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Chapter 4: Sisyphus
🕑 Added 2024-03-26 14:30:55 +0000 UTCHarry was walking toward his next class with Hermione and Ron. The class, Defence Against the Dark Arts was supposed to be the last one of the day.
Coming to Hogwarts this year was different. Hogwarts had always been his escape but this year, it felt different like he was this year entering into an Acromantula’s den. Cedric was dead. Cedric who Had died before him. Cedric who was last year wandering the same halls.
He tried to ignore the whispers, the sneers and the stares directed toward him. They didn't believe him. They didn't want to believe Voldemort had come back.
Saying the truth had turned most of them against him. All of sudden, he wasn’t their beloved boy who lived but a liar, the boy who lied. It had a nice ring to it. Maybe he should trademark it.
Honestly, Harry Potter wasn’t sure how to feel about his next class. He had seen the display of magic of the Professor.
He didn't think he would ever be able to forget as long as he was alive Professor Rias’ introduction.
First, there was her appearance. Not even Fleur, a veela had been that pretty. A part of him recognized the fact that he was less dubious and more enthusiastic than he ought to be about her class because of how attractive she looked.
Even if she was as bad at Lockhart, Harry thought that gazing at her would not be a complete waste of time. Not that he would say it out loud.
More than that, more than her striking appearance, there was her words. He could still remember her words. They had felt too real, too true to his hears. Power to protect. Nothing could be preserved without strength.
The only thing Harry Potter had been since his birth was lucky. Harry Potter didn’t survive because he was strong. He did because he was lucky.
He was lucky to survive the killing curse. He had been lucky to survive the troll and Voldemort his first year.
His second year, he had been lucky to survive. Had it not been for Fawkes, the Phoenix of the headmaster, he would have died in the chamber of secrets.
In his third year, things being different would have meant him or Sirius being kissed by Dementors.
In the previous year, he had been lucky enough to survive against Voldemort. The thing was that he wasn’t stupid.
How long until his chance ran out? How long until everything came crashing down? Luck was unreliable at best.
His luck hadn’t extended to Ginny in his second year. His luck hadn’t saved Cedric. Cedric died and Harry hadn’t been able to do anything.
This is why the words from the new professor had felt like a direct strike into the heart. If he wanted to survive, if he wanted for what happened with Cedric to never do so in the future, Harry needed strength. He needed to be more powerful.
People respected Dumbledore because he was one of the greatest wizards, because he was powerful. People feared and followed Voldemort because he was powerful. Even when he was younger, none had tried stopping Dudley and his friends because they were seen as meaner and stronger.
The professor had displayed magic he never saw before. Being in her presence had been more than humbling in many ways.
Harry didn't think that he could become as strong as her because the new defence against the dark arts teacher had given him the impression of someone whose existence was synonymous with power. She was powerful not because she became powerful but because she simply was.
He hoped that she would be as good as a teacher as Remus and not at all like Quirrel in first year.
Sooner or later, he knew things would get weird due to the fact it had always been the case with defence against the dark arts teachers.
He just hoped it wouldn’t be the teacher trying to kill him because this time, he didn't think he would be lucky enough to survive.
“That should have been possible!” Hermione spoke. “I checked! Only the likes of the founders, Merlin and Morgana were said to be able to do magic like that and even then, never as easily as she did!” Hermione shouted
“She did it though. We all saw,” Ron spoke.
“I know! I was there too Ron but it still doesn’t make any sense! Someone like her, with such a striking appearance, with such powerful magic shouldn’t be unknown. I searched and I didn't find any possible family or race she could be part of or legend that could help all of this make more sense.”
“Maybe, it's because there never was,” Harry said softly.
“Not possible Mate. Someone like her, Something like she showed doesn’t appear from nowhere,” Ron Denied.
“So what?”
“Don’t know mate but what I know if that there must be traces somewhere.”
“I think I got it!” Hermione gasped.
Harry and Ron exchanged looks. Ron shrugged before they turned toward her. Sometimes Hermione was too much in her head, thing that stopped her most of the time from realizing that others weren't as smart as her.
“Go on,” Harry told her.
“Maybe Ron is right.” Ron flashed a smirk in Harry’s direction. “I said maybe Ron,” Hermione spoke exasperation filling her voice,
“Maybe,” she began softly as if she wasn't sure of the words she wanted to say “there were records or traces or things but those things were hidden with magic.”
Realization spread through Harry’s mind “You’re talking of the Fidelius.”
“I'm not sure. Maybe something similar. I'm sure there’s so much magic that we don’t know the existence of.”
“So you think the source of the magic of and things about the professor were hidden with magic and this is why what she did is almost unheard of. Am I right?” Ron spoke doubt filling his voice.
The redhead sighed “I wish things were less complicated.”
“You’re not the only one,” Harry Mumbled out. Another thing to give out. Another mystery to solve. His thoughts were interrupted by Hermione’s words.
“Ron, look at the twins. I think there’s something wrong,” Hermione told the Weasley. She sounded shocked and wary. Harry followed her gaze and understood why.
Since he had met Fred and George, he had never seen them without a smile. They always seemed to be in a good mood and ready to prank someone.
There had been a World War Two veteran living at Privet Drive before. Harry hadn’t really interacted with him but the man had always seemed to him on the verge of breaking down with his empty eyes as if he thought at any moment, something wrong would happen. The twins, they now looked like him and it was wrong.
Something was really wrong “George, Fred, what happened?” he asked them as he moved closer to them.
A broken chuckle escoard from the lips of one of the twins. “What didn't happen would be the appropriate thing to say,” the other twin spoke softly.
“Let me give you this advice. Don’t hesitate at any moment.”
“What do you mean by that Fred?” Ron asked. “Fred? Fred?”
Behind the twins, a mass of students were coming toward them and they looked as shellshocked as the twins.
“I'm not sure I want to go to her class,” Harry heard Ron whisper and he couldn’t agree more with the Weasley.
What could have possibly have happened to make the seventh years look as if they had come back from the battlefield?
He took a deep breath. He had faced Voldemort. He had faced a Basilisk. He could face whatever the new professor would throw at his face. He needed to grow stronger.
He moved toward the door of the defence against the dark arts class. “Harry, I don’t think it's a good idea,” Hermione told him.
“I know Hermione. I know but if there is a chance of whatever she teaches to help against you know who, I can’t back down.”
“I understand,” she said with a sad smile. “It's not as if we’re not used to things going wrong. Like always, we will pull ourselves out if something goes wrong, together.”
“Together,” he repeated feeling less unease. He turned toward Ron who nodded. Together, the Golden Trio stepped in the defence against the dark arts class, an act they would never be able to forget in the future.
scene
I didn't really know how to be a teacher. Sure, I had some ideas about it. I knew that I should have most of my class planned in advance and strive to do my best to make my students better.
The thing was that I didn't plan anything. Dumbledore had given me the post of DADA teacher one week before the start of the school year and even though it should have been enough time for a devil like me to come up with something, I had spent most of my time sleeping.
It kinda left me in a conundrum. On one hand, it gave me a lot of flexibility. On the other hand, it meant that I had to improvise.
I watched as the last missing students, the Golden Trio of Gryffindor stepped into my class.
I watched their eyes widen as they looked at the ‘classroom’. From the outside, it probably looked like an average one but from the inside, it was completely different.
I had used my magic to change it into something more comfortable, less cramped. We were now in a gigantic garden with leaves, grass and trees the colour of Amethyst.
Over us, a dark sun shone. This place was a replica, probably a bad one of my brot-... Of Sirzechs’s garden.
This place even though each time my gaze travelled, I seemed to see their spectres. This garden felt soothing in a weird way, like a sweet poison.
The Golden trio sat at an empty table. They seemed to be looking at anything but me as if I was the boogeyman. I wondered what they thought. Just one look and I would know but I don’t think it was worth it.
My gaze travelled to the other students. Hogwarts had fewer students each year than I remembered. Harry’s potter was the one with the most students and combined, The Slytherins and the Gryffindors only were numbered twenty. Voldemort and his little war really made a number on the Wizarding world, didn't it?
“In my class, the axis will be on making all of you better,” I told them.
Hermione raised her hand “Better Miss?”
“Yes, better,” I confirmed. “It seemed that your teachers in the last years were mostly inadequate” and I was understating them. Even low-class devil toddlers would be more dangerous than them which is really sad or disturbing when you think about it.
“This will change beginning today.” I rose from my seat. “The goal of this class is to teach to defend and thrive against the dark arts yet you are all confined in a class.”
It was like trying to teach someone music without them knowing what it was. It was akin to a warrior never having made someone else bleed. The concept in itself was wrong.
I wanted to create people strong enough to one day allow me to finally rest and there is no chance in hell that those kids if things stayed the same they were used to would have any chance of doing so.
“In my class,” I added. “All spells are permitted. Yes,” I confirmed as I watched some of them look at me like a snake ready to bite and others more precisely a blonde ferret as if I was the second coming of Christ. “All spells.”
“The Minister wouldn’t allow it Professor and even then, dark magic corrupt! This is what the books and what we have been taught said!” Hermione said to me. The Gryffindor girl looked defiant, something that was probably a surprise to her friends with the way the other Gryffindors looked at her as if she had gone crazy.
I walked to the table she shared with Ron and Harry. With a sigh, I dug deep into my soul ignoring my power of destruction, my demonic magic to grab my divinity and release a tiny fraction of it.
Ashes began to fall from the sky and thunder shook the world as the world reacted the my authority. A hot wind, menacing and too much warm flowed.
All the students fell, my divinity acting like a gravitational force. I zeroed my attention on Hermione and her eyes widened in fear as if she finally realized that I was someone who would kill her at any moment.
I found doing so displeasing but sometimes, the pecking order needed to be established and power was the only universal hierarchy.
“The truth is Hermione Granger that saying dark magic corrupt is an oversimplification. Magic itself is naturally corruptive. Power in itself is corruptive. This is its nature. I don’t fear your ministry. Listen very well, They still exist because I didn't wish otherwise.”
I put the lid back on my divinity and as nothing had happened, the world came back to normal. “Next time, you want to share a grievance or ask a question, raise the hand.”
My eyes travelled to the other terrified students “It goes for all of you. Hope it is understood.”
I went back to my Throne. Why had I reacted this way? It wasn’t like me to do so. It was too harsh. She had annoyed me I realized. She had made me feel something else than numbness and it had been annoyance. It didn't change that she didn't deserve it. Hermione no matter if she annoyed me was a child. Something was wrong but I couldn't put my finger exactly on it.
I closed my eyes before leaning my face on my fist. What was I thinking about before all of that?
Oh yeah, I was thinking of a possible curriculum. None of them had been able to fight against the weight of me partially revealing my divinity. At this rate, they'll never be strong enough.
I guess I would do something similar to what I did with the seventh-year students earlier. I had created a false realm before summoning a replica of Musashi Miyamoto from Fate, a copy I purposefully nerfed to the level of a middle-class devil and they had been slaughtered by what they underestimated and saw as a muggle.
I could do something different but the question was what should I create? I needed a strong adversary that'd teach them how quick and scary a fight could be. I needed a warrior who would not only beat them but crush them so utterly than the only things left behind were rocks I would be able to shape into diamonds.
Harry was the boy who lived, the one prophesied to fight with Voldemort until one of them remained.
Normally, I wouldn’t worry because in canon he won but things were different now. I was sure that things had changed due to my presence. I just hoped that things wouldn’t change to turn as bad as my previous one but even then, I needed to make Harry Potter strong, strong enough that no matter what happened, he would be the one victorious.
I opened my eyes. They were back in their seats looking more alert now, looking at me as if I was a dangerous predator and they were trying to predict my next move.
With one flick on my fingers, the scenery changed to one of an island surrounded by an ocean. Demonic energy was handy like that. As long as you had enough of it, you could do anything.
My students were now standing. I watched blink in confusion as they realized their surroundings had changed. I rose from my seat that crumbled into ashes behind me.
“Let's make things interesting,” I told them as I continued to rise in the air. Whay they didn't know like the seventh year I had class before with was that Death here was more than a possibility for them. Of course, I wouldn’t kill them for long. It would make things complicated. They would be resurrected after but I won’t tell them that. The best learning situations are those where you either to adapt or sink.
I felt a soft smile on my face. Maybe I had changed more than I thought. I wonder what they would be to do against a weaker version of Mahoraga.
scene
It appeared, a spectre of doom and destruction. It was tall, easily taller than ten feet with skin the same colour as bones. Over its head, there was a giant golden wheel.
The thing didn't have eyes yet Harry knew it was looking at them, looking at them with malevolence.
“Allow me to present you Eight- handled sword divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga,” he heard the voice of the professor rang all around him.
A savage grin split the face of the monster. “Here is your assignment.” Harry rose his eyes above to the floating form of his teacher.
From thin air, a throne materialized. The woman sat on it before crossing her legs and looking down at them indifferently. “Try to survive.”
“She’s bluffing! She can’t! My father wouldn’t allow this!” Harry heard Malfoy shout.
“Don’t you understand Draco Malfoy? The only thing worth here is strength. Use all your spells if needed. I already told you. I promise you won’t be punished.”
A white blur moved on the side of harry’s vision. It's the thing he realized. She wasn’t joking he realized with horror.
He turned toward the blonde Slytherin “Draco! Move!” he shouted.
He watched the eyes of the Malfoy widen as the beat reappeared in the midst of the Slytherins just before him, a hand extended to turn him into paste.
Goyle was the quickest to move. Magic lit up from the tip of his wand “Depulso,” he shouted with fear.
The beast, Mahoraga reacted faster than something its size should have. A sword grew from one of its arms.
The thing moved batting the spell away as if it was a fly sending it flying away to another slytherin, Millicent Bulstrode. The girl was sent ragdolling and fell on her neck with a sickening crunching noise that made Harry want to puke.
The blade of the thing didn't stop. It changed course abruptly like a Quidditch player to embed itself in the head of Goyle.
For a moment, everything stopped. Time seemed to have stopped as they watched blood begin to fall, as they watched the unmoving body of Milicent Bulstrode.
With a grin, the monster raised his blade separating the head of the Slytherin boy in two. Blood erupted from the boy like a geyser.
His body moved, spasmed as if it didn’t realize he was dead before falling roughly on the ground, his blood pooling around his body and bathing the shoes of the Slytherin surrounding him.
Hermione had fallen on her knee at his side “Oh my god, it's not real. It's not real. Please, tell me it's not real.” Her eyes were fixed on the corpses of what had once been their classmates.
Ron like many vomited. Harry couldn’t blame them. He put his hand on his mouth to stop himself from doing so. He had seen Death. He had seen Cedric die. Death had always been at the corner but seeing something so gruesome, so violent sickened him more than anything ever did his entire life.
He hadn’t liked Goyle at all. He was a Slytherin and always at the beck and call of Draco but Goyle hadn't deserved to die like that. No one did.
Shouts of fear and panic began to erupt amongst the students as they realize that it was in fact real.
Draco Malfoy kneeled at the side of the bloody corpse of his childhood friend “Goyle?” Draco whispered. “Goyle? Gregory, it's a joke, right? It has to be. It has to be!”
Some Students Like Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and Fay Dunbar began to run away despair filling every one of their steps, their instincts screaming at them to do so if they wanted to live. Others too shocked didn't almost as if stuck under the gaze of a Basilisk.
Shock and denial morphed into rage in the Malfoy. “You! You! YOU WILL PAY!” The boy moved full of murderous intent, magic and hatred fuelling him, allowing him, giving him the power to exact one of the more feared spells of all the existence of wizardkind “Avada Kadavra!
Green surged like a snake from the wand of the Malfoy tearing through the air to touch the monster.
“Malfoy used the killing curse!” Harry heard Neville gasp in shock. Harry felt goosebumps move through his skin.
The same green light who took his parents from him, the same green light who gave him his scar. The same green light who took Cedric’s life.
The killing curse, the spell only used by the worst dark wizards. The spell that Draco Malfoy had used before all of them.
The spell touched Mahoraga and the white giant stopped moving. His grin was frozen as if time had stopped around him.
A weight seemed to be lifted form the shoulders of the Slytherin and Gryffindor students as the beast stopped moving.
Oh, there would be consequences. Most didn't like Draco Malfoy and he had given them the perfect opportunity to hurt him in the future but for now, they allowed themselves to take a deep breath.
“I always knew Malfoy was bad news. This just confirms it,” Ron said at Harry’s side the boy looking even paler than usual but seemingly fine.
“He used the spell to save us Ron,” Hermione spoke. “I know it's an unforgivable but I'm sure that this counts as an emergency, right?”
Draco Malfoy had turned his back to the monster to focus on the corpse of his friend.
“On which side are you Hermione? He used the killing curse, an unforgivable! Just like a death eater!” the Weasley hissed.
“I know that Ron! It's jus-”
“I had said every spell could be used and that your task was to survive,” the voice of the professor boomed.
Harry could see that the woman had taken a relaxed position, lying on the throne her legs over the armrests, her face leaning against one of her cheeks. She looked bored as if because of her, people hadn’t died.
“I wouldn’t have said so if eliminating Mahoroga was this easy,” she finished.
Easy? The thing had been hit by a killing curse! Killing curse killed the moment something living was touched! It wasn’t possible to survive one!
‘Didn't he survive one though?’ A voice whispered in Harry’s mind. The professor had used it since the first time they had seen her magic they never thought possible.
The eyes of the boy who lives widened. Harry turned toward the giant. On his back, the wheel turned.
His hand moved faster than his mind. The ground between the Slytherins and the beast rose before turning into steel.
It was pointless. Mahoraga went through it as if it didn't exist. Harry watched Draco’s eyes widen before a giant foot fell on his head with a disgusting crunch.
The ground caved as if a bomb had been detonated. The force sent the Slytherin and the Gryffindor girls around the monster flying like flies.
Harry’s wand moved. With a flick of it, the ground moved, rising in the shape of a wave of mud.
Harry felt the attention of the thing turn toward him and he had to grit his teeth to overpower his instincts screaming at him to flee.
The wave moved, following the trajectory of the Slytherins and the three other Gryffindor girls. The mud was successful in saving the Slytherins by scooping them up. For the Gryffindor girls though? Mahoraga objected, his blade shining under the sun and with one slash, the white giant cut the scared Gryffindor’s girl in pieces.
Parvati, Lavender, Fey, they died before him without him being able to do anything. Harry tried to ignore the scream of anguish coming from Hermione and With a twist on his wrist, the wave and the Slytherins it held moved toward the Gryffindor.
With one last flick, the Slytherins fell before him. At his feet, some of the Slytherins were still as if they hadn’t realized what just transpired. Others had broken down.
Harry didn't think Slytherins could cry until today. “Draco! Draco! It killed Draco!” he heard Pansy Parkinson scream.
She was holding her head between her hands. Pansy Parkinson didn't look haughty anymore. She looked broken and unfortunately, she wasn’t the only one.
Tracey Davis and Daphne Greengrass, the ice queen of Slytherin were hugging each other.
Hermione kneeled at the side of Pansy Parkinson and hugged her. The fact that the girl didn't try to extricate herself from it or insult Hermione but instead leaned into the Gryffindor girl said a lot.
“Harry, we need to do something,” Dean spoke “Or we're going to be slaughtered.”
“What can we do Dean? That thing was hit by the Killing Curse and it did nothing! That thing killed Goyle and Malfoy!” Seamus said to his best friend. “Don’t you see?! There is nothing any of us can do! Running is useless! It already showed that! It can backhand spells!”
No one spoke after. Harry wanted to deny the words of the other Gryffindor but he wasn’t sure he could. Even with Voldemort, there had been a chance of surviving even if it was unlikely.
With that smiling thing? With that thing who had killed so many of them with so much ease and brutality, it seemed winning was impossible.
“That thing killed my friends,” a voice cut the heavy silence. Harry turned toward where it came from.
It was the voice of a boy dressed in the Green colours of Slytherin. His name was Zabini if Harry remembered well. His mother was called the black widow because all of her seven husbands died and no one was able to prove it was her.
“They weren’t perfect, far from it but they didn't deserve to go like that. We'll probably die cowardly lion,” the boy said his gaze fixed on Seamus “But I'll die trying my best to bring that thing down with me. The only thing we can now choose is how we’ll die.”
Zabini turned toward Harry “Potter, are you with me?”
Harry could feel the attention of everyone turned toward him. He knew that most of the Gryffindors would be following the decision he took no matter if they agreed with it or not.
Oh, how he wished he could say no. Oh, how he wished he hadn’t entered into the class of The new professor.
Harry wanted to live long, have a family and be happy. He didn't want for things to end here, now when there were so many things he had to do. Was this how his parents, how Sirius and Remus had felt?
His eyes widened. Sirius and Remus! How would they react knowing he died? Sirius, he would be broken because of him.
“Magic had been my escape,” Harry spoke softly. “Things had never been as easy as most think they were to me but magic, Hogwarts allowed me to feel free, to feel as if I could reach my dreams. I don’t want to fight that thing,” he admitted.
“I want to run.” With a sad smile, he looked in the eyes of Zabini “But I won’t because I still have my magic. I still have a chance to realize my dreams no matter how small it is. I'll fight until I can’t cast because I want to realize my dreams. I’ll fight because Draco and the others had dreams. I never liked Draco but it didn't mean I wanted him to die. I'll fight with you Zabini for my dreams, for those of us who fell here and would never be able to realize theirs.”
“Dreams huh?” the dark-skinned Slytherin chuckled. “Call me Blaise, Potter. We're going to die together.”
“So call me Harry, Blaise.”
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath before reopening his eyes. The thing had been looking at them, all this time without moving.
It knew they couldn't run. ‘It is playing with us,’ Harry realized. This was a game for the thing, a hunt. Fine, Harry will do their best for it to be the most difficult hunt the creature would ever have.
Harry tightened his grip on his wand and walked forward. He could swear that he could hear his wand sing “Those who don’t want to fight, behind us!”
He heard steps. To his surprise, instead of being further and further, they came closer. Ron and Hermione stepped on both his sides “It's been the three of us since the beginning. Did you truly think it would change now mate?” Ron asked him.
Ron with so much jealousy and complexity. Ron with so much loyalty. Ron, his brother in all but blood. A chuckle escaped him “Of course not.”
To his surprise, he watched Pansy Parkinson step to the side of Hermione “I won’t go out without fighting,” she said under his gaze. The boy who lived nodded.
“I'm a Gryffindor,” Neville said as he walked to stand at their side. “Gryffindor don’t give up even in the worst situations.” At his side, Dean Thomas stood silently.
The three other Slytherins, Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Crabbe walked at their side “You talk of a dream, Potter,” the blonde Slytherin spoke.
“May I ask what it is?” she told him softly. She didn't look as cold or stuck up as she usually did. Harry would even say that Greengrass looked kind.
He pandered for a moment if he should answer before he realized that her knowing wouldn’t matter “A family, I wanted a family,” he told her with a smile.
The boy who lived turned to look at the two other members of the Golden trio. They looked at him with soft smiles. He was so stupid. What he had wanted all this time, the family he had been searching for. He had found, no made himself another one. He had just been too stupid to realize it.
“This is a beautiful dream,” the blonde Slytherin told him before raising her wand in the direction of Mahoraga. “Family, a dream worth fighting and dying for.”
“Are all of you Serious?! Don’t you all realize whether we fight or we don’t, nothing will change?!” Seamus shouted behind them.
All alongside him, the Slytherins and the other Gryffindors rose their wands. “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more,” Hermione said. It felt like a quote from a book. “If nothing matters Seamus, doesn’t it mean that everything does?”
“Harry, What's the plan?” she asked him.
“This thing showed us that it could deflect and block spells, dive through transfigured walls of metal and survive the killing curse.”
“So there is nothing we can’t do?” Blaise asked him.
“I didn't say that,” Harry replied. “The killing curse, it worked at the beginning. It was only when the wheel on its back moved that it began moving again. It means even if temporary, that thing can be stopped by strong and powerful magic.”
Far away from them, Mahoraga seemed to be exhausted from waiting for them. The white giant had extended its blade that now was covered with the familiar green shade of the killing curse “Here is the plan. Those who don’t know powerful spells will have to transfigure the terrain to slow him down and hurt Mahoraga as much as possible. To the others, throw your most powerful spells. It doesn't matter how dark they are. Understood?”
“UNDERSTOOD!”
“Good.” Harry could see that Mahoraga was on one knee like a professional athlete ready to launch themselves.
“Lit it up!” Harry shouted, his wand moving in accord with his magic. The boy who lived pointed at the ground and pushed.
The Earth exploded outwards in a tsunami of rocks and dirt. The ground under Mahoraga broke and opened like an abyss.
The divine General moved sending itself forward toward the Hogwart students. “Not even in your dreams!” he heard Blaise whisper. “FIENDFYRE!”
Fire, alive and malevolent came to life. It grew and grew and grew until it easily towered over any creature that Harry had ever faced. The fire took a serpentine shape. It almost looked like the Basilisk Harry had faced in his second year. It felt as if he was at the surface of the sun. The heat was unbearable.
The fire construct moved toward the white giant turning the air into fire. At their side and all around them, the grass that had survived Harry’s transfiguration was being lit up by the heat.
At this rate, the heat and the little fires created by Blaise would be the things killing them. “Aguamenti!” he heard the voice of Seamus behind him incant.
Harry felt his smile widen. It seemed the other Gryffindor wasn’t as keen to die as he made it seem.
In the air, Mahoraga met the flames head-on. Its blade shone green as it clashed against the flames.
As they met, a shockwave erupted. The two malevolent forces clashed in the air. With a screech of agony, the fire construct was able to make the white giant fly away.
If Harry had been lucky, this would have been that. He was still dismantling and holding with his magic the ground, trying to make sure Mahoraga wouldn’t find any footing.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the luck of the boy who lived ran out. Mahoraga’s body shifted to help the General control its impromptu flight.
One of Mahoraga’s hands fell on a floating debris. The giant as if it was weightless used it to throw itself higher.
The giant rolled on itself, turning like a spinning top. In the sky, the clouds began to change colours as the green of the blade of the divine general became brighter and brighter.
The fire construct hadn’t been left unscathed. It had cracks running all along its form as if it was a statue on the verge of breaking. Even then, the fire construct seemed to realize that the divine General could be planning nothing good and rushed at him.
In the air, Mahoraga stopped turning, a disgusting grin etched on its face. The sword of the general rose in the air shining like a second sun before it fell on the head of the fire construct.
The world stopped making sense, all its color replaced by Green and red. The Green of the blade of Mahoraga continued to become brighter and brighter until with a resounding crack, something gave. It wasn’t Mahoraga’s blade.
The fire construct, the Fiendfyre screeched in agony. It was a damned and wretched loud sound.
Harry’s glasses fell victim to it. They exploded. One moment the boy who lived could see perfectly, the next, the vision of his right eye became black and his eye was assaulted with pain.
‘It hurts. It hurts so much,’ the boy who lived thought as he fell on his knees because of the pain.
“Harry! Harry! Are you okay?!” At his side, Hermione and Ron had rushed. “Let me see,” he heard Hermione say before a gasp escaped her.
“It doesn’t look pretty does it?” he chuckled.
“It destroyed Fiendfyre. It shouldn’t be possible,” he heard Blaise whisper. “Such a monster.”
Harry’s remaining eye widened as he watched the blade of the monster was directed at them. Without thinking, he threw all the ground and Earth he had removed and caved away before him and the other students.
With a stabbing motion, he transfigured all of it into metal. He had been right to do so. His action didn't stop the green arc of energy that flew from the divine general’s blade.
What it did was slow it down, giving enough time for Neville to push Blaise who was on the path of the attack.
The energy’s blade dug and cut into the ground as if it was butter. For a moment, nothing happened. The next, the fissure left by the blade opened creating a gap that only widened and widened until the students were divided.
Harry looked into the Gap and realized that Mahoraga hadn’t only separated them. He had separated the Earth to its bottom. Harry could see an ocean under them that was also cut in two as if by an act of Moses.
Mahoraga looked at them with a savage grin on its face as it began falling down in the abyss Harry had created. It didn't try to rush at them, didn't try to attack them again and it scared him.
“Keep your guard up!” Harry shouted. “It's planning something!”
Slowly, the boy who lived removed what remained of his glasses. “Episkey,” he whispered as he pointed his wand at his face. Already, he could feel the pain dulling. shards of glass fell from his skin as the spell pushed them out.
His vision didn’t come back the way he had hoped it would. What it did was turn the void that had replaced the vision of his right eye into a blurry and almost amorphous vision. It was better than nothing.
It let himself fall underground. Underground? “The ground! Mahoraga will attack from underground!” Harry screamed trying to inform the others.
Pansy Parkinson was the first to react. She pointed her wand at the ground looking manic before screaming “Protego Maxima!”
Her reacting as quickly was the only reason why Harry, Hermione, Blaise, Dean and Neville had survived.
The shield created by the Slytherin acted as a barrier as Maharoga surged from the Earth like a monster coming straight from the abyss.
Hermione didn't stay idle as the shield began to crack “Fianto Duri,” she whispered before a blue light rushed from her wand to the shield under them strengthening it.
“Flipendo! Flipendo! Flipendo!” Ron shouted before making rain on the white giant spells to throw him backwards.
Like a proud mountain, Mahoraga didn't bulge. The Divine general cocked a fist and with a grin, punched the shield made by Pansy and Hermione.
It broke with the sound of shattered glass. The force of the swing sent them flying. The giant reappeared in its terrifying glory over them, its sword ready to bisect them all in one swing.
Neville tried to act, his wand moving and lit up with a spell to save them. It’s just that it was taking too much time. Mahoraga was too fast but even then, the Longbottom had to try.
“Eat this fucker!” Ron shouted before pointing his wand at Mahoraga’s head “Defodio!”. The spell struck the divine general in its head like an invisible force making him cock his head back a little.
It wasn’t enough to stop Mahoraga, Its blade lit up with the green light of the death curse as it prepared itself to swing.
The coming words would be the ones to save them “Bombarda Maxima!” A spell with the force of a cannonball crushed against Mahoraga’s stomach distracting it. The giant turned toward Daphne Greengrass, the one who had used the spell.
The Greengrass heiress looked scared with her dilated eyes, the fact that she was shaking and grabbing the hand of Tracey Davis as if it would be the last thing she would ever do. she had never looked more beautiful in Harry’s eyes.
“Ascendio!” Daphne’s action had given Neville enough time to cast his spell. With a sharp turn of his wand, they rose in the air out of Mahoraga’s range as if they had been shot out of cannons.
The expression on the face of the divine general had changed. Its grin morphed to express something as close to annoyance as the giant was capable of displaying. The giant turned its attention toward Daphne Greengrass, Tracy Davis, Seamus and Crabbe.
Harry needed to do something or they would die when the reason why Harry hadn’t died seconds ago was because of Greengrass.
Mahoraga’s blade moved. The divine general had been ready to kill when some of its preys were able to escape.
It just needed to modify its strike to hit those in its range and it would be glorious. This time, Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General Mahoraga wouldn’t be denied!
In the sky, Harry Potter took a deep breath. Whether he knew it or not, the boy who lived had endlessly pushed his limits in his desperate need of survival.
Now, he needed to do it again. The boy who lived wasn’t as knowledgeable as Hermione Granger, one of his best friends but what he had was power and imagination. He had needed to after being locked so many times in the cupboard under the stairs to maintain his sanity.
There was a spell that could bring objects to you just by saying the spell and the thing. The accio spell. The thing was that Harry didn't think that the accio spell had been intended to be used on heavy things and even less on multiple humans but even he had to try.
“Accio!” he shouted as he pointed at the Hogwart students close to Mahoraga. Nothing happened.
“Accio doesn’t work this way Harry!” he heard Hermione shout as if he didn't already know this!
“Accio!” he shouted again in vain. ‘Please, he prayed to whoever or whatever would hear him. Please help me!’
For an instant, he felt a familiar presence, a shade of scarlet, one outclassing him completely guiding his body as if he were a puppet, whispering in his ears the words needed. “This is the only time I'll help,” he heard the voice of the professor whisper in his ear.
“Accio Maxima!” he shouted in the direction of Daphne, Tracey Davis, Seamus and Crabbe. His timing couldn’t have been more perfect as the Slytherins and Seamus shot toward him and the others.
Under them, Mahoraga completed its swing and the Earth died. Nothing remained on the path of the blade of the divine general. Death had covered its blade, becoming its weapon and annihilation the attack of Mahoraga would bring.
Everything under The Hogwarts students was bathed in green. They watched with shock and fear as things stopped existing under them.
With a snarl of rage due to the fact it had been denied again, Mahoraga tore its blade from his arm crushing it, shaping it between its two hands until it became a star of certain Death.
Something told Harry, maybe his instincts, maybe something else that nothing would help them to escape the green star. No matter how far away they could be, even if they were at the edge of the Universe, Mahoraga’s star would seek and come after them.
More than that, Harry was exhausted like he never had been before. Harry wouldn't be able to fight for much longer.
“I think this is it,” the boy who lived turned toward the other survivors and smiled as softly as he could.
They all looked melancholic like they too knew it was the case. They didn't contest his words “We tried our best. Slytherins, Gryffindors, Pure-Blood, Half-blood, Muggleborn, we aren't so different in the end. We fight, we cry, we hope.”
A chuckle escaped the lips of Blaise “I guess you're not that bad, Potter. Who knows, maybe we could have been friends.”
On the corner of his remaining eye, he watched Daphne nodd with a sad smile. She turned toward Tracey Davis and told her something in her ear that made the half-blood Slytherin both cry and laugh.
“Seamus, even if you're a twat, I'm glad that you were my friend,” Dean Thomas said to the other Gryffindor half-blood.
“My Dad when I was younger told me tales of supernatural beings, of magic, gods and afterlife. There’s this place called Mag Mell, a paradise, a place where sickness and death don't exist, a place where only those worthy, courageous could go to. I hope I'll be able to go there with all of you even I-”
The boy was cut by a hug from his friend. “Shut up. Just shut up.”
Pansy Parkison was a pure-blood who had only been taught all of her life that the only worthy, deserving of respect and dignity were other pure-blood Wizards. Hermione Granger showed her that she was wrong “I know it's too late and probably doesn’t excuse anything Granger but I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did,” she admitted to the Gryffindor girl. Her parents would have cruciated her if they had heard her words but what they would wish for didn't matter anymore, not here at least.
The Gryffindor took the hand of the Slytherin softly, Holding it for a brief moment before releasing it “Even though, it hadn’t been for long, I'm glad to have been able to see this side of you, Pansy Parkinson.”
“Any regret Neville?” Harry asked the boy.
“None!” he answered without any hesitation
“I'm sure your parents would be proud of you Neville.” Harry was proud of him. Harry knew that the boy must have been scared the totality of the fight yet he still had fought. He was scared yet still tried to not let himself be defined by it. Could it be called anything else than courage?
Harry turned his attention toward Mahoroga. Soon, it would be over. Soon, they would lose. He knew it and it left a bad taste in his mouth.
This was death coming at them and nothing could stop death. Death took and took until nothing was left. Was it true though?
His parents had died yet the love they had for him was one he could still feel to this day. Death couldn’t erase love. Death couldn’t erase hope.
His eyes widened in realization. Hope! Hoping meant believing in a better no matter how unlikely it was. Hope was one of the only things Death couldn’t erase and he had a spell made to counterattack against despair with joy, love and hope.
What was Death if not one of the greatest fear, source of despair of humankind? What was the Patronus is not the light banishing the darkness?
It was crazy yet Harry lost nothing in trying. With a snarl, Maharoga threw the green star of Death at them.
In the air, it expanded growing and growing and growing until it seemed it wouldn’t stop until it consumed everything.
Harry thought of the faint memories he had of his parents. He thought about Hogwarts and its wonders, Hogwarts that allowed him to make a family of his own, to meet Hermione, Ron. He thought of the Weasley and the way they made him what it was to be a part of a loving family. He thought about how even when everything seemed lost, people proved again and again that they would choose kindness over cruelty.
“Expecto Patronum,” he whispered as the tip of his wand lit up. White mist took form and shape and to Harry’s amazement, instead of a deer, a Phoenix materialized.
“What are you doing Harry?” he heard the voice of Hermione.
“Not giving up!” With a slashing motion with his wand, the Phoenix screeched and dove toward the Green star of Mahoraga.
The Phoenix met with the green star with a loud boom. Tempesteous winds rose. The world took a green and white shade, all the other colours erased as the two spells clashed between the Heavens and the Earth.
The Phoenix was fighting, clawing, trying to pierce through the green star. The star in return tried to consume and swallow it.
Only the thread of magic connecting the boy who lived to his Patronus and allowing him to strengthen the spell stopped this from becoming a reality.
A headache assaulted Harry senses, worse than he ever felt before. He gritted his teeth trying to ignore the pain. The boy who lived felt blood stream from his nose.
He was feeding his Patronus with everything he had left. The wand in his hand was warm, almost scalding but he didn't lose his grip on it. The wand felt alive almost breathing “Take all my magic if you must,” the boy who lived whispered. “Take everything from me but allow me to create a miracle!”
As if listening to his words, the thread connecting his wand to the Patronus thickened, growing and growing until it looked like a giant stream.
Mahoraga watched with the Earth crumbling all around the divine general as what should have ended the Hogwarts students unequivocally was being pushed back.
Mahoraga needed one last push, one last act to win! The wheel over the head of the divine general spun a second time and Mahoraga grew.
It grew and grew and grew until Mahoraga could easily tower over a building as tall as the Tour d’Eiffel.
The hands of the General ended on the bottom of the star before with a roar, Mahoraga pushedupward.
Harry Potter bit a curse as his Phoenix slowly but surely was pushed back by the star. As the Green Star came closer, the boy who lived began to change. Green veins grew from all over his skin like the roots of a gnarled tree.
His skin became paler, almost translucent as if the boy who lived wasn’t a part of the world of the living anymore. Death’s scythe had touched Harry Potter yet he still fought, struggling against what was inevitability.
The green star was now only a meter away from him. His Patronus had been consumed by the omen of death just under him.
What separated him from the green star was just the coloured tip of his wand still shining with the familiar light of the Patronus.
Harry had given his best. This is what mattered right? ‘Mom, Dad,’ he thought as he closed his eyes. ‘I’ll see you soon.”
This is why he was surprised when instead, the metaphorical weight he could on his shoulders, the push of the star lessened with a around akin to a note of a bass with twisted strings.
Again and again, the same noise appeared each time making it not easy but easier to breathe.
He opened his eyes back. They widened in realization. All the other survivors had their wands pointed toward his Patronus.
Threads of different colours linked them to it, changing, strengthening the Patronus. He chuckled. Their appareandes had also changed with protruding green veins appearing all over their skin and their skins taking a deathly palor. Of course! He had forgotten he wasn’t alone.
The remaining eye of the boy who lived turned as cold and hard as an emerald. It was time to end this.
Dumbledore had once told him that Love was the greatest magic there was. Voldemort had told him that only power mattered.
The both of them had been both right and wrong. He could see it now. Power mattered like the dark lord had said but he hadn’t understood that the feelings he had thought as lesser than him could be the ones strengthening him.
All around them, the realm that had been created was crumbling due to the elemental forces battling in its middle.
The little sister of the Morningstar watching all of this unfold remembered a time when a red-headed girl once fought for her freedom against an immortal and won.
With a last push of his will, the head of the Phoenix reformed with a triumphant screech. With one last stabbing motion of his wand, the Phoenix dove into the Green Star and everything turned black.
The last thing Harry Potter heard before dying was the voice of his professor “Congratulations Kiddos. Full Mark.”
Comments
Antonio Adams
This was awesome
