prey. He stalked through the silent forest towards the water pool.
Through the spaces of massive branches and leaves, moonlight shone through to the ground, bringing into focus tiny creatures like bowtruckles and spiders who were hurrying out of Harry's path in panic.
Harry didn't give them a second glance. His mind was set on bigger prey.
He wet his finger by putting it in his mouth and raised the finger to see in which direction the wind was blowing. He had discovered during his third trip into the forest, that the wind always blew away from water holes. To find water he had to travel against the wind. He felt the east side of his finger get marginally colder and he changed directions.
He avoided the areas where there was green moss. He had seen first-hand, an Acromantula fall on the moss and then convulse to death. The colour of the most was green and felt welcome but Harry was sure it was somehow hiding its true colours. He didn't know how it was doing it and resolved to uncover its mystery.
Harry felt the wind pick up pace and knew he was close. He supressed his magic as much as possible and creeped towards the open space he could see through the gaps were the moonlight shone.
A small open space where the moon light was bright, came into view and Harry almost gasped in delight. There was a centaur drinking water!
Harry drew his wand and channelled the Void.
"Cease your spell at once," came a gruff voice behind him. Harry felt the sharp tip of an arrow press into his neck.
He never even saw the second centaur coming.
Harry went still and smiled. Two centaurs were better than one.
"Move," it growled poking Harry, encouraging him to move into the open clearing around the water hole.
The centaur drinking water straightened and turned around, his hoofs beating against the hard ground. When Harry came into the light it gasped.
"He's a youngling!"
"He's not like the other wizards," growled the one holding the arrow against Harry. "His magic is different."
"He's wearing Hogwarts robes," the other murmured. "How curious the creature we be hunting turn out to be a youngling from Hogwarts. What shall we do Bane?"
"Take him to Dumbledore," Bane growled. "What's your name child?"
Harry's smile grew larger. The Void was already around the centaurs. They were so stunned by his appearance that they forgot why they were hunting him in the first place.
"You will not be taking me anywhere," Harry chuckled softly.
"Don't do anything now," Bane warned. He suddenly felt the sinister in the magic around them. "You'd be dead before you can curse us. Drop your wand now."
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"You should surrender," he whispered softly as he dropped his wand to the ground. Bane snorted and his voice came out like a horses' neigh. Only deeper and more powerful. He banged his hoof against the ground and the noise echoed in all directions across the waterhole.
"Here that Ronan?" Bane laughed. "The boy thinks he can take us without his wand."
"Mars loses light, Bane," Ronan said. There was an odd inflection of uncertainly in his voice.
Bane looked into the sky and smiled grimly. "Be as it may. We have a duty. Bind him Ronan."
An invisible force snapped into place, binding Bane and Ronan instead.
Harry opened his eyes and smiled when he saw the panic in Ronan's grey eyes. He took a step forward, relieving the pressure of the arrow and lifted an arm to massage the spot. He felt blood and frowned at his red fingers. Harry turned to face Bane.
Under the moonlight he saw a majestic centaur glaring down at him, unable to move a muscle. His body was muscled and hairy. His face was harsh with long bushy black hair falling all over. His eyebrows were bushy too and his eyes were black and sharp as an owl's. Harry's eyes trailed down his body and he admired the black skin of his hind legs that shone grandly under the moon light.
Harry took a step back to observe the colours of Bane. His red, yellow and blue were bright and active. power, status and knowledge. This creature was a respected leader.
Harry giggled and turned to look at the Ronan. He felt their muscles tense under the hold of the Void. He pulled harder at the Void and exerted more force. The centaurs were strong. He could see their physical power was strengthened by the magic naturally flowing in them. He could see it as an almost invisible shimmer entering through the top of their heads and flowing deep into their bodies right up to the end of their spines.
Suddenly Harry jerked his right arm and two cracking sounds shattered the silence. Harry broke one of their back legs each.
He released the magic holding them and suddenly both were screaming in pain. Harry lashed out with the void again and this time broke one of their front legs. Then a convulsive boom echoed from Harry and the centaurs' eyes went wide with shock as they felt something powerful resonate inside their heads. The pain and sound became too much. They passed out.
Harry giggled. "That was fun," he chuckled. He bent down to pick his wand and concentrated within the Void to summon ropes which quickly wrapped around their necks like a noose. Then Harry began to walk and the centaurs were dragged along.
He had his first test subjects.
That night Harry discovered something about himself. He enjoyed watching the centaurs get trapped by his labyrinth enchantment. Even though the enchantment had eventually failed and crushed them to pulp, he liked watching them try and escape while simply going in circles.
It felt like a game and it had Harry laughing the whole time. Harry discovered that night, that this was a game he enjoyed playing.
First June Nineteen Ninety-Four – Malfoy Manor
The Dark Lord looked better than he had in days. He was possessing a wizard now, having regained enough strength to move on from possessing muggles to magicals.
Voldemort was lounging in his throne eyeing his returned subordinates with a smirk.
Only a select few were called. Severus Snape, Walden Macnair, Thorfinn Rowle and of course Lucius Malfoy. They were seated in armchairs in an arc before Voldemort.
"Knights," Voldemort whispered. "Do you remember your oaths taken all those years ago on Walpurgis's night?"
All four men raised the left arm and pulled back their sleeves to reveal the faded mark of a snake crawling through the mouth of a human skull. It was darker than before. A sign that Voldemort was returning.
"And yet you broke it." Voldemort's voice was flat. Devoid of emotion. The silence was like suffocating fear to the four. All eyes remained on the wand twirling between thin fingers. Lucius had returned the dark lord's wand which had been hidden in the Auror office for a decade.
Who was going to be chosen for punishment? All of them hoped it wasn't them.
The tension was broken when Voldemort smiled. Although his eyes remained an angry red.
"No matter," Voldemort said. "You must have thought me defeated. Gone forever, allowing you to return to your place as a minority in our world."
"We have done well in that time My Lord," McNair said, his voice holding a hint of reluctance. "The ministry is now under the control of Lucius and because of it, you have returned to us!"
Voldemort chuckled. "You are right. I wouldn't not have returned if that were the case. I was defeated. Our cause demolished." He stared into nothing recalling the time he spent on the run from Dumbledore's hounds. After his defeat in Hogwarts, he had been unable to escape the country. It was what finally forced him into the muggle world to resort to taking possession of muggles. He felt disgusted to be reduced to such a state but he was desperate. Dumbledore was always at his ankles, his fingers almost around them, trying to pull him into oblivion.
"Do you have a report Lucius?" Voldemort asked after a moment.
"The situation has worsened My Lord. The mudbloods have taken control of Godric's Village and raised wards all around. Our Aurors haven't been able to get through them." Lucius hesitated here. Amelia had really hurt them and the Dark Lord had promised to kill her himself. He tried to keep his mind away from his budding plans to get rid of the dark lord. However, his plan had taken a turn for the worse when the dark lord summoned more knights to him. Lucius hadn't expected that. He thought the dark lord would hate to be seen in his weakened state. He was wrong and now his task had grown infinitely harder. He had to buy the others to his side and that was a dangerous risk to take.
Voldemort remained calm even though the rage he felt by the birthplace of a great wizard being sullied by muggleborn scum boiled his blood. "And what of the Goblins," he asked, his voice a hiss of controlled rage. A subtle hint that a bad answer could result in punishment.
"The situation is stable for now My Lord. But the little beasts have increased security at the bank. It's already causing incidents between us and them. Minor ones with the chance of blowing into a Rebellion."
"Send a message through the Prophet advising all to remove their gold from Gringotts, Lucius." "Rowle," he said turned to the dirty blonde wizard. "Commission the Department of Housing to begin construction of a building that can be a worthy alternative to the security of Gringotts."
"At once My Lord," said Rowle.
"What are you waiting for?"
Rowle jumped to his feet and quickly left.
Voldemort chuckled and the others joined. He then turned towards Lucius. "The Auror force needs to be strengthened," he said. "Find Fenir Greyback and start recruiting werewolves into the Auror office."
Macnair gasped. "My Lord! To offer such creatures the badge of an Auror will be seen as weakness!"
Voldemort glared at Macnair dangerously. "And who are these people Macnair? Do they dare oppose my will?"
Macnair quailed under the glare of cold cruel red eyes.
"For that interruption who will liaise with the Vampires," Voldemort said cruelly.
Macnair paled and remembering what happened with Rowle, he stood up. "I shall leave at once My Lord," he said quickly.
"Who gave you leave to stand Macnair?" Voldemort hissed.
Macnair began to sweat. "But before… Rowle..." Macnair braced himself for agony as Voldemort raised his wand.
However, instead of pain, he felt something materialise in his hand. It was a sword. "A gift for the Vampire Lord to ease your entry into his castle."
"Thank you My Lord," Macnair said in relief. "You truly are forgiving and our true leader. Please forgive me for straying from the path of the Knights My Lord!"
"Come back with good news Macnair and I shall. Now leave," he commanded.
It was just Lucius and Severus now. His lips curled into a sneer when he looked at Lucius. The Malfoy playing a game that thoroughly amused him. To think, Lucius believed that he was going to rely on Lucius alone after finding shelter in his home. Word had been sent through Snape to loyal followers. The dark lord was returning.
Sensing the betrayal Lucius was so desperately trying to hide made him want to kill the man for even trying. But there was a reason he called Lucius slippery. Even after betraying him, he had enough uses to be allowed to live. Lucius always managed to slip through the gaps between being killed and staying alive. He'd play Lucius game for now. He lacked power for now.
Voldemort turned to Snape. "And you my Dark Prince. Pray tell what news you have of the Order of the Phoenix."
"Dumbledore knows I am aware of him being the leader of the organisation. He trusts me but not enough to bring me into the order."
Voldemort looked into those coal black eyes and sensed truth. "Give him information about the werewolf recruitment," Voldemort said after thinking for a moment. "Give him Greyback."
"Yes My Lord," Snape said calmly.
"And did you find it?"
"I did My Lord."
Lucius felt his heart skip a beat. Did Snape find what?!
"Poison of a Nundu's breath," Snape said, an inflection of awe in his voice. He removed a tiny vial filled with pink mist.
Lucius felt his plans come crashing down. That was the ingredient the man he killed was tasked to find! Suddenly he began to feel sweat forming at the back of his neck. Did the dark lord know? No! He couldn't. His mind shields had not been intruded upon. He was certain of it. The dark lord had probably contacted others in secret. Lucius cursed in his mind.
"We are getting close," Voldemort said with a second of a glance towards Lucius. The message was not missed by the panicking Minster. "And now," Voldemort continued. "Let us proceed with our final plan. Let us talk about Hogwarts and Azkaban."
Bad things were about to set into motion.
Sixth June Nineteen Ninety-Four - Hogwarts Grounds
"I want to talk to him."
"Seriously? He doesn't say much Hermione."
Hermione was adamant. She was tired of watching his ace her at every turn when it came to practical magic. He barely did wand motions, never spoke spells and just did what needed done with a look of concentration etched on his face. She remembered that look on his face after he killed the troll and she needed to know if what she had seen was real or was it just the side effect of being in shock. She couldn't stand it anymore. She couldn't stand not knowing.
"I just want to talk," Hermione insisted. "I'll be polite. Trust me!"
"It's not that," Daphne said hesitantly. "He just doesn't appreciate … umm... how should I put it… err… disturbed."
"Look," Hermione said with a tone of finality. Being friends with Daphne had done wonders to her confidence. She no longer clung to her housemates in the want for attention. With the muggleborn rebellion picking up pace and Draco Malfoy's return, she had summoned a trait of portraying strength in magic to others and was no longer afraid of raising her hand in class. "Look Daphne. With or without you I'm going to talk to him. Now are you coming or not?"
Daphne resisted the urge to throttle Hermione's windpipe. Bringing Hermione into her circle had been a brilliant decision. The muggleborn witch was brilliant. She studied as hard as Harry except Harry was always studying things that had nothing to do with their curriculum. Till now she had no idea what he kept researching and it had been almost three years since she had come to know him.
"I think I saw him head towards the lake," Daphne sighed. "And don't forget that I warned you about this."
A hint of uncertainty reflected in Hermione's eyes before it disappeared behind determination.
The first day of the final exams had concluded and Hermione had watched Harry breeze through Transfiguration and Charms with a bored expression.
The pair found Harry leaning back against an ancient banyan tree near the lake.
He had no books around him and was staring at the horizon beyond the lake. The sky was a lovely shade of light blue and Sirius was visible in the sky.
Daphne soaked in the scene. Harry looked so normal. So relaxed that she had trouble believing it was him.
"Daphne?"
Daphne hadn't realised she had stopped walking.
"Sorry," she laughed and continued their trek towards him. A small part of her wondered if he'd ever sit with her like that. There was a stab of pain in her heart and she ignored it.
"Hey Harry," she said with a bright smile as soon as they were in talking distance.
Harry lazily turned his head to look at her. His eyes lingered on Hermione for a moment before returning to staring at the colours of the sky. His mind was revolving around magical labyrinths.
After the experiment with the centaurs Harry realised two things. The magic always collapsed after half an hour and the pattern of the labyrinth was always the same. That wouldn't do of course. He had to somehow stabilise the rune structure and he also had to add a randomising factor to his structure. He had to making writing in magic easier and faster.
With every experiment, the list of problems kept growing. It was annoying but he was patient. And the current problems paled in comparison to the problem of power. There's wasn't enough. He wasn't enough! So far his mind was proving to be a blank in finding a way to harness the source to power his runes.
Harry was wondering when would be a good time to try out his latest idea about accessing the source when he heard Daphne. He looked at her and noticed she was accompanied by a girl with bushy brown her that instantly drew attention to itself. The hair looked familiar.
"How did the exams go?" Daphne asked and took a seat in front of Harry. Hermione sat next to Daphne wearing a frown.
"Good," Harry replied shortly. "Yours?" he politely inquired.
Moments where Harry was responsive in a conversation were rare. His voice had changed. Where before it was soft and childish, now there was a strength to volume and firmness in tone. The lack of expression on his face made him sound creepy.
"Pretty good," Daphne replied. "Transfi-"
She was interrupted by Hermione. "How do you do it?" she asked loudly.
Harry observed the girl. Her red was glowing with jealousy. She had a strong green and blue as well. She loved knowledge, Harry noted. She was angry too, angry at him.
Harry smiled and his eyes reflected excitement. Did she want to attack him as well? Like Draco?
"How do I do what?" he asked, his voice cold.
"Magic!" Hermione exclaimed. "How do you do it! You don't say spells, you barely lift your wand and yet you transfigured a teapot into a tortoise with barely a twitch in your face!"
Daphne felt it. She had grown attuned to it. Harry's magic was radiating power. Hermione was going to be in danger if she kept this up. Daphne had to end it before it took a turn for the worse.
Harry understood what the brunette was asking. His lips curled into an amused smile. "I respect it," Harry said. "Unlike the rest of you."
Hermione goggled. "What? What does that even mean?"
Her red began to fade and orange began to pulse. Harry felt disappointed. Her emotions changed too quickly. Her hate lost intensity.
"You are incapable of understanding magic," Harry whispered darkly. "Keep waving your wand like a fool thinking you are talking to magic. You don't even know the volume and nature of what you are capable of using."
Hermione frowned. "Are you talking about Arithmancy?" she huffed. "Because what you're saying is making no sense at all."
"Alright," Daphne said quickly when she saw anger behind Harry's eyes. Hermione had pissed him off with her statement. She glared at Hermione and turned to Harry. "Say, the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year is on tenth. You want to join us Harry? You haven't come all year!"
Hogsmeade. The word did ring a bell in Harry's mind. Professor Flitwick had asked him about it sometime back but Harry had refused being busy with improving his labyrinth rune enchantment.
Hermione stood up with a sigh. "I'm sorry if I came on a bit too strongly," she apologised earnestly. "It's just that what you're doing is impossible according to spell theory."
Harry had lost interest. His mind had latched on to one word Hermione had said. Arithmancy: The mathematics behind spell crafting. A complex form of numbers that are used in the calculation of wand moments and words to create a spell.
His mind was linking Arithmancy with the problem of accessing the source. His mind began to work backwards, if the source was infinite how then, to calculate the necessary power required by the runes? Could the answer to the problem be hidden in mathematics behind spell creation?
"Harry? Hogsmeade?" Daphne said after a moment. But Harry had spaced out.
"Sure," Harry replied absently and the rest of the world faded away. His mind began to revolve around Arithmancy, categorising what he knew and what he needed to research.
He could see an answer to his problem. It was cloudy still but it was only a matter of time till the film over his eyes cleared.
Ninth June Nineteen Ninety-Four – Forbidden Forest
Exams were over and Harry was eager to go into the forest. He traced the rune of cloaking on his forehead and took off towards the forest. The last exam was just over and in the excitement of other students, no one had their attention on him. Even the haze was not around.
Light was still bright in the sky when he entered the comfort of the forbidden forest and by the time he reached his training grounds, the sky had turned dark blue.
Harry took off his shoes and dug his feet into one of the pools of sand that dotted the great divide between the two forests. He had discovered, after a little research into centaurs and the forest that the forbidden forest was actually divided into two halves. The side towards the school, the centaurs controlled and they kept all the dangerous animals confined to the other half of the forest. The half Harry hadn't explored yet.
It was a full moon tonight. A wolf's howl could be heard faintly from the far side of the unexplored forest.
Harry had not yet succeeded in perfectly integrating the labyrinth and the desert runes structures. For now, he decided to focus on powering the rune. A method that required a different approach. By now, he was certain, his runes had no effect on beings with consciousness. The white would not allow them to be affected which was another strange problem.
Bearing in mind he was taking a risk with his latest idea Harry pulled at the void and carefully began to wrap it around the length of his arm. He closed his eyes and pictured the rune structure in his mind and focused on recreating them with the Void. Harry made the void razor sharp and suddenly his arm began to sport thousands of cuts in the shape of runes.
Harry cried out. It hurt more than he'd imagined.
Blood began to pour out of him in rivulets and Harry focused on magic rather than pain. He directed the void threw the runes on his arm. The runes began to glow. But seconds later nothing happened. Harry began to feel dizzy with blood loss. He growled and quickly grabbed at a vial of blood replenishing potion he had begun to carry around with him to prevent being caught like last time.
Harry concentrated harder and dug deep into the Void. He imagined it flowing through the crown of his head into his arm and powering the runes. What he was doing was dangerous. Every book said it. Even the dark ones. But Harry didn't care.
A scream of effort escaped from his throat and then something strange happened.
Harry felt his body seize. The Void began to expand like never before and every vein in his body felt like they were overflowing with power. Harry couldn't breathe suddenly. His eyes bulged with the fear of exploding. His mind was going into panic mode.
The runes on his arm stopped bleeding and yellow lines began to crawl out of the runes. They crawled down his torso, his legs, and began to rapidly spread on the ground. Harry couldn't take it anymore. He had to stop it. He had to or else he felt he was going to die. It was too much!
With all his will power, Harry broke the connection magic had with the runes and immediately felt an exhaustion he had never felt before. He collapsed. He was panting. His mind was reeling. He couldn't see. He had no strength to even open his eyes.
He felt sand beneath his face and was breathing in tiny particles of it but he couldn't summon the effort to move. His body was shaking. He was feeling empty.
Time moved forward until Harry finally felt like he had the strength to open his eyes. When he did, he saw white. White sand as far as the beginning of the other side of the forest. His legs still trembled but he managed to force his body into a kneeling position and looked around.
His eyes widened in awe. The divide between the two forests was now a long stretch of sand. Parts of both forests had been eaten away by his magic.
Harry's jaw dropped. He looked up and saw the full moon shining down on him in all its glory. The night had finally set in.
This was it. This was his dream. This was what he wanted to see.
"Oh Merlin."
It wasn't Harry who had spoken.
Harry's head turned sharply. In his weakened state, he didn't sense anyone approaching.
It was Professor Tonks.
"What is this?" she gasped, her eyes wide. "Harry?" She had seen him sneak out of the castle. Since the hall was full she hadn't cloaked herself and that decision turned out to be the smart one as Harry had not sensed her following him. He had disappeared from sight at one point but she found his trail in the forest and had managed to track him. It had taken her a while and she had had to fight off an Acromantula but she had managed to find him. She had found him in what looked like a desert, curled up and bleeding all over the sand.
She couldn't understand what she was seeing. What the hell was going here?!
Harry recognized the magic. She was the cloaked haze! His face transformed into an ugly snarl. Murder shone in his eyes. Tonks had entered his sanctuary. This was unforgivable.
He was still weak after the experiment but the rage that coursed through him summoned enough of the Void to help him stand on his feet.
The breeze died down. Tonks drew her wand.
Tonks had always sensed darkness in Harry. As a metamorphmagus she intuitively knew Harry was wearing a mask and she had always wondered what was beneath the surface.
"So you reveal yourself to me finally," Tonks says with a nervous smile. This was not what she had expected. She was looking at the face of a monster. Green eyes dancing with mad rage, a loose irrational snarl revealing teeth. Hair windswept and wearing black robes.
Runes were carved in his bloody arm and steam was rising from them. Tonks noticed all the cuts were slowly healing.
"You shouldn't be here," he hissed. This was his secret. How dare she intrude!
Tonks noticed the change in his body. It was taking the shape of a predator gearing up to pounce.
She mentally prepared herself and took a step back. She didn't understand what was going on here but she realised she was in danger. This was the danger Dumbledore had warned her about.
"Why don't we go back to the castle eh Harry," she said brightly, buying time as she loosened her magic, preparing for battle. She knew it from the moment she saw his eyes. She was only going to leave here if she disarmed the boy and had him trussed like a pig.
Determination filled her mind. Her Auror training coming to fore.
Harry saw her dig her heels into the ground in defence and he growled. He felt the Void weak. He was still recovering from the backlash of the magic being cut so suddenly. He tightening his grip on his wand. He was going to need it.
It happened suddenly.
He snarled and slashed his wand in an arc towards her. A scythe of magic rushed at Tonks and he followed that up by running towards her, pushing the void through his wand to surround and crush her into pulp.
Tonks was ready. She conjured a wall surrounding her from all sides and felt it rattle when a powerful force slammed into it.
Dangerous and menacing magic began to crack her brick wall and Tonks cursed. She couldn't apparate. The anti apparation wards of Hogwarts, stretching for miles into the forest. No one knew where it ended, except that it was inaccessible.
She pointed her wand up and conjured a rope that clung to a branch. She rose out of her column like a rocket just as Harry slammed his palm into it, exploding it to dust.
Adrenaline rushed through Tonks. This was no child she was duelling!
He was physical she mentally noted as she leaped on to the tree and cast a stupefy at him. That meant she had to keep moving.
Her eyes widened when she felt something close in on her. As a metamorphmagus she could sense magic. Something that other Aurors felt jealous about. It was a very useful tool in a fight.
She jumped down to the ground to avoid whatever it was and felt shock when the branch she was on was crushed to dust.
Harry was on her in an instant. His body was always moving, guided by the Void. He focused on his violet and red. Clairvoyance and power. It almost allowed him to almost see her movements before she completed them.
He slammed his wand into the sand and focused.
Tonks cried in shock when the sand around her began to wrap itself around her legs and rise.
She used her metamorph powers to thin her legs and rolled aside.
Harry growled and redirected the sand but Tonks had already jumped back into the trees, realising it was safer.
Tonks heart was beating fiercely. She could feel the fear, the excitement, the thrill of a battle to death. She grinned mockingly at Harry. "That all you got," she shouted. Her inner voice screamed at her for provoking him.
Harry narrowed his eyes. Rage was consuming him. His prey was slippery. Suddenly all the sand began to rise.
Tonks realised she had to retreat to Hogwarts. She was going to have to get help to subdue this monster. He was using magic in a way she had never seen before. She turned and cast a charm on her legs that allowed her to run and jump faster.
Harry saw she was about to run and quickly drew a rune in the ground with his wand. Tonks was on the move and he poured his magic into the rune.
The ground began to shake and crack open. Trees groaned as they were shaken and almost uprooted.
Tonks, at her speed didn't see it coming and lost her balance and fell.
She slammed into a tree trunk and felt her ankle crack when she hit the ground. She groaned in pain as her vision turned hazy. "Shit!" she cursed.
Tonks had not gotten far. She scrambled under some roots in an attempt to hide. Her hands were trembling and blood was pounding in her ears. She was about to cast the cloaking spell to hid her when the root crumbled and Harry pounced atop her.
She felt steel pierce her skin. Her eyes went wide with the shock and she felt time slow down to a crawl.
Tonks choked as her lungs filled with blood. She was dying. Murdered by a monster. Agony filled her mind.
Harry felt her blood spill out of her heart as he straddled her and with a six inch steel knife buried to hilt between her breasts.
As she lay bleeding to death, she felt one his hands shift.
A foreign thought entered Harry's mind as he gleefully watched the life fade from Tonk's eyes. Harry realised how soft her chest was. He felt an impulse to feel them. His palms loosened grip of the knife and slid over her robes. A different sort of pleasure shivered through him. He didn't understand it at all but strangely he liked it.
Oh god! Tonks screamed in her agony consumed mind. Her eyes looked into the madness that danced in Harry's with horror.
She died with terror in her eyes.
Days later, when she was found in the forest, the medical examiner wrote a footnote in his medical report.
If it weren't for the obvious stab wound in her chest and broken ankle, I could have sworn this woman was killed by the forbidden curse.