Welcome back to "The Heir and the Champions" In this chapter we get to see what a Magician is truly capable of.

But a few things before moving into that, I know most of you are just joking around about cliffhangers but you people need to understand that I write most of these chapters in a night, on a phone, and my hands fucking cramp, okay? But we do have two more cliffhangers to get through just to forewarn you all.

On another note, this chapter has a soundtrack!

The opening song should be either "The Day of Fate" either the team four-star one or, and my personal pick, the Jonathan Young Metal cover of it. Or, if you so choose, "Holding Out for a Hero" from Shrek 2, because the Shrek 2 soundtrack was amazing.

The second song comes in at the halfway point of this chapter, so when you see a break in between two paragraphs that looks like this:

_–~~-_

I need you to go to YouTube and look up a song called "Oh Death" by Jen Titus(any supernatural fan is going to know exactly what it is) it, let's say, sets the mood, for what's to come.

On with the show.


The Magician.

On this card, is a boy, almost a man, a silver jacket worn on his back as he stands prepared to face his destiny, in one hand he holds a gleaming red spear, and in the other, he holds a willow wand aloft.

Behind the boy stands a great beast with the same amber eyes as the boys. It stands with its maw wide open as broken chains hang off its form.

Above them both, hanging upside down is a castle of crystal and shadow with thorns wrapped around as a roaring lion can be seen standing in front of the boy protectively.


Little Hangleton Graveyard.

"Come out, Harry Potter," Voldemort says, his scarlet eyes sweeping across the Graveyard looking for any movement, any sign that the boy would try to run, "Come out, and die," he says with a grin. The anticipation for what is to come builds in his chest, the boy, in his mind, was beaten. He had no wand and only one functioning arm, it was over, but in the end, he would be merciful to the boy and give him a quick death.

"Come out, Harry Potter and I will be merciful and make it quick, though it may hurt," Voldemort says with a smirk, "But I would not know, for I will never die,"

As his impatience grows and the thought of destroying the monument to himself that the boy hid behind to flush him out crosses his mind, Harry finally steps out from behind the statue but something gives Voldemort pause, everything about the boy was wrong to his eyes. Harry Potter was walking without the spasms the cruciatus curse imparted on those it was used on, the next thing was the arm he had rendered useless, it was now bandaged tightly in conjured bandages and wrapped tightly against his chest, held out of the way. The next, and most off-putting thing, was his eyes, they were no longer the green Voldemort looked into to see the boy's fear and shock after destroying his wand, no, they were now a bright burning amber that almost made a chill of fear run down Voldemort's back, though he would never admit it himself, thinking himself above such mortal things as fear.

But still, Voldemort smiles brightly at the boy, "Now there's a brave Gryffindor," he says as he watches the boy's eyes flick back and force over the graveyard, his followers, and himself, with something churning in the boy's eyes, "Come, Harry Potter, come and face the god-"

"You're not a god," Harry says flatly, glaring at the monster before him, causing Voldemort's face to fall into a sneer.

"I'd tell you to watch your tongue about blaspheming-" Voldemort begins to say, only to be cut off by Harry again.

"You're just an up-jumped mortal high on his own power, nothing but prey, but sadly Dark Lords aren't in season right now, so I think I'll be going home," Harry says with finality as he bends his knees and keeps his one good arm behind his back, Voldemort scowls at the insolent mortal, he had had enough of this. His bone-white wand snaps to the boy before him and before he could get the first two syllables of the killing curse past his lips, he watches the boy's lips move in a whisper right before the ground explodes in a shower of dust and fine dirt.

"Pulvis," Harry whispers, giving the willow wand he had hidden behind his back a slight twist just as the Matron of the House of Lions did during his first lesson with her, sending dust and dirt out in a cloud, covering a large section of the small graveyard to cover his movement.

Voldemort switches from the killing curse to vanishing the dust in the air with a wide sweep of his wand finding the boy nowhere to be found, "Is this how you duel, Harry Potter, running and hiding like a coward?!" Voldemort yells out, the boy wouldn't be able to escape him, quick-step or not, the ward he had Wormtail set up wouldn't let anyone without a dark mark pass it and he doubted a schoolboy could overpower it.

"It's called a tactical retreat, you snake-faced cunt," Harry's voice echoes throughout the graveyard, charmed to sound like it was coming from all directions as he hid.

"Fan out, flush the boy out but do not harm him," Voldemort orders in a low angry hiss to his followers, "He is mine to kill,"

"You do know I can hear you, right?" Harry's voice says, bouncing off the gravestones around all the death eaters as Voldemort frowns, if the boy could hear him it means he was close. Voldemort swishes his wand in a wide arc casting Homenum revelio over the gravestones near him but frowns as he feels nothing from the spell as his death eaters start to spread out from the circle they had originally formed.

"You called me something earlier, yeah?" the boy asks, as Voldemort's eyes sweep the graveyard looking for any sign of movement, "You called me savage, I think, couldn't really hear over screaming bloody murder really, actually, why haven't the bobbies shown up yet? You'd think someone would have heard that," Harry asks, his voice continuing to reverberate around the death eater before a flicker of movement catches Voldemort's eye as it dashes behind a gravestone and he lashes out with his wand, sending an overpowered cleaving hex right at bisects it before with a flick of his wand he sends an exploso charm and vanishing the dust to see no bloody body.

"You do know destroying headstones is bad luck, right?" the voice of Harry Potter rings out once more, "Anyway, where was I? Oh! Right! The savage thing!" he explains and Voldemort frowns at the antics of the stupid mortal boy, "You're not too far off with that comment, but how about I show you just how right you are?" The boy says, and Voldemort could hear the grin in the boy's tone of voice as if he was amused by something, "How about I show you just how savage I can be?" the boy says, as the rattling of broken chains filled the Graveyard.

Voldemort's frown deepens as his death eater begins to cast the Homenum revelio in wider and wider arcs trying to find the infuriating child. Just as Goyle begins to exclaim something, there is a bust of smoke, fog, and dust that fills the graveyard, shrouding everything in a choking haze of smoke and ash. Voldemort sweeps his wand once more to vanish it but to his surprise, it remains. The mist and fog twist and bellows swallowing up his death eaters in its wake, the air was rank with the smells of the muggle world, Voldemort sweeps his wand again, intent on vanishing the smog but it only works to lessen it, not completely vanishing it.

"The boy is using this to conceal his-" Voldemort begins to say but is quickly cut off by the need to defend himself as the sound of whirling and speeding desks cut through the air, he spins and vanishes the offering objects before launching a hail of curses from where they came from, flesh twisters, bone-breakers, exploso, and the killing curse each lashing through the air but before Voldemort could check for the boy, another volley of spinning stars and disks come from another direction, and he turns to vanish them before returning fire, "Is this all you have Harry Potter, conjuring cheap tricks?" Voldemort yells.

"Just about, yeah," the voice of the boy says, before Voldemort turns to vanish another set, only after he does he feels something cut into his flesh, spilling his blood, he looks down to see glass stars sticking out of his thigh and shoulder, "But they are really good cheap tricks," the boy says before Voldemort screams in rage, vanishing the glass and healing his wounds with a swish of his wand.

"Want to see one that I learned just a bit ago?" the voice echoes again before a strange whistling sound cuts through the air, causing Voldemort to look up to see dozens of spears shining like silver stars fall down from the heavens, Voldemort sends out an overpowered vanishing, keeping in mind the boy's talent for trickery, but to his surprised none vanish from sight, "Transfigurations, above!" Voldemort yells out, hoping his death eaters had kept their skills sharp over these last thirteen years as he swings his wand in a wide circle conjuring a large disk of silver above him, and levitates it. He hears the spear's impact his shield but none penetrates through it, he scoffs at the boy's pathetic attempt at magic.

Voldemort watches as the spears roll off his shield and fall to the ground broken and crumbling into chunks, he hears the cries of "Safe" coming from his followers around him as he scowls at the poor attempts at transfiguration.

"Form up!" Voldemort shouts the boy was trying to separate and confuse them using the smoke for cover, a simple but effective plan that Voldemort had used in the past to deal with multiple Aurors at once, take away the separation of alleys and the plan falls apart. But when moving from the right caused Voldemort to turn, a curse on his lips to kill the boy if it was him, he paused to make sure it was the boy, which was a mistake.

He sees Harry leaping through the air, his wand pointed at his feet with the tip glowing a luminescent Orange like a hot poker leaving a trail of light behind it, the boy had something wrapped around on the lower half of his face as he whispers an incantation, "Ignis,".

Voldemort's eyes widen as his head turns quickly to the spears on the ground to see them burn with fire before they detonate like muggle bombs.


Harry Potter

Harry wasn't strong enough, he couldn't take on the monster or his men with just himself. No matter how fast he was, no matter how skilled he was, his short bout with the monster showed him that. He had charged him with the thought of blitzing him with his speed and was shown the gap in power and skill between them. He was overconfident, and it had nearly got him killed at the hands of the monster.

No, he couldn't fight him, not yet at least, what he needed to do was escape, to warn the headmaster, his hunt would come but for now he had to survive the night so it could. He would use everything he had to get away so he could hunt the monster another day, and he would hunt him because the monster was going to hunt him as well, Apollo had told him as much last year. He needed more time to prepare, more time to train, and more time to live, but for now, he just had to survive.

He just had to escape with his life.

"I am kissing Fleur when I make it back," Harry thinks to himself as he lands into a roll before popping back up to his feet and heading back into the mixture of chalk dust, smog, and wood smoke he had created to hide himself in and now with the smoke of the gunpowder that he had ignited with Fleur's variant of the blasting curse she had shown him briefly before the maze. He had to get to the cup, if it was still an active portkey it should take him back to Hogwarts, the problem was that it was somewhere by Voldemort and Harry didn't want to get that close to the monster. The range of the Cruciatus curse was a little bigger than six meters, and Harry didn't want to gamble on the Hunt suppressing that type of raw pain, no better to listen to Teacher when fighting multiple opponents.

"Confuse and separate them, cut off their line of sight and hearing, if they can not see or speak to each other on a battleground then they are more likely to make a mistake, and when they do, capitalize on it,"

He had to lead Voldemort and his followers away from the cup, distract and disorientate them enough so he could get closer to the cup to either summon it to him or, if that didn't work, just grab the damn thing. Harry hears the monster's furious scream and knows he survived the blast somehow, "A shame that," Harry thinks in disappointment. He keeps low as he moves through the smoke and dust, using the headstones as cover, never stopping and banishing random conjurations in random directions hoping to hit something and dodge the human-shaped shadows in the smoke. That was something that was throwing Harry off a bit, his magic felt different than normal, not like it was supercharged or anything, but as if something else was mixing in with it. The battle magic spells didn't burn as badly as they normally did, and his magic felt more wild than normal, he didn't know if it was the wand using the horn of the Hind as its core or maybe it was a Magician thing that no one told him about or maybe even both.

But Harry didn't really have time to think about it as his scar burned with pain, before ducking the acid-green spell sails over his head missing him by inches, "Lucky shot," Harry hopes but as the pain shots down his head again forcing him to dodge behind a gravestone as a second sailed past him he reconsiders his last thought, "Did he hit me with a tracking charm!?" Harry thinks before dodging out behind the gravestone just before it explodes.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Harry curses in his mind as he runs through the smoke and dust, "Change of plans, need to get to the cup now!" he thinks to himself as he runs out of a patch of smoke to turn and see a group of death eaters turn and look at where he was coming from, still standing around the gunpowder spears. Harry points his Willow wand at the spears, he could feel himself smile like a maniac as he feels his magic pass through his wand, "Ignis!" he shouts and watches as the compacted black powder spears explode at the feet of the death eaters sending them sprawling.

Harry dives back into the dust and smoke dodging killing curses and random spell fire from the Monster by alternating how fast he was running and ducking behind gravestones for them to take the blow. He sees a shadow in the smoke, whipping his wand about, trying to vanish it but doing nothing but looking like an idiot. Harry was going to move around him till he caught his scent and a growl escaped his throat and charged right at the shadow.

"Hey, Selwyn!" he roars, and the masked man turns to him, snapping his wand to Harry's form, but when the man looked into the Amber eyes burning in Harry's socket, he freezes like a hair in the jaws of a wolf as all Selwyn sees is the great beast with too many amber eyes and broken chains as it opens it's maw to crunch down on the prey it had scented months ago.

Harry slashes out with his wand, sending a cleaving curse out, severing Selwyn's wand arm from his body, and before the man could scream at the loss of limb, Harry grabs his robes and spins him in place using him as his new cover so the man could see the acid-green light of the killing curse coming and could do nothing as it strikes him in the chest. As Selwyn's body begins to drop, Harry could feel the rage from the tip of his scar to the heel of his foot that he plants into the back of Selwyn's body before kicking it with all his might in the direction of where the killing curse came from sending the body flying before lashing out with another cleaving curse, hoping one or the two would actually hit the monster.

As Harry turns to run, he hears the monster roar in anger before dashing through the smoke and dust to where the cup should be, and he almost laughs as he spots the soft glow of the championship cup in the dust before he dives for it, "This has to work, I'm going home!" he thinks to himself.

Right before his world is thrown for a loop as something hits his thigh and he feels the bone snap from a bone breaker curse. It throws his dive out of the trajectory of the cup, Harry looks up in the direction of where the curse came from to see the smirking face of Lucius Malfoy, his robes are covered in dust and dirt and his mask and hood are nowhere to be seen. Then, from the smoke and dust came the shadow of the monster, Harry raised his wand the incantation for the earth spears on his tongue before with a single wave of his hand the monster disarms Harry before raising his own wand.

"Now!" The monster hisses in rage, "It's ti-"

"TIMMMMMEEEE!" Yelled another voice, cutting off the monster before it could finish, a voice Harry knew, a voice he really didn't want to hear here among the graves and death eaters, but with a sudden and powerful gust of wind that clears away the smoke and dust, the monster and his followers turn to see an oddity standing among them.

A small girl with blonde hair, in a white dress and red cloak with the hood thrown back and arms raised in the air.

Macha had arrived.

"It's time!" she says with glee, a smile splitting her face, her black eyes twinkling with delight as she turns to the monster, "It's time Mister Snake-face!" She calls the monster before running forward and around the monster's legs giggling as she continues to chant "It's time, It's time," over and over again much to the confusion of all there. She breaks away from the monster before she begins to cartwheel while laughing hysterically and landing on her butt and flopping on the grass with a grin.

"Macha, could you not insult the help for once," another voice speaks as they walk out from behind the reaper statue with a small smile on her face at the antics of the young girl, dressed the same way he had last seen her in person at the Yule Ball, "It is rather disrespectful after all he did all the hard work for us," Anand says before she looks over towards Harry and the monster, "Hello Harry, always nice to see you again dear," says with a wave of her hand, and Harry almost misses one of the tattooed threads on her arm burn and disappears, "And as much as I would enjoy catching up, we have a task to complete," she says with a grin, as she continues to walk by them, heading right toward the cauldron.

The monster looks between the laughing girl and the woman, confusion set deep on his face as his followers point their wands at the two unknown people but do nothing, waiting for their master's command, "Who are you two, and how did you get past the wards?" the monster demands, glaring at the two women.

Anand walks over to the cauldron as Macha makes it to her feet and runs over to it as well before Anand turns back to the monster with a devious smile, "Hush Dear, the help shouldn't ask questions about why or how, they should do what they are told, or well, in this case…"

"What they've been tricked into," another voice speaks, ancient and withered, with a hint of mad amusement as an old crone steps out from behind the yew tree by the cauldron before she cackles a bit.

"You," the monster growls, standing at his full height and turning away from Harry to face the blind hag in the red shawl, "Step away from my cauldron," he tells the woman with a hiss, "and bow before the god of death reborn and swear fealty to me and I may allow you to watch over it till I need it next," the monster says, anger from being called "The Help" leaking into his tone.

The three women look at one another, blinking, before they all threw back their heads and begin to laugh, but it was the crone who speaks up, "A man can not own the Cauldron of Dagda, the Pair Dadeni, the Grail of Galahad, Milord," the crone says in a mocking and sarcastic tone, "This was never yours to own, only to use once to regain your body back, and if it wasn't for it, your own blood would have burned you to ash," she says with a cackle.

"And we must thank you for that," Anand says, crossing her arms, "If it wasn't for you, getting our hands on the boy's blood would have been a much more difficult task," she says with a smirk.

"His blood?" the monster asks, looking to Harry and then back to the three women, "That's why you told me to take more than needed," it says, a scowl of anger crossing his face.

"I can't believe you actually listen to this old bitch too," Macha says before giggling, "What? Did you think you couldn't be outwitted or something Mister Snake-face? Or did you actually believe that line about the more blood you steal from your enemy the more powerful with the cauldron you become?" she says with a bright smile that spoke of just how amusing she found this all.

"He did show remarkable restraint," Anand speaks up, "I was worried he would drain Harry completely,"

"A shame he didn't," the crone mumbles before the other two turn to her.

"Oh, shut up, Badb," Macha and Anand say at the same time, causing the old woman to frown deeply.

"But, I think it's about time we finish this," Anand says, as she looks between her two sisters, before the other two nod with matching grins.

_–~~-_

"Oh, I very much agree," The monster spits out before lashing out with a cry of "Avada Kedavra," aiming at the old crone who just laughs at his attempt before a sword twists itself into existence with a wave of Anand's hand before she looks over at the monsters surprised face at the unblemished sword and wags her finger.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Anand says with a coy smile, "Nothing can stop what is about to come, the only thing that could is forced to remain away by fate itself, another reason you were so perfect to use as the help for this," she says before turning back to the cauldron as the three sisters start to raise their arms as one and begin to chant.

~Double, double, toil and trouble,

Fire burns, and cauldron bubbles,~

"Stop them!" the monster yells at his followers, "Stop them now!" he screams, not knowing what the three witches were doing but from the feeling of ancient magic gathering in the air, he didn't want them to complete it. The monster and his followers begin casting killing curses, blasting charms, and other spells all to stop the three sisters from completing their ritual, but it was all in vain.

~Stars turn, and world trembles,

Winters frost, crawls across the earth, ~

A wall of swords and pentacles form from nothing, blocking the hail of spell fire from ever touching any of the sisters. Harry tries to push himself toward his wand to grab it and heal his leg the best he could before grabbing the cup, he had to leave, he shouldn't be here if what he thinks is about to happen happens. But that too, would be in vain.

~Across the Hedge, her domain lies,

But let her black throne raise,

Upon the islands, her king calls home,

Her beauty as terrible as the night sky,

Her eyes reflect the death of all mortal lives,

Her kingdom come, her will be done, ~

Harry watches in the light of the spellfire as the night sky just beyond the Yew Tree begins to bend and twist, folding upon itself, pooling and growing, pulsing and forming into a perfect sphere.

~The Queen of old, be the Queen of the new,

Crow'o'war,

Washer in the Fen,

Fate Reader,

Lady in the Night,

Heed our cry,

Hear our pleas,

And with the blood of the Shacklers,

We call to thee, ~

The sphere stretches and bulges before it begins to fracture as White cracks begin to form throughout it.

~We draw them up,

Anand says.

Lock and key,

Badb continues.

And shatter the shackles,

Macha speaks with child-like glee.

Of the Unseen Queen!~

The three sisters finish together.

And the sphere shatters.

A wave of darkness washed over the Graveyard, blanking it with a blackness so deep and so complete, all who were lost in it thought that they had died as the cold began to seep into them, the icy claws of winter find and began to wrap around the hearts of all things mortal as they stood in the darkness. The rushing winds fill their ears as whispers of the dead beneath their feet begin to sing in their ears, welcoming them, cursing them, begging them; But it was all too late to heed their warnings.

For Voldemort, it was like being back in the London of his childhood, the air raid sirens blaring in his ears as London went dark, the earth rattling as the muggle bombs impacted the earth, shaking the earth as they hid in the underground, packed in like animals about to be slaughtered.

For the Death Eaters, it was like the cold fury of their lord before he dolled out punishments for failure the screams of their brother and sisters in arms as they writhed on the ground in agony, the rushing sound of impending death from the tip of his wand filling the room as their master killed another fool who refused to see his glory.

For Harry, it was the cramped dark space under the stairs, the feeling of cold hands cradling him and brushing through his hair as ice-cold lips whispered words of comfort to him in the dark, promising that they would soon see each other once again; it was a familiar and comforting cold.

The darkness pulled back to where it had started, leaving every mortal breathless as the three sisters backed away from the cauldron, eyes turned skyward. There, in the night sky, was a crack in what seemed to be reality itself, the swords and pentacles fall away just in time for everyone to hear the Crack as the small break begins to grow and spread.

Voldemort watches with Fascination and growing dread as the fear of death once more blooms in his heart.

Harry tries to push himself further away with his one good leg, heedless of the pain as the Hunt all but grows docile in him.

The Death Eaters fall to their knees or onto their backs at the feeling of dread that worms its way into their minds.

The crack rips itself open, turning into a gaping hole in the sky and the night sky begins to pour itself from the hole, thick like mud, into the waiting cauldron below. The concoction that Voldemort had recreated his body in begins to be forced out as the mud fills it, splashing over the lip and into the embers of the fire below sending sparks and multicolor flames into the air. The atmosphere grows heavy and cold, and the vibrant green grass of the Graveyard begins to grow yellow, withering and dying before the mortal's very eyes as frost begins to crawl across the grass, up Gravestones and hems of robes. Ice begins to creep like vines across the grown and up the side of the iron cauldron, heedless of the heat.

As the last of the concoction is forced from the cauldron and the last of the mud spills from the sky as the wound in reality falls away in a gentle breeze, something blooms from the black mud. A hand, porcelain white with skin as smooth as glass, it reaches skyward as another grows from the cauldron. They both reach out to grasp the lip of the cauldron and pull the being inside it out, she emerges from the black mud with not a smudge on her, at first Harry thought the mud was spilling from her crown and down her body, but soon realize that it was just her hair that was as black as the mud and night sky. She bends back letting out a soundless scream into the night that only the dead could hear and give a callback to her, she pulls the rest of her long and graceful form from the mud and sits on the lip of the cauldron, and takes a deep breath through her nose, breathing free air once again.

As she slips from the lip of the cauldron, Badb throws herself onto her hands and knees, weeping with joy crying out "Mistress!" as she bows her head.

As her first foot touches the earth and stone of the islands that tremble before her touch, Anand kneels, bowing her head in reverence, "My Queen," Anand says with jubilation.

And as the figure fully stands before those gathered in the graveyard, Macha drops to her knees clasping her hands together and crying with glee, "Mother!"

And the woman stands before the three Morrígna, her long black hair that would fall and pool around her feet like a blot of ink, waves and floats in a phantasmal Autumn Breeze. Her porcelain pale skin glows softly in the dark night like a winter full moon throwing light off into the shadows, she was tall and graceful looking with long limbs. Her chin was raised giving her an air of regleness and arrogance, all her features were fea-like and sharp like knives in the dark waiting and wanting to lash out at all who oppose her, her ears were long, pointed, and curled back along her hair. She had an unearthly beauty that put to shame all before her, not even Fleur's mother could hold a candle to the figure as she stood there, naked as the day she was born.

She slowly opens her eyes and Harry sucks in a sharp breath, she first looks down at Macha, Anand, and Badb, her lips twitching faintly upwards at the sight of the three kneeling women before she looks up and allows her gaze to roam over the Death Eaters and their Lord who gathered before her, shocked and stunned looks upon their faces, but her eyes drift pass them, uninterested in them. Until Her gaze finally lands on Harry and she smiles, it was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking things Harry had ever seen in his short life, equal parts terrifying as it was breathtaking, her eyes were like black holes with no light escaping them, pitiless endless pits inside white frames that Harry could see his reflection in as she looked at him with {Fathomless Black Eyes}.


All

Hail

The Queen