Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews and love you showed to my fic.
To get access to Three more chapters and my super secret Discord server, check the Ending note.
Hearty thanks and congratulations to our first seven members of Guildmaster tier: Camo, I am Lord Dems, StormFox, RyanMK666, Lyrical, Tyler and HadesReynes.
"I am Talking."
'I am Thinking'
Spells
Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary.
~Gerard Way
INNOVATOR
-Dev Sagittarius Black
~~Chapter 27: Return of the King~~
.
Voldemort smiled at Dumbledore when he noticed that the veteran Headmaster was finally starting to tire out. His attacks started to waver, and the sweat beads began to form on his forehead.
This meant that he was weak enough for the third wave to begin.
The Dark Lord surreptitiously glanced around him at the battle field; there were a lot of casualties on his side. The trolls were dead, Mulciber was dead, and so were almost all of his new recruits.
Among the veterans, Avery and his partner were fighting against the three girls. There was Bellatrix, who was laughing as she fought against the Order members. And there were a few more groups scattered around Hogsmeade.
Yes, there had been casualties on his side, but that didn't mean that the other side had been spared. Voldemort smiled with glee when he noticed that there were a lot more civilians and students who had died. Plus, there were chances that Lucius and his son had executed the task of purging Hogwarts as well.
"It seems we are ready for it now, Dumbledore." The red-eyed mage smirked at his aged opponent.
"What do you mean, Tom?"
"You will see…." Voldemort dodged the multiple cutting hexes and flew towards the sky, surprising Dumbledore with this sudden move.
Thirty feet up in the air, the Dark Lord kept on fighting Dumbledore, shooting devastating amounts of dark magic at the veteran warlord while evading the incoming attacks from said warlord. It was then that he raised his empty arm towards the sky, and black smoke started to pour from his palm.
"What are you doing, Tom?!" Dumbledore shouted at the grinning Dark Lord, who just laughed as he sent another barrage of wolves made of fire.
Everyone stopped their battles to look at the fight that was going on in the middle of Hogsmeade. The Death Eaters smirked at their opponents when they noticed who their master was summoning, while the general populace took another gulp of fear.
Dumbledore tried his level best to prevent his former student from doing whatever he was doing. But he didn't have the powers of the Elder Wand anymore, which meant that he wasn't as strong as he used to be.
Added to that, he was already tired from the long battle that he had against the Dark Lord. The old mage could only watch helplessly as the smoke took the shape of a large snake, which hissed three times at the crowd before vanishing.
The entirety of Hogsmeade, who didn't know what the Dark Lord did, was dumbfounded. They had been wary that this might be a big attack and that they'd lose their lives, but what actually occurred was a bit underwhelming.
"What was–" Dumbledore stopped his words when he felt what the Dark Lord had actually done. Or, more like, who he had summoned.
The three hisses from the smoke snake were a signal for Rookwood to begin the final part of the attack on Hogsmeade.
A sudden chill descended on the village. It was cold before, but now it felt as if their bones were being forced into ice water, and emotions like hope, exhilaration, and happiness have been pulled away from the world.
"Dementors…." Dumbledore whispered in shock and watched in horror when the skies over them started to darken as hordes of Dementors, the former guardians of Azkaban, started to fly towards them.
"I have told you, Dumbledore," the Dark Lord smirked. "I always get what I want…..always."
He knew that once he duelled Dumbledore into submission, or hopefully death, then the entirety of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade would be the first to fall. After that, it would only be a matter of time before he got the rest of his horcruxes, as well as the prophecy and the prophesied one.
'Just a few more minutes, Dumbledore….then you'll see the annihilation of your beloved school with your own two eyes…' Voldemort smirked.
Lucius Malfoy was having the time of his life.
He, along with twelve more of the new recruits, had been tasked with the second part of the attack that was to take place at Hogwarts Castle.
The plan had been pretty simple and yet quite effective. The first part was to overwhelm the students and civilians and force them to retreat to Hogwarts. Then the second part started when Dumbledore and McGonagall left the school's premises.
After which, his master would engage Dumbledore so that he couldn't leave, while Draco would open the secret passageway on the third floor that would allow Lucius and a platoon of Death Eaters to enter the castle and kill as many as they could.
The twelve were to wreak havoc. They were, in his and the Dark Lord's opinion, nothing more than bait who also worked as a method to cause mayhem and instill terror in the children's young minds. Lucius had been tasked with doing something different.
His task included two things: first, to capture his wife; second, to make her give the Dark Lord's artifact in any way possible. Of course, that depended solely on the fact that his wife had to be present inside the castle when they attacked, but that had been taken care of by his letter to Draco, which their master had ordered him to write.
The letter was only meant for Draco, and it had two instructions: first, to prevent his mother from leaving the castle, and second, to open the door of the secret passageway. After that, he had to stay near his mother until Lucius made his way to the duo and made her beg for her attempt at backstabbing the noble house of Malfoy.
"Diffindo." Flitwick intoned as he pointed his wand at one of the new recruits.
Lucius hid behind the battle that was occurring near the third-floor staircase. He groaned when he saw not only Filius Flitwick but also Pomona Sprout, Septima Vector, Bathsheda Babbling, and Severus Snape stand against them.
Snape had obviously noticed him but had decided not to point it out, which meant that he was only fighting to show that he was on Dumbledore's side. That was something good; he didn't want to curse his son's godfather for treachery.
'I need to sneak away from this place and move towards the fifth floor; I am sure that by now Narcissa would've been alerted because of all the spell fire. I can't lose her now' Lucius thought and just placed a step outside his cover when a stray spell hit the ground near him.
He knew he could join in the fray, but right now, if he joined, there were chances that someone might be able to identify him because of his hair, and then he wouldn't be spared at all as they would most probably gang up on him.
That was why he hid behind an armoured statue, looking for a moment to run away towards the fifth floor and finish the Dark Lord's task for him. He knew that this was probably his last chance to get into his lord's good graces and that his life had only been extended because of his seat in the Council.
Otherwise, he would have died long ago.
"MUTARE MORTUS!" A new voice joined the battle, and his eyes widened behind his skull mask when he noticed who it was.
"Sirius? Where did you arrive from?" Flitwick asked as he conjured the mage shield to protect them.
"I was in the ministry, protecting the prophecy with Arthur and Emmeline." The Black Lord answered as he fired a barrage of petrifying and cutting hexes.
"Yes, Albus did tell me that you had different duties. Which is why I am surprised that you came here."
"Dumbledore sent a patronus for me, saying that I had to protect Hogwarts." He glared at the Death Eaters and flicked his wand three times to knock another one out of the eight that stood in front of them. "Apparently a few scum had decided to attack Hogwarts from the inside."
"They will have to get through us if they think they can harm any student." The diminutive professor glared at the offending Death Eaters as if their mere presence inside Hogwarts was a shame.
"Ha! You lot are so gullible!" One of them said, "Our work is to hold you back while another group annihilates the mudbloods in different houses. You will never be able to save them."
Achlys, one of the most powerful women on Earth and the Guildmaster of the infamous Necromancer's Guild, was sitting in the heart chamber as she looked at all the letters she had received from other Guildmasters around the world.
She had contacted their patron entity, who had told her that Anubis' training was about to be completed any day now. Therefore, with Atticus's and Perenelle's help, they sent summon scrolls to the rest of the guildmasters so that they could meet and decide the war plans.
And only a moment ago she had received the reply from the last one—Guildmaster Beasten, infamously known as 'Blood Breath Beasten', and was the Guildmaster of the Creatures Guild. He had agreed to meet on the twenty-first, like the rest of the guildmasters.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime event when the seven strongest living mages on earth, who had sworn to protect her, would meet and probably join hands together to stop an enemy that could put many nightmares to shame.
Just as she had folded the scroll and placed it in her drawer, she felt something coming for her. The chamber was flooded by brilliant orange light as a huge lion came barreling down the stairs.
Achlys looked at the ethereal being. It had been bestowed on only one person in the Guild, and if it was here looking at her with such an unnerving amount of excitement, it only meant one thing—Harry Potter was back from the realm of Death.
"After you." She smiled at the lion guardian, who immediately left towards its partner.
The scene that Achlys entered was entirely different from what she had expected to see. Instead of Harry lying on his bed with numerous runes on and around him that were meant to test his body's condition when he returned, she saw Harry sitting in his bed, glaring at the Health Guild members who stood metres away from him.
"Anubis?"
Harry's attention snapped towards her, and he immediately bowed. "Guildmaster, I have returned after finishing my training. The ritual had been successful."
"So I can see, and I must say that I always knew you would be able to finish it. Your willpower is stronger than any that I have witnessed in my entire life, Anubis." She proudly told him. "But may I know why you are glaring at everyone here?"
"Death told me that I had to leave as soon as I could because my friends and many more were in mortal danger." He answered her, "I have to reach there as soon as possible, and yet these people just wouldn't let me go."
"That's because we still have to test you, Mr. Potter." One of the members who wore a long black open robe with a hood said from afar before he turned to look at Achlys, "We have to make sure that Mr. Potter here has returned safe and without any internal or external injuries that he might've sustained during the transfer of consciousness and his long absence from his body. His body has also changed a lot in his absence; he might not be able to walk properly, much less hold his wand."
Achlys looked at Harry, who had just stood up from his previously bowed position and started walking around the room. He then summoned the elder wand, which scared most of the health guild members into a frenzy.
"I can walk properly, fine control my own centre of mass, and..." He non-verbally conjured a small puppet, which started to do acrobatics the moment it was released. "There, see…my magic is under control. Hell, I literally took training to control my magic so much that I don't even need my Runes of Potentia."
Achlys looked at his bare torso, which showed the three runes—one on each of his shoulders and one on his solar plexus. She knew that there were two more on his knees, which were covered by the black trousers that he wore.
"Guildmaster," Harry began as he reached her once more. "Can I please leave? Death said that my friends would join it in the realm of Death if I didn't leave to save them right now. I don't even know where they are or what is going to hurt them."
Achlys thought for some time before she nodded, "You can leave, Anubis, but—" She stopped the incoming protests from the Maesters and members of the Health Guild. "These people have taken the responsibility of ensuring that you receive your body in the same prime condition that you left them with; therefore, I will only give you permission to leave if you promise to return after the battle."
"But, my lady—"
The enlightened one raised her hand to stop the Health Guild Maester's protest, "I give you my word as the Guildmaster of the Necromancer's Guild that Anubis will return when he finishes his current work. And that any injuries he sustains in this battle will neither be blamed nor used against the Health Guild. Is that sufficient enough?"
The Master and others immediately agreed to her words and stood to the side.
"Anubis," She looked at Harry and said, "Now my word as the Guildmaster depends on your return. I hope you know what you are doing and what you have to do to shame me or our guild."
Harry immediately agreed to her demand and promised that he would return to the guild as soon as he could after finishing that battle. He was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something crucial.
"Can someone tell me where my clothes are?"
The members in blue looked at each other before they shrugged. When Harry's unconscious body had been given to them, he had been completely nude thanks to the ritual. In fact, the black trousers he currently wore were given to him by the Health Guild to hide his modesty from their female members.
"I think your clothes are still at the place where you left them when you changed into the plain white robe for the summoning ritual, Anubis." Achlys told him before she turned to look at one of her guild members, "Can you please bring the Commander's clothes from his chambers?"
"I don't have that much time, my lady," Harry grumbled. "I have to leave as soon as I can."
"You do need some more clothes, though, or do you plan on facing whatever is harming your friends in this state?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"About that… I think I might have an idea." Harry smiled at her, which shocked the lady, as it was quite a rare occurrence to see the young mage smile.
There was a soft 'pop' and the air was displaced only for the space to be replaced with Harry, who wore his black trousers and had borrowed the open black robe with hood that the Health Guild's Master wore. The boy looked at the large Hogwarts gate that was locked completely from the inside. No matter what he did or how much he shouted to open the gates, the gates didn't budge.
It was at this moment that something else caught his attention. And it wasn't the locked Hogwarts gates that he was trying to break, no.
The thing that caught his attention was the screams coming from Hogsmeade and the horde of approaching dementors in the skies above the village. The members of the Health Guild had told him it was Saturday, which meant that this was probably a Hogsmeade weekend and something or someone had attacked Hogsmeade. Three guesses who this guy could be?
With nary a thought, the Innovator kicked up in the air and flew towards the horde that was about to descend on them. He thanked Death for keeping the atomic pressure and the air composition of the realm the same as those of the earth, which helped him get used to the transition from the realm to the living world as smoothly as possible.
On the other hand, Dumbledore and others watched in surmounting horror as the soul suckers started to descend on anyone who wasn't a Death Eater. The way things were going, it seemed as if soon the Dementors would devour the souls of every living member of Hogsmeade.
Multiple shouts of the patronus were heard, including Dumbledore's, though not all of them were successful in getting a corporeal patronus like Albus. Only a notable few members—Kingsley and Angelique—were able to get the patronus, while others like Moody raised a fairly solid shield to defend themselves from the soul-sucking leeches.
"You know you can't maintain your patronus and fight me at the same time, you old fool." Voldemort sneered, "You will have to prioritise one thing over another after some time, and then the tides will change."
"I will hold on to it till I can't do it anymore." Dumbledore glared at his former student, who chuckled at his response.
"Then so be it."
The dark lord pointed his yew wand towards his enemy, and both of them were about to begin the battle once more when he noticed something... or rather, someone flying from Hogwarts and straight towards his Dementor army.
The person's physical body was quite far away from Voldemort, yet the powerful aura that surrounded him like a white shield of magic, as well as his stifling presence that could be sensed from miles away, made it seem as if they were just a few feet away.
"What's that..?"
Apparently Dumbledore had also sensed the change in the magic around them and, with a side-eye, looked at the incoming thing that was FLYING in their direction. That was the last thing anyone saw before the world was blasted in a bright flash of white light, blinding everyone for a couple of seconds while they heard the dementors shrieking.
When the bright flash of light disappeared, every single eye that was present in the battlegrounds below turned to look at the source, which was the humanoid spectre that floated fifty metres in the sky.
His arms were covered in some sort of thick, translucent white gloves until his elbows and stretched out to his sides. Black locks gently waved in the winds, and emerald pools glared at the army of incarnated depression and despair, which had been scattered quite a distance away due to his attack.
The battle beneath him had stopped as everyone was busy looking at the newest player in the game. Some recognised him immediately, and some took a moment to remember the iconic face of the famous innovator of Britain. There was only one person who could replicate the mortally petrifying glare of the king of serpents, only one person who could instill fear in the hearts of lesser men with nothing more than a look.
The prodigy of Britain, Harry Potter had returned….and he looked quite pissed off at that moment.
The mood on the battlefield changed in an instant. It was as if the mere presence of the Boy-Who-Lived's brother filled his friends with power and courage while the enemies tried to rid themselves of the fear that their sixth sense tried to instil in their hearts.
Still, there was nothing that could stop the destruction now. Everyone at Hogwarts knew about the elder Potter's infamous temper; ergo, no one wanted to be at its receiving end.
"Harry.." Dumbledore whispered, both surprised and shocked at the way Harry had returned. The old Headmaster could feel the powerful thrum of magic that was around the boy. It was intoxicating, and yet the Chief Warlock knew that it was equally malevolent and devastating if the boy wanted it to be.
He just hoped that the boy had at least retained his humanity after being in the presence of the multiversal entity of afterlife for Merlin knows how long.
Everyone had a different reaction to the hero's return.
Angelique didn't want to say anything; her interest in the boy had disappeared the moment she was caught by Daphne. Yes, the boy was exceptional and all; he almost had all the things that a girl would want in her boyfriend, but it wasn't worth risking one's life. She had her priorities straight. Thank you very much. The French diva then chanced a look at her Bulgarian counterpart and internally groaned.
Ashley was having the time of her life at that moment as she drank in the floating form of the one man who she deemed worthy enough to date and bed her. He had been AWOL for the last one and a half months, something about 'Guild Business'. She neither knew nor cared what.
The only thing that mattered to her was the presence of the innovator, something that she had missed. 'Well….now that you're here, Harry, I bet my stay would be much more exciting…' She mused before concentrating on the task at hand.
Everything took place within a few seconds, but for one person, it was as if time had stopped. It was at that point in her life that she realised just how much she had missed him. Maybe it was his presence, or maybe it was the unspoken promise of safety, but Daphne Greengrass suddenly felt all the more relieved.
She didn't know what sort of effect the Innovator had on her, but it was quite clear that even his presence and the fact that he was alive and well had relieved her tensed mind, which had been a complete wreck for the last two months.
He was finally here, and she could ultimately breathe in the protection and warmth of familiarity that his mere presence provided.
"Greengrass! Watch out!"
Ashley's voice broke her out of her reverie, and she instinctively dodged the orange-bone-breaking curse that traversed the space where her head had been just a few moments ago.
"Don't just lose your concentration, girl!" Ashley admonished as she spat two rapid curses at the death eater she was fighting, "Harry won't be able to save you if you die the moment he comes."
Daphne nodded in assent and took a last look at Harry, who had decided to fight on his own and was flying towards the place where the dementors were regrouping again to attack once more.
'Wait…flying?!' Daphne's eyes widened, and she checked again. 'Yep, still flying. When did he learn to do that?! What sort of 'guild activity' teaches you to fly without any support?!' She thought as she dove under another curse and threw a shield over Angelique's back, who was fighting alongside Ashley.
Harry, for his part, flew straight towards the horde of dementors; fortunately enough, he spotted the Headmaster busy fighting Voldemort. 'Good thing you're here because I'll be needing your help soon, professor.' Harry thought as he flicked his arm and blasted the ground near Voldemort's feet, which caused the dirt and dust to be blasted on Mr. Snakeface.
"Professor! I need your help!" Harry said as he dropped next to the venereal old man.
"Harry…" Dumbledore began before he pushed the boy behind him, "Protego Maxima!" The translucent blue shield took the direct hit of the organ-liquefying and bone-breaking curses that had been released from within the cloud of dirt.
"Where were you? Did the ritual work?" Dumbledore asked the innovator, while conjuring slabs of marble, to take the killing curse that Voldemort sent their way.
"Yes. We'll talk later about that," Harry said urgently as he looked at the horde of dementors that he had pushed. They had regrouped once more and were flying towards them again. "Right now, I want you to cast the strongest patronus you can and tell it to accompany me. I need it to cover my back."
"A patronus?" Dumbledore blinked, "But..I thought that you.."
"That was a different spell, Headmaster. It is a bastardised form of the patronus, useful to push a horde of dementors back for some time, but not for long. Since the entity itself resides in me now it prevents me from casting a spell powered by emotions of joy. Therefore, I can't cast the patronus till it is within me. So I created that bastardised version for myself," Harry said before he glared at Voldemort, who had removed the cloud of dirt and was looking at him with a smile.
"Harry Potter," Voldemort began. "Once again, we meet after all these years."
"I wish I could stay long enough to greet you, Tom. Unfortunately, I'll have to leave you to the Headmaster for now, and I hope that you are able to survive for a few more minutes till I return from cleaning the pests." Harry gritted before he turned to Dumbledore. "The charm, Headmaster! I can manually fight the dementors, but not a large horde at once."
"You can manually..." Dumbledore shook his head. He would probably see what Harry meant in a few minutes anyway. "My patronus is already there, Harry." He pointed towards the bright phoenix that was circulating at ground level so that it could keep everyone safe from the dementors.
"Alright, tell it to accompany me; I will do the rest." And with that, Harry again kicked towards the sky, shocking everyone, including the two titans of magic who had been fighting each other a moment ago. Dumbledore got back to his senses almost immediately and mentally ordered his patronus to follow Harry and back him up.
"The boy can fly…." Voldemort smirked, his mind unlocking new ideas that he could implement if he somehow got the boy to join them. It was probably an impossible task, but there wasn't any harm in trying to recruit the smartest mind in Britain to his service, was there?
"I am going to activate my Runes of Potentia. After that, we'll fight the dementors. Your work is to back me up whenever one of them is about to sneak up on me; otherwise, make sure to keep them out of this place, alright?" Harry asked the Phoenix patronus, and even though it wasn't an actual phoenix, the patronus opened its beak as if trilling in agreement.
Harry tapped his shoulders to unlock the first two runes. Thick vines of pure silver energy traversed down his arm, and his pupils turned bright silver. The amount of magic was enough to not only suppress but also defeat the dementors.
The boy sighed when he remembered the conversation with Death where the entity had told him that he didn't need the Runes of Potentia anymore since he now had absolute control over his magic and that he should remove the runes after he came back to the living world. That was one extra task that he intended to complete as soon as possible.
The onlookers were not only shocked but also confused when they saw the innovator rush towards the dementors with nothing but glowing white fists that he punched the dementors with and sent them flying back. They had never seen or even known that such a spell existed where one could punch the dementors instead of shielding against them or using the patronus.
Somehow, the work automatically got divided between the forces fighting against the dementors. Harry and Phoenix worked against the ones that flew as a horde and were about to descend, while Kingsley's lynx and Angelique's fox patronuses dashed around the battlefield as they fought against the scattered dementors that had already descended and were tormenting the humans.
When the defending forces noticed that the dementors were being taken care of by Harry and his patronus team, a wave of hope and energy went through them, and they started to refocus on the death eaters with renewed vigour.
"You see this, Tom?" Dumbledore smiled at the Dark Lord, who glared angrily and shot multiple bonebreakers that were blocked by Dumbledore's shield. "This is what you will face every single time. Only the fool believes he deserves the world; the world doesn't believe the fool."
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Dumbledore dove down and flicked his wand, transforming the land beneath Voldemort into a swamp. The Dark Lord flew in the air and sent another barrage of snakes at Dumbledore, who crushed them all beneath a conjured rock.
After about ten minutes of punching the dementors and pushing them away, Harry and his team finally started to regain some semblance of victory over the soul suckers who had been kicked away from the battlefield and into the air.
The dementors clubbed together once more for a joint attack on Harry. Unfortunately for them, the boy had the support of three more patronuses that rushed towards the horde alongside him. The two forces met in the middle, and almost immediately, the world turned bright.
Painful shrieks were heard above the battlegrounds that sang tales of Harry's victory over the offending creatures.
When the light subsided, the Dark Lord looked above and saw the Dementors fleeting north once more, probably back to the place where they once dwelled. It was a shame to see that his final part had failed so badly, a shame indeed.
"You don't need to worry about them, Voldemort." Harry's voice called out to him, "Because for now you should be worrying about us."
The Dark Lord looked at his enemies—yes, enemies. Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore stood in front of him, glaring at him with their wands ready.
Ending Note: I would like to have some reviews on this chapter, thank-you.
Also, the next three chapters and all the character sketches are available on my p -treon.
www. p a treon .c-o-m / DevSagittariusBlack
(Remove the spaces and delete the '-', obviously) Link is also present on my profile.
To get access to the chapters, sneak peeks and all the character sketches, you can also join my discord server:
Beware: Loads of NSFW (Yes, Porn, and lots of it. Lol)
discord . gg / Gcbcv4dxGx (remove the spaces)
Name: Dev Black's Empire
Don't forget to review, favorite and follow the fic for more chapters!
With Regards
Dev Black