Harry Potter and the Multi-Franchise Crossover
Posted: 2003-09-05 06:57pm
SPOILER WARNING:
Every Harry Potter book.
Star Wars: NJO and SW in general
Lord of the Rings
SPOILER WARNING: READ ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Hey, it's better than "Un-named WH40K/ST fanfic"! At least it's a name.
Anyway it's just something i had in my mind so i thought "what the hell" can't be lazy all the time and wrote something down.
n.b. i've recieved some criticism for how i space my paragraphs (or how i don't really) so if this is OK then please say so.
Harry Potter and the Multi Franchise Crossover
This is where souls go. Innumerable numbers of souls from an innumerable number of worlds in an innumerable number of realities, gathering into one place after death with time having little meaning. Most of the souls, The Observer noticed, were little more than blobs, lacking the strength to even keep any resemblance to what they were, that soon shrunk into nothingness only to be replaced by one of the millions upon millions of souls that appeared every perceived second. At the opposite end of the spectrum there were the souls that were shining beacons of strength looking exactly as they had in life, glowing for what seemed like an eternity compared to the weaker souls. Very few of these souls disappeared into nothingness as it is these souls that return to the realms of the living. Some had the sheer strength and determination to force there way back, others were re-incarnated, their forms growing younger until they vanished back into the living and some faded while they passed briefly back into the living worlds, called upon by the living by seances or on their own will to pass on knowledge. However, there is another extremely rare way for souls to return.
Cornelius Fudge stared at the parchment in front of him. He’d only just been woken up but what he was reading made him wide-awake. “This can’t be possible,” he said “each of these incidents is more powerful than the Pettigew-Black incident and that’s one of the biggest magical discharges in public in recent times! How many did you say there were?”
“We’re not sure.” replied the aide, “There’s at least four, but we haven’t been able to distinguish how many more there are.”
“We’ve got wizards on their way to the incidents?”
“Of course sir. We’re quite lucky, most are away from built up areas, only one in a city”
Directly in front of The Observer a portal burst open, blasting away the weak souls near it. And from the portal came a solid body thrust unwillingly into the realm of the dead. The strong souls took their chance gliding towards the body desperate to return to the living by using some of its life to go through the portal. And as each one passed through the portal The Observer felt what they had just before they had died. Burning pain, mortal wounds and weariness from a titanic battle, sharp stabbing pains in his and more before finally a feeling of intense age and tiredness. He’d lost count of how many souls had gone through the portal, but it had reached it’s limit and, as it closed behind him, The Observer looked at the empty husk of the body, it’s life force stolen from it, and felt the pang of recognition.
With a thump Harry Potter awoke as he hit the floor. A he tried to stagger up a pair of hands grabbed his top and pulled him upright and through bleary eyed he focused on the crimson face of his Uncle Vernon. “Now look here Boy!” he snarled, “This is the fourth time this week you’ve woken us up with your hooting and hollering. Either you learn to have nice quiet dreams like the rest of us or its back down into the cupboard where we can’t hear you! You people,” he spat, “probably have some sort of spell, which allows you to ignore it, but we need our beauty sleep especially Dudley here.” Harry looked to the other side of the bed where his cousin Dudley stood with the bed sheets that Harry had been sleeping in until they were pulled from under him. “Now goodnight,” his Uncle continued, “and you’d better sleep tight if you know what’s good for you.” He set Harry down onto his wobbly legs before leaving the room with a smirking Dudley in tow, closing the door as he went. Harry stood for a moment before flopping back down onto his bed.
The figure gave a gasp and collapsed to his knees. His hands patted his body rapidly, to his surprise all his wounds had gone, and he was wearing his robes now instead of his jump suit. He looked around franticly, this was a natural place, not somewhere vong-formed, how had he come to be here? Memories suddenly came back to him. Where were his comrades? Why wasn’t he dead, he was sure some of the wounds had been poisoned on top of being serious? As he stood up on shaky legs he felt a disturbance and several humans appeared around him. They were scared, he could feel their fear, but also he felt like they might be friendly. But as he began to speak he felt something else and span round just in time to see a red bolt hit his chest.
For some time Harry laid on his bed, too awake to go back to sleep and not really wanting to return to the nightmare. This one was different though. Because of the link to Voldemont (and his continued failure in the area of Occulmoncy) he’d had quite a few bad dreams throughout the summer, but all of them had caused his scar to hurt. This one hadn’t. Harry pondered about this. While the Order of the Phoenix (and more recently the Ministry) were always interested in the “Voldemont Dreams” he wondered if he should tell them about this one, which could just turn out to be just a dream.
The prone figure opened his eyes. “Where am I?” he thought. He sat up and looked around. On the ground next to him lay a staff. He picked it up and studied it. It was his staff, but … who was he. He had memories, a fall, a battle against some creature, victory and at the same time exhaustion. He’d been stranded in someplace, someplace cold. He took a look at his surroundings. This wasn’t the cold place, he was in a field, a cornfield and the sun was rising. Leaning on his staff he stood up, his body aching. Suddenly, with a cracking sound, several men appeared in a circle around him. The figure span round, his staff pointing at each one in turn. Who were these people and what were those small sticks of wood they pointed at him. They were saying things and he felt he understood the words but the meaning was all jumbled up in his mind. As he turned he caught sight of one waving the stick and shouting something. A red bolt erupted from the tip of the stick and struck him in the chest and he fell into a deep sleep.
Harry got out of bed, put on his glasses and walked over to his desk. Sitting down, he turned on the lamp, checked the time (A quarter past five) and pulled a piece of parchment over. Over in her cage Hedwig gave a soft hoot and ruffled her feathers, knowing that she’d soon have a job to do. Harry paused for a moment then began to write his first letter, which was to Order of the Phoenix. He was ahead of his schedule for his mandatory letter to inform them that he was ok, but Dumbledore had told him to inform them of anymore “dreams”. He wrote a detailed account of the dream he’d had, being careful to include the code words that “Mad Eye” Moody had insisted he had to put in, to make sure his letters weren’t being intercepted and replaced or that he was being forced to write things.
The man sprang up, fighting the urge. The moon was setting and the sun was coming up, no need to change now. As his body settled down the figure turned his mind towards the past events. “That blasted civilised man”, he thought, “with his civilised fireball”. Fire. He should be dead and he knew it. With loud bangs men appeared around him. Wizards, their robes and pointy hats were easily recognisable. As they began to point their wands at him instinct took over and he pounced.
Harry finished his letter to The Order and prepared it for delivery. He walked over to Hedwig’s cage and opened the door, allowing the owl out to fly around the room briefly before landing on his desk. In the past Harry had let Hedwig fly wild, knowing that she would return when he needed her, but with the return of Voldemont he’d stopped letting her out. Though he was pretty sure she could take care of herself he didn’t want to risk her getting hurt for no reason, not least because he would have no method of contacting the magical world without her. Harry refilled her food bowl so that she could eat her fill before delivering his message.
The group of wizards stared at the sight that lay before them. In front of them stood a large pod, made of some sort of metal. It didn’t look magical at all; in fact it looked like a muggle machine. The group leader approached it his wand drawn. Cautiously he tapped it and listened, it was hollow. Something beeped and the man backed away quickly. With a hiss a door opened and a small ramp slid down to the ground. Silhouetted in the light stood a stooping figure that was carrying something under their arm. As the figure shambled down the ramp it came into the light of the rising sun and the wizards recoiled away from it. It was a man in a strange uniform, but he had several large holes in his chest. His skin was pale and his expression blank. He looked dead. With a feeling of dread the wizards looked at the thing he carried under his arm. To their horror it was a human head and as they watched it’s eyes opened. The head looked at the group of wizards and cracked a smile, and then there was only pain and darkness.
The man jerked up clasping at his throat. That treacherous little worm! He’d…. He’d slit his throat. As the man moved his hands up to his throat he realised he was holding something. His staff, the very staff that had been broken, robbing him of his powers! With sharp cracks several people, wizards apparently, appeared around him. He would be powerless against their magics with his staff broken, but…. His staff was now whole again. He was powerless no more.
Harry opened the window and beckoned Hedwig over to him. “Take this to …” Months after his death Harry still had to stop himself from saying Sirius “Take it to Grimmauld Place” he told Hedwig. With one last hoot Hedwig took off into the early morning sky. Harry watched the sun crawl up for a few minutes before turning back into his room. Several loud cracks made him spin back round and rush to the window. A group of six figures had appeared on the pavement outside. Harry didn’t recognise any of them, but as they turned round to face the house he recognised the one thing they all had in common: Skull masks!
The figure looked at his surroundings. Primitive buildings made of brick stood either side of him several humans clad only in rags and paper stared goggle eyed at him. One end of the alley was blocked off but the other opened into a street and he saw some wheeled vehicles travel past. Several humans appeared noisily around him and in seconds some of them had drawn wands and done something to the transients. The others all had their wands pointed at him. The figure looked at the new humans and then waved his hand. With surprise in their eyes the wizards looked around franticly.
“Where did he go?” asked one. Wordlessly the figure shuffled past them leaning on his cane. As he got to the end of the alley he looked back at to check the wizards were still befuddled and then turned back to look at the street. He was home!
Harry ducked down. Deatheaters! Why would they do something as rash as this, the Ministry would be here in minutes? And it wasn’t as if they could hurt him while he was in the house, Dumbledore had assured him that the spells around it would protect him from anything magical; and that the locks on the doors were proofed against unlocking charms. Cautiously he poked his head up over the windowsill.
“We can see you Potter.” Called one of them, apparently the leader. “You might as well come out and save some trouble, your pitiful ministry is a bit busy right now so I wouldn’t expect any help from them!” A couple of the Deatheaters sniggered at this for some reason.
“I think I’ll stay here thank you” called back Harry. The leader made a gesture towards the rest of the group. Two of them turned back to cover the street, the leader and another strode boldly towards the front door and the remaining pair jogged round the side of the house. Harry turned and ran back to his desk, eyes searching for one thing. As he picked up his wand a shout came from outside.
Standing upright the figure felt his body. It was all there, nothing artificial. How long had it been since he’d had all his natural limbs and organs. He was overjoyed…. but at the same time something called to him, something dark. He’d turned away from the dark though, before he…. died. He pondered at this. He was sure he’d died and he was sure he had turned back to the light. The call of the dark was strong and was tempting him, as he remembered the powers he’d had. He hand slid down to a metal cylinder at his hip. He was sure he’d lost that too. From out of nowhere figures appeared and he sensed one overwhelming thing: Fear! Fear of what he could be and what might have been waiting for them. Their fear brought him new strength; dark strength .His lips turned into a smile as the dark powers came back to him.
Harry looked back out of the window in time to see one of the death eaters fly through the air into a lamppost. A new wizard was running down the street towards the house and, although Harry couldn’t make out his face, from the unkempt ginger hair and beard and the shabby clothes he recognised him as Mundungus Fletcher.
“NOT ON MY WATCH YOU BASTARDS!” shouted Mundungus as he ducked a stunner, before sending one of his own into the second death eater watching the street. Harry noticed that the pair approaching his front door had turned to face this new threat so he pointed his wand at one and with a flourish yelled “Stupefy”. The red bolt shot through the air but missed the man by a whisker.
The second death eater quickly turned back to Harry and waved his wand crying “Impedimenta”. Harry ducked and the spell struck the ceiling, blasting a chunk of it into the attic. An enraged roar that Harry knew well came from the next room, telling him that his uncle had awoken. Harry popped his head up just in time to see the conclusion of the action outside.
He watched as Mundungus shouted “Protego” in time to deflect a stunner, but left himself open as the second death eater called “Petrificus Totalus”. Without a sound Mundungus’s arms snapped to his sides, his legs came together and he toppled forwards. Harry’s heart sank, but he noticed that around the streetlights had come on in other houses and he could see at least one person peering through a window with a phone in their hands. That put a time limit on how long the death eaters could stay, but for how long Harry didn’t know.
Harry watched one of the death eaters check on the one that had hit the lamppost while the other brought round the stunned one. Desperate to slow them down Harry pointed his wand at them, but before he could utter a word the door to his bedroom flew open.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” screamed his uncle as he crossed the room, “PUT THAT THING AWAY!!!”
“I’M UNDER ATTACK YOU FOOL.” Harry shouted back, “LOOK OUTSIDE!” he said pointing to the window. Wordlessly, but now with his face going past crimson Uncle Vernon looked out the window and goggled as he saw two wizards striding up the driveway towards the front door. Vernon turned back to Harry and pointed an accusing finger at him.
“What. What.” He stuttered, “What have YOU DONE BOY!” Harry ignored him and quickly shot off a stunner at the pair of death eaters, but missed by a mile. The leader took careful aim and with a wave of his hand and a single word sent an Imperio charm towards the window and again Harry just managed to dodge the spell. But as he prepared to retaliate a fist came out of nowhere and connected solidly with his gut.
Harry staggered back winded, dropping his wand in surprise as he fell to his knees. Clutching his stomach, Harry looked up just in time to see his uncle swing a knee into contact with his chin, causing Harry to fall onto back. With blurry vision Harry could just make out his uncle standing above him. Instinctively he kicked out and through blind luck his leg came squarely into contact with Vernon’s groin, causing the big man to collapse next to him. Shaking his head, Harry climbed groggily to his feet, making sure to pick his wand up again. That spell wasn’t aimed at me, he thought, now I’ve got to worry about my uncle as well as the death eaters! He began to run towards the open door, but a flailing hand from his uncle sent him staggering, crashing his shoulder into the doorway as he past through. Clutching his shoulder he turned towards the stairs, but met gazes from his aunt and cousin Dudley.
“They’re only after me,” he said, “get back in your rooms and barricade the doors and they might leave you alone.” Dudley needed no second warning, but Aunt Petunia pushed past him calling her husband’s name. Harry ignored her and bounded down the stairs, adrenaline pumping through him. Before he reached the bottom he could here the thumps at the front door and as he came off the last step he turned towards the rear door at the back of the hall. He skidded to a halt as he saw the arm reaching through a broken pane of glass, it’s hand scrabbling for the lock and a silhouette showing through the frosted glass window that made up most of the top half of the back door.
As another thump came from the direction of the front door Harry waved his wand and cried “Impedimenta”. The death eater screamed as the window and it’s wooden frame exploded, showering him with shards of glass and splinters. Harry smiled as the man fell away clutching the mask on his face, crying out in pain, but a second wizard took his place, snapping off a stunner that hit Harry square in the chest.
Or would have done if it hadn’t have rebounded off some invisible shield an inch in front of him. Harry blinked and then remembered that while he was in the house he was protected from magic. The death eater howled with rage and, not entirely trusting the protection, Harry threw open the door to the cupboard under the stairs to give him some cover. As the front door was pounded again Harry poked his head around the door to look at the death eater at the back. With a flourish of his wand the wizard said something Harry didn’t recognise and the phone flew off it’s table in the hallway, smacking Harry in the head and knocking his glasses off. Harry fell back, but hit the doorframe of the cupboard and steadied himself. At that moment the front door gave way and a death eater fell into the hallway. Harry looked at the stairs in time to see his uncle coming down them, his aunt following him asking what was going on, and then took the only option left to him. He dived into the cupboard that had been his room for so many years closing the door behind him.
“Cornelius!” Fudge turned away from his assistant to see Albus Dumbledore striding towards him. “Cornelius, we have a situation!”
“Don’t worry about anything Dumbledore.” Said Fudge confidently “Everything’s under control.”
“Then Potter is safe?” asked Dumbledore with a sceptical look in his eye. The minister just gave him a blank look. “We’ve substantial magical usage at Potter’s house, quite lucky really as these other incidents almost covered it up.”
“Magic? At Potter’s?”
“Yes,” said Dumbledore impatiently, “is there a team ready?” Fudge glanced at his assistant, Percy Weasley, who checked a parchment and then gave a quick shake of his head. “Then come on then,” said Dumbledore, “there’s no time to dawdle!”
“ What!” exclaimed Fudge, “You want us to go down there!”
“Of course! Who else is there?” Dumbledore was getting impatient now, “I shouldn’t think your skills have atrophied that much. Between the three of us and whoever we round up on the way we should be able to handle anything, especially since Fletcher is already down there and Harry is hardly defenceless either. Plus there’s the additional help that I took the liberty of hiring.”
“Hired help?” asked Percy.
“Yes, very capable hired help.” replied Dumbledore, “Now let’s GO!”
Mundungus swivelled his eyes around to look at the death eater that had turned him over. It was the one he’d sent crashing into the lamppost. The man raised his foot and stamped down hard on Mundungus’ stomach, following up with a stomp on his ribs.
“Let’s see what happened when we combine total immobility and the crucio curse.” Said the death eater with malice in his voice, giving one last kick before bringing his wand around to point at him. But as he began to move his wand the man suddenly snapped his head up, looking at something past Mundungus. With a swooshing noise the death eater’s head fell away from his body, no doubt with a surprised expression beneath his skull mask. Red blood fountained over Mundungus, tainting his vision as a man in a red coat ran past, a red stunning bolt flying over between his arm and his torso. Mundungus heard the second death eater give a brief shout before being cut off.
Harry grimly held onto the door handle, his feet planted either side of the door as the death eaters tried to pull it open. Harry heard another scream as the evil wizards “played” with his aunt and uncle, Vernon’s “alliance” no longer needed. From what he had overheard their spells weren’t working on Petunia either, leaving Harry to wonder why his uncle was affected. He felt the pulling on the door cease and heard one of the death eaters tell the others to step away. Harry wondered if this was a trick or whether to find cover himself. His thoughts were interrupted as the door exploded inwards, peppering him with splinters and flinging him against the back of the cupboard. As Vernon’s golf clubs fell on top of him he tried to open his eyes, but pain flared up in his left eye. Through blurred vision Harry made out someone reaching in towards him and raised his arm only to find that he must have dropped his wand. Before he could react several shouts came from elsewhere and the death eater turned away from him. A series of loud bangs caused Harry to clap his hands to his ears and he could only watch as the death eater staggered back, followed by something red flashing past in front of him. Shouts and screams of pain seemed to last for eternity before they ended with two trademark cracks of a pair of people dis-apparating. Silence followed for a short while and Harry took his hands away from his ears. The silence was broken by footsteps that sounded like thunder to Harry and his fear enhanced senses. Groping wildly his hand found his wand and he pointed at what remained of the door frame, ready to take on whoever or whatever was coming.
Every Harry Potter book.
Star Wars: NJO and SW in general
Lord of the Rings
SPOILER WARNING: READ ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL!
Hey, it's better than "Un-named WH40K/ST fanfic"! At least it's a name.
Anyway it's just something i had in my mind so i thought "what the hell" can't be lazy all the time and wrote something down.
n.b. i've recieved some criticism for how i space my paragraphs (or how i don't really) so if this is OK then please say so.
Harry Potter and the Multi Franchise Crossover
This is where souls go. Innumerable numbers of souls from an innumerable number of worlds in an innumerable number of realities, gathering into one place after death with time having little meaning. Most of the souls, The Observer noticed, were little more than blobs, lacking the strength to even keep any resemblance to what they were, that soon shrunk into nothingness only to be replaced by one of the millions upon millions of souls that appeared every perceived second. At the opposite end of the spectrum there were the souls that were shining beacons of strength looking exactly as they had in life, glowing for what seemed like an eternity compared to the weaker souls. Very few of these souls disappeared into nothingness as it is these souls that return to the realms of the living. Some had the sheer strength and determination to force there way back, others were re-incarnated, their forms growing younger until they vanished back into the living and some faded while they passed briefly back into the living worlds, called upon by the living by seances or on their own will to pass on knowledge. However, there is another extremely rare way for souls to return.
Cornelius Fudge stared at the parchment in front of him. He’d only just been woken up but what he was reading made him wide-awake. “This can’t be possible,” he said “each of these incidents is more powerful than the Pettigew-Black incident and that’s one of the biggest magical discharges in public in recent times! How many did you say there were?”
“We’re not sure.” replied the aide, “There’s at least four, but we haven’t been able to distinguish how many more there are.”
“We’ve got wizards on their way to the incidents?”
“Of course sir. We’re quite lucky, most are away from built up areas, only one in a city”
Directly in front of The Observer a portal burst open, blasting away the weak souls near it. And from the portal came a solid body thrust unwillingly into the realm of the dead. The strong souls took their chance gliding towards the body desperate to return to the living by using some of its life to go through the portal. And as each one passed through the portal The Observer felt what they had just before they had died. Burning pain, mortal wounds and weariness from a titanic battle, sharp stabbing pains in his and more before finally a feeling of intense age and tiredness. He’d lost count of how many souls had gone through the portal, but it had reached it’s limit and, as it closed behind him, The Observer looked at the empty husk of the body, it’s life force stolen from it, and felt the pang of recognition.
With a thump Harry Potter awoke as he hit the floor. A he tried to stagger up a pair of hands grabbed his top and pulled him upright and through bleary eyed he focused on the crimson face of his Uncle Vernon. “Now look here Boy!” he snarled, “This is the fourth time this week you’ve woken us up with your hooting and hollering. Either you learn to have nice quiet dreams like the rest of us or its back down into the cupboard where we can’t hear you! You people,” he spat, “probably have some sort of spell, which allows you to ignore it, but we need our beauty sleep especially Dudley here.” Harry looked to the other side of the bed where his cousin Dudley stood with the bed sheets that Harry had been sleeping in until they were pulled from under him. “Now goodnight,” his Uncle continued, “and you’d better sleep tight if you know what’s good for you.” He set Harry down onto his wobbly legs before leaving the room with a smirking Dudley in tow, closing the door as he went. Harry stood for a moment before flopping back down onto his bed.
The figure gave a gasp and collapsed to his knees. His hands patted his body rapidly, to his surprise all his wounds had gone, and he was wearing his robes now instead of his jump suit. He looked around franticly, this was a natural place, not somewhere vong-formed, how had he come to be here? Memories suddenly came back to him. Where were his comrades? Why wasn’t he dead, he was sure some of the wounds had been poisoned on top of being serious? As he stood up on shaky legs he felt a disturbance and several humans appeared around him. They were scared, he could feel their fear, but also he felt like they might be friendly. But as he began to speak he felt something else and span round just in time to see a red bolt hit his chest.
For some time Harry laid on his bed, too awake to go back to sleep and not really wanting to return to the nightmare. This one was different though. Because of the link to Voldemont (and his continued failure in the area of Occulmoncy) he’d had quite a few bad dreams throughout the summer, but all of them had caused his scar to hurt. This one hadn’t. Harry pondered about this. While the Order of the Phoenix (and more recently the Ministry) were always interested in the “Voldemont Dreams” he wondered if he should tell them about this one, which could just turn out to be just a dream.
The prone figure opened his eyes. “Where am I?” he thought. He sat up and looked around. On the ground next to him lay a staff. He picked it up and studied it. It was his staff, but … who was he. He had memories, a fall, a battle against some creature, victory and at the same time exhaustion. He’d been stranded in someplace, someplace cold. He took a look at his surroundings. This wasn’t the cold place, he was in a field, a cornfield and the sun was rising. Leaning on his staff he stood up, his body aching. Suddenly, with a cracking sound, several men appeared in a circle around him. The figure span round, his staff pointing at each one in turn. Who were these people and what were those small sticks of wood they pointed at him. They were saying things and he felt he understood the words but the meaning was all jumbled up in his mind. As he turned he caught sight of one waving the stick and shouting something. A red bolt erupted from the tip of the stick and struck him in the chest and he fell into a deep sleep.
Harry got out of bed, put on his glasses and walked over to his desk. Sitting down, he turned on the lamp, checked the time (A quarter past five) and pulled a piece of parchment over. Over in her cage Hedwig gave a soft hoot and ruffled her feathers, knowing that she’d soon have a job to do. Harry paused for a moment then began to write his first letter, which was to Order of the Phoenix. He was ahead of his schedule for his mandatory letter to inform them that he was ok, but Dumbledore had told him to inform them of anymore “dreams”. He wrote a detailed account of the dream he’d had, being careful to include the code words that “Mad Eye” Moody had insisted he had to put in, to make sure his letters weren’t being intercepted and replaced or that he was being forced to write things.
The man sprang up, fighting the urge. The moon was setting and the sun was coming up, no need to change now. As his body settled down the figure turned his mind towards the past events. “That blasted civilised man”, he thought, “with his civilised fireball”. Fire. He should be dead and he knew it. With loud bangs men appeared around him. Wizards, their robes and pointy hats were easily recognisable. As they began to point their wands at him instinct took over and he pounced.
Harry finished his letter to The Order and prepared it for delivery. He walked over to Hedwig’s cage and opened the door, allowing the owl out to fly around the room briefly before landing on his desk. In the past Harry had let Hedwig fly wild, knowing that she would return when he needed her, but with the return of Voldemont he’d stopped letting her out. Though he was pretty sure she could take care of herself he didn’t want to risk her getting hurt for no reason, not least because he would have no method of contacting the magical world without her. Harry refilled her food bowl so that she could eat her fill before delivering his message.
The group of wizards stared at the sight that lay before them. In front of them stood a large pod, made of some sort of metal. It didn’t look magical at all; in fact it looked like a muggle machine. The group leader approached it his wand drawn. Cautiously he tapped it and listened, it was hollow. Something beeped and the man backed away quickly. With a hiss a door opened and a small ramp slid down to the ground. Silhouetted in the light stood a stooping figure that was carrying something under their arm. As the figure shambled down the ramp it came into the light of the rising sun and the wizards recoiled away from it. It was a man in a strange uniform, but he had several large holes in his chest. His skin was pale and his expression blank. He looked dead. With a feeling of dread the wizards looked at the thing he carried under his arm. To their horror it was a human head and as they watched it’s eyes opened. The head looked at the group of wizards and cracked a smile, and then there was only pain and darkness.
The man jerked up clasping at his throat. That treacherous little worm! He’d…. He’d slit his throat. As the man moved his hands up to his throat he realised he was holding something. His staff, the very staff that had been broken, robbing him of his powers! With sharp cracks several people, wizards apparently, appeared around him. He would be powerless against their magics with his staff broken, but…. His staff was now whole again. He was powerless no more.
Harry opened the window and beckoned Hedwig over to him. “Take this to …” Months after his death Harry still had to stop himself from saying Sirius “Take it to Grimmauld Place” he told Hedwig. With one last hoot Hedwig took off into the early morning sky. Harry watched the sun crawl up for a few minutes before turning back into his room. Several loud cracks made him spin back round and rush to the window. A group of six figures had appeared on the pavement outside. Harry didn’t recognise any of them, but as they turned round to face the house he recognised the one thing they all had in common: Skull masks!
The figure looked at his surroundings. Primitive buildings made of brick stood either side of him several humans clad only in rags and paper stared goggle eyed at him. One end of the alley was blocked off but the other opened into a street and he saw some wheeled vehicles travel past. Several humans appeared noisily around him and in seconds some of them had drawn wands and done something to the transients. The others all had their wands pointed at him. The figure looked at the new humans and then waved his hand. With surprise in their eyes the wizards looked around franticly.
“Where did he go?” asked one. Wordlessly the figure shuffled past them leaning on his cane. As he got to the end of the alley he looked back at to check the wizards were still befuddled and then turned back to look at the street. He was home!
Harry ducked down. Deatheaters! Why would they do something as rash as this, the Ministry would be here in minutes? And it wasn’t as if they could hurt him while he was in the house, Dumbledore had assured him that the spells around it would protect him from anything magical; and that the locks on the doors were proofed against unlocking charms. Cautiously he poked his head up over the windowsill.
“We can see you Potter.” Called one of them, apparently the leader. “You might as well come out and save some trouble, your pitiful ministry is a bit busy right now so I wouldn’t expect any help from them!” A couple of the Deatheaters sniggered at this for some reason.
“I think I’ll stay here thank you” called back Harry. The leader made a gesture towards the rest of the group. Two of them turned back to cover the street, the leader and another strode boldly towards the front door and the remaining pair jogged round the side of the house. Harry turned and ran back to his desk, eyes searching for one thing. As he picked up his wand a shout came from outside.
Standing upright the figure felt his body. It was all there, nothing artificial. How long had it been since he’d had all his natural limbs and organs. He was overjoyed…. but at the same time something called to him, something dark. He’d turned away from the dark though, before he…. died. He pondered at this. He was sure he’d died and he was sure he had turned back to the light. The call of the dark was strong and was tempting him, as he remembered the powers he’d had. He hand slid down to a metal cylinder at his hip. He was sure he’d lost that too. From out of nowhere figures appeared and he sensed one overwhelming thing: Fear! Fear of what he could be and what might have been waiting for them. Their fear brought him new strength; dark strength .His lips turned into a smile as the dark powers came back to him.
Harry looked back out of the window in time to see one of the death eaters fly through the air into a lamppost. A new wizard was running down the street towards the house and, although Harry couldn’t make out his face, from the unkempt ginger hair and beard and the shabby clothes he recognised him as Mundungus Fletcher.
“NOT ON MY WATCH YOU BASTARDS!” shouted Mundungus as he ducked a stunner, before sending one of his own into the second death eater watching the street. Harry noticed that the pair approaching his front door had turned to face this new threat so he pointed his wand at one and with a flourish yelled “Stupefy”. The red bolt shot through the air but missed the man by a whisker.
The second death eater quickly turned back to Harry and waved his wand crying “Impedimenta”. Harry ducked and the spell struck the ceiling, blasting a chunk of it into the attic. An enraged roar that Harry knew well came from the next room, telling him that his uncle had awoken. Harry popped his head up just in time to see the conclusion of the action outside.
He watched as Mundungus shouted “Protego” in time to deflect a stunner, but left himself open as the second death eater called “Petrificus Totalus”. Without a sound Mundungus’s arms snapped to his sides, his legs came together and he toppled forwards. Harry’s heart sank, but he noticed that around the streetlights had come on in other houses and he could see at least one person peering through a window with a phone in their hands. That put a time limit on how long the death eaters could stay, but for how long Harry didn’t know.
Harry watched one of the death eaters check on the one that had hit the lamppost while the other brought round the stunned one. Desperate to slow them down Harry pointed his wand at them, but before he could utter a word the door to his bedroom flew open.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” screamed his uncle as he crossed the room, “PUT THAT THING AWAY!!!”
“I’M UNDER ATTACK YOU FOOL.” Harry shouted back, “LOOK OUTSIDE!” he said pointing to the window. Wordlessly, but now with his face going past crimson Uncle Vernon looked out the window and goggled as he saw two wizards striding up the driveway towards the front door. Vernon turned back to Harry and pointed an accusing finger at him.
“What. What.” He stuttered, “What have YOU DONE BOY!” Harry ignored him and quickly shot off a stunner at the pair of death eaters, but missed by a mile. The leader took careful aim and with a wave of his hand and a single word sent an Imperio charm towards the window and again Harry just managed to dodge the spell. But as he prepared to retaliate a fist came out of nowhere and connected solidly with his gut.
Harry staggered back winded, dropping his wand in surprise as he fell to his knees. Clutching his stomach, Harry looked up just in time to see his uncle swing a knee into contact with his chin, causing Harry to fall onto back. With blurry vision Harry could just make out his uncle standing above him. Instinctively he kicked out and through blind luck his leg came squarely into contact with Vernon’s groin, causing the big man to collapse next to him. Shaking his head, Harry climbed groggily to his feet, making sure to pick his wand up again. That spell wasn’t aimed at me, he thought, now I’ve got to worry about my uncle as well as the death eaters! He began to run towards the open door, but a flailing hand from his uncle sent him staggering, crashing his shoulder into the doorway as he past through. Clutching his shoulder he turned towards the stairs, but met gazes from his aunt and cousin Dudley.
“They’re only after me,” he said, “get back in your rooms and barricade the doors and they might leave you alone.” Dudley needed no second warning, but Aunt Petunia pushed past him calling her husband’s name. Harry ignored her and bounded down the stairs, adrenaline pumping through him. Before he reached the bottom he could here the thumps at the front door and as he came off the last step he turned towards the rear door at the back of the hall. He skidded to a halt as he saw the arm reaching through a broken pane of glass, it’s hand scrabbling for the lock and a silhouette showing through the frosted glass window that made up most of the top half of the back door.
As another thump came from the direction of the front door Harry waved his wand and cried “Impedimenta”. The death eater screamed as the window and it’s wooden frame exploded, showering him with shards of glass and splinters. Harry smiled as the man fell away clutching the mask on his face, crying out in pain, but a second wizard took his place, snapping off a stunner that hit Harry square in the chest.
Or would have done if it hadn’t have rebounded off some invisible shield an inch in front of him. Harry blinked and then remembered that while he was in the house he was protected from magic. The death eater howled with rage and, not entirely trusting the protection, Harry threw open the door to the cupboard under the stairs to give him some cover. As the front door was pounded again Harry poked his head around the door to look at the death eater at the back. With a flourish of his wand the wizard said something Harry didn’t recognise and the phone flew off it’s table in the hallway, smacking Harry in the head and knocking his glasses off. Harry fell back, but hit the doorframe of the cupboard and steadied himself. At that moment the front door gave way and a death eater fell into the hallway. Harry looked at the stairs in time to see his uncle coming down them, his aunt following him asking what was going on, and then took the only option left to him. He dived into the cupboard that had been his room for so many years closing the door behind him.
“Cornelius!” Fudge turned away from his assistant to see Albus Dumbledore striding towards him. “Cornelius, we have a situation!”
“Don’t worry about anything Dumbledore.” Said Fudge confidently “Everything’s under control.”
“Then Potter is safe?” asked Dumbledore with a sceptical look in his eye. The minister just gave him a blank look. “We’ve substantial magical usage at Potter’s house, quite lucky really as these other incidents almost covered it up.”
“Magic? At Potter’s?”
“Yes,” said Dumbledore impatiently, “is there a team ready?” Fudge glanced at his assistant, Percy Weasley, who checked a parchment and then gave a quick shake of his head. “Then come on then,” said Dumbledore, “there’s no time to dawdle!”
“ What!” exclaimed Fudge, “You want us to go down there!”
“Of course! Who else is there?” Dumbledore was getting impatient now, “I shouldn’t think your skills have atrophied that much. Between the three of us and whoever we round up on the way we should be able to handle anything, especially since Fletcher is already down there and Harry is hardly defenceless either. Plus there’s the additional help that I took the liberty of hiring.”
“Hired help?” asked Percy.
“Yes, very capable hired help.” replied Dumbledore, “Now let’s GO!”
Mundungus swivelled his eyes around to look at the death eater that had turned him over. It was the one he’d sent crashing into the lamppost. The man raised his foot and stamped down hard on Mundungus’ stomach, following up with a stomp on his ribs.
“Let’s see what happened when we combine total immobility and the crucio curse.” Said the death eater with malice in his voice, giving one last kick before bringing his wand around to point at him. But as he began to move his wand the man suddenly snapped his head up, looking at something past Mundungus. With a swooshing noise the death eater’s head fell away from his body, no doubt with a surprised expression beneath his skull mask. Red blood fountained over Mundungus, tainting his vision as a man in a red coat ran past, a red stunning bolt flying over between his arm and his torso. Mundungus heard the second death eater give a brief shout before being cut off.
Harry grimly held onto the door handle, his feet planted either side of the door as the death eaters tried to pull it open. Harry heard another scream as the evil wizards “played” with his aunt and uncle, Vernon’s “alliance” no longer needed. From what he had overheard their spells weren’t working on Petunia either, leaving Harry to wonder why his uncle was affected. He felt the pulling on the door cease and heard one of the death eaters tell the others to step away. Harry wondered if this was a trick or whether to find cover himself. His thoughts were interrupted as the door exploded inwards, peppering him with splinters and flinging him against the back of the cupboard. As Vernon’s golf clubs fell on top of him he tried to open his eyes, but pain flared up in his left eye. Through blurred vision Harry made out someone reaching in towards him and raised his arm only to find that he must have dropped his wand. Before he could react several shouts came from elsewhere and the death eater turned away from him. A series of loud bangs caused Harry to clap his hands to his ears and he could only watch as the death eater staggered back, followed by something red flashing past in front of him. Shouts and screams of pain seemed to last for eternity before they ended with two trademark cracks of a pair of people dis-apparating. Silence followed for a short while and Harry took his hands away from his ears. The silence was broken by footsteps that sounded like thunder to Harry and his fear enhanced senses. Groping wildly his hand found his wand and he pointed at what remained of the door frame, ready to take on whoever or whatever was coming.
