Natsu was kidnapped by Brain, but he'll be rescued soon. If you are wondering why this came out late…well, I wrote a chapter in a new fanfiction. No, it is not the continuation for My Hollow Siblings - that is still coming out. It is a new story for when I need something new to write. I really needed it. You can find it on my profile if you haven't already seen it. The story is called: Natsu Hates it when Zeref is Bored.
Now then, on to the story! XD


64
Harry VS Midnight

Harry still had found neither hide nor hair of Erza and Jellal. He has asked Fawkes if he seen anything, but he hasn't. He just kept saying that the wizard would have better chances of finding them before him.

Harry had flown both high and low to see if he could spot them, or even gone upside down; he has been unsuccessful in finding the two mages. He found a few birds – rather they found his face – but they aren't what he is looking for. At first he thought he found them, but it turned out to be just another bird that had both red and blue feathers.

He sighed; now he doesn't know where Fawkes has gotten off to. {Where are you?} he asked.

Fawkes replies, {I found a snack. I'm on my way back now.} Harry looked to his right, seeing red and gold out of the corner of his eye. He sees Fawkes there coming up next to him with a small animal in his talons. The phoenix lands on the end of Harry's broomstick so he can start gobbling down on the rat that he found.

"You are supposed to be helping me in finding Erza and Jellal… Not taking a launch break…" Harry muttered just loud enough for the bird to hear him.

Fawkes just turns his head to look at him with a tilt to his head. {You're just upset that I have something to eat and you don't.}

Harry glared at him, but didn't say anything. What was there to say? He knows that Fawkes is for the most part right. He is hungry. His stomach stopped growling an hour ago, and now it is not as painful now as it was. He doesn't find that as important as finding his friend, however.

Harry shook his head from side to side. He pauses in the motion when he spots something red and blue from what looks to be a mile away. It could be just who he is looking for, so he took his chances and turned his broom in the direction of the two colors. After a second went by, the two colored dots started to take form. He sees that they are the two he has been looking for, but it appears that there is someone else there with them.

When Harry got closer he can make out the person with his missing friend and ex-enemy. He saw this man only twice before: once in the debriefing, and the other when they were ambushed by the Oracion Seis.

The man has black hair with the underside showing white, dark red eyes, and wears dark colored lipstick. The guy looks to be gothic with how he appears.

{You sure that's a guy? I thought that was a girl,} said Fawkes, staring wide-eyed at Midnight.

Harry rolled his eyes at his familiar. He can just hear the sarcasm leaking out of his mental voice like a broken pipe. Without saying anything to the fire bird, Harry dives down toward the ground. Once he lands in between Midnight, Erza and Jellal – surprising them – he hops off his broom to face his friend first.

"Hey Erza, you okay?" he asked.

Erza nods her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. This guy just has me a little tied up right now." Harry can see what she means. She is wearing something purple, but it appears to be stretchy for it is wrapped around her whole body and yet is not constricting her. Harry turns to the black-haired young man.

"Alright…I'm going to take over from here. I have not once had a chance to fight anyone yet, and I've been itching to try out what I have learned for the past month," said Harry while his eyes never leave his soon to be opponent.

Erza smirks. "Well if that's how you feel, I'll let you have him then. I've wanted to see just how much you've grown for myself."

Harry grinned in return. "Thank you, Erza. I hope I don't disappoint."

From the other side of this battle field, Midnight is glaring at Harry. "I was just about to have some fun crushing her," he said.

"Well now you're dealing with me," Harry said right back.

Erza broke out of her restraint and took a small step closer to Harry. "Harry there is something you should know." Harry tilted his head slightly to show he is listening, but before Erza could say anything more Midnight attacks.

Harry had to dodge something that was cutting the ground like a scythe and so did Erza and Fawkes. Harry dived to the right, Erza to the left, and Fawkes flapped up high into the air.

Harry dug his heels into the ground to stop himself. {Fawkes, get Erza to tell you what it is that she was going to tell me. I have a feeling it has something to do with this fight,} he said.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fawkes gliding over to where Erza moved to. Harry took out his wand and cast Augue. Baseball-sized fireballs shot out of the tip of the Elder wand like bullets from an automatic firearm. The fireballs created smoke while flying in the cooling air, and when they hit the hard, concrete ground they caused a huge dust cloud to form.

Harry stopped firing and waited to see what happens next. He didn't drop his guard, for that would be stupid. He did not have a death-wish – at least he didn't think so.

When the dust cleared, he saw his opponent come into view. His eyes widen when he sees that there is not even a scratch on Midnight. 'What… How is that even possible? There is no way he could have blocked, dodged, or deflected all of them,' thought Harry in shock.

{Harry, Erza told me what is going on. Midnight is using Reflector magic. There are two weaknesses to this ability. She found out what they were just before we showed up,} said Fawkes.

{Well, that's good news. So what are they?} Harry cast Protego to block another slash from something he couldn't really see, but he was sure that it was the same thing as last time.

{He can't use his reflector in more than one space, and he can't use it on the human body. So, you're clothes could strangle you, but your hand won't.}

Harry was in the middle of dodging an attack that Midnight shot right back at him. Harry had cast Rupes, but Midnight broke the jutting rocks and sent the rubble right back at him.

{That's good to know, but why isn't he using that ability on my clothes right now?} Harry questioned.

{Maybe you're too far away? You are like two times farther away than Erza was after all.}

{I guess that's possible.} ((AN: It doesn't say that it is possible or not, but I'm sure there is a range to it or else Midnight would have been able to use it on them a long time ago without even being there.)) Harry sent a Concursores Fluctus at him to see if Midnight can block something that is not solid. He watched as the shockwave got split in half and goes around the black-haired man. {You said it doesn't work on those that are alive?}

{Yes, I did.}

{Well then get down here and help me. He can't harm you at all and you can get close and claw his eyes out like you did to that snake.} Harry is wondering how he knew about Fawkes pecking the eyes out of the basilisk before he remembered it, but he is not going to complain or question it.

{Sure thing, but you also could take off your clothes and fight him naked.} Harry almost chocked at Fawkes' joke. He saw his familiar dive bomb down on top of Midnight in a blazing inferno. When he made contact, an explosion rocked the area, blocking out a shout of pain from Midnight. Harry worried for a moment that the surrounding buildings would collapse on top of them, but thankfully they didn't.

{I'm not taking off my clothes!} Harry shouted mentally at Fawkes.

{Well then transfigure them into something stretchy.}

{How do I do that? I don't remember how to do transfiguration in case you forgot.}

{Oh yeah… Well then…here's the incantation for it: Facti Sunt Elastica. It will turn anything you point your wand at into elastic.}

{And the wand movement?}

{Umm...wave your wand over the item once. Make sure the wand is parallel with it.}

Harry thanks Fawkes, and does just as he said. Once he did this, he tested his clothes. They were the same. They did not become any stretchier than they already were. Harry was about to do it again, but he had to dodge a fireball that Fawkes created only for Midnight to reflect right at him.

'I don't have time to be messing with this spell!' Harry thought angrily. 'I wish I could just turn into my animal form. This fight would be as good as over, but it's too big.' Harry ran behind a building to hide behind for a moment to think on what to do about this situation. 'Wait… My animagus form is that of a snake. Could I just send a snake at him? I and Fawkes could distract him while the snake goes in close to bite him, but I don't want to kill him.' Harry practically smacked his face with his hand. "Idiot, Fawkes can cure him of the venom later after you beat him."

Harry points his wand down at the ground. "Serpensortia," he cast, and shortly after a snake appeared.

~HEY! I ALMOST HAD THE MOUSE! HOW DEAR YOU TAKE ME AWAY FROM MY PREY!~ the snake hissed angrily.

~Sorry, I didn't mean to take you away from your hunting. I can get you a really big, juicy mouse later if you like?~ Harry said.

The snake turned to look at him in surprise. ~You can speak?~ Harry nodded in reply. ~Well, I guess I can live with that. So why did you summon me, Speaker?~

~First of all: what kind of snake are you, and what if the effect of your venom?~

~I am an Inland Taipan – or at least that is what the two-legs use to call my kind a long time ago. My venom can cause the death of a two-leg in about 45 minutes, and in between then it causes headaches, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, collapse, and paralysis. Do you need me to bite someone for you, Speaker?~

Harry is glad he speaks snake or else he is sure this one would have bitten him already. He nods his head. ~Yeah, you see that dark-furred two-leg over there fighting the bird?~ The snake looks around the corner to see who Harry is talking about. ~I want you to bite him. Fawkes, the bird, and I will distract him while you go in and take a bite.~

~You'll give me a mouse for this?~

~Yes, and I'll send you back.~

~Alright then.~ The Inland Taipan slithers away and into the shadows. Harry jumps out to help Fawkes once more.

Harry casts Accio on a huge piece of rock that is behind Midnight. The rock comes flying at Harry, but since he has Midnight in between them, the bit of rubble will hit the dark-haired man first; that is if there was no reflector magic involved.

The bit of rock goes around Midnight, but still does not change its course towards Harry. The dark-haired wizard uses Bombarda to break the huge rock into much smaller ones, and use Protego to block the rest of them.

Midnight tried to make the small pieces of rocks turn and hit Harry from all sides, and almost successes. Harry uses the Reducto curse to turn the much smaller, sharper bits of stone into fine powder. The mist hit him, but it lands on him softly.

Midnight is not sure if he should be grinning or look murderous at Harry. Harry finds this funny, because his opponent seems to have forgotten that there is more than one of them. Fawkes had used Phoenix Tornado while Midnight tried to pierce Harry with small rocks. Coming down high from the sky, Fawkes spins rapidly while cloaking his body in flames. With the spiraling fire heading straight for Midnight while he was busy trying to get Harry, he notices a second too late.

Harry watched as Midnight is dragged up into the air by the tornado-like fire. There is not much Harry can do at this point except wait for the attack to end. When it does, Midnight falls to the ground covered in burnt scabs and boiled flesh. Just as the man tried to get up is when the snake Harry summoned earlier strikes. It sinks its fangs into Midnight's arm making him shout in more surprised than in pain. After the snake injected his venom into his target, he slithers away back to Harry.

~Can I have my mouse now?~ he asks.

Harry flicks his wand. "Accio: mouse." A small, but fat mouse comes soaring toward them. Before Harry could catch it, the snake gets to it first. He lunged off the ground and grabbed it with his mouth. Once back on the ground, the Inland Taipan coils around the mouse and starts to eat. ~I'll send you back now,~ Harry says to the eating snake, who doesn't say anything in return.

Shortly after banishing the snake, Midnight gets back up while holding his stomach in pain. "I'm going in enjoy killing you. That was a cheap trick."

{Judging by what Brain was most likely planning to do with your ability, I'd say it isn't as cheap as he calls it. After all, wouldn't their master have done the same thing?} Fawkes said with a mental eye-roll.

"Not my fault that I can summon snakes. If it's a spell I know and I can talks to snakes, you bet I'm going to use it," said Harry. 'Even if it's cheating a little.'

{Who cares? All's fair in love and war, isn't that right?} asked Fawkes teasingly. Harry chuckled at hearing his familiar's comment, but just then the toll of a clock goes off. It goes off 12 times, telling him that it is midnight now.

'Have we really been doing this mission for so long already?' Harry questioned to himself.

"This is it." Harry looks over to Midnight, whose voice caught his attention. "When midnight strikes is when my powers are at their strongest."

{Oh, is that why you're called Midnight? That is lame. I thought it was for something cooler like you can summon ghost and demons or something,} said Fawkes.

{That would be during the witching hour, which is three O'clock in the morning,} said Harry.

{That's past midnight.} Harry decided to ignore Fawkes for the time being, because in front of him is becoming twisted and darker; like a nightmare is coming to life. Where Midnight stood now stands a monster that is a little smaller than Lullaby from the Book of Zeref.

Harry was about to grab his broom and fly up, but the monster slammed him with its fist, sending him through a building. Harry lies there for a moment to catch his breath, only to cough and wheeze. His body is in pain, and he's sure there are some broken bones.

{Harry, are you okay?} Fawkes asked worriedly.

Harry replies while trying to get up. {I'll…live…} Something above him shifts and falls, landing on his head. He yelped in pain, he didn't need that book landing on his murderous head – he knows he has to have a possible concussion already. 'Wait…a book?'

Harry looks down to see the book that landed on him. The words on the front say, The Art of Transfiguration.

Harry stared at the book unimpressed. 'Here I am thinking I now need a book on transfiguration, only for one to land right on my painful head. What kind of irony is this?' He rubs his head to help soothe the pain, but it's not helping much. 'It's just a coincidence. The people of this city had it for 400 years, give or take, and I just so happen to find it by coming here.' He grabs the book and uses re-quip to place the book in the same space as his sword. He'll have to look at it later.

{Fawkes, do you know how to heal bones?} Harry asked.

{Yeah, but it will be painful. Do you have breaks?}

{Yeah, my arm and some ribs; luckily nothing else,} he reported after moving his arm and lightly touching the rest of his bones. His legs are find, which is really good, but his right arm is snapped at the elbow, and few of his ribs are cracked.

Fawkes flies into the room Harry's in and quickly says, {We are not going to have a whole lot of time; Midnight is coming this way.}

{Then do what you need to.}

Fawkes lays his eyes on Harry's broken arm. The place he is staring at starts to burn hot, like it is about to burst into flames, but it never does. Harry hisses in pain, and looks over to Fawkes when he hears singing. The eyes on the phoenix are glowing gold, but never leaving his arm. Harry looks back down to see that the spot that burns from the intense stare is also glowing a faint shade of gold as well. It wasn't like that until Fawkes started to sing.

Harry felt his bone slowly mend back into place and heal, but the burning sensation took his mind up more than the pain from the break.

After the bone in his arm was healed, Fawkes turned his gaze onto his ribs. It would seem that Fawkes doesn't need to look at just one part of his ribs to heal it; he can just focus on them and heal all the cracks in each of them. This made Harry feel like his whole torso is being licked by fire. The wizard tried his best not to cry out. Just as he thought he would lose the battle, Fawkes stopped – he has finished healing him.

Harry panted for a moment, but he recovered quickly thanks to the cool air coming in from outside.

{We need to go, Harry. Midnight will be here any second,} Fawkes said, feeling Midnight's life force coming closer.

Harry gets up and tests his newly healed arm. It feels as good as new, thankfully. Fawkes lands on Harry's shoulder and takes off out the window just in time. Where they stood has collapse thanks to Midnight's attack. Harry summons his broom, which comes flying up from where Erza and Jellal are.

He catches his broom and places it in the space with the sword and book. With that done, Harry is about to cast Bombarda at the giant monster when Erza's voice calls out, "Harry, it's not real! It's an illusion!" Harry is glad Erza told him this. So both he and Fawkes close their eyes, and Harry puts all his trust into Fawkes to get them in close to Midnight.

Fawkes teleports right up to where he felt Midnight's life force, which is close to the building they were in not long ago. So with the building in mind, Fawkes was able to appear right in front of Midnight.

As Fawkes appears through the flames, the fire does not go out like normal, but that is because he is now in his flame form. He by passes their opponent with a trail of fire behind him, and Harry leaves behind a path of red, glowing balls of light.

Just as Fawkes sings a tone, Harry says, "Causa Satani…" The trail of fire explodes at the note of song, and the little balls of light follow at Harry's softly spoken words. The explosion catches Midnight at point blank range, making the man cry out in pain. Harry and Fawkes land on the other side of the field and wait for the dust to clear. When it does, they see Midnight on the ground passed out due to exhaustion, pain, and venom.

"Vinctum…" Harry cast to bind Midnight before turning to Fawkes. "Cure him of the venom. I don't want him to die from it." Fawkes nods and glides over. Once he finds the bite wound, he sheds his tears into them.

While Fawkes is healing Midnight, Harry sits down on the ground so he can take a break. That was the most work out he has ever had in a long time. From up ahead, he hears running footsteps coming closer.

"Harry!" He looks up to see Erza. Before he could say anything, the red-headed woman grabs him and pulls him into a hug. "I'm so proud of you. You have grown so much over that month." She pulled away. "Both you and Fawkes have done great," she said proudly.

Harry blushes at the praise. "Thanks Erza, it wasn't easy."

"So how does it feel to take down a powerful baddy?" she asked with a grin.

"It feels great!" Harry replies with the biggest, happiest grin he can form on his lips. He has not once taken out anyone as powerful as Midnight before, but now he can keep up with Erza, Natsu, and Gray in a fight to protect those who are weaker. He is also proud to say that most of the damage was caused by Midnight and not him.

{Well…the crater was our doing, and that is the biggest damage that was caused here,} Fawkes said. Harry looks over to see that their explosion did create a pretty big hole in the ground. Harry shrugs.

{This place is going to get destroyed anyway.}

{Too true.} Fawkes comes back over to Harry and Erza. Jellal is also making his way over to them.

"Harry, maybe you should rest for a little bit, and then we can go and find Brain," Erza said.

Harry nods his head in agreement. "Yeah, I think I'll do that."

Jellal points over to Midnight. "What about him?"

"He isn't going to get out of those anytime soon, let allow wake up," Harry said.

"I see…" Jellal said. "I'm glad to see you're okay, Harry."

"Thanks, Jellal."

TBC


Holy cow this is a long one. 3,700+ words! I bet some of you are happy with that. You don't think I needed that refreshment, do you? Now then, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I had a bit of fun writing it. This was Harry's big moment. I wanted to make sure that this chapter was as good as it can be. I don't know how to improve it. :)

Voldy: There was a lot of talking between the brat and chicken.

Natsu: Oh, shut up. She made that interaction funny. Love the part about fighting naked. ;)

Zeref: That is because you would actually do it.

Harry: She made me fight dirty. :(

Natsu: So? You have the power to do it; she just had you use it.

Zeref: Natsu's right, Harry. It's not cheating if it's an ability you have. It's the enemies fault for not being ready for the sneak attack from a venomous snake.

Enj/Dark: Like Fawkes said, "All's fair in love and war." There is no such thing as cheating in a fight like this.

Voldy: Exactly, that is why I fight dirty all the time.

Enj/Dark: Please review! ^-^