In The Hall Of The Mountain King

by DZ2

Corvus M Black Challenge Response: In the depths of the frozen heights of the world's peaks, the last Forge of the King has been lit. Now, ancient wars are reignited, old alliances are called forth and the flames of destiny have changed colour, especially for Harry Potter. Darkish Superpowerful Harry/Fleur

2. Return of the King

In The Hall Of The Mountain King

Disclaimer: SEE FIRST CHAPTER

Review Answers:

Mark Andrew: Well, given he's only half-dwarf, I'd say he looks just like he did in Prisoner of Azkaban onwards, but LoTR dwarves are what I'm using as inspiration for the look, size, portrayals etc. of dwarves in this story;

WhiteElfElder: His and the rest of Harry's enemies, especially old Snake Face;

Caadiz: Sadly, just because the anchors got clipped, it doesn't mean the big nuisance himself is dead…yet;

Avilasamantha: What a fun way to summarise the idea: thanks for the review;

Juliasimon77: A very descriptive and fun way to sum things up: thanks for the review;

Corvus M Black: I hoped you'd review; hope you enjoy the fun shout-outs and ideas I have brewing for this adventure;

Nagiten: Actually, this particular story's prompt is in Corvus M Black's forum, so you'll have to PM them – and possibly review some of their own amazing work in the process – if it's caught your interest;

Jostanos: Or it's just sheer dumb luck, as the late, great legendary actress said – although, now, I'm wishing I hadn't done it, because it would have been funny to explore the possibility of him and Filius being related, since both were portrayed by Warwick Davis…ah well;

HMK

ALSO:

I recently added a bit to the bottom of the last chapter's post about the word 'Ashen' – what Filius called Ginny

So, to repeat, in case you miss it: Ashen is actually pronounced Ahh-Shin and, as for what it means, that's revealed in this chapter.

Seeing the look, Filius smiled and held out his hand as he explained, "If you'll take my hand, my liege, I will take you somewhere safe and explain everything to you as best as I can. Regrettably, Your Majesty, I must also insist that your Ashen comes with you, otherwise the humans will learn things that no lower-minded underling needs to know."

"And how do you expect us to get out of here?" asked Harry curiously.

As if in response, a familiar trill of alarm, as well as warming strength, filled the Chamber, earning a knowing smile from Filius.

"Oh, I think a faithful vassal will be more than happy to help you out there, Sire."

Chapter 2: Return of the King

Darkness.

That was the first thing that Harry could see…or rather…not see, as it were.

An all-encompassing darkness that surrounded him, Filius and Ginevra, whom Harry could hear panting and gasping in the darkness as she, like him, couldn't figure out why they'd been taken away from the Chamber of Secrets and plunged into almost-certain, almost-perpetual darkness.

Harry, meanwhile, drew in a slow, calming breath, doing everything he could to steady his own nerves – even if only because he was accompanied by Professor Flitwick, whom he suspected was not out to harm him…unlike the previous Defence Professors – as he asked in a low voice, "Where has Fawkes brought us, Professor?"

"A sanctuary, Milord," said Filius, before Harry gasped when the Charms Master lit the tip of his wand, filling the darkness with a flare of light.

At the same time, Harry's eyes widened in awe when Fawkes also started burning, as though he was about to go through yet another Burning Day, but instead of turning to ashes, the phoenix's light filled the darkness over their heads.

This allowed Harry to take in the sight of what appeared to be large, black-stone arches running across a darkened ceiling high over his head, each one supported by reddish-black-coloured stone pillars that almost seemed to resemble the tails of dragons twisting around and around the pillars in never-ending, tessellated spiralling shapes. As Harry followed the spirals down to the ground, his eyes widened when he saw the ground seemed to be made up of differently-shaped diamonds and oddly-shaped quadrilateral shapes, which could have resembled crazy paving, or perhaps the mosaic-lined floors of a regal hall. Like the pillars, the floors' shaped tiles seemed to be comprised of different shades of red, from bright, almost-pink colour to deep, blood-red and even darker-still, like auburn or burned red, like the colour of molten magma.

In the light of Fawkes' glow, as well as Filius' wand, Harry also noticed the hall they stood in stretched out to the sides, almost like the entrance hall of Gringotts Bank while, when Harry looked down to Filius, he saw the Charms Master staring around the hall in awe, homage and something that almost looked like tears of pain, if not disbelief, almost like he himself couldn't believe he was standing somewhere as grand as this hall.

Looking in the other direction, Harry saw Ginny was also in awe of the hall, but, at the same time, he noticed a pained, panicked look in her eyes as she looked up at him, her eyes still holding that self-deluded gleam about them. He also noticed that the mark that his flaming sword had left on her face was glowing, filling her face with a deep, angry red light that, curiously, seemed to be stopping her from speaking, or making any moves to try and flee, if not do anything to distract or move against Harry.

Speaking of Harry's sword, he noticed he was still holding the sword in his left hand, but now, the flames had gone out, yet the sword seemed untouched or disturbed by the strange, elemental power.

In the light from Filius and Fawkes' magic, however, Harry did notice something else about the sword.

There, along the blade, faintly-glowing from the aftermath of the flames that had enveloped it in their light and magic, a series of letters stood out, in a manner that seemed to remind Harry of a book he remembered hearing about in Muggle school.

At that moment, however, he was more in awe of the letters, and what they spelled out along the shiny blade in his hand…

GODRIC GRYFFINDOR

"Uh…P-Professor?" asked Harry nervously, earning a soft laugh from the diminutive warrior next to him.

"We are no longer in school, my King," said Filius, earning a second wide-eyed look from Harry as he realised this was another thing he'd wanted to ask about, but, at the time, he'd been more in awe of the magic he'd used and the fact that his teacher was able to help him figure out the answers to ask about it.

Before he could say anything on those matters, however, Harry saw Filius dip his head to the young boy as he explained, "Please, feel free to call me Filius. There are other things you can call me, of course, but seeing as how you are not quite as learned on your position as I may have hoped, we can stick with my first name, if you so choose, Sire."

"Well…can you please call me Harry?" asked the emerald-eyed scion, earning a nod from Filius, before Harry asked, "Also, can you explain why Ginny can't speak and…and why I'm holding onto a sword with the name of a Hogwarts Founder engraved onto its blade? And…again…can you please explain where we are? I mean, this place looks so cool, but…but where is it? Are we even still in Hogwarts or what?"

"Actually…Harry…"

"DEFILERS!"

Suddenly, Filius jumped, as did Harry and the still-silenced Ginny, when a loud, booming voice tore through the grand hall, causing the roof, the pillars and the floor to tremble ominously. As Harry stared around in disbelief, alarm and a sense of battle-readiness he wasn't even sure where it could have come from, Filius lifted his wand, letting the light bathe the hall in its glow as the voice echoed through the otherwise-dark hall again.

"INTRUDERS! HOW DARE YOU DEFILE THE HALL OF NIDAVELLIR WITH YOUR THIEVING PRESENCE! WHO ARE YOU? HOW DID YOU COME TO BE HERE? SPEAK QUICKLY AND I MIGHT SPARE YOUR LIVES LONG ENOUGH TO ALLOW YOU TO BEG FOR THEM!"

"That would be a most-unfortunate option, Brother," argued Filius, his own voice cutting back through the hall with a tone that seemed augmented by his own magic. "You are mistaken if you think us thieves or scoundrels, and wrong again to call my young companion a defiler of Nidavellir's halls. Why not show yourself to us, so that he may show you exactly what right he has to walk these hallowed halls? You have no enemies here, and even fewer defilers; come from the shadows, so that we may see you better now."

"YOU DARE ADDRESS ME AS KIN, OUTSIDER?" Roared the voice, earning an eye-roll from Filius. "NONE BUT THE CHOSEN ONE, AND HE WHO WILL SUCCEED ME IN MY SENTRY DUTY AS GUARDIAN OF NIDAVELLIR, MAY ADDRESS ME SO BLUNTLY! FOR YOUR CRIME…"

"Okay, enough of this Wizard of Oz-worthy rubbish," drawled Harry, earning a smirk from Filius as he saw his king go to grab Gryffindor's Sword, once again holding it in two hands, which was the cue for the blade to ignite, once again bathing its surroundings in what Filius then realised, with a sense of irony, if not an oddly-appropriate choice for Harry's power was an eerie, Avada-Kedavra-like green-coloured glow.

As the flames burned brightly along the blade of Gryffindor's Sword, however, Harry's eyes widened as more flames lit up along the walls of this grand hall; here and there, in between what he now saw to be row upon row of the dragon-tail-like spiral pillars were torch brackets, which ignited with the same green fire as his sword.

At the same time, an ominous, earth-trembling rumble-like sound tore through the hall before, to Harry's shock, his whole body actually glowed with the light of his fire, sending his black hair and his Hogwarts robes billowing in all directions, as though the light from the fire was beyond-enchanted, fuelling the birth, or perhaps awakening, of something that went far beyond the magic of his wand and the incantations he used.

As the glow enveloped him, Harry felt his lips move, though the words that came out of him weren't any that he felt he might have said in any other time or place in the world.

{I am Harry James Potter, Lord of Fire and Earth, King of the Forge Eternal, Wielder of the Blade of the Lion King, Heir of the Lost Kings of Old and the Once and Future King of the Nine Dominions of the Dwarf Lords of Yggdrasil. By my ancestor's blade, my predecessor's Light and the fire that burns forever in the heart of the Mountain, I demand your allegiance, and call for your subservience! In my name, I command you, Guardian of the Ninth Forge Hall: come before me and kneel…or perish in flames eternal!}

As every syllable rolled off of Harry's tongue, in a language that even he didn't seem to be aware was anything, but the human tongue, Filius' eyes widened with awe, homage and no small amount of reverence while, at the same time, with each word spoken, wave after wave of raw, magical energy, seemingly fuelled by the fire from Harry's sword, as well as the aura that enveloped him, flowed through the halls of Nidavellir, causing the whole cavern to once again tremble, but also grow hot with the essence of he who, apparently, held true power in these halls.

This same power also seemed to be the cue for the all-powerful voice from before to die down before, to Filius' amusement and relief, a space in the floor in front of them opened, revealing a gap that, moments later, was occupied by a stout, fierce-looking individual, who stared at the glowing pre-teen with awe, tears of disbelief and no small amount of fear – though whether that was because of what Harry had said, or the power that was rolling off of him, Filius neither knew nor cared.

The newcomer, meanwhile, stepped off of the risen platform he'd been standing on before, falling to his hands and knees, he prostrated himself before the glowing sorcerer, his reddish-coloured hair, including a great big, bushy beard that Hagrid would have been proud of, pressed to the ground, while his voice rang with pleas for mercy and submission as he addressed Harry directly.

{Flame King…Master of the Under Earth…please…forgive me: it…it has been so long, I…I did not know you…you had come into your own…much less your Grace had been born to claim your mantle once more…}

"Well that's funny, because I knew, and I am but a simple half-dwarf, Brother," drawled Filius, earning a shocked look from the redheaded creature, a dwarf, apparently – and one that also made Harry think of Tolkien, again, if only because of how strong, sturdy and unyielding he looked – as the Head of Ravenclaw planted a fist to his heart as he addressed the prostrated dwarf.

"I am Filius, Son of Etrius, of Clan Flitwick; Wizard-born, but always faithful to the Fire, and the King who commands it."

{And I…} Began the dwarf, though not before Harry's voice addressed him.

"Sorry, do you mind speaking English? We do have another human in our presence, after all…and boy, I can't believe I just said that and made it feel like it was something I say often," laughed the young warrior, who seemed to have stopped glowing, while he once again held Gryffindor's Sword in one hand, its blade once again extinguished, though the letters of its namesake still burned brightly.

"My apologies, Sire," rumbled the dwarf, his voice still filled with submission and subservience as he explained, "Although, as Brother Filius should have told you, if you were not yet aware of it already, was that all Ashen can understand the language of dwarves as easily as they understand the language of their own kind. Once marked by the Flame of the King, they, essentially, become one of our people, albeit a person who becomes little more than a servant to the will of their Masters."

"Explains why she's not talking," drawled Harry, glaring at Ginny, who shrank back, her expression now one of horror at hearing that she was now Harry's servant, little more than a slave to his whims.

"Indeed, Majesty," said the dwarf, drawing Harry's attention back to him. "An Ashen cannot speak without the permissions of their Master, and are bound to serve you until the day your Flame consumes their souls or, for whatever reasons they may earn such a thing, you extinguish the flame binding them to you and declare them forgiven for their crimes against the throne."

"And that explains why Miss Weasley's delusions of what you were or would become were silenced by your fire, Harry," said Filius, earning a gasp of shock from the other dwarf.

"Brother…you dare…"

"I asked him to use my name, and he asked the same of me," said Harry matter-of-factly, earning another bow of submissive understanding from the dwarf. "Before all this weirdness took off, Filius was one of my teachers at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; he's always seemed firm, but fair with me and my fellow students and, when I needed answers, he was here to offer them."

"Oh, then that's all right then, Sire," said the dwarf, before he cleared his throat as he added, "Oh, and please forgive my rudeness, my King: my name is Kyjin, Son of Gazel and, as I said before, Your Grace, I am the current Guardian of Nidavellir, charged to remain a sentry to these hallowed halls until the day the one, true King of Fire, you, your Majesty, came to reignite the Forge and once again lead our people to greatness." (1)

"O…kay…" said Harry, looking from the prostrated Kyjin to his mentor and companion as he swallowed nervously, "Um…Filius? I think I'm about ready for that explanation now, if it's not too much trouble?"

"I thought you would be, Harry," chuckled Filius, looking from his confused comrade to the still-kneeling dwarf before them.

"I trust the Council Halls are available to His Majesty now, Guardian Kyjin?"

Chapter 2 and it looks like Harry might have found more than even he could have imagined, but now, in the halls of Nidavellir, can he find the true power within himself, power enough to fulfil some apparent destiny tied to dwarfs and flames?

Also, with the Boy-Who-Lived no longer en residence and a Weasley down, what will Hogwarts and Magical Britain have to say about it?

Keep Reading to Find Out

Next Chapter: In the Hall of the Mountain King, the new King of Fire hears the sad, but startling tale of his past, and his future; also, Filius offers a suggestion to help Harry prepare for his regal destiny, but first, our hero has some unfinished business to take care of, as well as a friend to make sure is unharmed in…in his absence?

Please Read and Review

NUMBERED ANNOTATIONS (1)

Kyjin – pronounced K-eye and Gene, as in the singer and late great actor – is actually inspired by the character of the same name from anime/manga series The Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime and won't be the only inspiration I draw from that series, either;

What can I say?

Inspiration's funny, sometimes.

PORTRAYAL:

Kyjin – John Rhys Davies (aka Gimli from LoTR movies: ironic, I know)