So, I have been proofreading 'Could Things Get Any Worse?!' so I could make an audio for it. I got the first chapter audio done; I just need a cover for it now. I think I have some idea of what to make it. I'm going to try to get it up this weekend on my You Tube channel: Dark Crystal.
Anyway, enough about that; enjoy the chapter! XD
47
Harry walked out of Gringotts with a trunk wheeled behind him and a sword strapped to his back. He wished he knew a spell to make these two things lighter, but alas, he doesn't.
{You wouldn't tell me how to make this easier for me, would you?} asked Harry.
Fawkes shook his head. {No, I wouldn't tell you. You'll just have to remember on your own, or learn a new one.}
Harry sighed at the unhelpful answer. He paused mid-step when he heard a creaking and squeaking sound coming from his right. He turned to look and saw a weird building. The building has a giant man's head made of...metal, he thinks, on it. The color of the hair is faded, but he could still make out a little bit of orange patches on it. What caught his attention in the first place was the hat that the building's arm is holding. It was moving the hat up and down like it was greeting a new costumer, but it wasn't going down all the way. That didn't matter, however, since it was a shock to Harry that the thing was still working at all.
{That's still standing?} Fawkes said impressed.
"I wonder who owned it…" said Harry. He looked at the sign and saw that it was still legible. "Weasley Wizard Wheezes…" he read aloud, but as soon as he did he grabbed his head in pain. "Ah!"
Harry knelt down onto his knees while holding his head in both hands. Fawkes was squawking loudly and calling his name, but Harry couldn't truly hear him – his head was in too much pain, it was pounding.
Inside his head, Harry saw a family of redheads. He saw a boy that he has been seeing throughout his fragmented memories and 8 others. There was a man, who Harry remembers is the father, and his wife. There are six boys and one girl. Harry could hear their names when they are talking to him. He is sure it was during when he first met each and every one of them.
He met most in a train station. Going from youngest to oldest, he heard the names Ginny, Ron, Fred and George, and later while in a huge room a boy named Percy. He remembers that Ron has a sweet tooth and a love for Quidditch, Fred and George love to prank and dreamed of having a joke shop, and Percy...he couldn't really remember much about him. He seemed to be the most serious type at of all of them.
Ginny came later, she was a year younger than he and Ron. She seemed shy, but Harry could tell that she liked him with how she acts around him. With her was a little, black book, following with the snake, sword, Fawkes, and an old hat. There was a young man there, but Harry couldn't make him out still.
He saw Molly and Arthur Weasley, being introduced around the same time as Ginny. He met Molly at the station with most of the others, but he didn't get a name at the time. Arthur he met before his…second year? Harry started to feel the pain in his head lighten a little.
There are two other Weasleys. They were the oldest sons named Bill and Charlie. Charlie handles dragons. He remembers this due to seeing a baby dragon and a huge man with beetle-like eyes. Bill was a cures breaker, Ron told him about Bill when they went to Egypt. 'What was Egypt?' Harry questioned.
The pain was finally leaving him. He panted while lying on the ground. When did he get this far? He was sure that he knelt when the headache started, but not collapse due to it.
{Harry? Harry, are you alright?} Harry heard faintly at first, but the concerned voice of Fawkes became clearer with each word.
"Yeah, I'll be fine…" he said softly while sitting up and rubbing his face and head. "I just remembered meeting the Weasleys. I gave Fred and George the money to make their dream for this shop here come true." Harry pointed to the joke shop in front of him.
Fawkes looked at the shop before returning his black gaze on him. {Do you want to go in?} he asked.
Harry thought for a moment. "No," he shook his head, "I have a feeling we should leave. I want to check on Castor." He couldn't explain it, but he felt that something was going on back home. "I'll check this place out later. Maybe even fix it up when they return. …They were with us when Hogwarts disappeared, right?" he asked.
{I believe so.}
"Then let's get home and come back some other time." Fawkes and Harry left what remained of Diagon Alley and teleported back to the outskirts of Magnolia.
At first, Harry didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but as he walked into the town he felt something appear behind him. He whipped around only to see a purple wall made of rune symbols. He stared at wall for a moment, but it faded away; therefore, the reason why he only stared at it for a moment. Harry shrugged his shoulders; even if the runes had stayed he wouldn't have been able to read them anyway.
He laid a hand where the wall was to see if it is still there. Surely enough is was. The runes appeared again, and Harry could feel that they were solid.
"Well, I guess we aren't going out that way," said Harry before turning to Fawkes. "We should get to the guild and find out what's going on." Fawkes nodded in agreement.
Harry mounted his broom and tested to see if it still works. As luck would have it, it did. He took off into the air with a scream; he forgot how fast this broom was. He slowed it down when he was high enough, so he could look on what was happening down below.
He doesn't see anything at first, but with the help of his seeker eyes he spotted members of his guild. He paused in the air to ask them what was going on, but he noticed something wasn't quite right. He knows that his guildmates fight each other, but that is for fun, this is showing to be on a more serious level. They are going at each other with everything they got.
{Why are they fighting?} asked Harry in pure confusion.
{They seem to be in a box of runes,} said Fawkes. {The runes say they have to fight each other and the winner will be able to leave.}
{If there needs to be a winner, then shouldn't one of them just surrender?}
{I'm not sure. If you get stuck in one, see if it works.}
Harry sighs; he guessed that he will have to stick to his plan of going to the guild and finding out what is going on. {Keep an eye out. We don't want to get caught in any of these traps right now,} he said.
They take off again with Fawkes in the lead. He was able to guide them through the trapped littered town without getting caged. They get to the guild after landing in front of it, but before he could walk in, someone stops him.
"Harry, don't come any closer!" Natsu shouted, pressing his face on the wall of runes. Harry stopped right in front of it confused.
"What's going on? Why can't I come it, and why is everyone fighting each other?" he asked.
Makarov steps forward. "These runes stop anyone over 80 years old from escaping the building," he said. "Since you have been alive for 500 years, you'll be trapped in here too if you walk through the door."
Harry went wide-eyed at this, glade that they had stopped him. "My last question?"
"To answer that one, Laxus came back and is trying to get me to surrender the guild to him." Harry doesn't feel all that surprised by this. "All the girls are frozen in stone thanks to Evergreen, and Laxus is using them to get everyone to fight each other. If we don't listen to his rules, he'll start destroying them one by one."
Harry started shuddering at the deadly calmness in his master's tone of voice. He knew that Laxus might try to usurper Makarov, but to threaten the lives of its members? That is something Harry didn't think the man would do or could do. He turns to Natsu and Gajeel, while also noticing that not all the girls are trapped in stone.
"Why are you two still here?" he asked the two dragon slayers.
"We can't get through," Gajeel stated.
"Are we somehow over 80?!" Natsu exclaimed.
"You don't look it, but then again, neither do I," said Harry. "Alright, I see Levy is trying to find a way to get you guys out of the guild, so I'll start searching for Laxus. Did any of you find out how to get the girls out yet?"
"We were waiting for Porlyusica, but Reedus got caught in a fight, and was defeated. Darn you, Laxus!" Makarov shouted.
"Calm down, Master," said Harry, looking to Fawkes for help. Fawkes started trilling a song to help calm them down. Thankfully it worked; Makarov isn't young so Harry was worried that he's going to hurt himself if he gets too upset.
"Also, if you find Laxus, Harry, don't fight him," Makarov says. "It's for your own good. I know you're strong, but do you think you can beat Laxus in a fight?"
Harry didn't think he could. When he first met the guy, he was sure it was just luck. He shook his head. "No, I don't think I could. I'll find him and wait for either Natsu or Erza. I'll lead one of them to him if they hadn't found him yet. Would that be acceptable, Master?"
Makarov nodded his head. "That would be better."
Natsu roared loudly, "I can't wait to get out of here! I want to fight Laxus! Harry, you better find him, so I can beat his face into the ground!"
"Don't worry, I'll try to find him. I just don't know how I'm going to do that," Harry muttered the last part to himself, but Natsu and Gajeel still heard him if the iron dragon slayer's scoff was anything to go by. "Before I go, where is Castor?" he asked.
"Don't worry, he's hiding in my office," Makarov said. "He hid when the girls all turned into stone."
Harry thanked his master for the answer and mounted his broom again. "I'm going to start looking for Laxus."
"Don't get caught in any of the traps!" Makarov ordered.
"I can't make any promises. I was lucky to be able to get here without falling into one already." Harry yelped when Fawkes nipped him on the ear. "Sorry, I meant to say that it was all thanks to Fawkes we didn't get caught on our way here."
Makarov grunted in acknowledgement. "Be careful, Harry." Harry nodded his thanks and took to the skies again with Fawkes flying next to him.
{I know that Laxus thinks that everyone is weak in the guild, but this? He has everyone fighting to see who is the strongest?} Harry thought, not needing to be told to understand that much as to why Laxus has every member of Fairy Tail fighting each other. What he couldn't bring himself to understand was why threaten the lives of the girls.
{Well, it is obvious, isn't it?} Fawkes questioned. {He needed something to motivate the other members into fighting each other at their full strength.}
Harry's green eyes turned to lie on his familiar. "That better be it, because if Laxus is planning on going through with blowing the girls to bits, I'm going to make him wish that he had the sense smacked into him when I sent him through that wall," he said, along with allowing his memory to go down the track to that moment.
~flashback~
Harry was hiding under a table, but he had to move, for it got thrown across the guild hall by Gray – or was Natsu? He is now hiding by the bar so he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. While staying low, Harry saw a pair of feet come into view, and the next second he's grabbed by the back of his shirt.
Harry almost yelled in surprise; what stopped him from doing so, however, was from the shock at seeing Laxus down on the first floor with everyone else. He's never spoken to the guy before, so why is he here now?
"I know that it's pathetic to watch the rest of these losers fighting each other, but watching you hiding is even more pathetic," said Laxus with a curl smirk.
Harry glared at him. "Well sorry if I don't want to fight them, but can't get somewhere safe like you," he growled through clenched teeth.
"Well, you're small, I'm sure you can hide in just about any little rat hole to crawl in." Harry doesn't know why being called small enraged him, but it did. "You must be weaker than the rest of these weaklings. Not only are you small and scrawny, but you also know that you would be crushed if you joined in on this show of who's weaker!"
Every word that came out of Laxus' mouth just made Harry angrier. 'Don't attack him, Harry. He's not worth it,' he thought mentally. "With that logic, wouldn't that make you weak? After all, you're hiding up on the second floor all the time. Now you're down here to pick on someone you believe to be so weak that he can't protect himself with anything but tables. What does that say about you?"
Neither Harry nor Laxus noticed the silence that had spread throughout the hall and every member of their guild now looking at them both - most were impressed by Harry guts. The wizard and lightning mage are glaring at each other now, willing the other to melt or turn into a pile of ashes.
"You dare call me weak?" Laxus said behind gritted teeth. His teeth are pressed so tightly together that Harry is amazed that they aren't breaking. "That's big talk coming from someone so small. I bet that's your strongest trait: a big mouth. If that's all you got going for you, then you don't belong in Fairy Tail!"
Something in Harry snapped the moment Laxus said he didn't belong. It made him think of three people that always said that he was nothing more than a waste of space. That thought only made him angrier. Laxus started dragging him toward the guild doors. He can hear Makarov shouted at his grandson to let him go, but the man didn't pay any heed. Just as he was about to be thrown out the doors, Harry's magic lashed out in his anger.
His magic shot out from his body like a bullet and slammed into the lightning mage like a jackhammer. Laxus was shoved so hard in the chest by the pure, gold magic that he went soaring across the guild, missing everyone who quickly got out of the way, and through the back wall into the backyard.
All of Fairy Tail were shocked at the power that Harry just shown – he's never done something like that before. They turned to face the young wizard who is panting from the outburst of magic, but it didn't weaken his glare in the slightest. His eyes looked to be glowing with death; it sent cold shivers down everyone's spines.
"Don't ever call me small or weak again. If I were so weak than you must really be pathetic to be taken out by someone like me," said Harry in a deadly calm voice. "Never say I don't belong here in Fairy Tail just because I'm weak. I do believe if that's how the rules here worked then you would be kicked out yourself for getting defeated by a weakling." With that being said, Harry walked away with his eyes still glowing with power. Laxus and all members of Fairy Tail watched Harry go to the request board and took the first job within reach, showed it to Mira, and left the guild with the hopes of the job getting rid of the last of his anger before he hurt someone he cared for badly.
He gave Laxus one last glare before leaving, not noticing that his hair was no longer covering his lightning bolt shaped scar, allowing everyone to see. They couldn't help but think that Harry had something in common with Laxus, even though he will never admit it. As for Laxus himself, he couldn't stop his train of thought from thinking, 'Maybe he's just small because he ages slower or something.' He watched the last of Harry leave the guild. 'I got to hand it to the kid; he's not so weak after all.' There was a hint of fondness and respect in his inner voice, but even though it was the man's own thoughts he never heard it.
~end of flashback~
Harry was snapped out of his thoughts when he crashed into a wall of runes. He hovered back a little and stared at it for a moment. He decided to try and get around it, only to find he is boxed in.
{I tried to warn you, but you were too deep in thought to hear me,} said Fawkes from the outside of the box. {You have to fight and win to get out now.}
Harry looked down to see who it was that he was meant to fight, but he had to twist out of the way of a magic bullet. He looked down again to see who fired and almost smacked himself for not thinking of who it could be sooner.
"Alzack, I don't want to fight you! Or anyone for that matter," said Harry frustrated.
{Except maybe Laxus,} he heard Fawkes say quietly in his head, but did not reply. He wasn't sure if he fully agreed with the phoenix or not.
"I don't want to fight you either, Harry, but I have no choice! I have to save Bisca!" said Alzack loudly.
Harry is starting to feel his pride fight him on this, but he needs to say it if he wants to get out of this box as soon as possible. "Well then I surrender." As soon as he said that the box of runes glowed; however, it didn't disappear. More runes showed on the box, and Fawkes reads them.
{It says: Nice try, Harry, but you are not taking the easy way out. If you want to leave the runes, then you need to defeat Alzack in a fight.}
Harry cursed under his breath. Leave it to Laxus to have Freed leave a message like that for him. He returns his attention to Alzack. "Never mind, we'll have to fight," he told him with a sigh.
Alzack started firing rounds at him again, but since Harry was given no choice but to fight, his pride refused him to lose. He did a barrel roll and flew in circles to dodge the oncoming attacks. He grabbed his wand and waited for Alzack to run out of the rounds he's using. It took a while, but there was a pause when Alzack tried to change his shots. Harry took his chance.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Harry. The disarming charm hit, sending the gun into Harry's hand. He thought that he could just knock Alzack out easily after that, but the guy had another gun. 'Oh yeah, I forgot he had two guns. Wait doesn't he use them both at the same time? Why didn't he…'
"I knew you would that spell, Harry!" Alzack shot at him again, but Harry dodged the bullet, almost falling off his broom now that both his hands hold something that isn't the broom handle. "It was why I kept one gun away. Now, you can't hold on to your broom."
{Why do I feel like that last part was improvised?} asked Fawkes, who is still flying around the outside of the box of runes.
Harry had no choice but to drop the gun; there was no way he would have been able to place it in one of his pockets in time to twist out of the way of another wave of spark shots. Alzack caught the gun before it hit the ground, leaving him open again.
"Turbo!" cast Harry.
"Tornado Shot!" fired Alzack.
The two tornados slammed into each other, causing an explosion of wind so powerful that it knocked Harry off his broom. Harry crashed onto the ground with a sickening crunch to his left shoulder, forcing him to bite his lip to keep his scream from coming out. He faintly heard his broom clatter to the ground not far from him; luckily no snapping sound followed it.
Harry tried to get up, but he froze for a moment when he saw the gun mage aiming at him. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I need to save her."
"I know, and I am too." Harry knows that he confused Alzack, which left him open again for his spell. "Flipendo!" Alzack was knocked back away from Harry, who cast another spell. "Expelliarmus!" Now both guns flew into Harry's hands, though he gritted his teeth against the pain in his left dislocated shoulder when he moved it. He dropped them both to the ground and kicked them behind him. He aimed his wand at Alzack again. "Like I said, I'm sorry too. I know you want to save her, but fighting isn't going to help with that." Just as he was about to cast the stunning spell, a voice sounded in everyone's head.
{Everyone, stop fighting!} It was Warren's voice. {Go ahead, Lucy.}
{Everyone's okay! We're no longer trapped in stone,} said Lucy.
{So…all they girls are okay?} asked Fawkes, but what was said next shocked both he and Harry.
{Who was that?} Harry heard all of Fairy Tail say at the same time.
{Fawkes, I think they heard you,} said Harry.
{Um…hi…?} Fawkes said again.
{That's Fawkes?!}
{I think we can hear him because of my telepathy magic,} explained Warren. {I have connected with everyone on our side in this fight after all.}
Harry saw Fawkes nod in understanding. {That would make sense. Now back to what Lucy was saying.}
{Oh, right! We have another problem! I'm not sure if any of you have noticed, but do you see those Lacrimas in the sky around Magnolia?} Harry, Alzack, and Fawkes looked up and saw what Lucy was talking about.
{Yeah, we see them,} Harry and a few others said.
{Laxus calls it the Thunder Palace. Now that he no longer has us to threaten, he's using the whole town. If he sets that off, it will blow all of Magnolia up!}
{WHAT!?} everyone with a Fairy Tail guild mark that aren't Laxus, Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen shouted in horror.
{We need to find a way to destroy them, but that's another problem. Once you destroy one, it attacks back because of the Organic Lick Magic.}
{Well, isn't that just swell?} said Fawkes sarcastically. {Harry, I'm sure we'll be feeling pain for the next week, because I know you're going to go all out on those things.}
{Harry, don't do anything stupid!} Harry wasn't sure who just spoke, but replies anyway.
{Come on guys, we have to destroy those things up there. What's a little pain to the whole town dying? We're Fairy Tail for Merlin's sake! This is OUR town, and WE'RE the ones in charge of PROTECTING it!}
No one said anything at first, which left Lucy to add, {Thank you Harry, but even if they didn't help, I still would have destroyed them all myself if I had to. I refuse to just sit back and watch. I always looked up to Fairy Tail, but if they are going to be cowers about this, then we'll just have to destroy these things ourselves!}
There was silence again, but Kana decided she wasn't going to be left out. {Their right you know! We're Fairy Tail! Since when do we chicken out when things get tough? Are we really going to let the newbie and Harry show us up? They are more Fairy Tail than the rest of you!}
Harry started hearing his guildmates start to agree with them. Finally, they are all cheering and releasing battle cries; they are going to help them in destroy the Thunder Palace. He looks back down to Alzack, who meets his eyes for just a moment before looking away.
"Bisca is alright now, so I guess I have no reason left to fight you, Harry. You win anyway. Just knock me out so you can clam your victory."
Harry stays silent for a moment, but just before he casts his spell, he says, "Thank you. Stupefy." The spell shot out and hits Alzack right in between his eyes. He falls back, but Harry caught him so his head didn't bounce off the hard ground. He lays him down softly, gets up, and leaves to continue his search for Laxus. He'll start blowing the Lacrimas up when the others and Erza are ready and finished with their fights. They had agreed to get rid of them all at the same time.
TBC
There are some things that are different in this arc. I'm not following the manga, and I'm starting to think that I should have. :( I forgot the order everything happens in. I know that Erza helps in destroying the Thunder Palace, and Mira fights Freed. I don't remember what happens first. So, things are a little out of order. I'll try to make it work in the end, though.
Just so you know: Alzack never fought Freed. That is why Harry fought him instead. That reminds me, Harry finally won another fight. When was the last fight he won? It's been a while, so he needed this.
As for the beginning of the chapter: Harry remembers a lot about the Weasleys, but not everything. Like he doesn't know how he gave the money to the twin – I'm talking about him giving money that he got to give to them… He doesn't know he got the money from the Triwizard Tournament. He also doesn't know about the Order of the Phoenix. Harry only remembers the basics about them.
Harry: I won a fight – FINALLY! XD
Natsu: Great job, Harry! I'm so proud of you! :D
Voldemort: You are pathetic. How I did I lose to you?
Enj/Dark: Go easy on him. If you think about it, between wizards from your world and Fairy Tail, the power gap is insane. *looks toward the readers* Don't you agree? If someone from Harry Potter – like Ron – fights someone like Mira, who do you think will win, and how quick would it have lasted?
Zeref: Who do you think Voldemort would lose fastest to?
Enj/Dark: Acnologia, hands down.
Voldy: Who?
Natsu: A dragon; a really powerful, evil dragon.
Zeref: A magic dragon slayer turned dragon of magic. The guy has very few weaknesses.
Enj/Dark: And I don't know them. Anyway Harry, it's your turn.
Harry: Please review!
