Many thanks to those who reviewed, and Great News everyone. There really is an end to the HP world arc... in another 10 chapters or so, but it a real thing! Patience i beg of those of you tired of Earth, we will indeed return to Azeroth soon enough, and easily the rest of the story will take place within that timeline, so worry not. that said, enjoy! ~F

Chapter Thirty Nine

The Ancient One

Alastor was furious at the news he received from Albus. The foolishness of the Ministry could very well prove the destruction of their entire world. Alastor had had some choice words with the Ministers over the years, but Cornelius Fudge was one that he was ready to simply throttle for his lack of intellect.

Amelia was sympathetic, but incapable of going against her employer, which both Alastor and Albus understood. The highest indignity of it was that, little known to anyone expect for Alastor himself, Albus actually had no home to go to outside of Hogwarts, having sold all of his assets to help fund the first war against Voldemort. So the Headmaster of Hogwarts was currently in Alastor's sitting room, having taken up temporary residence at the old Auror's insistence.

They had moved the primary location of the Order of the Phoenix's operations there as well, which meant that as much as Alastor disliked company, his home was now a place of refuge for their meetings and regular visits. The upside was at least he got to experience Molly Weasleys cooking roughly two to three times a day, after she had heard of the Headmaster's plight.

"So I suppose monitoring those who support the Potter brat will fall to Severus then?" Alastor was saying, in a closed meeting that only those who knew the entirety of the matter regarding Potter and the outer magic, as Merlin had called them.

"It must be so, as none else can go into Hogwarts easily, but I image with the dementors that even they would be slow to do anything too drastic. At least we know that this will be a short setback, as there is no way they will find proof that Sirius was ever in Hogwarts." Albus said, stroking his long white beard as he spoke, spoon in the other hand as he finished a marvelous soup that Molly had sent over hours ago.

"The only time I went in outside of meeting with you, Albus, was to have a few words with Severus…" Sirius reported, "That could be the only time a student saw me, but I was in my animagus form the entire time, so I have no idea how or when…"

"It is on little consequence now," Severus cut in, and Alastor noted that the man seemed paler than usual. Close contact with a dementor would do that, and there had to be at least a hundred flowing over the castle these days. Alastor pitied the poor children that now had to be traumatized by those horrors. The parents would be in an uproar.

"Still," he said, turning to their final member, "do we have any idea where Morgan is? The sooner we deal with her, the better I'll sleep."

Merlin sighed, "She has done an excellent job in secreting herself from us, and somehow I doubt we will find her until she wishes it to be so, unless she made some sort of mistake that we've missed, but I cannot be sure."

Something moved in the corner of Alastor's vision, and he whirled just then, standing and knocking his seat clear. There was a green and orange eye floating in the corner of the room, spying on them. Conjuring a ball of flame, Alastor hurled it at the intruding scrying orb, and it detonated with a puff of Fel magic. "We were being watched," he said sternly, wondering why none of the others had noticed, or if the eye had just arrived and he was the first to react.

Unfortunately, the damage had apparently been done, as soon enough a tear formed in the middle of the air in Alastor's sitting room, furling outward until it was large enough for a person to enter. And one did, short and rather scrawny despite the large black robes he wore. Harry Potter was a bold little brat, Alastor had to give him that, to walk directly into a meeting of his enemies unafraid.

"Ah, I had wondered where you had all gone to hide after that incident with the Ministry…" he said casually, his eyes glancing over each of them.

Alastor had to heavily place a hand on Sirius to prevent the man from leaping from his seat and sprinting for the man's godson, but the pleading was still in his voice as he spoke.

"Harry?" Sirius said, "Is it really you?"

Red eyes gleamed as he glanced at the man who had watched him as an infant, "I was…" he said cryptically, "but no longer. I am Nobu'tan, heir of the chieftain of the Stormreaver Clan, and it would be well for you to remember that… however, I am not here to quarrel with you, this time… I overheard you speaking of the mad witch Morgan, and I have information to present and I suppose, as allies in the joint effort to stop her and her madness, I ought to weigh in on what my warlocks will do to aid you mages…"

Albus and Merlin were the first to recover. "Please then, have a seat," the Headmaster offered, gesturing at one of the small chairs that decorated Alastor's otherwise sparse living quarters.

The boy accepted, sitting quite formally, as though he was the most important one there, and began, "little over a week ago Morgan found me in a tavern on Knockturn Alley…"

"What in blazes were you doing there Harry, your parents would be shocked to know that you spent any time in that horrid market!" Sirius said, straining against Alastor to rise yet again.

"I'm sorry," the boy responded, "but whatever familiar ties you hold with me are of no use, and better forgotten. I may have been known to you as a babe, but I do not know you, and I will not accept that you hold any authority over where I go or what I do…"

It looked as though Sirius had been punched right in the gut, he deflated slightly, ceasing to resist Alastor guiding hand to keep him seated, and soon enough the boy continued.

"Anyway, I met here there, she had clearly sought me out it seemed, as I had not previously designed to meet her again, and she spoke with me concerning a few matters that are irrelevant to finding her, but I am sure that she remained in or near the London area, as she did not smell of traveling magic of any sort. I would go so far as to guess she might be living in the Alley itself, but that may be stretching a bit. Regardless, I am sure that she is nearby there, so any search should commence there, and expand outward."

The boy shifted slightly in his seat, as to address Merlin and Albus more than the rest of the group, "So, once she is found, do we just confront her head on, or what sort of stratagem are we intending to use in defeating her?"

"It would definitely not be the best option," the sagely, ancient wizard replied, "We would first have to be sure that there would be no innocence caught in the crossfire, and no way for her to easily escape before committing to any grand onslaught."

"I purpose we use young Nobu'tan as bait for her to come out in the open," Albus stated, causing them all to turn to him, and Potter to raise an eyebrow in question.

Albus held out a hand for a moment, "If she has gone out of her way to contact him once already, she might do so again, with a bit of prompting, if we can find a way for you to send her a message, we might be capable of luring her into a trap."

"And here I was thinking you were incapable of something truly devious…" Potter said with a smirk.

"I have my moments…" Albus replied graciously.

"Would an owl be capable of finding her though?" Severus commented, "I mean to say, if it was that simple, why hadn't we already thought of it?"

"It's true, something as simple as a letter via owl wouldn't be the most obvious answer," Albus conceded, "but I presume that there might be other methods that we could employ," he added, sending a look at the sallow man, who paled as he realized something unspoken.

"Granger's ritual? As you sure Albus, we do not know why it failed still…" Snape said, and the entire table grew curious.

"Tell me of this ritual, and I will see to working out what possibly went wrong," Potter said, eagerness in his eyes to learn of new magic. Alastor felt uneasy telling the boy any amount of information that he could use against them, but Albus clearly thought no harm of it as he explained the concepts that the younger mage had designed in her attempts to location the boy himself, and their speculations of why it had failed.

"Ah, there was no failure there," Potter said at last, after several moments of thought, "it was simply a fragile spell, not anchored into anything that would give it strength to not be easily banished. Clearly these creatures she saw had power of their own, and dispelled the scrying as soon as they sensed it to preserve what secrecy that they had wanted. Between us however, and magnifying the spell through several means that I know of, I believe we could adapt it to function and locate the true whereabouts of Morgan."

"How long would it take?" Albus asked, his own desires to see such magic being revealed.

"Oh, I doubt it wouldn't take too long, just writing a few formulas and altering them for the different numbers of members and their drastic levels of power difference. The question really is whether we have Merlin, the most powerful, stand in the center, or myself as the only warlock." The boy explained, even as he removed parchment from his robes and started jotting quick notes, sketching out a few runic symbols in the attempt to find the right one for their number.

"If we seek to call to darkness, then darkness must be our lead," Merlin attested, "It will be easier if you are calling to her, rather than I, I believe…"

The boy nodded, making another couple of notes. "I agree," Albus said, injecting his own knowledge, "if we are to arrange by comparative levels of power, and setting yourself aside, that would pair myself and Merlin, while Severus and Alastor are closer in power."

The boy nodded again, finally putting away the quill he was writing with. "I suggest a pair of connected triangles," he indicated an hourglass shape that he had sketched out; surrounded by a circle of runes in a language that Alastor had never seen before.

"Albus and Merlin will be opposite each other, as will Snape and Moody," the boy continued to explain, indicating the corners of the hourglass, "While I stand in the middle and direct the flow of magic to our mutual end."

"But what about me?" Sirius protested, but the boy ignored him, leaving the explanation to one of the older wizards, "Rituals, by their nature, are highly unstable magic, Sirius, and therefore great care has to be taken in tailoring one. Aside the one whom is the lead of the spell, or the center focus, all others have to be paired with someone of relative power or the spell could easily become unbalanced and volatile. It's not that you're assistance is unwanted; it's just a lack of extra person to pair with you.

Sirius looked rather put out about that, but even the heir of the Black line understood the nature of magic, and sat back down, in silence. Merlin and Albus both looked over the diagram, and while it was clear that they did not understand the runes the boy had written either, they could find no fault in his Arithmancy. "How long will it take for you to create the ritual circle?" Albus persisted.

"Technically I could do it right in here in a matter of twenty minutes maybe, but that's completely up to you," the boy replied, sitting back and smirking at his cleverness.

"Do so, the sooner we locate Morgan the better our chances at stopping her will be," Merlin said, standing and moving some of the furniture with a wave of his hand. Alastor was not pleased to have a rune circle drawn in his sitting room, but for the sake of the world there were worse sacrifices to make, so he remained silent.

True to his word, the drawing out of the full sized ritual symbols took less than a half hour, and in a manner that would easily be brushed away once they were finished. Immediately after he finished, Potter started to arrange them onto the corners of the hourglass, urging them to call all the power of the Arcane that they could muster, and pour it into the circle to charge it, while he took up place in the middle, and much to their mutual chagrin, started to channel his vile demonic magic.

Alastor knew that it was needed to call out to the dark witch, but still it was a dreadful thing to experience firsthand.

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Once the circle was charged to the point of a soft blue glow, the excess power started to filter upward to Nobu'tan, he began his complicated sending. Picturing his target in his mind, Morgan le Faye, the warlock began casting the spell to summon eyes of Kil'rogg at an alarming pace, sending them far and wide over the houses and London, speeding their travel by power of the Arcane magic being fed into him, magnifying his ability to see an hundredfold.

Images streamed through his mind, of locations far and near, even as each of the hundreds of eyes started their complicated search for the powerful witch. Empowering each with the might of the Arcane and a touch of the Fel magic, Nobu'tan was quickly able to narrow the search by concentrating on those places with any amounts of magic.

All those who had found new or other young wizards were dismissed immediately, while those over the alleyways of the wizarding market took their time to see if she was hiding in or among the various shops and side streets that permeated the hidden district.

But it was those eyes that scouted out to the coastline that held the interest of the warlock. He knew that Morgan had sought the sea as her first destination, when they had fought her so fiercely. That meant that water, or the oceans, were strongly related to those beings she wanted to bring forth. And it was there that his seeking eyes found a trace of her magic. So strengthened by the Arcane magic flowing through him from the other casters, Nobu'tan was able to easily conjured more eyes from that location itself, spreading an immediate search net around the location that he sensed her magical signature.

Far away from his consciousness and its search, Nobu'tan heard in a small voice as his body announced to the room that he had found her trail. He could not hear any replies however, as already he was following the hints of dark magic that lingered around the water, following it like a felhunter back to its source.

A massive outcropping of rocks, jutting out into the sea loomed off some mighty cliffs south of city along the coast. It nearly looked like some sort of miniature fortress, but completely natural, and positively brimming with magic of its own. Nobu'tan realized the trick that the sly old witch had pulled over even Merlin. The magic was all concealing in nature, and based of the natural wizarding spells that would otherwise have been ignored.

"There she is… I've found her hiding place…" he announced, his voice growing stronger as Nobu'tan started to return his consciousness to his body. Before the eyes winked out of existence entirely, he caught a faint glimpse of the witch herself, out on a shard of stone that overlooked the sea, already in the throes of channeling her powerful spell once more, and the sea churned in reply.

Quickly he returned to the room that they were all still in, maintaining the power of his ritual. Ironically, this spell served a second purpose to Nobu'tan alone. He could sense through the magic that each wizard was sending him, the relative strength and aptitudes of the wielder.

The powers of frost and fire from Snape and Moody he knew already, and their might was limited compared to his own. Albus had grown very strong in the pure fonts of the arcane, and could be a challenge when the time came, not that Nobu'tan hoped for a straight duel between them regardless.

But it was Merlin the frightened him, as not only was the man a master mage, well beyond even his and Albus' level, but there was a hint of other magic in the man that Nobu'tan was most unfamiliar with. The elements sang within him, as well as something else, more wild and driving from the sun, moon and stars.

A powerful Guardian of this world indeed, he was forced to accept. Nobu'tan had to think quickly on how to get Merlin out of the way so that the Legion's summoning would go on without a drastic hitch.

"Morgan has been found, and we are short of time to adequately prepare to face her. Her spells have already begun again, and I sense that she seeks to awaken something massive this time." Nobu'tan informed the rest of those present.

"Then there is no time to try and lure her out anywhere, we have to go to her once more, and trap her in the lair. If we can stop her channeling, it would be her alone that we had to deal with, after preventing her escape." Merlin stated, looking at Albus who subtly nodded in agreement.

Nobu'tan had to resist the smirk that wanted to crest his face. Here he was, their true enemy, assisting these wizards yet again with something else the threatened their world in a more immediate mode, all the while paving the way for their destruction in the background.

Surely they had to be aware of the dangers, but these foolish light wizards had little choice but to ally with him against Morgan, and Nobu'tan wondered if he could simply take the Elder Wand from Dumbledore now, and unleash the Legion to eliminate Morgan and the others in one fell swoop.

But… it was too risky with there being five separate wizards against him, and Merlin as one of them to boot. Better to string them along and be rid of the Guardian first, then the wand would be significantly easier prey for him.

Banishing the excess magic from his body, Nobu'tan started working on a portal to the location burned into his mind, even as the others grabbed what items they thought they could use against the powerful sorceress.

Feeling the tear in reality finally appear, Nobu'tan pulled it wide enough for them all to pass quickly, noting that the way was more difficult this time, as there must have been some level of warding protecting Morgan's location that he had just bypassed through his clever magic.

Keeping this information to himself, Nobu'tan waited for the other wizards to be ready to cross over to the soon to be hostile environment. It was clear that Morgan was aware how his portal magic functioned, and had been made aware of their coming, but Nobu'tan knew that he alone had power to escape if it was needed.

Nodding to the wizards as they returned, fully geared for the looming battle ahead, Nobu'tan held the portal stable as they crossed through one at a time, Merlin and Albus in the lead, with the other three following close behind. Nobu'tan brought up the very rear, quietly summoning Quzkol to support him when the worst happened.

The crashing of waves was almost deafening, as the churning sea raged and roiled before them. Morgan still was controlling her summoning, and already there were vicious creatures, just like before, storming up from the cresting waves to hinder them. Snape lunged forward then, the powers of ice and frost weaving around him, and a water elemental rose into being, mimicked in its dark shadows by Nobu'tan as he conjured another of the beings, realizing what the dour man was up to.

Blasting not the creatures themselves, but the path they needed to take to reach the group of mages and warlock with frost and ice, together Snape and Nobu'tan made the path very difficult to traverse, afterward setting the water elementals to attack anything that dared to approach them. Nobu'tan waited on summoning more demons, knowing that his powers would be needed to inflict pain on the witch to stop her from being able to escape or harm them in return.

"You're too late, Guardian of Avalon," the witch taunted, even as her vile minions started up the beaches for them, "the Dark Ones have stirred, and will awake at last to consume this world. Not even the mighty Legion will be able to stop them. Then the Black Empire shall be reestablished on this world, and from it we will soar among the stars and bring our war back to the rest of creation!"

With a grand flourish, she ended her spell, just as the seas exploded upward, unleashing a great monstrosity that was covered in mad, writhing tentacles and clawed pincers, with spines and other deadly apparatuses covering the chitins shall that served as its armor.

"An Old God…" Merlin said in barely a whisper. "We must slay this being, and capture Morgan as quickly as possible," he said, desperately running at the witch, even as lightning crackled in his hands.

Nobu'tan took this as his cue, and opened himself fully to the might of the Fel magic calling to him. From high above a portal to Nether worlds opened, and half a dozen meteors fell with great force, a few of them striking the hulking creature, which let loose a shrieking wail of pain. From the craters and out of the now sizzling sea rose Infernals, the constructs of doom that the Legion granted to their faithful.

Opening wide portals to the realms of Fel and fire, Nobu'tan summon hordes of imps to his aid, Voidwalkers from the realms of shadow, succubi in the dozens, as well as rows upon rows of the Felguard, all eager to wage battle against their most ancient of foes, the forces of corruption and evil.

Battle sufficiently joined down on the beaches, the warlock ran as fast as his legs could churn up the sand to reach the mages on the outcropping of rock, where they now traded spell with Morgan, her shadow magic pushing them to the very limit of their knowledge in the Arcane.

It seemed to Nobu'tan that like him, the witch had mastered multiple schools of magic, although she had delved into the dark abyss that was the Void itself, reaching out to the beings of madness that sought to turn the entire universe into a gibbering paradise for themselves, or otherwise a null emptiness where nothing lived.

This was a point where the Legion would stand with mortals against something far more terrible than even themselves, and although Nobu'tan knew that he sought this worlds end as well, at least that was more merciful than what this Old God had planned.

Launching blasts of Fel fire from his hands, he knocked aside several dark bolts that Morgan had sent at Merlin, even as the ancient wizard struck back, harnessing the very elements around them to bring bolts of lightning down from the sky with thunderous force.

Morgan was hurled to the ground, and Merlin stood triumphantly over her, simple wooden staff blazing with fire as he turned toward the massive creature that battled the small army of demons.

"Storm…" he chanted, even as thunderclouds started to form overhead. "Earth…" the very ground beneath them started to tremble at his command. "And Fire… Heed my call!" flames leap into being, and Nobu'tan himself felt some sound of blood pounding in his ears, and a righteous fury well up inside him that he had not know existed. Merlin had cast some spell to empower his allies, or those who fought with him at this time.

Turning upon the Old God, Nobu'tan felt the desire to rend earth and sky in order to destroy the abomination, and without warning had slipped into his demonic form, claws sputtering to life with demonic fire as he leapt with great force, wings catching the air as he soared toward battle with the deadly creature now staggering back from the magical onslaught of the wizards he had allied with against this menace.

Fel magic and claws met with hardened armor and strange, spongy flesh in a riot of gore, and Nobu'tan fought like a ferocious animal, even as his army surged around the abomination's legs, slashing with axes or flinging fiery bolts upward at its face.

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Sirius did what he could, launching orbs of fire at the frightening creature that had risen out of the sea, but he found himself continuously distracted by the hulking creature that his godson had transformed into. Having been told about the frightful powers that James' son had taken up was one thing, but seeing them first hand was another altogether.

Of course, that distraction was nothing compared to what occurred when the sea creature started to laugh, a deep dooming sound that resembled rocks grinding together. The thing spoke in a strange language that was more gibbering than anything, and Sirius couldn't understand it, until the words were forcefully placed into his head, like maddening whispers.

"There is nothing you mortals can do. All light is lost within the depths…"

Ironically, rather than cause despair to well inside of him, Sirius grew angry. How dare this monstrosity try to frighten them? Whether the boy wanted it or not, Sirius would protect his best friend's son, and nothing, not even some eldritch being from the depths of the sea could stop him.

Rushing forward to the edge of the battling creature and the demons that fought it, Sirius channeled as much fire as he could into a mighty pyroblast, hurling the immense orb of raging flame at his enemy. Even as the orb struck, the massive creature was swatting the demonic form of Harry from its back, but was prevented thereby from actually hurling the boy in demon form into the sea. Instead, Harry's body came crashing near to Sirius, just on the far side of his ranks of minions.

Sirius rushed to him, unsure what he could possibly do for the boy in his current form. "Harry…" he said concerned, before he turned to face the abomination as it started to wade toward them, probably intent on finishing off his godson before turning on the rest of them.

Launching attack after attack at the creature, Sirius saw with dawning horror that his spells were having very little effect on it, doing nothing more than slowing it down. But he stood his ground, willing to die to protect the son of Lily and James if need be.

"You fool!" Harry snarled, his voice deepened and guttural from the transformation upon him, even as the winged creature that was his form rose from the sand.

"Yeah, well your parents said that too," Sirius replied, readying himself to die in the place he never should have left, watching over the godson he had sworn to protect. Maybe this was payment for all the years he wallowed in that prison for acting selfish and rashly. Something grabbed his roughly from behind, and Sirius felt himself physically thrown to the side with great strength. Looking wildly as he landed, the escaped wizard spotted Harry, back in human form, conjuring great gouts of green flame and other dark spells.

And behind him, towering over the boy was a massive, two headed creature that vaguely resembled a troll of sorts, with bright blue skin and a deadly serious look in its eyes. "Attack for Lord Nobu'tan! For the Order!" it shouted, raising a large staff in one hand and launching a bolt of chaotic magic at the advancing enemy.

And from the beach behind them, Sirius spotted many tears in the fabric of reality opening, and demons spilling out in droves, along with other trolls, some blue, most of them tan and carrying powerful clubs with maddened rage in their eyes.

At last Sirius understood. The troll had tossed him aside to stand beside its lord and probably master. Harry didn't need Sirius to protect him, as he had grown up his own way, and made for himself those things which he lacked.

The hideous creature staggered back from the new onslaught, just in time for powerful roots to explode out of the sand and entangle its legs. Feeling a bit useless, Sirius turned again to see Merlin, eyes ablaze with magic, channeling spells to bind the massive creature and begin dragging it back into the sea.

"Your kind will not last, one day we will return, and the city of Ny'alotha will be waiting to receive you." It cackled even as the creature submerged, presumable being sent back to its sleep under the ocean.

Soon enough the roiling waves calmed and all was as it ought to have been, despite the newfound worry of what truly lay in wait beneath the water.

Sirius wanted to see if Harry was alright, but even before he managed to step toward them, the boy was already leaving with his entourage, vanishing through their portals one by one. "I will await you at the portal of Avalon, to make sure that she is returned from whence she had escaped," Harry called over his shoulder to Albus and Merlin, who nodded, before levitating the defeated and incapacitated Morgan le Faye.

"Come on boy, get a move on, we're not done yet…" Moody said gruffly, nudging Sirius in the legs with his own.

Sirius felt completely dejected, but obeyed, turning away from the sandy beach where the portals of the warlock forces had once been, and followed Moody to where Severus and Albus waited to take them all to the final destination so they could witness the imprisonment of Morgan, and the absolute end of this threat from those beasts beneath the waves.

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Albus knew that without the assistance of Nobu'tan, they would not have had the power to subdue the mad witch, but at the same time he was greatly concerned with his presence back here, at the edge of Avalon, while they watched Merlin open a portal between two wildly overgrown trees, which revealed the verdantly emerald land that all Fey came from. The evil witch was sent through first, where a tree of that land embraced her, growing around her like a prison and somehow growing grander from the new occupant with itself.

"It is finished," Merlin said gratefully, "the threat of the Black Empire returning has been thwarted, for the time being."

Albus sent the ancient wizard a small nod. It was not the time for them to turn on Nobu'tan, surrounded by his own guard as he was, but they could now focus with impunity on defeating the boy and stopping the Legion from entering their world.

"So, what is to stop her from awakening in time and returning yet again?" Nobu'tan asked, glancing back at the emerald gateway.

"I will seal the portal behind her. I feel that my time hiding away in the world of endless dreams is finished for now. Perhaps in time I may return, but not for the present century or two." Merlin said.

With that he turned to face the gateway, and begin chanting his own spell, some craft of nature or the elements that would close the wound made by Nobu'tan, and seal it for good. Alas, allowing Dumbledore to have the aid of the Guardian in stopping him from summoning the Legion was not acceptable. He was close enough, and sinisterly his plan formed in his mind in a flash.

Once the portal started to shut on its own, and Merlin started to turn back to them, one hard shove was all it took. Taking the Guardian by surprise, and knocking him from his feet, Nobu'tan used his fel powers to magnify his strength so that the man went headfirst into the closing portal, being draw into the verdant green of Avalon just as his own portal sealed itself.

A surge of Fel magic mixed with the Arcane, and Nobu'tan fashioned his own lock around the location of the gateway, adding further protection to prevent Merlin's return from the other side. Those here couldn't figure it out fast enough to prevent what was to come regardless, so there was no need to worry about that.

"What have you done!" Moody bellowed, launching a sphere of fire at Nobu'tan, but Teg'Ramm was there in a flash to intercept and dispel it. The ogre mage lord towered over the humans, each head keeping a sharp eye on them as Nobu'tan finished his Fel lock.

"I've done what I needed. Our alliance ended when Morgan was returned to Avalon, so why would I allow you to keep your precious Guardian to try and stop me from my own ends?" Nobu'tan stated plainly, smirking at the looks of revulsion on each of them. There was little need to act in the shadows from them now, the only one he feared to face head on was Dumbledore himself, but the grand wizard would not be able to take Nobu'tan and his ogre magi warriors.

"We are leaving. So until the next time we cross wits and sword… for what it was, it was refreshing to fight alongside you as allies for a time, but it was simply not meant to last." He stated, conjuring a portal almost casually, and departed with his ogres. Let them wallow in despair and turmoil at the loss of their powerful elemental mage; it was of little consequence to Nobu'tan.

He would come after them again once he was ready to take the Elder Wand for himself. Until then, it was a time to gather his allies in one location, and prepare the ritual site for his inevitable arrival. The stone circle of Stonehenge was currently under occupation of the muggles, and they would need to be cleared away of the Order of the Black Harvest was to set up a temporary fortress there and prepare the place for the magic required to bring forth the Legion. But if they moved too quickly, before all was gathered short of the wand, then their hand would be tipped, and their enemies would have too many opportunities to formulate a counteroffensive.

"Lucius," Nobu'tan said, summoning the third of the Council, and next ranking member that was present at the astute manor that was their current base of operations, "It is time for us to make ready to take Stonehenge for ourselves…"

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Albus was horrified at what had happened. For a long while he just stuff there in the clearing after Nobu'tan had departed, trying to fashion in his mind how it was physically possible for the boy to have thrown Merlin through the closing portal to Avalon, and seal it strongly behind the powerful wizard.

So many of his plans had revolved around using the other wizard's greater strength to help incapacitate and defeat Nobu'tan in a direct confrontation.

But now… now they were nearly back at square one. They had a few scraps of the old plan, using the Triwizard tournament to lure Harry back into the open, but without the ability to fight him in a confrontation, direct or otherwise, they had quite a bit ahead of them to riddle out.

Albus normally would have desire to have more time, to formulate a new strategy, but this school year was rapidly drawing to a close, and before he would know it the Goblet of Fire would be in reach, and they had to be ready by the time that happened.

"Alastor, Severus, Sirius…" Albus said slowly as they finally managed to turn the aged Headmaster away from the place of their surprising defeat. "We have to formulate a plan to capture Nobu'tan, before the Triwizard Tournament begins."

"We have some time to get an idea of what to do, and how we can slow down whatever he has planned," Alastor said, but Albus could tell as they prepared to apparate back to the man's home that even the scarred Auror was greatly disturbed.

There was an owl waiting for them when they returned to Alastor's sitting room, bearing a message for Albus as Headmaster. "The writ for allowing you to return to Hogwarts, I presume?" Severus stated as Albus read the missive.

"Indeed, along with Cornelius' personal apology, by which I mean there is none, regarding the lack of evidence that tied Sirius to the school." Albus commented.

"Did they remove the Demenetors?" Sirius asked, trying to look over the Headmaster's shoulder.

"They did, but not because they wanted to. It's growing close to summer and the children want to go outside more and more. Having the Dementors there would make such activities impossible, and with the next year coming, Cornelius wants nothing but his best to show when the other school representatives arrive. Having those horrors flying around wouldn't be the best move on his part, he believes." Albus explained, before summoning what few items he had taken with him.

"Alastor, I must thank you for the hospitality during the past few weeks, and I expect to see and hear from you a great deal in the coming summer…" he paused thinking, "My, it's almost upon us already."

"What do we do regarding the Ministry however, they are likely to return the Dementors to Hogwarts in the coming year?" Severus commented, but it was Sirius that answered before Albus could suggest anything.

"I'll just allow myself to be spotted somewhere far from Hogwarts, before slipping back up here via portkey or something." He said with a shrug.

"That… actually is likely the most efficient means of distracting them…" Severus admitted, to which Albus had to take note in his mind that it was not an option that Severus had considered. Could it be that the pair of once deadly rivals were starting to get accustomed to working together? He wasn't about to hold his breath regarding it, but it was a positive sign.

"Good," Albus said, even as the last of his possessions arrived and packed themselves in a small trunk he had brought. "I fear greatly for what will soon begin to transpire once we start opposing Nobu'tan directly, so I suggest intense training, to make sure all of our skills in the Arcane and even the magic of our people are in top shape, we will need every skill and trick to be able to defeat him without Merlin's aid."

"Perhaps it's time to fully incorporate Granger's faction?" Alastor suggested, but Albus was still hesitant.

"I'd prefer to not involve the children if we can avoid it… but," he sighed, "If you see a need perhaps you are indeed right. Do so, as a special club activity, so that other students are not suspicious, a defense group or something, but because of your well known quirks, you only accept certain students into it."

Alastor actually had the audacity to smile at the thought of using his own paranoia as a tool, "I look forward to it…" he said simply.

With that, Albus nodded, dismissing their meeting, and turned toward the front door of Alastor's home. Once on the threshold, he turned sharply, apparating with a soft popping sound back to the gates of Hogwarts. As he had feared, the Dementors were still present, and the soul-sucking energy that they had immediately started to affect him, until Albus casually slung his Patronus at the horrors. The silvery Fawkes sang a triumphant note as it soared after them, driving the Dementors away from the gates and allowing Albus to pass unmolested.

The first step was ridding his school of these wraiths, and then they could prepare for Nobu'tan.