Chapter 72

Arriving back at Potter Manor, Harry barely had the strength to stand on his feet. It had been several long apparitions to make it this far, and once he felt the safety of the wards around him he dropped to his knees and stared blankly towards the home of Potter Manor. He had no idea how long he had been there, until the concerned face of Dorea Potter filled his vision. Her voice was concerned, and sounded alarmed as she spoke, "Harry, are you okay? Where is Elaina?"

"I lost her, mum." He whispered.

He didn't see the man arrive, but Harry distinguished the firm voice of Charlus Potter nearby, "Lost her? How could you lose her?"

"He took her from me." Harry said in a dull voice, "He showed her the future, and convinced her that she needed his help."

The tears had long since dried up since he left Hungary, and he looked over to the man he thought of as his father hoping he would forgive him, "I did, exactly, what you told me not to do. I wanted her to have peace. I wanted her to find out more about her family. He was waiting for her. He locked me out of the wards and showed her things. Horrible things. Enough that she was convinced she had no other choice."

Charlus swore, and Harry looked away from the man, ashamed. Dorea however put a hand under his chin, making her son look at her, just like he had done with Elaina hours before. The woman spoke gently, "I know you did what you thought was right, Harry. We are incredibly grateful you are safe."

"You have given our enemy a very dangerous weapon." Charlus seethed, causing Harry to visibly flinch.

"Charlus!" Dorea began to scold, but the man shook her off immediately.

"No Dorea! He doesn't listen. He has been here a year, and still doesn't understand he can't do this all alone. He doesn't want to talk about his past, and he isn't getting over it. The boy is still having nightmares, and won't let us help him." Charlus said through gritted teeth, but didn't stop there, "On top of that, not only did we lose a powerful ally, a girl we thought of as family, we basically turned her over to one of the most dangerous men alive."

When Charlus finished Harry couldn't bear to look at either of his parents, as he stared at the ground in shame. There was nothing he could say that would make the situation better. Nothing that would make him feel any less guilty over what had happened. When nothing came from his corner, Charlus began walking back towards the house, "I will need to inform Dumbledore what happened. Merlin help me, but he needs to know."

The man didn't even spare another glance at Harry and Dorea as he stormed his way back to the house. Dorea sighed as the man grew further in distance, and wrapped Harry into her arms closely, "I'm sorry, son. I know what she meant to you. I feel your pain."

With her arms secured around him, Harry began to sob. These were not the silent tears of agony he had felt since Elaina had disappeared behind the wards in Hungary, these were weeps of despair. He wouldn't remember how it happened, but at some point, the world began to fade away, and he closed his eyes, only hoping that when they opened again the eyes he loved would be there to greet him.

.o.

Harry was sitting at the table in his tent in the Forest of Dean with the Wireless playing soft music in the background. He was staring at a familiar golden snitch that he remembered was left to him by Dumbledore in his time. In confusion, he glanced around realizing he was alone, and immediately stood to his feet, "Ron? Hermione?"

Making his way towards the exit of the tent, he opened the flaps, and suddenly he was back in the middle, but this time he wasn't alone. Hermione was in his arms, dancing slowly, with a soft smile on her face, "Hello, Harry."

Hermione was wearing a flannel, and blue jeans, and despite the outfit looking slightly ragged, she was as beautiful as the last day he saw her. He wanted to embrace the girl badly, but he found his body wouldn't respond to his wishes as he spun her around slowly, and she continued to smile at him. Instead of hugging her he just offered her a watery smile, "It's good to see you, Hermione. Really good."

Everytime Harry had seen his best friend, the girl who had wormed her way into his heart, it had been her final horrible moments. It was so heart-relieving to see her smile, he could've just melted on the spot.

"It hasn't been so long." She said softly as she now spun him around in the familiar silly dance they once shared.

"In some ways, it feels like it's been forever, or a lifetime."Harry said gravely, "And in other ways, I feel like we haven't left the forest. Like I am going to wake up from a dream, and you are going to be there."

"You know that isn't going to happen, Harry. Things have changed." Hermione whispered, and while the smile faded off her lips, the softness of her tone remained.

Shaking his head, Harry attempted to separate from the girl. He wanted to sit her down and tell her all about the adventures he had. He wanted to tell her about how he messed up with Elaina, and how the fight against Voldemort was going.

Before he could voice any of it she said, "Everyone has their own path to walk, Harry."

The dance was over and now Harry and Hermione were standing very close, Harry whispered to her, "I am losing this war again, Hermione. I am going to watch everyone I love, die, again."

"Then fight, Harry." Hermione said looking at his shirt, instead of his eyes, both her hands gripping the front of his own flannel, "You were born to fight, Harry. You were not born to quit. You are the chosen one. You lost a battle today, but that doesn't mean you lost the war, and maybe, just maybe, this was all the way it was supposed to happen. You can't stop fighting. All of us died, believing in you, and I wouldn't have changed a single thing about any of it."

"I would've saved you. I wanted to save all of you." Harry whispered back.

"It's war, Harry. We all choose our sides. I chose mine when I was eleven years old. Some girls just know when they have found someone worth fighting for. Don't forget that."

"I won't." Harry promised.

"Fight them, Harry. With everything you have. No more pulling punches. No more hiding. Go make them pay for what they did to our friends, and don't ever forget, we love you." Hermione leaned forward to close the remaining distance, and the sound of the wireless faded away as her lips touched his.

When Harry woke up, it was dark outside, and his room was softly lit. His fingers immediately went to his lips as he remembered the only kiss he had ever shared with his best friend, and her words rang in his mind.

It was the first time he could remember dreaming about home, without reliving some awful moments of his past. Feeling the weight of upcoming decisions, Harry began to stir contemplating the words his former best friend gave him. A moment of clarity crossed through his mind as he decided what he would do next. He would never be able to express in words how grateful he was to have a peaceful memory of home bring him back to reality. A small smile crossed his lips, even twenty years in the past, Hermione always had the best advice for him.

His eyes attempted to in the room around him, but the only thing he could see was the outline of a small framed teenager roughly his size, and as he stirred, the figure jolted awake, "Harry!"

"James?" Harry questioned as the figure came into focus, as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes. Sure enough, his birth father sat in a chair beside his bed looking greatly relieved.

Looking around Harry questioned, "How long have I been out?"

"Just the afternoon. You just missed lunch, mate." James advised, "Aunt Dorea said you needed to be watched over, so I came up here after we ate. She had been watching over you most of the day."

Sitting up, Harry felt the exhaustion seeping through his bones as he tried to find his bearings, and resolve himself to the strength he needed, "I think Mum hit me with a sleeping spell."

"She said you looked dead on your feet earlier. Said something about you and Elaina having a disagreement?" James asked softly.

"Something like that." Harry agreed as he swung his legs over the side of the bed standing to his feet.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" James said, standing up next to him, watching Harry carefully, as if he expected him to fall over.

"Not really." Harry answered as he moved towards the door to his room.

"Must've been some disagreement." James mumbled, "Uncle Charlus has looked like he is ready to spitfire. Where is Elaina anyway?"

Stopping in the hallway, Harry couldn't help, but glance toward Elaina's room, before he turned back to face his birth father, "She is going to be away for a while. I am not sure when she will be back…or if she is coming back."

James' jaw dropped at the revelation, "Blimey, Harry! That must've been some disagreement."

Harry ignored the comment and continued to walk down the hal,l and James sped up to walk by his side, "What are you going to tell the others?"

"The same thing I am telling you." Harry said through gritted teeth, "We had a disagreement, and she is taking some time away from everything."

Frowning James asked, "She is taking some time away? Or she isn't coming back?"

Harry stopped in his tracks and whirled at his cousin, "I don't know James!"

The words came out like a whip, and James recoiled backward in surprise. Feeling a small amount of guilt Harry sighed, "I'm sorry, Prongs. Look, Elaina is going to be away for a while. She has some things she needs to figure out. In the meantime, the war will continue here at home, and I am done sitting on the sidelines. I finally got to graduate from Hogwarts, and I have enjoyed my time long enough. It is time for me to be the force of nature that I was supposed to be when I first arrived. If you aren't ready for that…then you best stay out of my way."

Harry then turned away from the teen and continued towards the family room, done feeling sorry for himself. Stalking into the room where Charlus, Dorea, and Arcturus sat, they all looked surprised by his abrupt entrance, "Who is our first target?"

Arcturus was the first to break the silence with a scoff, "You screw the pooch; now you want to take action?"

Glaring at his godfather in this world, Harry said, "I've wasted almost an entire year here and have only managed to take out a handful of important death eaters and two horcruxes. I've bungled things up more than I have fixed them, and that has to change, and it might as well be now."

"You are in no mental state to plan such a thing." Charlus said firmly.

"Don't underestimate me." Harry warned, "I have performed my best magic when my back is against the wall. I am more ready now than I ever have been."

"Why?" Dorea asked, "Because you feel like you have less to lose? Or something to prove?"

"Take your pick." Harry said fiercely.

"Come off it, Harry." Charlus warned.

"No!" Harry exclaimed, surprising all three occupants by his outburst, "No more delays. No more excuses. The Dark Lord isn't resting. You have all prepared me for this. I should've been on him and his followers from the moment I arrived, but I was too caught up trying to be someone I'm not."

"And who are you?" Charlus asked with a tone that Harry didn't quite recognize.

"A killer." Harry said coldly, "I've been killing his followers since I was eleven years old. I have spilt their blood across this country in my past time, and in this one. I need to teach them to fear me."

"You are throwing a fit because Grindelwald stole your woman!" Arcturus said standing at his feet.

"Arcturus!" Dorea snapped.

"What?" The man barked out, "Someone has to put the lads head back on straight."

"Do I have to fight each one of you to prove I'm ready?" Harry challenged his voice, rising in frustration.

Charlus stepped closer to Harry, looking calmer than he had seen him all day, "We aren't your enemies, Harry. You don't need to prove to us that you are ready. We just need you to be here with us, in reality. When we take the fight to them."

"And what reality is that?" Harry seethed, "The one where all of us get killed by Voldemort?"

"Or the one where the woman I love runs off with my family's enemy?" Harry spat, "Or maybe the one where Voldemort takes every person I love from me, killing me last, just like he did in my time? Which reality would you like me to live in Charlus?"

The man crossed his arms, looking disappointed, but said nothing. Harry then turned to Arcturus waiting for him to rebuttal, but he merely shook his head. He couldn't bear to look at Dorea, so instead said, "Now, who is going to be our first target?

"You're so anxious to fight, why don't you prove to me you are ready for this." Charlus challenged, "Prove to me you aren't going to slip back into your past when the fighting starts. I won't lose you out there. Not because your head isn't completely in the game."

"Charlus! That is enough." Dorea said firmly, getting in between the heated moment that was evolving between her husband and son, "This isn't helping."

"It isn't." Arcturus agreed, "But it is necessary. We can't be breaking into the homes of England's most powerful and oldest families with one of our minds half cooked. We need all hands on deck. No distractions."

"I will do it." Harry proclaimed, as Dorea began to protest again, "I wasn't born to quit."

Charlus grunted and began making his way towards the door that would lead to the grounds, and Dorea exclaimed, "Can't it at least wait till morning?"

"You know better than anyone that war won't wait." Charlus called out behind him.

Harry didn't hesitate to follow, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him, and the grave countenance of Arcturus Black stared him down, "Charlus will be playing for keeps. He will find a reason to keep you out of the coming fight. If you want to be in it, you better put on a show."

"No more shows, Arcturus." Harry said in disagreement, pushing forward towards the door, "This time I prove to all of you what I am capable of."

And myself, Harry thought inwardly.

As he walked onto the field, dozens of memories swarmed through his mind. Training on the grounds with Dorea and Charlus. Training with Elaina at Hogwarts in their secluded area in the forest. Training on his own, desperate to become strong enough to win this war, and now he had to see it all come to fruition. No more holding back. Now he would fight like his life, his future, depended on it.

Staring across at Charlus, Harry remembered the first time they had crossed wands, and how much had changed since that moment. Charlus stood with his wand in his hand, and when Harry reached twenty paces away the two simply stared at one another.

Harry wasn't sure when he had done it, but his own wand thrummed in his hand. It was time to prove himself. With the slightest nod of his head, he indicated he was ready, and Charlus was on him. In an eruption of light, he was blinded, but he was not idle as he felt his mentor's destructive transfigurations come sailing towards him. With a quick apparition, he was behind the man, but before he could throw a curse, Charlus had moved, and attempted to blast him in the side. Harry was quick to shield, however, and the pair exchanged lightning fast hexes and curses, before the younger of the two ripped the ground underneath Charlus, and attempted to stun him in mid-air.

Charlus, however, used Harry's own trick by apparating behind him, and conjured a flaming dog, a stone panther, and a water demon to charge at him. With a powerful slash Harry disfigured all three animations, and fired a salvo of destructive hexes in an attempt to destroy the area around Charlus, but the older man did not allow Harry this advantage as he used the debris created from his spells against him. Soon Harry was being attacked by the Potter family magic. Dust storms with unpredictable transfigurations flying around in the wind began to surge towards Harry from all manner of directions.

On top of Harry fighting off Charlus' creation, he was now finding his rhythm in attempting to curse Harry with a variety of stunning and other incapacitating charms. It was overwhelming. Just like it was everytime Harry faced the veteran. There was something different about it this time however. Something desperate.

It may have felt overwhelming, but yet Harry was still fighting. No longer would he be submitted in awe, by his father's prowess. Now he had seen the man's magic. Knew how he fought. Knew he wouldn't kill Harry. Now he had to make a stand.

With a diagonal slash of his body, Harry dispelled the tornado of magic coming his way, and with a finish to his X, he slashed across his body again unleashing the Black family magic in a crescendo of sound. Charlus immediately doubled over momentarily grabbing his ears, but in a quick move that Harry had not expected, Charlus yanked his wand up and sent Harry careening backwards by an invisible force and slammed him on the ground, his wand flying out of his hand. It now felt like a hand was holding him to the ground as he writhed on the floor attempting to break free.

Charlus approached him with disappointment etched onto his features, and Harry continued to fight against the magic holding him. When the man shook his head and lowered his wand towards Harry, the teen panicked. With a jolt, Harry tore his hand free and wandlessly summoned his wand, "Impedimenta!"

Charlus easily batted the spell away, and Harry undid the spell holding him with a few flicks of his wrist, but now he was shielding for his life, "You aren't ready for this, Harry. Stand down."

With an extreme effort, Harry managed to turn and apparate back to his feet, something he had never accomplished from the ground before. Heaving for breath now Harry spat on the ground as Charlus turned to face him, surprise etched into face, "I'm not done yet."

Before Charlus could react, Harry sent a massive blasting curse at the man that splashed across his shield. Harry didn't stop there, however, as he twisted, pulled, and swirled his wand around sending blurs of magic at the man he held all the respect in the world for.

"Overwhelming speed and force." Charlus said between heaving breaths.

Harry was looking up at the Summer sky wondering how he ended up on the ground again. His body was dripping with sweat, and the feeling of dozens of spells rattling his shield, made his arm numb. It was all a fresh reminder to his father's prowess with a wand.

Charlus had his hand offered out to his son, assisting him to his feet, and when Harry found his feet Charlus patted him on the shoulder, "Overwhelming force. It's how I beat you the first day we met. It doesn't work everytime, but if you can catch your opponent off guard, then you have to push the advantage. Don't allow them even a chance to apparate away. Speed over everything in these moments."

Harry shook his head, "I don't have your speed."

"Develop it. You never know when it will make a difference."

It was time to show the man that he could make him pay with his own lessons, and Harry wasn't going to give an inch. He was losing himself in the fight. His wand acting purely on instinct. Magic he had hardly thought of flew from the tip of his wand, and it all came together in synchronization. In the brief moments in between spells Harry could see Charlus' eyes begin to furrow in concentration.

Charlus desperately shot his wand to the ground causing the ground to shake, as if an earthquake was changing the foundation of the world around him. Harry was used to the spell however, and even had a surprise ready for the man, straight from the textbook of Alphard Black. As Harry moved forward, he began to raise his wand into the air, and the world immediately stopped shaking as one of Charlus' hands shot to his throat. The man attempted to curse Harry quickly in attempts to gain control, or dispel the suffocation charm, but nothing worked. Harry only escaped by desperation, but even if Charlus did manage to get out of it, he wouldn't have the shock factor the teen had. Harry was ready for it.

Sure enough, Charlus did manage to dispel Harry's work, and this time the man did apparate, but Harry knew where he was going. With perfect timing and speed, Harry cast the disarming spell where he knew his father was going, and caught him right in the wand hand causing the small piece of wood to fly into the air.

Charlus attempted to summon it back with wandless magic, but Harry caught him with a single spell, "Petrificus Totalus!"

The man froze, and the battlefield went still. Taking a deep breath, Harry moved towards his incapacitated father, and summoned his wand to his hand as he approached. Standing over the man, whose eyes were still wide with surprise, Harry said, "You looked where you were going to apparate. It was a tell."

With a wave of his wand, the man was unfrozen, and he sat up, pulling his legs close to him, and resting his arms on top of them. There were no words between the two for a moment, and Harry glanced over to Arcturus and Dorea. Arcturus still looked grave, while Dorea looked like she desperately wanted to approach the two.

Harry's eyes went back to the man who was staring at the ground, and then finally broke the silence, "That suffocation hex, Black family magic?"

"Yes. Alphard used it against me the first time we dueled." Harry admitted, "Wasn't an experience I was quick to forget."

Nodding, the man shook his head, and looked up to Harry with a slight smile, "Yeah I don't think I will forget this one either."

Harry cracked a smile at that and offered his hand to the man, who accepted it, and was dragged to his feet. When they were both standing, Charlus pulled his son in for a hug, "I'm proud of you, Harry. You've come a long way from the boy who arrived here a year ago. You stayed calm and never slipped back to your past. You did good."

Sheepishly, Harry disagreed, "Well I did drift back for a moment. It was a memory of us from the Summer though. When you taught me the lesson about overwhelming your opponent."

"Well you certainly did that." Charlus chuckled, and his laughter seemed to draw Dorea in, who rushed to their side, and threw her arms around both of them, dragging them in as close as possible.

Dorea rapidly kissed both of their cheeks, and asked, "Are either of you injured?"

"Just my pride." Charlus admitted.

"I'm okay, mum," Harry said with a quiet laugh.

Arcturus approached the duo with the same grim expression on his countenance, "I told you the day was coming, old friend."

"One duel doesn't make it the end all, be all." Charlus countered, "But he is ready."

Arcturus nodded and turned to Harry, "We have spent a lot of time thinking about who we should go after first. There are many options, and with your knowledge of the future, we can be nearly certain of who is guilty and who is not. Every target we go after though must put a large dent in the Heir of Slytherins cause, however. We have to make this worth it. We are going to bleed dry the most prominent families in our country's history. It has to be worth it."

Charlus nodded in agreement, "We don't like it, but we understand why it's necessary…that brings us to our first target. Lord Malfoy and his family. Abraxas and his son both are supporters of the Dark Lord. Eliminating them would be a detriment to the financial backing of the Heir of Slytherin."

Arcturus sighed before adding, "Without them, Lestrange, and my family's money, they will struggle to monetize their goals."

"Wonderful." Harry said evenly, "I happen to know the house and its location well. I was captured there and fought a battle with my friends against Lucy and company. His dad was long gone by the time that happened, though, what is he like?"

"No slouch." Charlus said without hesitation, "Lucius and Abraxas are both talented duelists, and were trained with the best money could buy from a young age. Neither have an affinity for the Dark Arts that I ever saw, but their curses are creative, and their family magic is old. They should not be underestimated."

Harry accepted his father's advice before looking at his mother, who was still watching him with a worried expression, took her hand to comfort her, and said, "When do we get started?"

(A/N) Sorry for the week delay! I will try to post an additional update on Friday or Saturday to make up.

The war must go on!

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