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Chapter Text

Prologue 

As a child, Albus Dumbledore was highly curious. Questioning his elders about nearly everything which he didn’t understand from his youth. He began this as soon as he could talk as his thirst for knowledge never ceased to burn. It kept raging on. No matter what he did, it kept burning on.

It always kept burning.

He used to take out small things from his surroundings and tried to question everyone he knew about them. His mother, father, his uncle, his family friend, everyone. He even sometimes used to ask the old nice lady who lived beside them. She always seemed so knowledgeable. She always fed the wood to his fire. As she kept answering, his desire to learn kept increasing. However, one trip to the Philippines would forever change his life. Even if he did not know.

10th October 1889.

Albus was a few years away from starting Hogwarts. His family wasn’t too big nor too small. It was just perfect for him. His family constituted of his mother named Kendra Dumbledore, his father named Percival Dumbledore, his younger brother named Aberforth Dumbledore, and his baby sister, Ariana Dumbledore.

Albus was the oldest child in the family so he naturally had to be the most responsible out of all the children. His sister, Ariana Dumbledore was born just a few years prior, in 1885. She was just four. While Albus’s younger brother, Aberforth, was born a year before Ariana, in 1884. Their mother, Kendra, stayed at home and took care of the kids.

While their father, on the other hand, was a mystery.

Percival Dumbledore was highly secretive about the specifics of his job. Whenever someone asks about his occupation, he always gave a two-word answer.

“An Unspeakable.”

He was an Unspeakable. A lot of people think that Unspeakables practiced higher forms of magic and conducted magical experiments. Which was true in some cases.

But not with Percival.

He actually, worked on something different. He worked for a company run and funded by magical ministries from all around the world. This company worked to maintain a track record of the higher form of animals found all around the world. The Titans.

Till the year 1864, these creatures were legends of the old. Whispers among the lips of the fortunate ones who had a chance to witness such a creature of might. They were myths, something which ancient civilizations regarded as the first gods to rule the earth. Some could be the most dangerous things you would’ve ever met, while some could be as docile as an infant. Few could grow to heights such as nine hundred and eighty feet while some would be barely any bigger than your everyday Labrador dog.

Such animals have surfaced and traversed the Earth many a time in the past. Cave paintings of such creatures could be found all across the planet. Some had a giant upright dinosaur-like creature while some had a bipedal ape. Some had depictions of a bird of fire, while some depicted a three-headed dragon-like creature. As they would arise to the surface, ancient civilizations would draw pictures on clay tablets, or in some cases, on papyrus.

The Titans have existed since the Paleozoic era on earth. While regular animals evolved at a steady pace, the Titans were always two steps ahead in evolution.

The primary source of growth for all the Titans is radiation. Radiation which stemmed from deep beneath the earth’s surface. As time passed on, the Titans slowly moved from the outer earth, to an advanced eco-system that existed right below the surface.

The Hollow Earth.

It was just that, a “Hollow” Earth. A whole another advanced eco-system inside of that of our own. The entry points to this whole other realm are the two snowy poles of the earth. As time went on, the Titans evolved and slowly creatures like the Kongs and the Gojirans came into being. The Kongs were also known as the Titanus Kong.

They were prehistoric apes that could grow up to gargantuan heights such as three hundred to three hundred and fifty feet tall. A scarce few were up to three hundred and ninety feet. They had the build and the posture that of a human, but their arms were generally longer than their legs.

Their fur varied from orange-brown tones to dark brown or coal-black in some cases. These prehistoric apes had near-human intellect as they had made throne rooms, weapons, and ancient cities which were strewn across the entirety of the Hollow-Earth, making them the ruling species of Titans.

The Gojirans on the other hand, were larger. They were also known as the Titanus Gojira. They could grow up to heights such as three hundred and ninety to four hundred feet tall. There heads are rather blocky, while their legs were trunk-like and resembled that of an elephant. They have three rows of maple leaf-shaped dorsal plates running down their backs and generally possess charcoal gray-colored skin.

In the year 1864, a band of Muggles had journeyed to an island which is in the Pacific Ocean and the nearest country is the Philippines. They had journeyed to the island which was the home of the last Kongs. Eons ago, in the Hollow-Earth, a great war had struck between the clan of the Kongs and the clan of the Gojiras.

This war had begun because of the Kongs being the ruling Titan species in the Hollow-Earth and the Gojiras sought balance. As the entirety of the Gojira species sought the balance of life in the Hollow-Earth and the Outer-Earth.

They sought and killed any other-worldly disturbance which was causing tumultuous amounts of disturbance in the way of life. And the Kongs being the most prevalent and ruling species, fell into that category. Then, the surviving Kongs migrated to an island known as Skull Island where the band of Muggles had unfortunately ventured.

As they had entered, it was discovered that only seven of the Kong species were left. And one of the infants was unfortunately captured by the Muggles.

It was transported to New York City by ship. The destination set in mind for the unfortunate ape was that of the city circus but fortunately, the Kong broke free and ran. Since it was only a mere few months old, it was just as big as a two-story house.

As it ran into Central Park, the MACUSA was notified of this incident and they had sent out a strike team on broomsticks to subdue the wild, scared, and aggravated Kong. After hours of strenuous work, they had fortunately knocked out the Kong and it was being transported back to Skull Island. It should’ve taken only a mere few minutes but the fact that the Kongs had magic-resistant skin like trolls and dragons was not known.

However, the risky move was about to reveal the existence of magic to muggle kind so four squadrons of obliviators had obliviated every single person that was in the path of the unfortunate prehistoric ape. They all believed that the Kong had passed out due to exhaustion but the wizarding world knew the truth.

The Titans exist.

So, ministries from all around the world co-operated and formed a group that would take note of the existing Titans and keep a track record on every one of them. The muggle world was informed of the alteration of the real truth. They were informed that super species of normal animals exist and this ape had been brought as a zoo attraction for the masses.

Which was not the truth.

So, they later on said that to keep a record of these types of animals, a government group has been formed and they would take care of it.

Which was the truth.

This ex-group now a big organization is known as Monarch Sciences.

And Percival was one of the chosen few who worked for them.

Percival was being deployed for the yearly check on Skull Island. It was Monarch’s duty to check on all of the existing Titan sites all over the world and this time it was Percival’s turn to check on Skull Island. In the twenty-five years of this group’s existence, only five sites have been found across the world. The Kong’s in Skull Island, the Titanus Mosura in the Yunnan Rainforest of China, the Titanus Rodan in Isla del Mona, Mexico, the Titanus Scylla in the city of Sedona, Arizona, and the Titanus Leviathan near the Loch ness of Scotland.

Squadrons would routinely check every site every two years with the assigned sites being changed for squadrons every time. The last time Percival had gone to the Loch ness, now it was his turn to visit Skull Island.

He had been assigned to visit Skull Island with his squadron consisting of his most faithful friends. Since the nearest country to Skull Island was the Philippines, Percival decided that it was to be a family trip that they all would go to the Philippines and he would journey onwards to Skull Island.

It was a cold October morning of the year 1889. The entire family got ready for the Portkey that they would take to Singapore from where they would take their ship to the Philippines.

“ALBUS! BROTHER! WAKE UP! IT'S TIME FOR THE TRIP YOU MEAT-HEAD!” Aberforth hollered.

“Language! Stop using expletives Aberforth!” his mother admonished.

“Profound apologies, mother.” Aberforth apologized. Deciding enough was enough, he stomped down to his older brother’s room to wake him up.

As he yanked the door open, he was surprised to see that he was dressing up.

“My my, you are dressing up? Why weren’t you answering?” Aberforth asked.

“You were annoying me, Ab. I just merely chose to ignore you, brother dearest. As you sound like a dying pig when you yell.” Albus muttered with a hint of mirth.

“Spoilsport, anyways, we have to eat, come on.”

“Sure, Ab, give me a second. I am coming.”

And later onwards, he walked down the staircase and joined the rest of the family.

“So, father, where are we going again?” Aberforth asked.

“The Philippines, son. We would take an International Portkey to Singapore and from there we would wait for our ship which is an hour away to take us to the Philippines.” Percival kindly answered.

“Ah, I see.”

“Daddy, where iz da Philippines?” Ariana asked.

Percival looked downwards to meet his eyes with his daughter’s and answered.

“The other side of the world, sweetie. This is going to be a wonderful trip.”

“Ok, daddy."

After breakfast, the family got up and began to get ready for the trip.

“Alright everyone, get ready, gather your toiletries, gather your luggage as we are leaving!” the father jovially announced.

As the family members hastily went to their rooms to get ready and take their bags, Albus took his bags as he was already dressed up and went down to the living room to wait.

As one by one the family members came down, Aberforth muttered to his older brother “What d’you reckon would be in the Philippines?”

Albus answered in an equally low voice “Beaches, lots of beaches. Limestone walls, ancient architecture, and I don’t know what else could be there.”

“Sounds bland, apart from the swimming.”

“It isn’t Aberforth, you would find it fun.” A kind voice came from behind them.

They both turned around to see their father standing there, and he had been listening.

“Uh…alright father. Now shall we go? Isn’t it time?”

“Yes, it is your mother that is taking time. KENDRA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WE NEED TO GO!” Percival hollered.

“I AM READYING ARIANA!” Kendra hollered back.

“DO IT QUICK!!”

It took Kendra two minutes but she at least arrived at the foot of the stairs with Ariana holding her hand, two minutes later.

“Alright then, time to go!” so they all got into the fireplace one after the other and flooed into the International Tours and Travels department of the ministry.

As they spewed out one after the other, Percival got up and looked for the person who was monitoring the portkeys.

“Stanford! Portkey for 11:50!”

“Ah, so it was you and your family for Singapore, Unspeakable Phoenix.”

“Yes, now where is the Portkey, and what are the fees?”

“The Portkey should be in the MRH compartment which is number fifty-six, the Portkey is an old moldy copy of The Standard Guide to Charms Grade: 1. The fees are three galleons.”

So, Dumbledore gave him the three galleons and Stanford’s eyes shone in remembrance.

“Ah yes! The keyword is magic. Now go on Dumbledore.”

“Thank you Iristiker.”

Then the Dumbledore family rushed over to the aforementioned compartment and yanked open the door. The book that Stanford was talking about greeted their eyes.

“All of you see that old moldy book here? That is the Portkey to Singapore. The keyword is magic.”

So, the family took hold of the notebook and Percival intoned the keyword.

“Magic.”

And the entire family disappeared in a rush of colors towards Singapore. They now tumbled down and landed in the Singaporean Ministry of Magic.

“Hello there Dumbledore!” an Asian man said as he recognized Percival, “You are for the island this time?”

“Yes, I am, Cheung.”

“Oh brilliant! Then take that shoe case over there is your Portkey which leaves in two minutes. Give me three galleons as the required payment and go. The keyword is Kong.”

Aberforth mouthed the word to his older brother but he shrugged as he also didn’t know what it meant.

So, Percival handed over the required galleons and the entire family held onto the Portkey.

When Percival placed his hand firmly, he muttered the word.

“Kong.”

And the Dumbledore’s were off to the Philippines.

The entire Dumbledore family then landed onto a soft landing, well…at least the parents.

The two boys had fallen flat on their backs as they weren’t as proficient at their landings. As they got up and dusted off the dust on their shoulders, Percival took a deep breath and proudly proclaimed.

“Here we are, in the Ministry of Magic of the Phillippines. Let’s give the galleons needed and head out to the city.”

Percival went over to the Portkey monitor and deposited four galleons and they were off to the exit.

Located in the Pacific Ocean near the equator, the Republic of the Philippines consists of around 7,640 islands — about 2,000 of which are inhabited — that form an archipelago. The country can be divided into three main areas: Luzon (the largest, northernmost island, which includes Manila); a group of islands called the Visayas (including the major islands Panay, Negros, Cebu, Bohol, Leyte, Samar, and Masbate); and Mindanao, the second-largest island in the Philippines, found at the southern end of the archipelago.

Manila, known as the “Pearl of the Orient”, is the nation’s capital city. This bustling historic city is full of things to see and do — including museums, parks, theaters, shopping malls, and a plethora of restaurants to choose from. The Philippines is quickly becoming a destination for foodies, and Manila is well known for its varied cuisine and street food markets, like the Legazpi Sunday Market, Quiapo Market, and the country’s very own Chinatown, Binondo.

“So, Percival, where do we need to go?” Kendra questioned.

“According to what I was told, we need to go the fifth building on the left of Guerro Street entering from Padre Faudra Street. There, we would be given the correct address.”

Percival, Kendra, and Akira all ordered a beer each while each child present got a glass of apple juice.

After taking a hearty gulp out of the glass, Percival cleared his throat and asked.

“Where am I supposed to go, Akira?”

“The Henry Resort in Dumaguete near Siliman Beach. You have quite a journey remaining friend. I will tell you a quick way to get to the resort. Go to the back room of this bar, there would be a fireplace with floo powder. You know what to do. Floo there.”

“Floo? You-You mean?”

“Yes, this bar is a magical bar and the Barman is a wizard just like the both of us.”

“Oh, thank you. Thank you, dear friend.”

Then, the Dumbledore family quickly drank their beverages and bid goodbye to Akira and the Barman. They stumbled a bit in their way into the backroom. It was dimly lit and Percival had to squint a bit to properly find the fireplace and once he did, he lit it up with a swift flame charm.

“Incendio.” He cast with his wand out.

He stepped in first with Albus, clutching the forearm of his father quite firmly. The required floo powder was in Percival’s left palm as he firmly intoned the place where he was needed to go and three down the floo powder.

“The Henry Resort.”

And he threw the powder down onto the soft orange flames.

The orange flames flared and glowed an emerald green as it enveloped the pair into its grace and whisked away the father and son duo.

The rest soon followed suit.

This time however, all of the family managed a graceful landing.

“If I have to go through a floo again, I may very well start abhorring this way of travel. Quite bloody disruptive and unorthodox.” Albus muttered as he dusted of the dust he had collected while Kendra was consoling her daughter because she had fallen over due to the floo and begun to cry.

Everyone present laughed at the statement as no body expected Albus of all people to cuss.

Kendra was trying to admonish Albus and console her daughter but the sheer unexpectedness led her to fail miserably while she was fighting her laughter.

While the entire family was laughing at Albus’s antics, a kind old Filipina lady stepped into the room and directly confronted Percival.

“Percival Dumbledore, I presume?”

The entire room’s laughter snapped shut and all the focus was onto the confrontation at hand.

“Yes, I am Percival Dumbledore.”

“Great, you are booked in for room two hundred and seventy-eight for four days and five nights. Shall I call for someone to take your luggage?”

“No, we are fine. Aren’t we?” he asked as he turned around to face his family.

“Yes, we are father.” The children echoed while Kendra said “Yes, I am, Perce.”

“Brilliant!” the father exclaimed as he turned back to the old lady.

“So, would that be all? Now which room is ours?” he asked her.

“Sir, follow me for doing some final checking in details then the way to your room would be shown to you."

So, the details were filled in and the Dumbledore’s were shown their way to their room. It was two floors above and the third room to the right.

Later on, the same day, a piece of parchment and materialized into Percival’s palm. He wasn’t expecting that at all.

 Phoenix,

Siliman’s beach has a ship waiting with your squadron. It has been approved by the Filipinan Government. You may bring your family tomorrow at ten as to see you off.

- Megaprimutus

Percival scribbled a note into the back of the parchment and the parchment vanished as soon as his note was finished.

Megaprimutus,

We are coming.

-Phoenix

Throughout the rest of their stay, the Dumbledore’s explored Dumaguete, tried out new food, Aberforth and Albus even went swimming. And the former’s dismay, he began to like the Philippines.

But whenever they went to Siliman’s beach, a fickle sight always caught Albus’s eyes.

A weird set of teeth sprouting up from the sand as if, there is an earthed jaw of some gargantuan creature. And a tree oddly was growing near it. Whenever his focus went to that odd sight, Aberforth always snapped him out of it and both of them resumed to having fun on the beach with their little sister.

Until the awaited night.

Percival cast a quick Tempus to check the time. It was a quarter to midnight. He notified the others as well. So, they accompanied him as it was required by the author of the letter from a few days ago.

As they turned around the corner to reach the beach, the saw an entire fleet of people and a whole ship waiting for them.

“Ah, hello there, Unspeakable Phoenix.”

Percival gave a curt nod and replied with “Megaprimutus.”

Unspeakable Megaprimutus pointed him towards a tent and said “You would find your equipment in that tent, Phoenix. And as for the rest of your family, you can wander around and wait till it’s time for the ship to set sail.

Albus sensing this as the perfect opportunity to snag one of the teeth, began planning mentally. After seeing that they were actually pretty to the set of teeth, he began to plan to slowly side-step to the teeth. Seeing that his brother and mum were a few feet away, Albus wandered around purposefully near the set of teeth. Once he was nearby, he stopped walking and bent down to pluck one of the teeth.

Thankfully, there was a tree growing near it so he was in the shadows.

The tooth that Albus began to tug at was pretty lose actually. So, with one soft tug, he had the tooth in his hand. He quickly stuffed it into his pocket and ran back to his mum to only bid adieu to his father and watch his ship and him leave for Skull Island.

Little did he know, that the tooth he snagged is going to change his life.

It was the summer of 1898. Albus Dumbledore had freshly graduated out of Hogwarts and was spending the summer at his home in Godric’s Hollow. He couldn’t ever find answers to what the tooth was that he snagged from the Samilian Beach nearly ten years ago. He pulled it out of his pocket (he carried it everywhere with him), and twirled it in his long fingers while being lost in thought about it. He asked all the Hogwarts professors, nobody could answer. He even asked the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and she could only give him an answer which led to more questions. She said that this was the tooth of a prehistoric creature.

What prehistoric creature? The Dinosaurs? Surely not. He had leafed through all the books he had regarding dinosaurs and none seem to match. He even looked through books in the school’s library but to no avail. He even went so far as to flip through the books in the restricted section but couldn’t achieve anything. Then which animal’s tooth could this be? Possible of an older creature? He had deduced that this tooth had to be that of a Titan. Perhaps the Kong’s? No, to small. Scylla? She has pincers, not teeth. The Titan has to be a reptilian Titan for this to be a tooth of.

Out of sheer annoyance, he pocketd the tooth and continued to sip his everyday morning tea and consuming his crumpets. During his breakfast, he heard his mother talking to someone just outside the door. He turns his head around to look at who was she talking to and was a bit surprised to see Bathilda Bagshot talking to his mother.

Then Bathilda Bagshot looked over Kendra’s shoulder to see Albus Dumbledore in the kitchen, drinking tea. She then called out. “Albus! Come here.”

“One moment Mrs. Bagshot.” he answers back as he finishes his tea and stuffs the last bit of his crumpets into his mouth. He then wipes his hand on a handkerchief and uses said handkerchief to wipe his mouth. After that, he goes over to the door.

“Yes Mrs. Bagshot. How can I help you?”

“Albus, I just wanted to say that my great-nephew has just visited me. He’s just as old as you. If you ever feel like talking to him, you can.” Mrs Bagshot offered.

“Thank you Mrs Bagshot,I am honoured. Where is your great-nephew at the moment?” he asked.

“Oh, he is in the backyard. I’ll call him if you want to talk to him now?”

“No no, I’ll talk to him later, ma’am.”

“Thank you Albus, he doesn’t talk to anyone in particular so I just wanted him to have a friend.”

“What is his name, if you don’t mind me asking, ma’am?”

“Gellert Grindelwald.”

Albus tried to recall the name from his years at Hogwarts but he couldn’t.

“I am sorry ma’am but I unfortunately cannot recall him from my year. Is he a new admission perhaps? Or another school?”

“Oh, he doesn’t go to Hogwarts, he goes to Durmstrang.”

“Durmstrang? Isn’t that supposed to be somewhere in the Northen mountains of Siberia?”

“Yes Albus, it is.”

“Now you said he was in your backyard? May I go and talk to him?”

“Sure Albus, sure.”

And then Albus walked back into his home, wore his boots and walked back outside to Bathilda Bagshot’s home. It was a warm and sunny morning at Godric’s Hollow. The sun was shining merrily while the birds were atop of the homes and brightly chirped. The road was full of people and carriages as it was summer time and school had finished for the year.

As he walked on, Bathilda’s home was slowly coming up in his field of vision. He knew the way to her home as he had come over a multitude of times in his childhood.

Her home had a garden encircling the dwelling. It had benches to sit on and flowers were being grown. The walls were that of a cream color and her home was a two-storied house. There was fencing all around the home and a small fence gate towards the entrance of the dwelling. There was a small sign that said “Bagshot” near the fence gate.

Albus approached the home and slowly opened the small fence gate. Instead of stepping inside the dwelling, he walked around the home on the garden patch to see a blonde-haired tall boy with his back towards him and muttering to himself as he was slowly walking to and fro.

 The boy had a golden-blond hair and a merry, wild and handsome face. His eyes were bi-colored. His right eye was a startling shade of metalic gray with hints of blue and his other eye was dark brown in color. The brown was so dark that people could easily mistake it for black. He was wearing light and dark blue flannel shirt and brown trousers. He had an air of superior trickery and intelligence to which Albus was instantly drawn too. His bi-colored eyes met Albus’s ocean blue eyes and he instantly was on the defensive.

“Hello,” Albus said simply. “Are you Gellert?”

“Yes?” said the tall boy.

“I’m Albus Dumbledore.” He held out his hand. Gellert stared at it until he realized that courtesy dictated, he shook it.

“Do I know you?” he said suspiciously, once their (very quick) handshake was over.

“Your great-aunt Bathilda told me about you. Said he hardly speaks to anyone these days, and that she’s very worried for you.” Albus’ lips twitched upward as Gellert’s pale face flushed red. “So here I am.”

“…Right,” said Gellert. “I suppose I should thank you.”

Albus merely continued to stare, amusing himself with Gellert’s embarrassment.

Gellert cleared his throat. “She’s well-meaning, and I’d never fault her for being concerned over me, but…”

“I understand,” Albus said with a smirk.

They stood there for a moment.

 “How old are you?” asked Albus.

“Just turned seventeen.”

“I don’t remember you being in Hogwarts. Which school do you go to?”

“Durmstrang.” Came Gellert’s simple one worded response.

Albus hummed. “That explains why I haven’t seen you in Hogwarts.”

“You’re a wizard, then?” asked Gellert.

“That I am.”

“Huh.” Gellert stared at Albus now with more intensity, his curiosity piqued. “You know, you might be my first wizard friend. Aunt Bathilda usually tries to introduce me to Muggle children in the neighborhood. And, well, they’re very nice, and I do like some of them, but…” he faltered.

“But they’re Muggles,” Albus finished.

Gellert’s eyes turned piercing. “Exactly,” he said, his words softer than silk.

“Anyways, can you tell me a bit about yourself, Gellert?”

“Well, my subject of choice has rather always been the Dark Arts as it is called in Durmstrang. Here in Hogwarts it’s Defense Against the Dark Arts, no?”

“Yes it is Defense Against the Dark Arts. You are correct.”

“Really? What is your subject of choice, Albus?”

“Despite being proficient in Defense Against the Dark Arts, my preferred subjects are Transfiguration and Charms. I am looking to pursuit a mastery in both of them. Especially Transfiguration.”

“Merlin, Transfiguration has always been one of my strong subjects but I was unparalleled in the Dark Arts. What are you NEWTs in, Albus?”

“Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy and Potions.”

“Oh dearie….I myself am not that good.” He then nervously chuckled. Dumbledore also joined in his laughter.

“I always wanted to share one thing that I had done during my time at Hogwarts but never really had the courage to share it. Only my dorm-mates knew it. May I?” Dumbledore asked.

“Sure, go ahead Dumbledore.” Gellert allowed him.

“I actually…had set the curtains of my dorm room on fire on accident. Never really liked them any way.”

“WHAT? Holy! I myself had tried to conjure a scorpion in my third year but failed miserably as it turned into a snake and bit me. I still have the scars till this day on my left arm. Look.” He then pulled his left sleeve away and two faint circles on the top of his fore arm, prevalent on his fore arm like the sun.

“That must’ve been painful. Wasn’t it?”

“It sure was Dumbledore, it sure was.”

And they hit it off. Albus and Gellert kept on talking as if they had been friends for a multitude of years in the past. They even instinctively knew what the other would be most likely thinking. It was as if…. they already knew each other and talking together after a long time.

As the years went on, Albus and Gellert became close friends. One day, Albus had his hand scraped by something in the pocket of his trench coat. Once he pulled that thing out, he was surprised to see that the tooth from all those years ago, was in the pocket of his trench coat. Resigned, he was about to keep it back but he remembered he couldn’t find the answers to what it was. So, in one final attempt, he flooed over to Gellert’s home to ask him what it was.

“Gellert! Are you home?” he called out.

“I am up here Albus, in my study.” Gellert’s smooth voice came from his study.

“Alright!” Albus exclaimed before walking up the stairs to Gellert’s study.

Gellert’s study was a dimly lit room with a candle on top of table which was tucked in a corner with parchments strewn across the table and the owner of the study was hunched over writing something.

There were large bookshelves filled with books from all across the world. Some books were in German, some were in French and few were in Spanish. Some books were in Sanskrit while the majority of books were in English. Albus politely knocked on the door and asked.

“Gellert, may I come in?” he asked politely.

“Sure, old friend. Come in," Gellert answered without even looking up from his work.

Albus walked to his friend and asked, “I want to ask something. Something regarding a tooth if you recognize it.”

“Ok, go ahead.”

Albus put his arm in his pocket and pulled out the tooth.

“Do you perhaps, recognize this tooth here?” he asked as he was showing the tooth.

The tooth was yellow and conical in shape with a tip that with enough force, can easily tear through skin and muscle down to the bone.

Gellert looked over to the tooth and his eyes widened with recognition once he saw it.

“I recognize it Albus! It’s a tooth of a Titan! More specifically, I would say it’s the tooth of a Gojira," he exclaimed.

“A Gojira? Can you elaborate, perhaps?” asked Albus.

“Sure, give me a second to pull out my book on Titans.” And with that, he got up to pull out an old tome from his shelf regarding Titans. He opened the book and flipped through the pages until he found the correct page.

“Here, listen. The Gojira have been theorized to be an ancient life form from the Permian period. As the planet cooled and its natural atmospheric radiation began to decrease after the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the last remaining member of the Gojirans adapted to survive various other extinction events by diving deep into the ocean and consuming the planet’s natural geothermal radiation in a hibernation-like state from the molten core of the earth and till date, he hasn’t surfaced since the last ice age.

Titanus Gojira, evolved during the Permian period millions of years ago. Though powerful and numerous, they had been driven to the doorstep of extinction by the MUTOs, a species of parasitic Titans that prey almost exclusively on the Titanus Gojira species. Furthermore, it was speculated that in the ancient past, The Gojirans engaged in direct warfare against the Titanus Kong members, a giant prehistoric ape species, in the Hollow Earth. The war lasted for centuries for dominance of the Hollow Earth, resulting in the remaining Titanus Kong members migrating to Skull Island. Other members of his kind are known to have existed throughout time at different points. Two individuals were killed at different times by MUTO Prime, with one of the Titanus Gojira skeletons being found in Siberia while the other, named Dagon, was found in the Philippines.

The Gojirans have been theorized by Akira Serizawa to have been the alpha predator of his ecosystem and prevented other Titanus species from overpopulating and overrunning the world, acting as a force of nature that maintained balance. When the Titanus Ghidorah arrived on Earth, they quickly established himself as a rival alpha to the Gojirans. Both spieces battled each other several times before they took their fight to Antarctica, which resulted in the last Ghidorah being buried in ice and the last Gojiran's victory. The last Gojiran is now known as Godzilla,” Gellert finished before conjuring a glass of water to drink.

“Good lord, then these Gojirans were the alpha predator. Wait a minute, did it say a Gojiran was found in the Philippines?” Albus asked.

Gellert finished his drink and asked “Yes, it was named Dagon. Why?”

Albus’s shook with realization once he realized what he had done.

“I-I found this tooth from a Go-Gojira fossil from the Philippines”

“WHAT?”

After hours of animated discussion, Dumbledore finally learned more about the higher forms of the Gojira spieces. It actually turned out that there were higher forms of Godzilla millions of years ago.

Godzilla’s face was blocky, his neck is broad and has shark-like gills. His eyes are small with a golden-yellow color, and his teeth are small and not straight lined up. The head and neck lean forward and the nostrils are separate, being on opposite sides of the snout, and making him more reptile-like instead of a more mammlian like fashion.

Godzilla’s dorsal plates are small but have the shape of a maple leaf. His claws are black, and his feet are wide, resembling an elephant’s feet with large claws, reminiscent of a sauropod but with sharper claws. His skin is crocodile-like, and rougher than most titans. And his skin very dark gray (almost black) color. His body and tail are very wide as well, making him to be bulkier than other normal Titans.

But unlike Godzilla, the higher form the dorsal plates being much more spiky and frayed in appearance than that of the regular Godzilla. This form had much more leaf-like in aesthetic, even possessing veins, further solidifying his origin from plant-based organisms. Said dorsal plates run all the way down to his tail.. However, this Godzilla deviates from looking like pure muscle, and instead bears more of a likeness towards the roots of plants, with moss-like details being prevalent on his feet as well. Oddly enough, this Godzilla's foot design is biologically similar to that of a human's: featuring a similar arch between the toe and heel (or calx pads) as well as a similar toe arrangement. The head of this Godzilla bears more than a passing resemblance to the regular Godzilla, but features a much more natural, and normal shape, almost akin to that of a sea turtle when looked at head-on. Despite this, he possesses a slight under bite, with the lower jaw being marginally thicker and more built up than the upper jaw. His eyes are a low blue in coloration, and interestingly enough, this Godzilla lacks natural teeth, instead having tooth-like appendages forming from his skin. The mouth of this Godzilla also possesses an odd, unintentional smile, with the back of his lips curving upwards.

“Albus, I may have forgotten to tell you one thing but there exists a special category of wizards and witches which can turn into Titans. They are called the Magus Titanus for singular and the Magii Titanus for plural.” Informed Gellert.

“How does one turn into a Titan?”

“The size of your magical core has to be more than seventy magia units and to know someone’s form, the Titani spell has to be performed. But it can only be performed by those who have already discovered their form.” Gellert continued informing.

“This…is….. interesting. Have you found your form? Can you do this spell on me?”

“No Albus, I haven’t. But I propose that we could ask Aunt to see if she knows someone who has found their form. Talking about which, where is she? Have you seen her?” Gellert asked.

“She should in the kitchen as I had seen her on my way up here.”

“Ok then, let’s go and ask her.” And the boys went left the study.

As both of them walked down the staircase, Bathilda Bagshot was slowly coming into view. She was on the coffee table, writing something.

Deciding that Gellert would speak first, he called out, “Aunt Bathilda!”

“Yes Gellert?” she asked, without even looking up from her work.

“Can we ask you a few things?” Dumbledore piped up.

“Sure, you can Albus.”

“First of all, what are you are writing?”

“I am writing a book. It’s the history of Hogwarts. What else do you have for me to answer?”

Gellert gulped and spoke up first, voicing his requirement, "You see Aunt…we were wondering that do you perhaps know anyone who has found their Magus Titanus form? Albus and I are interested in finding our forms. So..we need help as it was clearly stated in my book that a person who has already found their Titan form perform the required spell. So…do you perhaps know anyone like that?”

Bathilda was in deep thought. As far she knew, only her brother had found his form. She couldn’t recall any other person so she said “My brother. Simon Bagshot. He has found his Titan form of that of the Titanus Kong. Let me floo call him.” And she got up out of her chair and walked over to the fire place.

She took some floo powder from the container besides the fire place and dropped the powder into the fire while calling out the name of her brother.

“SIMON BAGSHOT!” and she threw the floo powder into the fire place and bent her head into the fire place.

A few moments later, Albus and Gellert exchanged a look because they could only hear what Bathilda was saying.

“Yes…yes…are you sure? Yes, they have….no it wouldn’t be a bother? Alright then. Come through.” Then Bathilda pulled her head back and stepped aside as her brother was about to come through the fire place.

A wizard in a dark brown coat, blue trousers with a top hat, came through. The wizard had an elegant and well kept salt and pepper beard and a handlebar mustache. His arms were lean and strong. His legs were long and powerful. He was only three inches taller than Albus. Albus clocked at an impressive five foot eleven inches. Simon's eyes were that of a navy-blue color and whenever he spoke, a deep and comforting voice came forth through his vocal cords.

“As you had requested Bathilda. I am here. Now where are the boys?” he spoke in a deep low pitched voice with the hint of a Scottish accent.

“On the foot of the stair case, Simon.”

Navy blue eyes swept through the room until they rested on the foot of the stairs.

“There you are Gellert! Enjoying your stay here?”

“That I am, Uncle Simon.”

Simon’s eyes met Dumbledore’s eyes and he said, “Hello there Albus, so is it true that both of you would like know your other form?”

“Yes it is," the boys echoed.

Simon clasped his hands brightly and said, "Very well then, let us move to one of the rooms and see what are your forms then, shall we?”

And all of them retreated to Grindelwald’s room.

“Ah, your room is quite comforting, Gellert. The atmosphere is really calming. Gellert, sit down in that chair.”

So, he sat.

Simon cleared his throat and pulled out his wand and askes, “Now, do you trust me?”

“Yes, I do, Uncle.”

“Very well then. Close your eyes and let me focus.”

Gellert closed his eyes and Simon followed suit. His wand began to glow a bright blue as he began to twirl his wand. Then he pointed his wand at Gellert and intoned in a firm voice.

“Ostende mihi hoc Magia Wielders Titanus Forma. Sive Tenebris aut Luce, Infirma vel Potens, OSTENDE MIHI!”

And then Grindelwald began to scream as he began to felt pain beyond his comprehension. Albus was about to scream and push Simon to the ground until he saw golden light and a form burst forth from Grindelwald’s chest and hovered in-between them like a hologram. Albus and Grindelwald recognized this but not as they had imagined.

Simon spoke out the name.

“I can’t believe it…. Titanus Supēsugojira…”

They later learned that the Godzilla feels fell into a black hole and reemerged from a white hole, starting to assimilate crystalline organisms while rapidly evolving, the final result being Titanus Supēsugojira. It had a far more bestial face with fangs protruding from his mouth and huge crystals sprouting from his back instead of the maple shaped dorsal plates the regular Godzilla specimen had.

Gellert got up and Albus sat in his place as he was being told to by Simon.

“Albus, sit down.”

So, he sat.

Simon cleared his throat and asked, “Now, do you trust me?”

“Yes, I do, Simon.”

“Very well then. Close your eyes and let me focus.”

Albus closed his eyes and Simon followed suit. His wand began to glow a bright blue as he began to twirl his wand. Then he pointed his wand at Albus and intoned in a firm voice.

“Ostende mihi hoc Magia Wielders Titanus Forma. Sive Tenebris aut Luce, Infirma vel Potens, OSTENDE MIHI!”

And then Dumbledore began to scream as he began to felt pain beyond his comprehension. Gellert was about to push Simon to the ground until he saw deep green light and a form burst forth from Albus’s chest and hovered in-between them like a hologram. Albus and Grindelwald recognized this but not as they had imagined.

Simon spoke out the name.

“I can’t believe it…. Titanus Terragojira...”

It turns out that Albus was actually right. The higher form of the Godzilla species actually had turned out to be his form. Grindelwald’s form is known as Spacegodzilla while Dumbledore’s form was known as Earth Godzilla.

Years down the line in the year of 1945, Albus and Gellert had got into a disagreement because of Gellert’s barbaric ways of making the magicals the prevalent species over the Muggles. He was doubting himself and his choice of joining Gellert after his sister had been killed in a three-way duel between himself, Gellert and Aberforth. Albus had instantly snapped once he learned that Gellert was partnering with the Führer, or as he was known outside of Germany, Adolf Hitler. Dumbledore agreed with Grindelwald, but this was too far. Especially after the death of his sister.

“This is enough, Gellert. Cease this at once,"  Dumbledore firmly spoke through a voice amplification charm, as his graying white auburn beard was flapping helplessly and was drenched with the rain water

“My ways are barbaric? You are clearly mistaken, my dear Albus. There is no need for this duel. You can join me again, forget this and start anew. I am offering you a choice, join me once again. Become what you were-become how I liked you,” Gellert spoke with a voice amplification charm as his blonde hair and beard flapped helplessly against the strong winds white being drenched with rain water.

“Be careful for what you wish for, Gellert. As not all things go according to your plan,” and then he launched into a flurry of spells that Grindelwald barely managed to counter. Filled with resignation and anger, Gellert retaliated with a darker flurry and then the rest is history.

Dumbledore and Grindelwald had dueled for three straight hours and once Grindelwald saw that the duel was going not progressing at all and was tied, he transformed into his Titan form and began attacking. His form was massive. A lot like Godzilla, but far bigger. Standing at an enormous nine hundred and eighty feet with crystals on his back instead of the regular dorsal plates. The canines were jutting out of his mouth and were looking particularly fearsome.

He was a force to be reckoned with.

Wasting no chance and determined to defeat Grindelwald, Dumbledore changed into his form on the spot and began fighting. His form was nearly the same height as Grindelwald, only being four feet taller.

Atomic beams, tail whips, bites and claws. Scratches, smashes and thunder claws. Every single weapon available in the arsenal of the fearsome Kaiju was being used. The surrounding city of San Francisco was utterly destroyed. Gellert had grabbed Dumbledore and flew far away so they can fight freely and not have movement being restricted. They landed in the Black Forest. Gellert unleashed a devastating red beam from his mouth but Earth Godzilla countered with his own atomic breath.

A vibrant blue and purple column of fire unleashed from Dumbledore to counter Gellert’s devastating orange beam, Gellert cancelled his beam and ducked out of the way. Dumbledore’s beam hit a nearby mountain and utilizing that moment, Gellert aimed and fired his beam at Dumbledore’s eyes. Dumbledore saw that at the last second and was blown away backwards by the sheer force of it. His armor was beginning to crack as it couldn’t withstand the force of Gellert’s beam so Dumbledore got up, withstanding the beam and began to close the distance between them.

Gellert didn’t notice until it was too late as Dumbledore had got at the appropriate distance and swung his mighty tail at Gellert. It knocked Gellert to his feet. Not having enough magic to sustain the forms, both wizards were forced to switch back to their human forms and continue dueling.

“EXPELLIARMUS!” Dumbledore roared.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” cried Grindelwald.

Both beams clashed in the middle and it was a test of who had the stronger will. It was a close match. Sometimes Gellert’s green would be the more prevalent of the two, sometimes it would be Albus’s red. Sometimes it would be a standstill. Until Dumbledore yelled, "NUCLEI SPIRITU!”

The same blue and purple fire burst forth from the tip of Dumbledore’s ebony wand. As it ripped through the air and was sailing towards Grindelwald, he roared, "KORONABĪMU!”

The orange and red beam from earlier burst forth from the tip of the Elder Wand in Grindelwald’s hands and clashed with the column of blue and purple fire from Dumbledore.

However, the force of fire was too much and the Elder Wand flew out of Grindelwald’s hand and burnt Grindelwald’s ring and little finger of his wand arm.

Dumbledore stared Gellert down and took him away to the entrance of the MACUSA. For him to be imprisoned and sent to his own prison, Nurmengard.

It was the year 1964. The non-magical world had been made aware of the existence of Titans shortly after the legendary duel of Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. They were notified of the presence of Monarch, a working and well-known company which is dedicated to study about the Titans and keep a record of them. So far, forty-eight sites have been found all over the world. Godzilla had been spotted resurfacing shortly after the nuclear tests of 1954.

The discovery of the atomic fission had led Titans to return on a wide level all across the globe. But before that, only a handful of Titans were existing as they were exiled from the Hollow-Earth, where all the earth titans originate from.

The Kong’s have been reduced to one member remaining due to lack of food and a type of Titans, known as the Skull Crawlers, killing the last few Kongs. The survivor of this attack was lucky to make it out alive. A tribe on Skull Island, known as the Iwi tribe, worship this last surviving ape. And they call him…. Kong.

In Austria however, lay an old and battered Gellert Grindelwald, in a prison handcrafted by himself. His own personal hell till the day he dies. He lay in Nurmengard.

It was a dark and dreary day in Nurmengard. The waves of the ocean splashed against the rocks and retreated back, the clouds were a dark gray as it was about to rain and an old, battered, skinny Gellert Grindelwald lay asleep in his cell.

As he was deep in his slumber, a thin hand seemed to shake him awake. Once his eyes opened, he was puzzled to see a handsome young man, with black curly hair and red eyes. He was tall and wore an elegant black set of robes. He wore an inpatient look on his face.

“Wh-who are you?” Grindelwald spoke, his voice coming out as raspy and hoarse due to the years of disuse. He then began coughing. Once his coughing settled down, the man before him spoke.

“You may call me Mr. Gaunt, Grindelwald. I am here to discover my Magus Titanus form. I didn’t go to the muggle loving fool Dumbledore as he wouldn’t do it, so, I am here.”

Grindelwald cracked a sardonic grin and said, “Mr. Gaunt, I believe I cannot do this. I mean look at me. I barely have the strength to stand up and walk so I believe I wouldn’t be able to do this.”

“No matter, I will cast an energizing charm on you. You’ll be able to do this.”

“And even if I do this, what will I get, eh?” Gellert then starting chuckling.

Mr. Gaunt brought his face closer to Grindelwald’s face and whispered, “Freedom, my dear Grindelwald, freedom. You did see that I bypassed the wards on this place and apparated here, did I not? Similarly, I can easily whisk you away and grant you freedom if you help me find my form. This is the deal.”

Gellert contemplated from his prone position on the ground and stared into the face of the wizard above him.

“I’ll do it.”

“Brilliant!” Mr. Gaunt exclaimed, then he pointed his wand at the prone figure of Gellert and cast, “Energis.”

Energy filled Gellert Grindelwald’s battered body, he felt as if he could run, he felt as if he could jump, he felt more…. alive than he ever had before.

“Thank you, Mr. Gaunt, thank you," He graciously accepted and shortly after, Mr. Gaunt grabbed his left arm quite roughly and apparated out of there, into a manor.

Grindelwald stumbled and fell on his knees as he clearly didn’t expect being side-along apparated. He looked around. The manor had a regal feel to it, the columns had the elder gods carved into them, the fireplace gloomily burned and only then Grindelwald realized he was standing on a carpet.

As he saw Mr. Gaunt pulling up a chair to sit on, a loud hissing could be heard throughout the room. Grindelwald looked around for the source of the noise to only be greatly surprised and heavily unnerved to see a twenty-five feet long reticulated python, slithering in the room. He was heavily disturbed to see the amount of intelligence behind those eyes as if, the snake could understand each and every word they spoke. As if, the snake had human-level intellect.

“Oh, don’t worry, she doesn’t bite unnecessarily. Until I command her to, that is, "Mr. Gaunt spoke, bringing the attention of Grindelwald back onto him. He then continued, “My men are standing all across the room, disillusioned, with their wands pointed towards you. One wrong move, and you will be killed. They know the effects of the Magi Titanus spell. They know it would hurt, so they would look past it. If you attempt anything else, Nagini would strike you before you could react and eat you alive. If you kill her, then my men would kill you.”

Grindelwald’s eyes instantly wandered towards the walls of the room and was shocked to see that Mr. Gaunt wasn’t lying. He could indeed make out the outline of a wizard with his wand pointed at him.

“I will hand you your wand to perform the spell. Do you understand?”

Gellert could only nod. Then he asked, “Who are you?”

“I am Lord Voldemort.”

Then one of his men removed the disillusionment charm from his body and handed Grindelwald his wand.

Voldemort spoke, “See, Lord Voldemort is true to his word. You got your wand, have been hit with an energizing charm and are outside prison. You just have to perform the spell now.”

“Alright, now can you please stop talking and let me focus? It has been a long time since I have seen this spell being used," Grindelwald confessed.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Gellert closed his eyes, delved deep into his memories and brought up the memory of his uncle Simon showing Gellert and Albus their forms.

Once he remembered the spell, he intoned from memory.

“Ostende mihi hoc Magia Wielders Titanus Forma. Sive Tenebris aut Luce, Infirma vel Potens, OSTENDE MIHI!”

And then Voldemort screamed in pain, pain he never experienced. As he was screaming, a strong, vibrant, bright golden colored light began to come forth from his eyes, nostrils and mouth. The light then took the form of a whispery, smoky figure, similar to that of a Patronus, and solidified.

“In the name of the Allfather…I don’t believe it. I am seeing... Titanus Ghidorah...” and then his wand was knocked out of his hands and he was petrified on the spot.

Voldemort took his time to recover, the regeneration powers he got from the rituals he did certainly boost his recovery speed. As he recovered, he whisked Grindelwald away, reverted the effects of the energizing charm and left him like he was in the depths of Nurmengard.

It was the school year of 1979, as he was having his breakfast on the teacher’s table in the Great Hall like he always did, owls started arriving with the regular letters from the family and the newspaper.

As Dumbledore’s newspaper was dropped to him, the headlines shook him to the core.

THREE-HEADED DRAGON ATTACKS WIZARDING LONDON.

By Nathaniel Wilberg

That is right folks, a three-headed dragon which a lot of people are claiming to be King Ghidorah according to legend, has attacked wizarding London this weekend resulting in the destruction of hundreds of households and resulting 970 casualties within which, 467 casualties are deaths while the others have either gone missing or are gravely injured. Citizens claim that once the dragon arrived, a tremendous storm had accompanied it with yellow lighting while some are claiming that they heard the cackle of You-Know-Who as the dragon arrived. Is this an attack of You-Know-Who? Is this an attack of the true Voice of the Storms? Or is it that it was You-Know-Who’s other form?

One thing is for certain, that the dragon was none other than King Ghidorah. And if it indeed was Ghidorah, then may God save us all as we need Godzilla to rise up again. If he doesn’t, then the inevitable end is near as it seems like the first gods have risen again.

We are in dark times citizens; may Merlin save us all.

Cries of terror and shock reverberated through the hall and the teachers were talking to each other about this.

But Dumbledore was lost in his memories and could only mutter a single sentence.

“I should’ve known.”

                                                                     -End of Prologue-

Chapter Text

The portly man was Cornelius Fudge. The Minister for Magic. With a big sack of galleons in his hand.

He approached the group.

“Ah Mister Potter. Congratulations on your victory in the Triwizard Tournament. Here you go, your winnings. Happy, aren't you?” questioned the portly minister.

“Minister, I have no need for it. Give half of it to Cedric. He won as well.” Harry said.

“What? Really? Why didn’t you say so? Mr. Diggory! Do you hear me? I am giving the gold to Mr. Potter and then the both of you distribute it for yourselves." He instructed the young Diggory.

"Ok Minister.” accepted Cedric quite fervently.

“But wait minister. I have to tell you something” Harry interrupted.

“What?” the minister asked with a sharp turn of his head.

“He is back. Voldemort’s back” Harry bluntly stated.

“WHAT do you MEAN HE IS BACK? Stop bluffing, let me take your winnings away.” Fudge yelled, refusing to accept the fact that Voldemort has returned.

“Minister you can look at my memory if you want to. I am NOT LYING. “ Harry profusely defended himself.

The portly man contemplated that for a moment then gave in. He dug in his coat for a vial and brought one out.

“Fine then. Here. Give me your memory in this vial.” he said as he motioned to the vial he dug out.

He opened the vial. Harry then noticed Dumbledore behind Cornelius so he asked him for assistance.

“Professor Dumbledore, I have my wand arm broken and bandaged and I can’t move it. Can you deposit the memory?” Harry asked.

“Sure Harry, just focus on the memory. Don’t think of anything else. Focus on the memory. I will just take a mere copy of the memory” Dumbledore instructed.

“Ok sir.” Harry compiled .

He followed what Albus instructed him to do.

Dumbledore’s wand touched Harry’s temple and he slowly pulled the memory out..

“Cornelius, the vial.” Dumbledore ordered.

Fudge handed over the vial. Albus placed it softly in the vial.

“Ok now Harry. Open your eyes” Dumbledore said calmly.

“Fine then Harry? I am going to check the memory back when I get to the Ministry. I bid you, good bye.” the minister hurried off.

He left. His footsteps echoed in the Hospital wing and then he turned out of sight.

They watched him until he was out of sight. As soon he went out of sight, Sirius transformed from mutt to man.

“Pup, it’s so bloody good to see you again. When I received your letter about the First Task, I was bloody grinning like an idiot. But I was terrified at the same time. Same goes for the 2nd Task. You had me worried Harry James Potter, DON’T do it again. You had this young charming man here WORRIED!"

“Ok Pads but HOLD UP! YOU look damn healthy. Well, you are on the skinny side still but you look better since the last time we talked." Harry replied happil

“I know Prongslet. But you are the focus here, what happened in the third task?” Sirius questione

Everyone was eagerly waiting for Harry to star

So, he did.

He recounted everything.

“Wait. You said your wands joined?" Dumbledore asked.

“Yes sir"

“Your spells collided?"

“Yes sir, echoes of people who died from Voldemort’s wand came as you said earlier.”

“Albus, what was the name of the effect when 2 brother wands meet again?

“Priori Incantatem, Sirius”

“Yes, that’s it”

“Sir, what’s that?”

"Priori Incantatem is a magical phenomenon that can occur when two wands which share the same source for their cores are forced to compete in combat. It is sometimes referred to as the "reverse-spell effect". It can also be induced by analytical spells, like an extension of the Prior Incantato spell."

“Oh. alright.”

“What next happened Harry?”

He continued.

A while later Dumbledore asked Harry “Harry, if you can find the time can you come into my office as we talked about? I would greatly appreciate it.” The old man asked the young lad.

"Ok sir.” He complied.

“Sirius, come along,we need to get back and get the old group back together."

“Albus, I will just talk to Harry a bit more and I’ll come along”

“Fine then.”

Sirius also left in his Animagus form a few minutes later.

Then as Albus said, Harry was discharged from the wing and he joined him in his office.

“Professor?”

“Yes Harry, come in”

Harry stepped in his office and was mesmerized by everything in his office as he always was.

“Sit, Harry…sit.”

So, he sat.

“Harry, you might wonder why I advised you to come into my office, right?”

“Yes sir.”

“Since Voldemort is back. You need to be prepared. We have dark times ahead Harry, Dark times. He will slowly re-gather his forces and start the war. Apart from your home in Privet Drive and in Hogwarts, you are not safe. You need to be prepared for the war. I wouldn’t always be there with you. So, you need to be prepared. Sirius, I ,Professor Snape, Alastor, Remus, Minerva and Filius will all prepare you. Got that Harry?”

“Sirius and Alastor will teach you Martial Arts. Minerva will teach you Animagus transformation. Remus will teach you how to fight different Dark Creatures and Charms. Filius will teach you dueling. Professor Snape will tutor you on Dark curses and I myself, will teach you the Mind arts. Also, I will educate you on Titans and how to channel your inner Titan.

All Mages in the world have an ancient Titan that represents them. For example, Gellert Grindelwald, the ancient titan that represented him was AstroGojira. Or take me for example. The titan that represents me is Gigan. Gigan doesn’t represent me to the tee but it is the closest. Your Titan form would showcase your magical capabilities. My form used to be that of the Earth Godzilla during my prime but now since I have grown older and I have lost touch on some branches of magic, My form has changed. The Titan that represents Lord Voldemort is King Ghidorah. He won’t go down without a fight Harry, you need to be prepared.” Dumbledore said.

“Heh, damnable Potter luck. Always had to be in the goddamn thick of things. However, I have a few questions sir." asked Harry.

“Yes Harry?” asked Dumbledore.

“I have been having dreams about a snake eating its own tail. What does it mean?”

“An Ouroboros…...it signifies eternal cyclic renewal or a cycle of life, death, and rebirth.”

"What does that imply, sir?” asked the inquisitive young man.

“You might be a rebirth of someone or you have already gone through this but going through it again……I don’t really know Harry. But to me it highly seems that you might be a rebirth of someone from the past or your Titan might be….”

“Sir, you mean I might be the reincarnation of somebody or my Titan might?

“Excuse me Harry, what do you mean by your titan might?”

“Sir, I meant that The Titan form I might have,someone from the past already had it and I got it?”

“Yes, that is very plausible……” mused Dumbledore.

“Harry, you need to heed this advice. The times ahead will force us to do what is right and what is easy. You need to do what’s right even if it is nearly impossible to do." advised the old headmaster.

Harry contemplated his words and thought about them. After a few moments he asked his other question that he had.

"Sir, I have been having these weird dreams about some ancient war where a species of three headed dragons are attacking a species of some bipedal radioactive lizard. Would you happen to know any three headed dragon species? Or some spieces of a bipedal radioactive lizard?"

Dumbledore thought about it. But his train of thought came to a sudden stop. He realised what was he talking about but he wasn't sure about it exactly so he picked up a book from his bookshelf without a word and flipped to the page that he was sure what Harry was talking about.

"Harry, look here. It says that the Titanus Ghidorah were a classification of Titans that had attacked the Earth in the Carboniferous period in attempts to take the planet as their own. But the Earth-Titans had stood up to defend the planet but the Ghidorah were prevailing so a species of Earth-Titans called 'Titanus Gojira' had stood and pushed back the Ghidorah.

And soon the attack was no longer between the Ghidorah and the Earth-Titans. It was between the Ghidorah and the Gojirans. Soon the Ghidorah had drastically reduced the Gojirans to a mere number of 100 and so did the Gojirans reduced the number of Ghidorah. After many years, only one Titan was left from each side. Then the war had mysteriously halted." Dumbledore halted for a moment and then continued.

"But in the Ice Age, the last Ghidorah sought out the last Gojiran to finish what had started. The last Gojiran had fought his enemy underwater and had ripped one of his heads off.. But Ghidorah had regenerative abilities so he re-grew his head but could not get out of the water as he couldn't maneuver around in the depths of the ocean and he has been frozen in ancient Antarctica and is frozen till date.

The last Gojiran is now known as Godzilla or the King of the Monsters and the last Titanus Ghidorah is now known as King Ghidorah or the False King. In 1954, there were nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean. Those weren't nuclear tests. But the military of the United States of America was trying to kill Godzilla but Godzilla thrives off nuclear radioactivity, so he was awakened by the nuclear bombs and he is back."

“Wow...I just...I don't know what to say. I am just stunned by this story. How many Gojirans and Ghidorah were there sir?" asked the green eyed wizard.

"I don't know for sure but it is theorized that there were well above a 1000 of each. Some say that there were 10,000 of each."

"Then the war must've been brutal. Wouldn't it,sir?"

"Yes it must've been Harry. Do you have anything for me to answer? I know you do."

"Yes sir, before the day of the task, I had heard a snake hiss that the 'Voice of the Storms' is coming and nothing is going to stop it. Also in the maze, there were some regular snakes. Once I cast the reductor curse and ran, one of them hissed that I should expect the unexpected. What is all of this, sir? I just don't understand. And in the maze, there was a whisper saying that Death's Champion is coming. There was a sphinx there that asked me a riddle and then after that the sphinx also said that Death's Champion is coming. What is all of this?"

"Harry, I also don't understand this. Give me time and I shall figure something out. Meanwhile, can you deposit your memories of these events in the memory vials on my shelf?"

"No problem sir, I have one more thing to ask. Will Sirius be freed anytime soon?"

“Since you gave your memory to Cornelius and Pettigrew was there,there might be chances that Sirius will be a free man. But for the summers,you need to return to Privet Drive. You, are free to go now. Return to your dorm now, pip pip."

“Thank you sir” and he took the vials from the shelf and deposited the memories and swiftly left the office in anticipation to share this news to Ron and Hermione.

Little did he know, his time would become much harder.

-ARC 1 FINISH-

Chapter Text

ARC 2

Part 2: Infinity

“Titanus Gojira…” Dumbledore trailed off in shock upon the revelation of Harry’s form. Confused by this, Harry couldn’t help but ask “Titanus Gojira? Sir, what do you mean by that?”

Harry’s words shook Dumbledore out of his surprise and then he cleared his throat before speaking “Harry, you form- that to the King of the Monsters at that, has me bewildered. I hoped- I hoped that, if I were to find your form, it would settle answers to a multitude of questions but alas, it only gave birth to more questions.”

Harry blinked as he processed Dumbledore’s words. Birth to more questions? What could he mean? What sort of questions? But only failing to realize that he had voiced his questions and Dumbledore was answering them.

“-Was looking for a person who has your titan form since I was a young lad, no older nor younger, than thirty. My friend, who I had befriended after completing my Hogwarts education, had assisted me on this journey as our forms were of the same family of Titans. Both of our forms, were that of the Gojiran family.”

Floored by this revelation, Harry’s curiosity peaked ever-the-more. “Sir, what form exactly is your form? I also want to know who was this friend of yours and what was his form. So, please sir. Can you -?” the unasked question was left hanging but both of them could hear it.

Dumbledore smiled a sad smile and said, “That, my dear child, is a story for another time. But as to his form, it is none other, than Titanus Supēsugojira and mine was that of the Terragojira. The former standing for ‘Space Godzilla’ and the latter being ‘Earth Godzilla’. But times have changed,” with that, he looked over to the window to see the enamouring moonlight, seeping into the office through the window and falling on Dumbledore’s face, alighting his face into a colour patter similar to that of the yin and yang. Shadows on one side of the face and the other, completely lit by the moonlight.

“The night, its rather peaceful, isn’t it Harry?” Dumbledore softly said.

“I couldn’t agree more, sir."

While continuing to keep his gaze on the moon, Dumbledore continued.

“As the nights go by, you must have noticed how the moon changes? That’s how, we change. That’s how everything changes. That’s how everything…evolves. And in a similar manner, our forms evolve.” Then his gaze befell upon Harry’s face.

Harry swallowed, noticing the sound of the silence, as it is ringing deep within his ears, the beats of his heart being more audible than ever before to him. Letting out a breath, he said “So, you are saying that forms change over-time? That, your form is different to what it used to be?”

“Yes Harry. It was the year of 1960, when I noticed my form had changed. I couldn’t do anything at first. I was confused, horrified, even went to a period of depression as the changing of the form, signifies a great impact on the core of the wizard or witch in question and the fact that the said magic practitioner, may or may not have lost touch with a branch of magic they could perform.”

Hearing this, Harry was horrified. Losing touch with magic? That would be a bloody nightmare for any wizard. Or a witch for that matter. Oh Merlin…. He couldn’t breathe for a brief moment. He couldn’t think straight nor could he make any rational thought as he was horribly grief-stricken that he might lost touch with magic. But what magic? So, he asked.

“That my dear child, is something I cannot say. Not everyone loses touch with the same branch of magic. The one who had tutored me about my form said that ‘Upon the inevitable change, no two magic practitioners would lose their grasp on the same branch of magic. What really matters, is the fact that upon losing a branch of magic, the practitioner is willing to utilise the other remaining branches and remaining fighting. Until the last breath that flows through. Until they have won as that is how winning is done” and I followed that rule. I had lost touch with the fine art of potion making but still I pulled through. Even though I cannot brew proper potions anymore, I tend to not to dwell on it much and utilise the remaining other branches of magic to their maximum extent.”

Harry could not say anything as he was in deep thought about this. He could only nod on.

“As I said, Harry. You must be willing to utilise the other branches. Even if you lost one has powerful and useful as Transfiguration or your ability in Charms, you can always be better prepared if your other branches are equally as good. If not, even better.”

Reeling from Dumbledore’s monologue, Harry could only mutter, "Ok sir.”

“Since it is getting late, you best be off. After all, you need to sleep. Go on Harry. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight sir,"And then he got up to leave.

As he was about to open the door and leave, Dumbledore called out “Harry!”

Confused, he turned around and asked, "Yes sir?”

“If you are willing, then can you come back tomorrow? As I was planning to begin tutoring you on your other form. You can come any time before nine in the morning. That is all. Have a good sleep, goodnight.” Dumbledore finished.

“Sir? I have a question to ask before I leave.”

“Yes, Harry?”

 Harry re-thought his question, then swallowed and asked, “Do you think that, perhaps any other student is having a titan form? Like, any year. Do you think anybody has one? Apart from me, that is.”

“That I do Harry. And you know both of them personally.”

“And who are they?”

“I have yet to confirm if they indeed have a form but I strongly suspect they do.” He finished.

“But who are they?” Harry asked again.

“That is a story, for another time.” Dumbledore gave a brief smile and Harry left.

Next morning, Harry woke up at an odd time. He didn’t know what time it was but all he could see from the window was a dark sky. Briefly flummoxed, he cast a swift tempus to see it was a quarter to six in the morning. Thinking it was a bit too early, he tried to fall asleep again but only for to stay in the bed, wide awake. Deciding it would be fruitless to try to fall asleep again, he groggily stood up and tried to walk to the bathroom for only to stub his toe on one of the legs of the bed and nearly falling over.

“Ow! Bloody hell!” he yelled out as he stubbed his toe on one of the legs of the bed. He wildly turned his head around to see if he had awoken Ron but was relaxed to see that Ron was still asleep. As he stumbled his way to the bathroom, he stared at his own reflection, staring drowsily back at him. As he was staring at his own reflection, he noticed his skinny, gaunt figure. His ribs were sticking out and his cheek had a drool stain, as he had just woken up. His hair was messy and looked windswept as ever. His vision fell on the long gash on his arm, which he had got during the ritual that resurrected the Dark Lord.

The gash on his right arm was shallow but long. It had been nearly two months since it had happened but it was still there, with a long scab running along the gash and the ridges between them seem horrible as the injury was. As he was running his finger down the scab, endless nightmares, the ritual, his laughter, his mockery, his death threats, all echoed within Harry’s mind. Once he got his fingers off of the scab and went for the toothbrush and paste to brush his teeth, his eyes travelled across the mirror once his hand had a firm grasp on the said things and he very nearly screamed once he saw a particular thing in the mirror.

Standing there with robes darker than the darkest night, a hood over the face with only bright red eyes glowing through, unnaturally long fingers which seemed to be rotten, lifeless yet full of life, grasping a gigantic scythe which dwarfed Harry as well as the figure itself loomed over Harry like a giant. It cracked a maniacal grin which Harry couldn’t see. Harry was horrified and was rooted in his spot out of fear but only managed to control his scream as to not wake up other people. He then shakily whispered,

“Wh-Who are you?”

The figure said nothing but pulled of its hood which only revealed a face of what otherwise would’ve been a strikingly handsome man. His eyes were…. wait a minute…. he had no eyes! Where there should’ve been a pair of eyes was two empty eye-sockets. His skin appeared to be mottled and barely could hang on his face. Ants could be seen travelling out of the corner of his mouth and out of his left eye-socket as an eerie red eye lit up in both of his eyes as he began to speak. He had a smooth, silky, deep baritone voice when he spoke. 

“It doesn’t matter who I am, Harry Potter. What matters is, the fate of the cosmos.”

Bewildered, Harry spoke out, “What? What do you mean ‘fate of the cosmos’? Life is going to die or something?”

The figure then smiled. Well, as much as a dead corpse could smile. “Precisely , Harry Potter. May I tell you the tale of the Champion of Death?”

Too surprised to speak, Harry could just mutedly nod.

“Very well, eons ago, a being, hailing from the planet Titan was madly in love with Lady Death. He offered her whatever gifts he could, in attempts to court her to marriage, but, Lady Death did not want to be involved with him so she turned down each attempt of his, to court her. Disappointed, the Mad Titan gave up all hope until he found the ultimate way in which he could think he would be able to please her. And that being, the Infinity Stones.”

“I am sorry, but what are the Infinity Stones?” Harry finally found the voice to speak and asked.

“You are saying you don’t know what they are?” the figure asked, surprised.

“No, I don’t.” 

Irked, the figure said, “Pathetic. When the Universe bloomed into being, six entities were created which incapsulated the six core elements of the universe. Those being, Power,” and a whispery image of a small purple stone was created and hovered between them.

“Space,” and the image of a small, blue stone was formed and it hovered towards the left of the image of the purple stone.

“Reality,” and the image of a small, bright red stone was created and it took up a spot on the left of the blue stone.

“Soul,” then the image of a black stone, with runes etched onto it, came into being and in the image, the stone shook briefly as it shook off the black colour and donned a bright fiery orange as it hovered beside the red stone.

“Time,” this time, the image of a slightly larger, vibrant green stone was formed and it floated beside the orange stone.

“And Mind.”

Then the image which was of a bright yellow stone bigger than the rest was created and it flew up and floated below all the five other stones.

“Together, they are called the Infinity Stones and have the power to snap half of all life with a snap of a finger. Just like that.”

“Dear god…” Harry trailed of in horror. As he found his voice again, he asked yet another question.

“But how does one do that?”

The being chuckled darkly and said, “One must create a gauntlet, capable of wielding all six infinity stones and if they are strong enough, they could possibly withstand the power of the six core elements of the universe, and snap their fingers to wipe out half of all life. And that is what, this being wants to do”

Harry’s eyes widened as he processed the last sentence. HE WANTS TO KILL HALF OF ALL LIFE? WHY THE FUCK? And the being answered his question as if it were reading his thoughts.

“As he was thinking about using the stones to give death an ultimate gift, a thought crossed his mind. His home planet had its occupants die out due to overpopulation and low resources. So, he sought out a way to permanently eliminate half of all life of the universe which would essentially, in his train of thought, would eliminate half of all people from planets like us. If he does that- “

“Wait.”

Annoyed at being interrupted, he barked out, “What?”

“You are saying, planets like us? As in plural? You mean there are extra-terrestrial living beings?” He eagerly asked.

“Yes, I am. There are extra-terrestrials in the plane of existence as we speak.”

“Can I ask you one more question?”

“What is it?”

“Did the events begin? Has the countdown to the war against the mad titan, already begun?”

The being then said its next sentence with a dark smile, “If you look at the bigger picture, it had begun a long time ago.”

“Tell me Harry, you have lived in this world for quite some time, have you not? With its single British school and the families worthy of the pureblood name, do you ever remember- that it is small?”

“For the Wizarding World is small, Harry Potter. But it is not so small as the world itself, against the darkness. In the years coming, one catastrophic event after the other would take place until the inevitable rise of the Mad Titan. Seven people, seven core people would be the main fighters in this oncoming war. As to whom, I cannot disclose that information as of yet. But when the time comes, you would know them yourself and all around the world, they will be known as the earth’s mightiest heroes.”

“As of now, you are nothing next to that rabble you grew in. So much power concentrated in such few hands. Yet there is another, far from the world you have known. One who would put all power within one single hand.”

He then continued “As your mortal enemy, Voldemort says, ‘There is no light or dark. Only power, and those who are to seek it’. This rings true here. After all, only power works against the powerful. Even the vulnerable need power to thrive. And only power would work against the oncoming force.”

Then the bathroom went as silent it could be. You could hear each baited breath Harry drew in and let out and, in the distance, Ron’s snoring could be heard. 

“What’s his name again?”

 “Thanos. You might know it means death. Your war has never ended; you must know. It is merely the start of a lot more catastrophic events to come”—

“As I had said before, seven people would be vital to this war. And it begs me the question, would you, Harry James Potter, be ready when the time comes? Would you be ready, when the other six form?”

“Will you be ready, when they assemble, Harry Potter?”

 He then walked closer towards Harry as he could not do anything but stay still due to fear and due to what he had just heard. Then the being whispered into Harry’s ear, “Or will you refuse it, and then watch along as a spectator, seeing the events unfold right before your eyes and you know it is too late to stop them? Will you be ready? Or will you be weak?”

He continued, “…. This is an offer, Harry Potter. Choose wisely. After all, if you choose to be weak, then Thanos will be the universe’s and eventually, your endgame….”

Enraged by that, all sleep vanished from Harry in the span of a millisecond as he yelled out,

“I AM NOT WEAK!”

But fortunately, as he said that, Sirius rushed into the bathroom, his eyes wide and wild, his hair messy as he had just woken up and wearing his sleep wear. He then looked around the bathroom and then at Harry and asked,

“Kiddo, who are you yellin’ at? Are you alright?”

Hearing the door open, Harry’s attention went towards Sirius and his eyes furrowed in confusion as he was trying to recognize who was he. Then he looked over to the spot where the…entity was standing on but he saw nobody. Apparently, no one was there. Confused, he sputtered out,

“No-Nobody Sirius. I- I uh…I was just trying snap myself out of my arse thinking that I am weak. Ever since the ritual, I have been having a second voice in my head saying that I am weak. I was trying to snap myself out of it, that’s all Pads.” He then grinned at him as to make a point that everything was alright.

Sirius’s eyes softened for a moment but he looked utterly unconvinced. So, he pulled Harry in for a hug and he rested his head on Harry’s head. He whispered “It’s alright kid, it’s alright. I’ll am here for you. Everything is ok.” Harry whispered back a soft message for only Padfoot’s ears.

“That I know Sirius. I love you Pads.”

“I love you too mate, I love ya Harry.” And then he kissed Harry’s forehead and he pulled away from the hug.

“Harry, do not scream like that at six in the bloody morning. Anyways, want some breakfast? I’ll go tell Molly to make some as she is up right now. You want anything?”

“Um...uh….Bacon, eggs and toast would do.”

“Alright Harry, bacon eggs and toast coming right up! I would be eating with you and please freshen yourself up as your breath smells like dirty old socks.”

Harry laughed at that and said “I definitely would Padfoot, thanks.”

“No problem kid,” and then he closed the door and walked away. Harry kept staring at the door, not really looking at it but rather listening for Padfoot’s footsteps as he sighed “What would I do without him.” Then he began brushing his teeth and began to get ready for the day.

-15 Minutes later-

As he wore closed the buttons of his shirt, he walked out of the room and headed downstairs for breakfast as Sirius promised. As he was climbing down the stairs, he couldn’t help but admire the dark beauty Number 12 Grimmauld Place had. Sure, it was dark, dusty and damp. But as he took notice, the cleaned wooden floors and each floor in general looked really well polished and regal. They emitted a sense of royalty. 

As he went past a portrait of one of Sirus’s ancestors, he couldn’t help but think about the fiasco that happened in his bathroom. What was that? He had never experienced anything like that. Was that actually Voldemort? No, it could not be as if it were Voldemort himself, then his scar would’ve been on metaphoric fire. It would’ve burnt like hell. But no, it didn’t. Then was that a hallucination? Or a creation of his own mind? The second voice? What was that? The Mad Titan being his endgame? Was he going to die soon? The being didn’t even say a word about whether had the events begun or not. 

But before he could think any more about the incident, he had reached the ground floor which had the dining table and bumped into a very familiar plump Scottish red-haired old woman. 

“Oof. Wha-Harry! Good morning! Keep your voice down as the others are sleeping. What are you doing up so early?” Mrs. Weasley asked.

“You see Mrs. Weasley, I need to go to Professor Dumbledore’s office as he had requested me to come today, last night. Also, is my breakfast ready? I really need to get going.” Harry hastily said as he went past Mrs. Weasley to only find Sirius not present.

“Ah yes, your breakfast is very nearly ready. I just need to do the toast then I will serve it to you.” Mrs. Weasley said as she went back to get the toast.

“Oh, alright then.” Then Harry pulled a chair back and sat as he was waiting for his food. As he was tapping his feet on the wooden floor, he turned his head around and noticed Sirus’s absence again so he voiced his question “Mrs. Weasley, do you perhaps know, where Sirius might be? He said that he would be eating with me.”

Mrs. Weasley turned around with the food being levitated and she said, “Oh, he had to go somewhere really urgently. Didn’t tell me where as he was in quite a hurry. But don’t fret, eat your breakfast and go to Albus’s office as you said he wants you there.”

---In Dumbledore’s office---

As Dumbledore was pacing around his study, he looked towards the fireplace as it gave a great roar and sprung to life. Emerald flames flared and a very familiar black-haired, green-eyed wizard was thrown into the office of Albus Dumbledore.

“Blasted floo system, always getting dust on my clothes. Can’t ever use them properly, honestly.” The familiar young wizard said while dusting off the dust from his clothes.

“In a conundrum with the floo system again, Harry?” Dumbledore voiced from a far corner.

Caught off-guard, Harry pulled out his wand only to recognize the old, wise, and mischievous face of Albus Dumbledore, smiling brightly at him.

“You know Harry, to stick a proper landing, one must have the want to themselves to stick a proper landing. Quit like the intent behind spells. And don’t worry, your mother herself couldn’t stick a proper landing, no matter how many times she tried, she just couldn’t do it.”

Harry’s face first flushed as he realized Dumbledore had seen him tumble out of the fireplace but the realization hit him as he realized his mother herself couldn’t do it.

“Could dad ever do it?” 

“Yes, he always could. Lily was always jealous of your father masterfully landing every time he used the floo. It was quite humorous to say the least,” he then let out a watery chuckle as he remembered Harry’s parents.

Harry controlled a small tear which threatened to escape his eyes and leaned in to ask “What else can you say about them, sir?”

Dumbledore sighed nostalgically and said, “I could tell so many things about them right now, but I believe someone else would do the job better as we are going to him right now.”

Furrowing his eyebrows in thought, Harry asked, “To whom are we going to? And where are we even going for that matter?”

“You’ll see. But as to where we are going, we are going to a manor, in the land of the Germans. More specifically, we are going to Berlin. And since we have the chance to be spotted by Muggles, best wear our Muggle clothes. You are already wearing yours? Excellent! Now let me just wear my suit.”

He then cleared his throat and cast “Vestimenta mutare.” (1)

Gone was the sparkling purple robes and blue hat Dumbledore wore, came a grey sleeveless shirt with a white t-shirt beneath it and a dark-grey tie. And the pants he wore were of the same color of the sleeveless shirt. Grey. As his clothes were being altered, his long white beard shortened to a be a bushy, salt and pepper auburn beard at roughly the same height of his collar bones and his wrinkled face smoothened to leave only a bare minimum wrinkles in its wake and the blue hat he wore, lengthened to become a dark navy-blue top hat. If someone looked at him and tried to guess his age, most people would take him to be in his mid-forties.

He then went to his desk and pulled out a dark-green cane to finish his suit. Nobody could tell that this was the same, long-bearded eccentric Headmaster of Hogwarts.

“Ready, Harry?”

Harry was stunned at how different Dumbledore looked. Albus’s question snapped him out of his trance and he stammered out, “Y-yes, Headmaster.”

“Stunned by how different I look?”

Harry’s cheeks coloured a little once he realized Dumbledore knew. He could only nod as Dumbledore let out a hearty laugh.

“That is the purpose of this, my dear Harry. To look unrecognizable,” his laughter then died as he continued “Now we better stop dwandling around like headless chickens and let’s get to work. Hold my hand Harry,” he calmly ordered.

Harry hesitantly took it and as he did, he was whisked away to Berlin.

-----Scene break------

Harry felt Dumbledore’s arm twist away from him and redoubled his grip; the next thing he knew, everything went black; he was being pressed very hard from all directions; he could not breathe, there were iron bands tightening around his chest; his eyeballs were being forced back into his head; his eardrums were being pushed deeper into his skull and then — He gulped great lungfulls of the chilly morning air and opened his streaming eyes. He felt as though he had just been forced through a very tight rubber tube. It was a few seconds before he realized that Dumbledore’s office had vanished. He and Dumbledore were now standing in what appeared to be the outskirts of a busy city, and as far Harry’s eyes could see, he saw a few people walking in the streets and not that many cars as the sun had just risen up and people were getting ready for their day.

 His comprehension catching up with his senses, Harry realized that he had just Apparated for the first time in his life. “Are you all right?” asked Dumbledore, looking down at him solicitously. “The sensation does take some getting used to.” 

“I’m fine,” said Harry, rubbing his ears, which felt as though they had left Hogwarts rather reluctantly. “But I think I might prefer brooms. . ..

Dumbledore smiled, then adjusted his cufflinks and said, “This way.” He set off at a brisk pace, past a lot of closed shops and alleyways. And if the sun was to be taken into account, it seemed as if it was around seven in the morning. As the pair turned around a corner, a wall clock showed it was exactly half past seven in the morning.

As they kept on walking, Dumbledore stopped in front of a big bush wall and beyond that, nothing could be seen other than an empty plot.

Dumbledore conjured a paper from his pockets and handed it over to Harry and whispered in his ear, “Memorize what is on it Harry, and once done give it to me.” And so, Harry did as he took the paper and memorized it what's on it.

‘Dumbledore Manor lies in Number 16, Hause der Hummel, Tauentzienstrasse, Berlin.’

And once Harry gave the paper to Dumbledore and looked into the plot, a gargantuan manor with dark brown walls and a black roof, materialised in front of him. The manor had sentry turrets placed on top of its roof and had barbed wires around the walls of the manor. As they walked towards it, Harry noticed the steel pikes that were place towards the entrance of the manor. They walked past it and the young wizard kept on marvelling at the manor. It wasn’t as big and grand as Hogwarts but it was grand in its own right.

On closer inspection, Harry noticed that the walls had burnt marks and looked corroded as if they were scorched with fire or caked with acid. Flummoxed, Harry voiced his question.

“Professor, may I ask you something?”

“You just did.”

“Ha ha, very funny. My question is, why do the walls look so corroded? What happened to them?”

Dumbledore let out a sigh and continued walking on without a comment. After moments of contemplation, he finally answered.

“That, Harry, is the remnants of the onslaught of Biollante. It had attacked during the Second World War. As the Dark Lord of the time and I had quite the animosity at the time. When I had made my opinion of his ideologies clear, he had responded in kind with setting the horrifying Titan, Biollante, upon this side of Berlin. Its target being me.”

He then went quiet as he was lost in his memories and was re-living the attack, mentally. Harry noticed his sudden quietness and prodded him to continue.

“And what happened after that, Headmaster?”

“Biollante attacked the manor, I had foolishly brought some of my wizarding allies over to discuss what should be the next course of action taken in the war but before even the wards could act, Biollante was inside the premises and he was here where we are walking right now.”

Harry’s eyebrows rose so far that they disappeared in his hairline once he heard that. “It was strong enough to enter the premises despite of the wards?” He asked incredulously.

“No, from what I think, it either rushed past the wards fast enough for the wards to not act or wards to repel Titans might not have been there. But I clearly recall I had placed the wards there…” He then trailed off in thought as he tried to recall what had occurred that day and he was trying to think what must’ve happened to those wards.

“What happened in the attack, Headmaster?” He nudged Dumbledore.

“Deaths, lots of deaths. Nearly everyone I had brought over was killed but luckily few managed to escape and I was able to kill it using my own form. A pity really that nearly all had to be killed. Oh look! The entrance is nearly here.” Dumbledore finished as the door to the manor was visible.

As they opened the door, and entered, Dumbledore called out “TOBIE!”

Harry heard a soft pop to the left of him and was about to bring up his wand but didn’t as he realised it was a house elf. 

“Hallo Meister Albus, what cans Tobie doos for you? And who is this wizard heres?” the elf spoke in its high-pitched voice, wearing a bowtie and a suit, with a phoenix drawn on its back.

“Hallo Tobie, wie geht es dir? This here is Harry Potter. Can you take my cane and keep it in my study? I will send Harry to his room right away.”

“Ja ja, Meister.” And then he realized what Dumbledore said and turned towards Harry and yelled out of excitement. “Harry POTTER? Danke Magus Potter, danke for get rid of der Dunkler Herr.”

“I am sorry? What did you say there, Tobie?”

“You doos not speaks German?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I meants thank yous for killing the Dark Lord.”

Harry cracked a tight smile and politely said, “It’s the least I could do.”

And then Tobie bowed as a “You are welcome” and apparated away to Dumbledore’s study. As Albus was about to take him to his room on the first floor, Harry heard someone say his name from the top of the entrance. 

“Harry.”

Harry turned around and saw Sirius standing there, with a wide grin, beckoning Harry to come and hug him. So, he did. Harry rushed over to Sirius and hugged him tightly, grinning all the while.

“Padfoot, why weren’t you there in Number 12, this morning? Did you come here? Speaking of which, when did you come?” Harry asked.

“You answered your own question there, Harry. I indeed came here this morning after telling Molly what you want to eat. Speaking of eating, Albus, has Tobie gone to prepare something for Harry?” Sirius turned to Dumbledore and asked.

“Yes, he has Sirius. He is making what you had ordered.”

“Brilliant.”

“And I believe you are supposed to be revealing something?” Dumbledore prompted.

Sirius looked lost for a second but then the light of remembrance sparked in his eyes as he remembered what was the important thing he had to reveal.

“Ah yes, thank you Albus.”

Dumbledore smiled and said, “It’s the least I could do, Sirius.”

Sirius then turned around and began. “Harry, I have something important to talk about.”

“What is it?”

“That I am your godfather.”

Puzzled by this revelation, Harry voiced his confusion. “Won’t you always were?”

Upon realizing his mistake, Sirius’s eyes widened and he let out a small laugh and said “No-I mean yes- I mean I am your godfather legally. Legally meaning the Ministry knows of my innocence and has documented me as your godfather in their documents. So, we can live together now, Harry.”

“WHAT? Really? Are you serious?”

Not willing to waste the opportunity, Sirius smiled and said, “Yes, I am always Sirius.”

Harry groaned as he heard the bad pun. “Padfoot, that was a flat pun. Don’t say that again.”

Sirius grimaced as he realized what he had just said. “No wonder James used to bloody rebuke me whenever I did that. It got too old too damn quick in my second year.”

“Really?”

“Yep. As I was saying, after this war ends, after this entire bullcrap ends and Voldemort dies, we would be able to live together Harry.”

“Thank you Pads. I at least have ya.”

Then Dumbledore coughed to bring the attention to him. And it worked a treat. Both Padfoot’s and Harry’s heads snapped towards Dumbledore and both looked at him questioningly.

“As much I would love this to continue, Sirius, I believe you have to make Harry familiar with the house and what room are barred for entry? I have duties to tend to, and those primarily being getting another wizard from Harry’s year whom I believe, also has a Magus Titanus form. So, I really need to get going.”

Sirius nodded in understanding. “Sure, sure Albus. I would do the needful and catchup with some of his past adventures. By the way, who do you think also has a form?” He asked.

Dumbledore let out a sigH and said, “I am not sure about one of them but you are very familiar with the parents of the other. He could’ve been the other one. But since we have the end result right in front of us, it is not safe to say Harry is the only one. It is very probable that he could also play a vital role in Harry’s triumph.” 

Sirius nodded and said, “Very well, I hope that poor boy is actually not involved in this as he already is troubled. You best be going Al- “but before he could finish, Harry interrupted with a question of his.

“I am sorry, but who is this ‘other’ wizard are you talking about, Professor? Padfoot? Who are you talking about?” He asked as he looked at both of the men, one after the other.

Sirius looked dead in his eyes and said the names while Dumbledore also said it at the same time.

“Neville Longbottom.”

Sirius and Harry both bid Dumbledore goodbye and he walked out of the perimeter of the property. The entire while, thoughts were running rampant in his mind and if someone were to look into his mind at the moment, all they would see would be images and words going faster than the eye could see and the brain could process.

“Am I correct, thinking Mr. Longbottom is the other one? Time to find out,” he thought to himself as he turned right once he exited the grounds of the manor and apparated away to the house of the Longbottoms in search of young Neville Longbottom.

Thousands of miles away, in Birsay on the island of the Orkney Islands, Dumbledore re-apparated in front of a regal manor. A manor, similar to that of the Dumbledore manor but bigger, and without the acid stains, stood tall and proud in front of one Albus Dumbledore.

Deciding to be polite, Albus rapped his knuckle on the door twice. No response. As he was about to knock it for the third time, a female elf, dressed in a suit which had ‘The House of Longbottom’ imprinted along the back and a picture of a proud Hippogriff was attached to the breast of the suit.

“Welcome to the House of Longbottom, Dumbledore sir,” the elf said in a low, female voice as it bowed down and its long nose was almost touching the ground.

“Hello Mathilda. Can I be granted entrance?” Dumbledore asked politely.

“Yes, Dumbledore sir. Lets me tells the Mistress,” And she apparated away to notify Lady Longbottom.

Moments later, the door opened and Dumbledore was greeted by an old woman who looked formidable. She was tall, thin and bony. A hat with a stuffed vulture on top could be seen in the back ground with besides a red handbag. She judged Albus with a critical eye and said, “I was informed by my house elf, that Albus Dumbledore was here to greet me. Who are you?”

Dumbledore, who had momentarily forgotten that he had a disguise on, said, “Augusta, don’t you recognise me? This is me, Albus. Oh wait, it’s the disguise, isn’t it?” and then he dispelled the charm and his skin grew wrinkly and his beard grew white in color and elongated until it was a few centimetres of the floor. Albus quickly tucked his beard in his belt and asked, “Do you recognise me now?”

Augusta vehemently nodded and let him in. She called one of her house elves. “MATHILDA!” She hollered.

In came the house-elf from earlier and asked, “What can I doos for you, Mistress?”

“Fix us some tea and biscuits, please?”

“Sure, sure mistress,” and as it was about to pop away, Dumbledore called out, “Wait!”

Mathilda turned around and asked, “Yes, Dumbledore sir?”

“Mathilda, that wouldn’t be required. Can you just bring a few chocolate cookies? That would be enough.”

The elf looked unsure and said, “If you want it, then heres you go sir. A plate of chocolate cookies,” and it snapped it’s fingers and a plate of chocolate cookies materialised on the nearby table. 

“Would that be all, mistress? Sir?” The elf asked as it looked at the pair one after the other, dead in the eyes.

Augusta said, “Yes Mathilda, you can go now.”

The elf replied in earnest, “Thanks you Mistress. Call me again if you needs me,” and then it apparated away in a soft pop.

Albus and Augusta both walked over to the table, took a cookie each and began their discussion. Augusta went first, “So, Albus, what brings you here? First of all, a good morning is in order so a very good morning to you.”

Dumbledore took a bite out of his cookie, marvelled at the taste and zoned out for a second. As he remembered what he was supposed to do, he then focused on the task at hand. “Sorry Augusta, I just like chocolate too much. Tell me Augusta, wait first of all, good morning. Now tell me, are you familiar with the legend of the Titans? Dumbledore asked calmly.

Augusta nodded and motioned him to continue, “Go on,” she said.

“I came here because I suspect Neville has the ability to access his Magus Titanus form and I would like to show his form to him,” Dumbledore finished.

Augusta’s eyes widened with shock. She recovered and then asked, “Are you kidding me or are you sure, Dumbledore?”

“I am very much sure.”

Eyes shining with hope and pride, Augusta hollered, “MATHILDA!”

Mathilda re-apparated into the room and asked, “Yes, Mistress?”

“Can you bring Neville right now? If you can, then please do so.”

Mathilda responded, “Yes, Mistress. I shall brings him,” and then she apparated away to bring in Neville.

As she apparated back, it was a bit difficult to tell who had brought who. Mathilda and Neville had their limbs stuck to each other and were struggling to separate themselves. She then apparated away from the heir to the house of Longbottom and stood back and asked, “Doos you needs anything else, Mistress?”

“No, that would be all, Mathilda. Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Miss,” and she apparated away.

Once Neville got up, he took notice of Dumbledore and straightened his clothes and exclaimed, “Headmaster! Good morning! I wasn’t expecting you to be here! Can I do anything to help?”

Dumbledore gave him a brief smiled and responded back with a kind “Good morning to you as well,” and he continued, “You see Mr. Longbottom, you are needed right now. Not something for Hogwarts, but instead something I am intrigued to see. Now tell me first of all, are you familiar with the legend of the Titans?” He asked calmly.

Neville gave a nod as a yes.

“Then you must know, I suspect you to have the ability to access you Magus Titanus form and I would love to show it to you, if you don’t mind?”

“No no, I don’t, Headmaster.”

“Then are you willing to go some place private to check your form or do you want me to do it in your room?”

“Any place is fine.”

“Then can I do it in your room?”

“Sure sir, I have no problem with that.”

“Alright then, I believe you have to lead me into your room?”

And so, the went into his room.

As Albus and Neville walked into the room, the first thing Albus noticed was that a lot of houseplants were in the corners of the room and sunlight was streaming in through the window. School books were kept in a neat manner on the table with the quill and inkpot kept on top of them. The bookshelf beside the desk was filled with books on Defence against the Dark Arts, Charms, Potion making, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology. Lots and lots of books on Herbology. 

As he turned to face the other side of the room, Neville’s bed was neatly placed in a corner and a picture of him, his toad and his grandmother was on the wall, directly above the bed. In the picture, Neville seemed young enough to be either a first-year student or a second-year student.

Dumbledore eyed Neville’s chair he uses for studying and then looked back at Neville for the briefest of moments. Then he commanded Neville to sit on the chair.

“Neville, sit down in that chair.”

So, he sat.

Albus cleared his throat and pulled out his wand. “Now, do you trust me?”

“Yes, I do, Headmaster. Can you at least tell me what are you going to do?”

He then bounded Neville to the chair with a swift Incarcerous. Slowly panicking, Neville half-asked, half-yelled out his question.

“Headmaster? WHAT are you going to do?”

“I am going to cast the spell that would allow me to reveal your Magus Titanus form. Beware, this process hurts so let me conjure a hanky for you to bite while I cast the revelation spell.”

“Coniurare” Dumbledore cast and a white hanky materialized in front of them. He handed the hanky to Neville and said, “Bite this while I cast the spell. Now, do you trust me?”

Neville took the hanky and said, “Yes I do, Headmaster.” And then put the hanky in his mouth, ready. He then gave Dumbledore a thumbs up and then Dumbledore nodded and said,

“Very well then. Close your eyes and let me focus.”

Neville closed his eyes and Dumbledore followed suit. His wand began to glow a bright blue as he began to twirl his wand. Then he pointed his wand at Neville and intoned in a firm voice.

“Ostende mihi hoc Magia Wielders Titanus Forma. Sive Tenebris aut Luce, Infirma vel Potens, OSTENDE MIHI!” 

And then the young Longbottom began to scream as he began to feel pain beyond his comprehension. Albus continued to chant until he saw golden light and a form burst forth from the Longbottom’s chest and hovered in-between them like a hologram. Albus recognized it as he had imagined and had a firm guess on what his form could’ve been. He then chuckled and said,

“ Just as I had imagined, that is your form Neville….Titanus Methuselah….”

AN: 

(1) It literally means 'Change Clothes'

Chapter Text

ARC 2

Part 3: The Attacks Begin

Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands, 6 PM.

While here Albus Dumbledore is recruiting the Magus Titanus, some 600 Miles away, a certain Dark Lord is plotting.

“Severus, get Wormtail."

“Yes, my lord.”

A few minutes later, Wormtail stepped into the room.

“Wormtail, what are your findings?”

“All people are going about their normal lives. Everything is ok. But that groundskeeper is constantly in the Alley.”

“No matter of the Half-Breed.. He can die for all I care for...I have to practice his powers after all in the highlands……its been a long time since I have practiced it.”

“Whose powers my lord?”

“Nothing of your business Wormtail, tell them to commence the attack now.”

A few hours later, when the trio and the Order were having dinner in Number 12, the newspapers came. Everyone received one.

DEATH EATERS STRIKE AZKABAN FORTRESS AND MUGGLE VILLAGES 

By: Kranos Wilberg

Death eaters make the first move in the war. Today at 6:45 PM, 17 death eaters struck AZKABAN Prison causing the deaths of all 48 aurors stationed, and all imprisoned Death Eaters on the loose. This a highly unfortunate case. May the 48 aurors be remembered and may they rest in peace. 5 Muggle villages have also been massacred by the Death Eaters a few days back. 

Adjoining these incidents with the Quidditch World Cup incident last year, we can very surely say we are at war once again. No citizens, this is true. This truth is supported by the proof of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s return. From whom is this proved by, his name would not be disclosed as he has personally requested that his name is not to be shared to the British Wizarding World’s citizens. 

Citizens, there are dark times ahead. And we best be ready. As terror strikes again.

With that, Harry sighed. “So Headmaster, what kind of spells are in the repertoire of the Death Eaters? I cannot properly train if I am not informed of their known capabilities. I mean I know Dark Magic but of what kind? I need to be ready. And why aren’t we training here in Number 12? Well, what’s done is done. Remus, do you have the previous newspapers? I need to catch up on stuff.”

“Sure Harry” Remus replied.

Dumbledore began, “Harry, the kind of spells that you are asking me of are a lot. I simply couldn’t find the way to properly phrase them. If you may, then today in our session I would keep you informed, is that alright with you? And we are not training in Number 12 because this house has simply too many Dark Magic items and has no proper rooms where we can practice your Titan’s breath aim.”

Harry replied, “Oh…...ok sir. Yes, sir that’s alright.”

“And Harry, there is a special piece of information that I need to share with you. It is crucial that only you know. You need to know what lies ahead of you.”

“Alright Professor”

And then family banter began.

While all of this Dumbledore had eaten, gotten up and was lost in thought and flashbacks.

“ Well for the one I thought would be the third Magus Titanus, apparently I am wrong. But then who else could it be...? Mrs. Granger perhaps? She seems the perfect choice for Mosura. Well, she could also be Titanus Kong for her high intelligence but she could also be Titanus Mosura for her Gryffindor capabilities. I truly don’t know what to do. Should I perhaps try it on Mrs. Granger...? Alright. I will do it.” Dumbledore thought.

Flashback

Dumbledore enters the battlefield. Wand in hand and ready, le ading the Order Of The Phoenix against the massive Death Eater raid on Godric’s Hollow. 

“Minerva, Alastor, you get your group and take on the Death Eater group on the east. Amelia, Lily you take care with your group on the west. Aberforth, Edgar, take care of the back. While I take the rest at the northern group and drive Tom back."

As the group approached, Dumbledore saw a sight he never wished to see.

What looked like hordes of Death eaters were killing the Villagers of Godrics Hollow and Tom was calmly using the Killing Curse on any wizard or muggle he saw. When Tom saw Dumbledore, he stopped cursing and smiled at Dumbledore. And began to speak. His voice was loud enough to be heard over the chaos.

“Hello Dumbledore, nice seeing you here. But unfortunately, you are late. Your Order is late. We already have decimated half of the village. What are you going to do? Step aside and let me finish my task Albus...”

“Tom, this is enough. Call back your forces. The Ministry is on their way.”

“Ooooh and what would they do Dumbledore? AVADA KEDAVRA!”

Dumbledore conjured a marble block which took the Killing Curse but got destroyed in the process.

“ORDER! FOCUS ON THE DEATH EATERS! USE LETHAL SPELLS IF NEEDED!Let me take care of Tom.” Dumbledore ordered the Order of the Phoenix.

It was quite an even fight. 50 Death Eaters to 45 Order Members. Killing Curses were being hurled from one end and equally Dark curses from the other. None were afraid to use the Darkest Spells in their repertoire.

While with Dumbledore and Voldemort, hexes and curses were being fired faster than one could think of. One stray Killing Curse was dodged by Dumbledore and it hit an unlucky member of the Order.

“FIDES USTOR!” (1) a yellow beam of light was cast at Dumbledore but he gracefully side-stepped it and sent an equally Dark curse.

“CEREBRUM USTOR!”(2) an orange- yellowish light was thrown at Tom but he apparated out of its path and appeared a few feet away.

“AVADA KEDAVRA!” cast Tom.

“CONFRINGO!” screamed Dumbledore.

Both of their spells met at the end but after a few seconds since Voldemort didn’t want to waste time he switched to a new spell that he had found and thoroughly enjoyed to use.

“TRISTITIA TIGNARIUS!” (3) he cast with a maniacal grin on his face. Tendrils of yellow electricity spewed from his yew wand.

Dumbledore had heard about the spell but he had an idea about what it did. Because he realised as that one of the attacks of King Ghidorah. Any attack of the False Lord is fatal.

He grimly watched as beams of yellow electricity erupted from Tom’s wand and was headed straight for him all while Voldemort was laughing.

Dumbledore flew to avoid the beams and as he was in the perfect range he yelled out a spell. He had just the perfect amount of time to do it.

“GIGANUME BOTRUM PORTASSENT!”(4)

A red cluster of light, like a shotgun blast was released from Dumbledore’s wand and Voldemort brought his spell at the right time.

Both collided with each other which caused a big blast which ended knocking Dumbledore down and Voldemort away.

When they got up, both were looking pretty worse for the wear.

Dumbledore's lower torso had its cloth burnt off which burned some of his skin and he had to clutch his left arm while he staggered to stand up.

Voldemort had his left arm blown away and his left leg was looking as if it was about to break.

Both were looking worse for wear and as Dumbledore was about to cast a final spell Voldemort apparated away taking his army with him to recover.

As Dumbledore limped back, Sirius and James ran up to him to inform that the Death Eaters were gone.

“ALBUS!” James began, “The Death Eaters are go-wait PROFESSOR! Are you alright?”

Dumbledore waved it off with his good arm “Oh nothing to worry about James, Poppy can fix it. And I know that the Death Eaters are gone because Tom retreated. Argh, but I do need to get to Poppy.”

So, the Order members went back to Headquarters and Poppy began tending to Dumbledore.

After his treatment, he went up to the members of the Order and asked about the casualties suffered.

“My friends, which casualties did the battle cost us?”

“Dorcas Meadows died sir. From a stray Killing Curse. Most likely from Voldemort as it came from your duel with him.” Sirius finished.

“Oh, how unfortunate. May she rest in peace. Who else died?”

Molly Weasley nee Prewett came up and tried to stifle her tears but she couldn’t so Arthur Weasley came up and said “Fabian and Gideon both died. They were both outnumbered 5 to 1. They nearly managed to kill the Death Eaters but Dolohov slashed the air with his wand which causes a purple flame to come which killed Gideon first and then he used to Killing Curse on Fabian. They had managed to kill all but Dolohov.”

Dumbledore let his head hang in sadness for a brief few moments and then he said “They were true fighters. We lost valuable allies in this fight. But it never is about how hard you have fallen. It is all about that you have fallen and are you willing to get up or not. We must muster on and get rid of the threat that Lord Voldemort poses to the Wizarding World. We must count that Fabian and Gideon’s sacrifices have not been in vain and put an end to Lord Voldemort! For now, we need to tidy up and get better to fight him. So let the Healers come and tend to you all.”

As they dispersed, James walked up to Sirius.

“Padfoot, you alright mate? Anyone hurt in the four of us? Lily is fine. Is Marlene okay?"

“Prongs, I am alright ol’ pal. Just got a few bruises that’s all. Marlene got some lacerations on her shoulder and her right knee is cracked. Healer Tomlin is tending to her. And as far as I know…nope. Nobody out of the four of us is badly hurt. Peter got the worst. A broken shoulder and lacerations on that same shoulder.”

“Jeez. Hope he gets better. So, what do you think? Should Lily and I move into the cottage were were thinking to in Godric’s Hollow?”

“Yes you better should, look there is Dumbledore. Let’s ask him.”

“Professor Dumbledore, about the cottage Lily and I were thinking to move to, I have decided to do it."

Dumbledore chuckles “I hoped you would, Young Lily just went away telling me she is ready to move in.”

“Oh really? That’s even better. Let me get her.”

Flashback End

As Dumbledore came out of his thoughts, he realised the kitchen was empty but he could hear voices up in the rooms.

So he walked up to what he thought was Hermione’s room and he knocked politely at first.

“Miss. Granger may I come in?”

“Give me a moment Headmaster!” and she opened the door a few moments later.

When as Dumbledore entered into her room, he sat down on Hermione's bed and she sat down on Ginny’s bed.

“Miss. Granger, are you familiar with the legend of the Magus Titanus?”

“Yes Headmaster, the legend states that any Mage who has any of the traits of the personalities of the Titans which roamed the Earth around the Carboniferous time period, and a magical core above the capacity of the average witch or wizard, which is above 70 magia units is considered as a Mage.”

“Yes Miss Granger, and I suspect you are one of the Magus Titanus."

-ARC 2 FINISH-

The new spells used:

(1) Gut Burner

(2)Brain Burner

(3)Gravity Beams (Yep. Ghidorah's gravity beams)

(4) Giganume Cluster (Gigan's shotgun blast laser. You can search it up on gojipedia.)

Chapter Text

Arc 3 Part 1: Iridescent

TW: Mentions of Suicide

"What do you mean, Professor?" questioned the shocked witch. Not believing a word she just heard.

"Just exactly what you heard, Miss Granger, you might be one of the Magus Titanus." repeated Dumbledore.

"Umm, then how are you going to check?" asked Hermione.

Dumbledore looked around then pointed and said, "Miss Granger, sit there - on that chair." He pointed to a chair near Hermione’s study table.

She obliged. Dumbledore then bound her to the chair.

"Professor, what are you-" she began but Dumbledore politely cut her off.

"Do you have faith in me, Miss Granger?" he asked. "Do you have enough faith in me to know that I would not harm you? I am merely binding you to the chair for if you were to lash out, you wouldn't hurt yourself. Do you have faith in me?" he repeated.

"Yes, I do, sir."

Dumbledore then conjured a white piece of cloth and handed it over to Hermione who understood the message and clamped down on the cloth with her teeth.

Before she knew it, Dumbledore began chanting.

"Ostende mihi hoc Magia Wielders Titanus Forma. Sive Tenebris aut Luce, Infirma vel Porena, OSTENDE MIHI!"

Hermione at first began to feel a searing white sensation across her entire body. Something she thought she would never feel. It felt like a thousand hot knives were being put through her and molten hot lava was flowing within her.

She never felt anything like this.

As she was clamping down on the cloth, her eyes began to glow a deep amber.

Eventually, a picture of an enormous moth came forth from her eyes. "Titanus Mosura. Just as I thought," surmised the man whose last name translates to Bumblebee.

Dumbledore undid the binds and she sat freely in the chair.

"Sir, what is Titanus Mosura?" questioned the inquisitive witch as she was gasping for air due to the effects of the spell. Dumbledore began,

"Titanus Mosura is a giant lepidopteran kaiju. Mosura has been dubbed as the queen of the monsters, your form is this very one because of her attributes." said Dumbledore.

Interesting.

"Sir, this all is really good but what can she do?"

"Now isn't the time Miss Granger, there is a rather complicated reasoning as to why I came here."

Cocking her head to the side, Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity and notioned Dumbledore to continue. Taking the hint, Dumbledore did keep on speaking.

"Do you know why Lord Voldemort came after Harry on Halloween night all those years ago?"

What.

"Uhm, I always assumed Harry's parents were a threat to him or something along those lines, professor. I honestly have no clue."

At that, Dumbledore gave his wand a sharp flick, which locked the door and then twirled his wand around them to cast a Muffliato charm.

With sad eyes, Dumbledore spoke, "You see Miss Granger, there was a prophecy made about a boy, nearly fifteen years ago, being born to parents who thrice defied Voldemort at the end of July -"

"- who will have the power to kill the Dark Lord."

Dumbledore remarked , "Brilliant as always, Miss Granger."

"I- I am sorry sir but this all just makes no sense. There was someone else, wasn't there? He wasn't the only boy, right?"

The old headmaster replied, "I am afraid there were two other options. One of them is a boy in your own house - Neville Longbottom. He was born on the 30th, so he didn't exactly fit the criteria, even though he is a candidate. The other one was a girl, who was meant to come to Hogwarts along with you, Harry, young Ronald Weasley for her fifth year. She was a Gryffindor too."

"What was her name, Professor?"

Taking off his glasses, he wiped his eyes as tears began to build up. 

"Her name was Elizabeth Rose Dumbledore, and she was my granddaughter. She was no older than you are, Miss Granger," he said with the best fake-calm voice he could manage.

" Was? What happened to her?"

With his voice choking up, he said, "She took her own life."

At that, a big sliver tear fell into the headmaster's white bushy beard.

Hermione gasped. She wasn't expecting this out of all the possible things that could've happened. 

"Sir, I am sorry. I-"

Dumbledore waved her off. "It's alright, Miss Granger. It's alright. You were only curious, you couldn't have known this. It's my fault that I brought this up in the first place."

Wiping his tears, he continued.

“You mustn’t tell this to Harry, Miss Granger. When the time will strike right, he will know. Now, as I was saying before. It was prophesied that two kings will fight for the true title as the king of all titans and only one of them would make it to the top.”

Hermione passively nodded and urged him to continue.

“And then imagine my surprise when just a few short weeks later, the prophecy surrounding Harry was spun. It made me come to two conclusions. One of the kings is the boy in the prophecy and the other has to be Lord Voldemort. It was all too coincidental for it to be true. They just happened a bit too close.”

Dumbledore then stood up and said, “Pack your things, Miss Granger. Pack your things and grab my hand. I’ll notify your parents of your absence.”

So she got up, packed her essentials in a duffel bag and took firm hold of Dumbledore’s arm as they apparated away to his destination. 

-One Year Later. 18 August 1996-

The Minister had officially made it known within the Ministry that Voldemort was back. So, they gathered massive forces to fight them.

In Hogwarts, Harry was writing his History of Magic O.W.L exam. He couldn't remember an answer for a particular question for the life of him. As he was trying to remember the answer, he first saw some brief odd flashes in his mind. Then they became more fluid but their magical presence was so strong that he fell down on the ground from his chair in the Great Hall. He has a vision of Sirius being tortured by Voldemort for information regarding a prophecy.

Neville also somehow, got a fleeting vision of his grandmother being tortured.

Sirius refuses to part with the answer, so did Augusta.

Voldemort tortures them further. Harry and Neville were rushed to the Hospital Wing to be treated, then they broke out, gathered his friends and travelled to the Ministry of Magic on Thestrals.

Three hours later, they reached the Ministry. Harry has brought Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Once they reached the place where Sirius was being tortured in Harry's vision, they fell into a trap wrought by the Dark.

A full-scale battle was being fought. This was the first major fight of the war. They were in the hall of prophecies, talking to Death Eaters. They had planned for this. They knew it was a trap. So, they had informed the Order but Sirius wasn't there at that moment. Harry ordered the others on the count of three, that they were to throw the disarming charm to get out of the circle and get an offensive stance.

Nobody noticed Harry take the Prophecy orb and nobody paid any heed to an Ouroborus sign on the floor.

They all raised their wands and roared.

"STUPEFY!"

Death Eaters were blown back. They all made a mad dash towards the exit. And they entered a big room which had an odd archway.

A sign on the door read.

'DEATH ROOM'

But they didn't see that as they were in a hurry as adrenaline was pounding in their ears.

Just a moment before the Death Eaters began to stream in, Harry sent a quick Patronus to the Order. Then with nothing else to do, he pulled his wand out and pointed towards the entrance and commanded, "Get behind me" while trying to steady his hold on the wand and clenching the Prophecy in his hand. All of the other teenagers copied Harry's stance and stood behind him, all pointing their wands at the door.

Then all of a sudden, the Death Eaters flew in with such force that the teenagers weren't prepared. They all flew over the teenagers and due to the sudden arrival, nearly everyone took a defensive stance on the floor by curling into a ball due to the sudden attack. Some tried to fight them off but to no avail. And then all of a sudden, the area cleared and Harry noticed that he was the only one on the floor. Heart thudding in his chest due to dread, raspy breaths coming out of him, he looked around and slowly stood up. The sight he was greeted by made him feel sick.

All the Death Eaters had taken his friends and held them at wand point. Neville, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Hermione. He took notice of each of the Death Eaters which held his friends at wand point. His heart thudded to a stop once he realized Neville was being held at wand point by Bellatrix Lestrange and Hermione was being held by Antonin Dolohov. She tried to wrestle out of his grip but to no avail. As he was looking around, he heard the click-clack of a cane and a foot. He turned around to meet the source of the sound and found a familiar head of platinum blonde hair but older.

It was Lucius Malfoy.

"Did you actually believe-" he then gave a mocking smile, "-that you were enough to stop us?"

He walked up to Harry and continued, "You are weak, you understand that ? A band of what- five? Six teenagers ? Against us ? Are you out of your goddamn mind?"

Harry just stared on with anger.

He then walked beyond the point where Harry was standing and marvelled at a sight behind them, "Good lord..is that the Longbottom's boy you have there, Bella?"

Bellatrix gave a wicked smile and pushed the wand into Neville's ear, getting a pained scream from him.

Turning his eyes away from the sight, he stared deep into the pits of Harry's eyes and stuck out his hand.

"Potter, give me the Prophecy. Give it to me and we shall spare you."

Harry looked at his friends one after the other. "DONT GIB TO EM HARRY!" Neville yelled out but only to have the wand in his ear again as he gave a pained scream

Harry smiled and turned to Lucius and said, "Your hair is just as pathetic as your spawn, you know that? And both of you have the same pompous walk for Merlin's sake. You really ought to change your name to Lucius ‘the Peacock’ Malfoy.”

Said Malfoy was seething with anger.

“Why do you even need this huh? For all I know, this could be just a regular glass orb and you are wasting your time," and then he mockingly laughed.

Maintaining a straight face, he punched Harry and took the prophecy orb. As he was looking at it victoriously and raised it into the air, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Confused, he turned around to meet the face of an angry Sirius Black.

"Get the fuck away from my godson," and then he delivered a nasty right hook to Lucius Malfoy right in the face. Lucius Malfoy went following off the dais with a broken nose as blood spurted from it. As Sirius punched Lucius, reinforcements arrived and he went to look after Harry.

As a consequential effect to the punch Lucius suffered, the sheer force of the punch broke Lucius's nose and had him flying off the dais with the prophecy launched into the air, above his head. As he tried to catch it, it landed right infront of his fingertips and broke into a thousand pieces as mist gently rose up from the shards and dissipated in the air.

Malfoy could only stare at the ruins of the Prophecy and slump with defeat.

As Sirius delivered the right hook, Order members also arrived with tons of Ministry Hit wizards and Aurors. Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt,Arthur Weasley, Sirius Black, Amelia Bones and surprisingly Augusta Longbottom. These were the ones that Harry recognised on the spot. There were plenty more Order members and Ministry Wizards.

The Death Eaters matched their numbers.

As Sirius reached Harry, who was taking cover behind a big boulder, he began, "Harry, take the others and get out of here now."

Harry answered back with quick baited breaths, "What? No! I am staying with you."

Sirius licked his lips and put his hand on Harry's shoulder. He looked him straight in the eyes and softly said, "You have done beautifully, now let me take it from here."

And as he said that, the pair could hear a familiar snarl from Lucius Malfoy as he drew his wand.

"Black," he snarled and began firing.

Sirius took Harry to the other side of the boulder for only to have another Death Eater fire at them and Padfoot masterfully deflecting those spells.

A full-scale battle was being fought. Unforgivables and equally Dark Curses were erupting from the ones fitted in dark robes and equally dark hexes from the other.

Every magical for themselves. Six Order members and six ministry wizards paired with each person Harry brought from Hogwarts. Everyone of them had an order member and a ministry Hit-Wizard paired along with them.

Harry was paired with Sirius and Kingsley Shacklebolt. They were up against Lucius Malfoy, Rodolphus Lestrange and Thorfin Rowle.

Harry was duelling Lucius. Sirius battled Rodolphus and Kingsley duelled Rowle near the dais of the archway.

Harry disarmed, banished, stunned and bounded Lucius Malfoy in one spell chain.

Sirius saw that and while he was dodging curses, momentarily forgot that Harry wasn't James and he called out, "Nice one James!", feeling as if he was fighting the first war all over again.

Then Bellatrix appeared and threw a stunner at Sirius. Sirius dodged it and laughed out.

"C'MON, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light struck him squarely on the chest. The laughter had not quite died out from his face. But his eyes widened in shock.

Harry rushed towards the dais, wand out.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged viel hanging from the arch. Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a huge wind, then fell back into place

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing-Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would re-appear from the other side any second...

But Sirius didn't reappear.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled. "SIRIUS!" his eyes glowed blue as due to his emotional high, his Magus Titanus was coming through.

Harry's breath was coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, Harry would pull him right back out...

But as he bolted towards the dais, Remus grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"Harry, there's nothing you can do-"

"GET HIM! SAVE HIM! HE ONLY JUST WENT THROUGH!"

"-its too late, Harry."

"We still can reach him-" he struggled hard and viciously against Remus but he wouldn't let go...

"There's nothing you can do, Harry, absolutely nothing... he's gone"

Harry never felt more empty.

On Neville's side of things, he was on the other end of the room. Bellatrix re-appeared and shot a Killing Curse towards Augusta Longbottom.

Augusta dropped dead.

He frantically looked for the killer. Once he saw Bellatrix, he escaped from Moody's hands and chased her down. Harry was also itching to go after Bellatrix but he didn't as he didn't want to do anything stupid. But for Neville however? It was too much.

He went full aggressive on Bellatrix. His rage powered his spells. And he didn't realise but his eyes were glowing green. His Magus Titanus and his rage were powering his spells.

They duelled. Alastor saw this and turned to help him. Once Bellatrix saw she was losing and she was outnumbered two to one, she rushed to the floo and she flooed out.

On Harry's side, after recovering from his shell shock, he saw that his opponents were down. They defeated their opponents, he looked around to see if anyone needed help. He saw Hermione duelling Rabastan Lestrange. Neither was winning or losing. She was so focused on winning that she didn't see Antonin Dolohov sneaking up on her from her right. 

Both parties were equally injured. Hermione had a broken left arm, lacerations across the side of her body and nasty bruises on her face while Rabastan looked to be worse off. As Hermione was about to utter a cutting curse, Dolohov slashed his wand diagonally and he sent a purple flame towards Hermione, non-verbally. Harry called out, "HERMIONE DUCK!"

She heard this and tried to duck but the spell hit her and she fell down like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

The rage Harry felt couldn't be put into words.

Bloodlust flowing through his veins, he jumped in and took Rabastan and Dolohov head-on. He was magnificently standing his own ground.

Dolohov sent a steady stream of iron pikes which Harry redirected back to Dolohov who had to end the spell. Rabastan sent a beam of electricity which narrowly missed Harry but as he was ducking down to dodge it, Dolohov sent a massive arrow which staked the teenager right in his thigh, making him lose blood .

Fast.

While duelling both of them, he sent a beam of blue fire. His eyes glowing blue before casting .

" NUCLEI SPIRITU!" (1) called out Harry and aimed for Dolohov's heart.

A blue beam erupted from Harry's wand and rushed towards Antonin Dolohov.

It instantly incinerated whatever came in its path. Dolohov had conjured up a piece of granite but it went through that, his battle armour and the battle-charmed clothes he wore beneath it and it went through him

The blue beam tore through his instantaneously burnt and tore through his skin, muscles, bones and his heart, resulting in a gaping hole in the middle of his torso.

Harry shifted his wand to Rabastan but he had summoned a huge gust of wind and smoke and the beam seemingly went through it. When the smoke settled, there was nothing there. What actually had happened was that he escaped after he saw what that spell did. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of it. And frankly, no one would want to after they had seen what it could do.

Once Dolohov was down, he rushed to his main priority. Hermione.

As he approached her, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. This wasn't supposed to happen. This never did. It should've been Harry, not her. These thoughts ran rampant across Harry's mind. Hermione was always the one who would be safe. She always waited for him. She never was struck down.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

He approached her body in bated breaths and shook her a bit to wake her up.

"Hermione?"

Harry shook her body as he tried to get her to wake up and see life in her eyes. He would do anything to see her breathing again.

Anything.

At this point he didn't care anymore, he couldn't care less to put up a shield around him because the one that mattered the most to him was unresponsive.

Utterly unresponsive.

His mind was beginning to shatter into a million pieces as the grief overpowered him.

The curses passing overhead mattered less to him as the agony clouded his mind and he couldn't think clearly at all.

Harry shook her body and lightly slapped her face to wake her up.

"Come on, stay with me Hermione. You’re okay. Stay with me. Please "

Nobody noticed his figure on the ground, hunched over Hermione's body in defeat.

Thanks to Harry's latent magic that erected notice me not charms and protective shields around the duo.

Within the barriers, Harry could only cry and rage in frustration as the only beacon of hope he had, flicker away and in his grief filled eyes, die.

He was utterly lost. He had no clue what to do, who to call for help and whom to cry to.

Why did she have to come with me?

He always had hope that Hermione would make it through with him being the only casualty. But throughout his life, all he has known was failure.

Why was she the one to go? Why her?

As the reality of Hermione being dead hit him, his body wracked with sobs as tears spilled from his eyes. Tears of guilt that he couldn’t save her, tears of grief, misery and sorrow.

However, they stopped as soon as they began.

Due to his heightened senses, Harry could hear a faint heartbeat coming from within Hermione.

He was utterly relieved. So, he quickly put her injured part on a statis charm and looked around to find help. He saw Remus ushering the kids away and sending them back. He took Hermione with him and went with them.

He vowed to himself that he will live to see the end of the war and spend his life with her till he dies. Thinking that, his focus was brought back to Hermione in front of him and a while later, they returned to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He vowed to himself that he will kill Voldemort.

Whatever it takes.

AN: Thought this would be a good place to end. Be on the lookout for more and please review.

(1) Atomic Breath. This is the spell for the ATOMIC BREATH.

Chapter Text

ARC 3

PART 2: Warriors

Remus had taken the kids away. Hermione looked to be on the brink of dying but hopefully the Healers back at Number 12 could do something.

As they were gone, moments later, Remus returned for the fight. Remus and Arthur tag-teamed together and made Deatheaters think twice before challenging them.

In the first war, Arthur Weasley was known to crush the insides of his opponents. People took him for a peaceful guy but when push came to shove, he isnt someone that you wanna cross paths with. Remus was a man in the first war that was a silent killer. He tracked down Death Eaters and killed them when they weren't expecting.

He in the current fight however, was using his werewolf strength to over power his opponent physically. But unfortunately he left an opening between his feet and they were reachable for the enemy.

His enemy flipped him over and summoned an axe to drive it through his heart.

Arthur and Mulciber were equals in regards to magical strength and strategy. They were constantly switching between staying in the offensive and being in the defensive.

On Remus's side of things, he managed to throw his enemy off him and threw him into the opening towards the atrium.

The duelling was led to the Atrium. Remus and Arthur were against Walden Macnair and Mulciber. Both of them were duelling in opposite ends of the room. Remus was fighting Macnair and Arthur was winning against Mulciber.

Here we are, don't turn away now

Remus was starting to lose the duel as he was being kept on the defensive. The spells began grazing him and his accuracy was getting worse as his wand arm's shoulder was injured. But he nearly had killed Macnair. He won't turn away now. He would finish it.

We are the warriors that built this town.

Mulciber threw a cutting curse which Arthur dodged but it managed to clip his thigh. Whatever injuries he may suffer, he is not going to back down.

From dust.

Arthur had fallen and he was struggling to defend himself in a prone position. He sent a bludgeoning hex that crashed against Mulciber's shield which made Mulciber fall on his back.

It only took one spell, one moment for Arthur to get back up. He may be growing old, but his spirit never dies.

Remus was going toe-to-toe against Macnair. Macnair sent a Sectumsempra which Remus dodged and then casted a spell that he had created himself.

"EXCÆCANT OCULOS!"(1)Remus roared.

Macnair was temporarily blinded. He couldn't see for a few seconds but those few seconds were all that Remus needed to win.

Remus then cast a simple but effective cutting curse which chopped Macnair's wand arm away. He then chopped one of his legs of as well just to make sure he doesn't runoff. He had no problem to take care for apparation because the Ministry's wards were intact.

Remus cauterized the man's wounds so that he can question him later.

The Death Eaters had entered with the help of their inside man through the floo.

Arthur was winning against Mulciber but that bastard had burnt Arthur's left side. The skin looked mottled. Arthur looked pissed. Mulciber sent snakes onto him. Arthur froze for a millisecond but casted a maximized blasting hex to finish the snakes.

"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!", the Weasley patriarch roared. The snakes that were in direct content, were vaporized. The other's guts were strewn everywhere.

He flipped Mulciber away and used a flame curse to burn his wand arm. And he took morbid pleasure in doing so. After he decided that it was enough, he doused him in icy water so that the fire dies out and binds him. Just as he did, he was unaware that Voldemort arrived.

Voldemort smiled.

"Ah..if it isn't Arthur Weasley...good day Arthur.." Voldemort practically purred.

Arthur's attention snapped to him. His eyes widened for the briefest of moments but then he narrowed his eyes at Voldemort. He hated him with every fiber of his being.

Voldemort had killed Arthur's parents. Arthur lied to everyone that his parents had died of cardiac arrest but he knew the truth. He had seen it.

Arthur knew he wasn't going to beat him. But he will not go down without a fight. He never did.

The Weasleys never did.

"Ah..I see you know that I had killed Septimus and Cederella Weasley. Rather a shame that I had to kill Cederella. A perfect Black marrying into a blood traitor family. Waste of a precious pureblood." Voldemort mockingly said.

Even if Arthur's boggart is Voldemort, he is not going to let him get away with his parent's murder. He waited for him to attack. Voldemort didn't. Arthur's patience drew thin so he attacked. He threw the first punch.

A Brain burner curse.

"CEREBRUM USTOR!" roared Arthur, the spell at a mighty power level but not enough to kill as the fear of Voldemort effected it. Voldemort side stepped that easily. With a lazy flick of his wand, he sent a chain of brain burners, gut burners, and constrictors.

Arthur conjured marble to block them and apparated away. He reappeared to the right 15 feet away and sent fire belts at him. Voldemort lazily put up a shield and sent a basilisk made of fire. Arthur countered that by a huge whirlpool of water which extinguished it. Voldemort then conjured a wall of marble and banished it towards Arthur as a distraction. Arthur sent a maximised exploding hex which incinerated the wall and turned it into dust.

From dust

Will come

When you'll have to rise

Above the best and prove yourself

Your spirit never dies

Voldemort focused now at the sight. He expertly twirled his wand around his head and sent a massive belt of fire. He apparated away and reappeared at a distance. Arthur retaliated with a wall of water. His elemental magic wasn't that good. He never excelled in elemental magic.

The fire extinguished and left a lot of steam in its wake which scalded Arthur's skin. (3) Voldemort stayed afar because he favoured the long range. He sent an arrow storm towards Arthur which he sent a blasting hex at. Arrows went everywhere. Voldemort conjured a knife and apparated behind Arthur. Arthur predicted this and jumped out and cast a blasting hex at him. It took a good portion of flesh away from Voldemort's shoulder and resulted into the knife being momentarily lost as it cluttered away into debris.

But then something happened which shouldn't.

Voldemort regenerated that piece of flesh which was blown away. That wasn't supposed to happen. Arthur looked at him for a brief few moments in morbid shock and awe. Voldemort needed this. He then summoned the previously conjured knife and drove that into Arthur's heart and at that exact moment,Dumbledore entered the Atrium.

Arthur Weasley was dead.

Seeing Arthur dead, Dumbledore saw red. He, however, controlled their anger as to not make any stupid decision.

Dumbledore, wand at the ready, stepped first and said. "It was foolish to come here tonight Tom, the Aurors are on their way." Voldemort merely grinned and replied, "By which time I shall be gone, and you, shall be dead. Like your friend Arthur here." and he chuckled as he were laughing at a joke, and shot a killing curse. Dumbledore countered that with a disarming charm.

Dumbledore's red beam tried to make Tom's green submit. But Tom's killing curse ray was enough to stop it. He was cackling. Nobody knew why. But Tom's next spell answered that unsaid question.

"TRISTITIA TIGNARIUS!" and three sickly beams of yellow electricity poured out from his wand. They were aimed for Dumbledore but he briefly flew to avoid it. 

Dumbledore got hit a little bit on the feet. That was enough to make his brain stop for a second. And he fell with a thud on the floor. As he became aware again, he conjured a wall of rubber to block the lightning. As he was behind it, he regained his senses slowly and pushed the wall towards Tom.

He was closing the distance between them and extended his hand which transformed into a big metal hook and speared Voldemort's side. It connected with Voldemort's side but Dumbledore's hook arm was also hit by his lightning. Voldemort's left arm's bone was shattered. Dumbledore repeatedly struck him, not allowing him to heal

He anticipated that he was going to die if he stayed in Dumbledore's range.

So he apparated out to the Death Room and the Hall of Prophecies where he was sure his followers were.

He made a mistake. He apparated right between Ministry wizards and the Order fighting Death Eaters. He took his followers (he had to leave behind plenty) and apparated back to base. Dumbledore, in the meantime, used a halo-time reversal spell which allowed him to see what happened in the atrium before his arrival. He was impressed by how Arthur stood his ground even if he was scared.

He hung his head in silence for a moment for the fallen warrior. Afterward, he levitated Arthur's body out of there. Arthur's body was sent to a cemetery with the help of the Ministry. They had a few Healers in the Order. He had them check up on the Order's injuries.

All of them were banged up pretty badly. Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, and Amelia having the worst injuries out of them all.

Most of Remus's injuries were relatively minor but some were life threatening so he had to be sent to Saint Mungo's.

Tonks had internal bleeding in her upper abdomen. So she had to be sent to Saint Mungo's.

Kingsley had his right leg mauled and that leg was devoid of any feeling. So he was temporarily called back from duty to allow himself to heal. Amelia had a skull fracture and 5 broken ribs. One of them had punctured her right lung. She was sent to Saint Mungo's for immediate medical assistance.

The rest of them were tended to within Number 12 itself. Upon Dumbledore's return to Number 12, the kids and the Order immediately saw his downtrodden and saddened face. They deduced something terrible had happened. But they were going to regret their next 3 words for a long time.

"What happened Dumbledore?' echoed everyone. Dumbledore sniffed and said, "My friends, I have terrible news for you all. Arthur Weasley, Dedalus Diggle and Sirius Black have all been killed."

There was an echo of outrage and shock among the Weasley clan. They all were left alone in the kitchen to mourn the loss of their husband and father. The others cried out and mourned the loss of their trust worthy friends and allies. Harry seemed...devoid of any emotion. But it was only a matter of mere moments when Harry pulled Dumbledore outside of the kitchen and asked Dumbledore in bated breaths.

"Professor, where is Remus, and what happened to him?" asked the nervous teenager, not wanting to lose the last remaining link to his father. Dumbledore informed

"I do not know the extent of Remus's injuries Harry. But I do know that he is not faring well.. Do you remember that I had taught you about Voldemort's signature attack as Ghidorah?"

*Flashback*

Rain pattered on the roof and windows of Dumbledore manor as Dumbledore made his way to the training room. He was happy to see the three waiting for him. "Good to see you three early." happily stated the Headmaster. The said three replied, "Thank you sir." and Dumbledore opened the door and they entered. After settling down, Dumbledore began. "Today, I would be going over Tom's Magus Titanus's form. It's history, attacks that you should avoid, etc. So before we begin, any questions? No? Good."

"Tom's form is of the Titanus Ghidorah species. They never were from the earth. They were from outer space. From Muspelheim, some have theorized." "Sir, what's Muspelheim?" asked Hermione.

"Ah. I had anticipated this question. You see Miss Granger, the universe is like a tree. Which some people refer to as the Yggdrasil. Also known as the Life Tree. It has many branches, symbolizing realms. Earth is one of them. Referred to as Midgard. There are ten realms in total.

Alfheim: Home of the Light Elves, ruled by Frey.

Asgard: Home of the Asgardians, ruled by Odin.

Valhalla: Realm of the honored dead which is distinct from but closely connected to Asgard.

Realm Below: Home of the insanely-savage Rock Trolls, located beneath Asgard.

Vanaheim: Home of the Vanir, the sister race of the Asgardians.

Jotunheim: Home of the Frost Giants, ruled by Laufey.

Midgard: Our home. Also called Earth.

Nidavellir: Home of the Dwarves, ruled by Eitri.

Svartalfheim: Home of the Dark Elves. Also called "The Dark World", it is ruled by Malekith.

Realm of the Dead: Hel and Niffleheim are two distinct realms although they are closely related. One of the two always appears on lists or explanations of the realms, but never both. At times, the names are used interchangeably, and the exact division or bounders remains unclear.

Hel: Realm of the dead who are neither honored nor dishonored. It is ruled by Hela.

Niffleheim: Realm of the dishonored dead. Also called "Mist-Home", it is a land of ice, mist, and cold.

Muspelheim: Home of the Fire Demons. Also called Muspel, it is a realm of eternal fire and is ruled by Surtur. This is where the Dark Titans arise from. Dark Titans such as King Ghidorah, Rodan, Destoroyah, Biollante, etc.

Heven: Home of the Angels. A paradisal realm ruled by the Queen of Angels. Heven was cut off from the other nine during a brutal war between it and Asgard. But it was reopened by Thor and Loki.

We are not alone in this universe. These are realms. There are a lot more planets apart from these. For example Xandar, home of the N.O.V.A force or Knowhere, home of the Collector. Or Saakar, home of the Grandmaster. Or Titan, home of the Mad Titan Thanos."

Dumbledore explained the concept of multiple realms for a few more minutes then he shifted his focus to Ghidorah.

"The Titanus Ghidorah species had invaded Earth during the Carboniferous period. They were establishing their rule but a Titan force, also known as the Titanus Gojira, has interrupted their plans and made the front line and the force that were to drive away from the Ghidorah. Both of the species fought viciously, leaving one combatant alive from either side. The last 2 went to fight. They both were heavily weakened and the Ghidorah retreated to heal and the Gojira's did the same. And Gojira, now known as Godzilla, is always ready and has fought off dozens of Titan attacks on earth and has established the proper balance of nature.

He has finished the ancient titan war with the last Titanus Ghidorah, and no one dared to stand in King of the Monster's fury. The main move that had killed the Gojira's was the Gravity Beams. Now known as the tristitia tignarius spell is cast through a wand. 4 Ghidorahs used to use this on one Godzilla to kill the said Gojira. You still need to be wary of this spell because this is as deadly if cast through a wand. It makes 3 beams of electricity pour out of the wand. If all 3 hits, you are dead. If you are fortunate to have been just struck by one, you are lucky enough to live, but it would take you 8 months to heal."...

*Flashback end*

"What are you trying to imply sir?" Harry knew what he was implying but was in denial. So he asked it directly from the Headmaster to wrong his fears. But what he said just confirmed and strengthened his fears.

"Harry, I have been hit by it." cleared Dumbledore.

"Sir are you ok?"

" Yes, Harry. I may not be able to move well for quite a time now. I may recover from this but even if I am permanently crippled, I will make sure from the inside the we will win this war."

The reality of the war began to sink in.

AN: Here ya go

1) That's a spell for a flashbang. A Flashbang grenade, if you will.

2) That roughly translates to "Lightning".

3) Steam has heat. Latent heat. Which can cause burns.

Chapter Text

ARC 3

PART 3: King of the Monsters and Death's champion

The reality of the war began to sink in. Remus. Not faring well. Sirius. Dead. Remus. Not fairing well. Sirius. dead. These thoughts began to run rampant throughout Harry's mind. Constantly. Non-stop. He could not let Remus die as well. No, not the last link to his parents. "Sir, where is he? Can you take me to him?" asked Harry. Dumbledore replied,"Go to the floo, take some floo powder, firmly say 'Healer Tranis' and you should be connected to the Order's healer. Go my boy go," and Harry hurried away at that.

Dumbledore then muttered to himself, "No, now is not the time to inform him of the prophecies. No." 

Harry rushed to the floo, took the aforementioned floo powder and threw it into the fireplace firmly naming, "Healer Tranis" and said Healer came through yelling.

'WHAT IS IT DUMBLEDORE? Can’t you see I am busy- what is it Potter?“ Finished Tranis as he finally took notice of Harry.

“Um….Healer Tranis, I just want to see Remus. I just want to see if he is okay “ and as he said that, his voice choked on the last word but he desperately hoped the Healer didn’t notice it. “Come with me Potter.” And Harry followed. Once they flooed back to the hospital, Harry stuck close to Remus and the Healer kept going at a steady rate. Once they reached Remus, Harry nearly broke and almost began to sob.

What Dumbledore said was a huge alternation of the real truth. Remus was lying on the bed where his left arm was heavily bandaged and his eyes looked red while his skin was unnaturally pale. He looked over to the Healer in confusion and he cleared his confusion.

“Silver poisoning, doubt it that he might live. It is a ruddy surprise that he didn’t die on the spot when the silver came into contact. He should’ve died there, if I am being completely honest. But he didn’t. He either is dying as we speak or he is in a comatose state. Neither dying nor living, like in a limbo. The bone fractures and the internal bleeding has been treated." Healer Tranis furrowed his brows for a moment. After putting in a great deal of thought, he pulled out his wand said, "Hol’ on a ruddy second, let me see if he is actually dying or not. Egritudo.” and he casted a diagnostic charm.

The results were jaw dropping.

“Bloody merlin, HOW? HOW IS HE LIVING?” questioned Tranis to no one in particular. “He is supposed to be dying, not resisting the silver. HOW IS HE ALIVE? THIS CHANGES OUR PERCEPTION OF WEREWOLF HEALING CAPABILITIES!” he half questioned- half yelled to nobody in particular.

In Remus’s mind. 

He was in a big area of an endless void. The entire thing was black. So black in fact, he couldn’t tell how high was the place he was in, or how big it was, or how deep down it stretched to. Then suddenly, the room changed. He was in a very old memory.

*Flashback*

A sandy haired boy was walking down a dirt. He looked to be 8 years old. His face was riddled with scars. This boy was none other than young Remus Lupin. As he went down the lane to go home, he didn’t see a boy, who is most likely 16, bump into him. He fell to the ground. Once he got up, he seethed “Watch it Lupin. Or else you might very well die one day by those street dogs that are running ‘round here if you walk blindly like that.

*Cut flashback*

He was shifted into another memory.

*Flashback*

That same sandy haired boy looked to be 10 now. He had got many death threats in his short life. A few days ago, his only acquaintance, had turned his back on him because he figured it out, that he was a werewolf.

“Watch it werewolf. Do you want to die?”

*Cut flashback*

He recalled many more memories where he was being threatened. So many people wanted him to die. And when he is actually dying, these memories are coming back.

But he remembered one thing. The only thing that made him live through the first war and not do anything stupid. 

The cry of a boy. The happy gurgles whenever he was laughing, or the wails that he made when he was sad. Or the angry cries he cried when he was angry.

That boy made him live through the war. 

Harry.

He deeply regretted not looking after him in his childhood. He regretted not even checking up on him even ONCE. Dumbledore had said he is fine. He is ok. But Remus could see he is troubled.

So, he would live.

For Harry.

He began pushing away the silver from his important organs and slowly began to spill it out of the wound that it came through. God, it hurts. Everything hurts. He feels like he is on fire. But he will live through it. There was a boy he had to look after. It should’ve been Sirius that looked after Harry but now it’s him.

HE. WILL. LIVE.

He firmly yelled that in his mind and began pushing away the silver. When Remus was thrown off the edge, he was known to have one of the strongest wills. Once he set his mind onto something, he would be damned if he didn’t do it. He kept on expelling the silver, He faintly heard echoes of the damned that kept yelling at him to join them. But he wouldn’t. They kept saying he was so close to the other world. He was so close to the other life that his attempts at living are futile.

But he is not going to stop.

He pushed through, tried his hardest to live and he now was hearing echoes of some people familiar.

- THIS CHANGES OUR PERCEPTION OF WEREWOLF HEALING CAPABILITIES!" yelled a particular deep voice. “Healer TRANIS! LOOK AT HIS NECK!” said another voice. But this time it was a scratchy male voice. Harry. Remus recognized the voice as Harry. “Oh god, let me patch that right up. Oh, dear lord. This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Nyan Tranis. Who was he again? That’s right. His healer. The Healer for the Order. 

He then felt his neck sting for a second then it felt like it was burning. He couldn’t tell what was happening but his neck was slowly feeling better.

“Harry….” He gasped out. 

“Here. I am here Remus. Don’t you worry, you are going to live.” reassured Harry.

He could see faintly that Harry was sitting beside him. “Harry…” he tried to talk but ended up coughing.

“Ssh….quiet now Remus. If you talk, your neck is going to hurt cuz the wound from where the silver entered, is in your neck. Ssh…” he softly chastised Remus. 

He sat absolutely still. At pure ease. 

He then heard Tranis say “Leave him alone to rest and he would be ok now.”

Ok Healer Tranis, where is Hermione? I want to see her.” Harry asked.

“Miss Granger? Ward 517. Just a few wards away. If you get out of this ward and go 8 wards to your right, that’s Granger’s ward.”

“Ok sir. Thank you.” He replied in earnest and took off like a bullet.

Healer Tranis chuckled and turned to Remus and said, “Just like ‘ol James, eh? Fallen for the smart one. You owe me 5 Galleons Remus.”

Said loser of the bet merely scowled.

When Harry reached Ward 517, he walked tentatively into the ward to visit Hermione. Her Healer noticed him and spared him 5 minutes to talk and she left.

As she left, Harry walked over, conjured a chair and sat on it. He tenderly grasped Hermione’s hand and let it all out.

“H-Hey,” he began shakily. “All of th-this wasn’t supposed to happen- none of this was supposed to happen. You shouldn’t have followed me. I-I- If you had died, I-I-I would’ve felt that it’s on me. I would’ve felt its my fault Hermione. If you hadn’t just followed me into the Department, you would’ve been safe- You sh-should’ve played it smart. But I guess the Gryffindor in you shines when not needed. Us Gryffindors,so damn reckless eh?' he then gave a watery chuckle at that.

"But we are meant to be brave and you exactly were that. It was a bit stupid really. But none the less, you shouldn’t have followed me through Hermione. You have no bloody idea of how much I love you and how much it would hurt me to lose you. Padfoot died, you know that? Pads is dead. I still haven’t gotten over the fact that P-Padfoot's dead” and he tightened his grasp on Hermione's hand and started to sob softly.

“And you know what? Mr. Weasley was killed. The war is coming to our very own doorsteps Hermione. And very soon, we would be losing people left, right and center and you may very well be one. But I will make sure that you WON'T be one of them. I promise you that you will not die. You know why Hermione? I-I- goddamnit I'll just say it. I love you, that’s why. If you don’t feel the same, i don't bloody care. But I swear on my magic that I would give up my very own life to protect you. And it would always be that way. It's meant to be that way Hermione. It's always was. It’s getting a bit late now honestly. I have to go back. I hope you get better ‘Mione. I have never been more scared. See you soon girl,"and he kissed her forehead and left.

Little did he know, Hermione was listening to him and he just made a magical vow that would actually come into action.

4 Days Later.

Exams had been over with the History of Magic O.W.L., Hermione was due to be up now. The Healer had said she should be fine in four days. Those days had passed. He didn’t see Hermione but he didn’t know that she is resting in the Hospital Wing.

He was still pretty pissed at Dumbledore so he didn’t want to talk to anyone.

4 days ago.

“Harry, can you come with me into my office? I want to talk to you about something.” Said Dumbledore as he passed Harry is a hallway in Hogwarts.

“Sure Headmaster.” And he followed him.

As they entered into his office, Dumbledore began.

“You would be pleased to hear that none of your fellow students are going to suffer lasting damage from the nights events.”. Harry tried to say “Good” but no sound came out. He couldn’t match Dumbledore’s eyes. It seemed that he was accusing Harry of what happened. “Madam Pomphrey is patching everybody up. Miss Granger had to be sent to Saint Mungo’s along with Remus.” Said Dumbledore.

After a moment of silence, Dumbledore continued.

“I know how you are feeling, Harry,” said Dumbledore very quietly. “No, you don’t,” said Harry, and his voice was suddenly loud and strong. White-hot anger leapt inside him. Dumbledore knew nothing about his feelings. “You see, Dumbledore?” said Phineas Nigellus slyly. “Never try to understand the students. They hate it. They would much rather be tragically misunderstood, wallow in self-pity, stew in their own —”

"That’s enough, Phineas,” said Dumbledore. Harry turned his back on Dumbledore and stared determinedly out of the opposite window. He could see the Quidditch stadium in the distance. Sirius had appeared there once, disguised as the shaggy black dog, so he could watch Harry play. . . . He had probably come to see whether Harry was as good as James had been. . . . Harry had never asked him. . . . “There is no shame in what you are feeling, Harry,” said Dumbledore’s voice.

“On the contrary . . . the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength.” Harry felt the white-hot anger lick his insides, blazing in the terrible emptiness, filling him with the desire to hurt Dumbledore for his calmness and his empty words. “My greatest strength, is it?” said Harry, his voice shaking as he stared out at the Quidditch stadium, no longer seeing it. “You haven’t got a clue. . . . You don’t know . . .” “What don’t I know?” asked Dumbledore calmly. It was too much. Harry turned around, shaking with rage.

“I don’t want to talk about how I feel, all right?”

“Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human —”

“THEN — I — DON’T — WANT — TO — BE — HUMAN!” Harry roared, and he seized one of the delicate silver instruments from the spindle-legged table beside him and flung it across the room. It shattered into a hundred tiny pieces against the wall. Several of the pictures let out yells of anger and fright, and the portrait of Armando Dippet said, “Really!” “I DON’T CARE!” Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace.

“I’VE HAD ENOUGH, I’VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON’T CARE ANYMORE —” He seized the table on which the silver instrument had stood and threw that too. It broke apart on the floor and the legs rolled in different directions.

“You do care,” said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. “You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” “I — DON’T!” Harry screamed, so loudly that he felt his throat might tear, and for a second, he wanted to rush at Dumbledore and break him too; shatter that calm old face, shake him, hurt him, make him feel some tiny part of the horror inside Harry.

“Oh yes, you do,” said Dumbledore, still more calmly. “You have now lost your mother, your father, and the closest thing to a parent you have ever known. Of course, you care.”

“YOU DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL!” Harry roared. “YOU — STANDING THERE — YOU —” But words were no longer enough, smashing things was no more help. He wanted to run, he wanted to keep running and never look back, he wanted to be somewhere he could not see the clear blue eyes staring at him, that hatefully calm old face. He ran to the door, seized the doorknob again, and wrenched at it. But the door would not open. Harry turned back to Dumbledore.

“Let me out,” he said. He was shaking from head to foot. “No,” said Dumbledore simply. For a few seconds they stared at each other. “Let me out,” Harry said again. “No,” Dumbledore repeated. “If you don’t — if you keep me in here — if you don’t let me —” “By all means continue destroying my possessions,” said Dumbledore serenely.

“I daresay I have too many.”

He walked around his desk and sat down behind it, watching Harry. “Let me out,” Harry said yet again, in a voice that was cold and almost as calm as Dumbledore’s. “Not until I have had my say,” said Dumbledore. “Do you — do you think I want to — do you think I give a — I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU’VE GOT TO SAY!” Harry roared. “I don’t want to hear anything you’ve got to say!” “You will,” said Dumbledore sadly. “Because you are not nearly as angry with me as you ought to be. If you are to attack me, as I know you are close to doing, I would like to have thoroughly earned it.”

“What are you talking — ?”

“It is my fault that Sirius died,” said Dumbledore clearly. “Or I should say almost entirely my fault — I will not be so arrogant as to claim responsibility for the whole. Sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger. Nevertheless, you should never have believed for an instant that there was any necessity for you to go to the Department of Mysteries tonight. If I had been open with you, Harry, as I should have been, you would have known a long time ago that Voldemort might try and lure you to the Department of Mysteries, and you would never have been tricked into going there tonight. And Sirius would not have had to come after you. That blame lies with me, and with me alone.”

Harry was still standing with his hand on the doorknob but he was unaware of it. He was gazing at Dumbledore, hardly breathing, listening yet barely understanding what he was hearing. “Please sit down,” said Dumbledore. It was not an order; it was a request. Harry hesitated, then walked slowly across the room now littered with silver cogs and fragments of wood and took the seat facing Dumbledore’s desk.

“Am I to understand,” said Phineas Nigellus slowly from Harry’s left, “that my great-great-grandson — the last of the Blacks — is dead?”

“Yes, Phineas,” said Dumbledore. “I don’t believe it,” said Phineas brusquely. Harry turned his head in time to see Phineas marching out of his portrait and knew that he had gone to visit his other painting in Grimmauld Place.

He would walk, perhaps, from portrait to portrait, calling for Sirius through the house. . . .

“Sir, When I saw the vision, I tried. I tried really hard to push it away with the help of Occlumency. I tried. Believe me I did. It was just too powerful.” Harry admitted.

“You tried your best, that’s the point. You tried to stop it and I am proud of you for that my boy and I believe I owe you an explanation.”

“An explanation of an old man’s mistakes. For I see now that what I have done, and not done, with regard to you, bears all the hallmarks of the failings of age. Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young . . . and I seem to have forgotten lately. . . .” The sun was rising properly now. There was a rim of dazzling orange visible over the mountains and the sky above it was colorless and bright. The light fell upon Dumbledore, upon the silver of his eyebrows and beard, upon the lines gouged deeply into his face. “I guessed, fifteen years ago,” said Dumbledore, “when I saw the scar upon your forehead, what it might mean. I guessed that it might be the sign of a connection forged between you and Voldemort.”

“You’ve told me this before, Professor,” said Harry bluntly. He did not care about being rude. He did not care about anything very much anymore. “Yes,” said Dumbledore apologetically.

“Yes, but you see — it is necessary to start with your scar. For it became apparent, shortly after you rejoined the magical world, that I was correct, and that your scar was giving you warnings when Voldemort was close to you, or else feeling powerful emotion.”

“I know,” said Harry wearily. “And this ability of yours — to detect Voldemort’s presence, even when he is disguised, and to know what he is feeling when his emotions are roused — has become more and more pronounced since Voldemort returned to his own body and his full powers.” Harry did not bother to nod. He knew all of this already. Dumbledore had informed this when his training started. He practiced Occlumency for such a situation and it had never been his strong suite.

Since I knew this, I taught you and Mr. Longbottom, Occlumency in the forest near my home. So that Tom would not be able to identify where we are.”

“Sirius told me that you felt Voldemort awake inside you the very night that you had the vision of Arthur Weasley’s attack. I knew at once that my worst fears were correct: Voldemort from that point had realized he could use you. In an attempt to arm you against Voldemort’s assaults on your mind, I increased my Occlumency lessons with you. An attempt, to arm you against a mental assault from Tom himself. You tried Harry. You even said so earlier. You tried but he managed to overpower you. You faced defeat is not the point, you tried. That is the point and I believe Harry that it is high time that I have to tell you that I should have a long time ago. The reason why I chose to train you three for the upcoming fight against Tom’s dark forces. I said it’s your destiny. But why? Let me show you.”

He got up, extracted two memories from his mind and they began to play in the Pensieve.

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ...' 

As soon as this ended, the other started.

“Monster Zero shall rise again. He has met his demise but always has returned. As he would rise, so would the King of the Monsters. Neither can live while the other survives. Hell-bent on restoring natural world order, the King shall fight the Dark King. The King and the Lord have powers matched by no other, shall fight. And only one shall be known as the true King of the Monsters...

....The era of great destruction looms near. Half of all life would cease to exist. He arrives and brings balance to the universe. He is coming. Death's champion is coming. As the False Lord dies, he would arrive. He is coming.... The era of great destruction looms near."….

Chapter Text

Broken glass, sleek and crystalline, greeted Harry’s eyes as he entered the residence. The abject horror of the deep destruction curdled within the pits of Harry’s belly as his mind kept screaming at him “It was him! Voldemort had unleashed Ghidorah’s gravity beams over here. It was him! Look how far he has come.” Dumbledore was using halo-projection spells to see what had happened here while Harry traversed around the scene to gather clues on what had most likely happened in the residence.

As Harry walked by a broken glass window and a broken fish tank, he noticed a photo frame facing downwards with glass shards spewed in all directions around it. He found it to be curious so he picked the picture frame up. As he turned the frame around, he saw that the picture had an old man with a big portly belly, a balding head, and a walrus mustache, grinning widely and shaking the hand of a young teen whom Harry found out to be familiar. Upon closer inspection, the heart came to a stop and his fingers quivered for a brief moment once he recognized that teen. No, it just couldn’t be him.

It was Tom Riddle. 

The same 16-year-old Tom Riddle he had met in the Chamber of Secrets in his second year. The very same Tom Riddle who was hell-bent on coming back via possessing Ginny Weasley. He looked a bit older in the picture but there was no doubt that the teen was Tom Riddle. Harry’s eyes caught the face of another teen, who looked to be older than Tom, in the background smiling briefly and then scowling at Horace for a brief while. Harry wondered who that was.

As Harry stared at the picture, he saw that Tom would occasionally glance at a ring he wore on his left hand which would glow briefly, in repeated pulsations then it would die out. Seeing this, his curiosity peaked ever-the-more so he pocketed the picture and looked around for Dumbledore. For a brief moment, Harry panicked because he couldn’t see Dumbledore but then he heard Dumbledore’s low mutterings. He followed that to see Dumbledore walking in circles in the living room with his wand glowing blue and pointing towards the center of the room and his eyes were glowing blue as well. It seemed as if he was making mental notes on something only, he could himself see. Harry didn’t want to disturb Dumbledore. But when he heard the faint growls and crashes of thunder he called out. He didn’t see it but the storm that was brewing was flickering in an alien light. A light, which shouldn’t be in a regular storm.

‘Professor!’ he received no answer from Dumbledore. ‘Professor!’ he tried again, but to no avail. ‘Sir!’ he tried again, and the try was futile. Deciding that enough was enough, he yelled out ‘ALBUS!’ in frustration.

Dumbledore’s head snapped towards him and his eyes showed fright for a brief moment then it turned to annoyance and it then flickered to his usual twinkle.

‘Harry, it was rude to break my concentration. But anyway, you were saying?’ he asked absentmindedly.

'Professor, a storm is coming in so it is the wiser course of action that we head back.’ Harry proclaimed with a hint of urgency in his voice.

‘What?’ he was a bit bewildered by Harry’s statement and then he looked outside to certify Harry’s claims. He visibly paled when the storm shined yellow for the briefest of moment

‘Harry, we have to go, NOW!’ Dumbledore yelled out, noticing the color of the flickering storm. He had no intent to be here any longer once he saw it. He didn’t want to risk countless other lives. No, as powerful, violent, and vicious Gigan maybe, he cannot take on him. He just cannot. Then with the sudden agility of a much younger man, he ran over, grabbed Harry’s hand and disapparated away

‘SIR WHA-‘ he only could scream only much as he was taken away with Dumbledore.

‘-T ARE YOU DOING?’ Harry finished as they re-apparated on the border of Berlin.

‘Harry, I am sorry but I had to urgently take you away. You may haven’t noticed it but the storm was flickering yellow. Yellow. You may haven’t noticed this but I certainly did.’ Dumbledore profoundly apologized.

‘Sir wha- you mean…what?’ Harry asked. ‘Sir, you mean it was him and that was an ambush set by him too?’ he connected the dots and asked.

‘Yes Harry, I do believe it wa- HARRY DUCK!’ Dumbledore yelled out after seeing a bright purple light streaking towards the pair.

‘Sir wha-‘ he could only say much as Dumbledore whipped his wand out and cast the strongest variation of the shield charm he knew. As the launched spell ripped through the air and crashed in Dumbledore’s shield, a large crash could be heard for miles. The spell, while failing to penetrate the shield, managed to weaken the shield which led to Dumbledore staggering a bit and then another beam of purple light ripped through the air but this time was true on its target, or so it looked like.

Seeing the beam coming towards him, Harry ducked and heard nothing other than a thump and the familiar crack of disapparition echoing faintly. Harry looked up to see Dumbledore on the ground. Concerned, he rushed over to Dumbledore and began shaking him awake.

‘Professor! Sir! Wake up! Please wake up!’ he cried out while shaking Dumbledore. He never felt so worried for the headmaster. He just lost one parental figure; he wasn’t willing to lose another. He just wasn’t willing to. Momentarily, emotion blinded his rational train of thought. But after seeing that Dumbledore truly isn’t waking up, he wracked his brain thinking what would someone like Hermione do in this case.

After wracking his brain, he remembered a wiser course of action that could be taken here. Fuck underage magic restriction. Fuck the trace. Honestly, just fuck it. He whipped his wand out and cast

‘Rennervate’ he cast. Hoping that it would work. Nothing happened. ‘Rennervate!’ he tried again. Nothing happened. Having no idea what to do, he went for an option that he had never used before. He wasn’t sure on whether would it work or not. But he tried it anyway, in hopes that it would prevail

‘Rennervateus Maxima’ (1) he tried. Dumbledore began to stir. He rubbed his eyes, looked around where he was as if he was recollecting where he was. Once his eyes rested upon Harry’s face, he then looked up and met his eyes with him. Dumbledore tried to say something but no sound would come out. Frowning, he tried harder. Words failed to come out. He tried again, this time worried

‘Water, Harry.’ He rasped out in a weak voice. His voice was most likely weak and raspy from the spell. Seeing Dumbledore beg him for water, Harry tried his best to conjure up a small goblet for the headmaster. He had never really used conjuration in a while

‘Coniurare’(2) he tries. ‘ Coniurare’ he tried again, but to no avail. After five tries, he finally managed to conjure one. He then quickly cast ‘Aguamenti’ and cold water began to rush out of Harry’s wand. As soon as it filled the entirety of the goblet, Harry stopped the spell and the water stopped right at the moment where it was about to overflow. He then lifted Dumbledore’s head and gently placed the goblet on Dumbledore’s lips while Dumbledore drank graciously

After that, Dumbledore sat up to regain his breath. He then looked over to his injured arm and was rather shocked to see that the injury he had suffered on his hand, looked worse. It looked worse than it did previously. He then wandlessly summoned his wand to him and cast a few healing charms to temporarily heal the worsened injury. He then put the injury into stasis and cast a multitude of glamour charms over it. After that, he turned to Harry and rasped out in a bit fuller voice. While his voice wasn’t back to how it used to be, it was quickly growing back to normal with each word he spoke

‘Are you alright, Harry? Are you hurt?’ he asked, placing Harry before himself as his main priority

Shaken, Harry shuddered out. ‘Sir, what was that? What was that spell? Are you alright sir? I have never been more shaken up. I was really worried Professor. Who even was that for that matter? Did you manage to see?'

‘That I believe, my dear Harry was a failed assassination attempt. An attempt to assassinate you. And as regarding that spell, all I could make out was that it was a beam of purple light which narrows it down to a set of options but it doesn’t make any sense. Wait, hold on. If that was-‘ Dumbledore monologued but was cut off by a rather inquisitive Harry.

‘Which spell was it sir?’ he asked.

Dumbledore politely let out ‘I believe I was getting to that.’ Harry then pinkened and mumbled out a ‘Sorry’ and scratched the back of his neck. Dumbledore only laughed lightly in response to it.

‘Ah Harry, that was from what I believe an EMP charm. More specifically an Electro-Magnetic Pulse charm. If the person knew that you have a Titanus form, then this is worrying as if they know your form, which I suspect they do because of the thrown EMP charm, I believe there is a spy in our ranks. A spy apart from Severus, which I had hoped would not have happened.’ Dumbledore finished sadly.

‘Who’s there not to say that it could very well be Snape after all? Who’s there not to say that the person who you believed is for the light has been dark the entire time?’ Harry asked in a heated rant.

As Dumbledore was about to contradict his points, they all heard familiar cracks of apparation throughout the area. Their breath stilled as a thick German voice sounded from the left of Dumbledore.

‘Hände hoch, Zauberstäbe runter. Was ist lautet dein Name , alter Mann?’ (Hands up, wands down. What is your name, old man?) sounded a deep german voice, presumably a male.

‘Alexander, ich bin es,Albus Dumbledore und der junge man hier neben mir ist niemand anderes als Harry Potter. (Alexander, it's me, Albus Dumbledore and this young man here is none other than Harry Potter) Dumbledore replied in German.

The German’s eyes widened, even though Dumbledore and Harry could not see it and he called out to his teammates.

‘Zauberstäbe runter, Freunde! Das ist Dumbledore und Harry Potter!’ (Wands down, Friends! That is Dumbledore and Harry Potter!’) and all the present Germans lowered their wands.

Harry quietly asked Dumbledore ‘Sir, who are they?’ he was kind of intimidated by seeing all the wizards surrounding him.

‘German Aurors Harry. Although the one I talked to is an Order member. I suspect they came because of the magical signatures our spells gave off as there shouldn’t be any magical activity here.’ Dumbledore answered in an equally quiet voice.

The German wizard came up and began to speak English with a thick German accent. ‘Hallo Albus, I wasn’t expecting you to be here. What brings you here?’ he asked, switching between German and English.

‘Alexander, first of all, hello. It looks like that you became an Auror after me pushing you to become one. The job suits you well. And as to why am I here? Harry and I here just narrowly escaped Tom in his other form. And I wanted to apparate the both of us back to my manor but for some reason, we landed here. I don’t know really why but that’s what happened.’ Dumbledore finished with a frown on his face.

‘Also ist das Gerücht wahr? Riddle is back?’ (Ah, so is the rumor true? Riddle is back?’) asked Alexander with a sad frown on his face.

‘Yes, it is my dear friend. It is. Can you perhaps apparate Harry and  back to my manor? You have been there countless number of times so you know where it is.’ Dumbledore asked hopefully.

‘Yes, I would Albus. Yes, I would.’ Said Alexander in the positive. Then he turned to Harry and shook his hand while saying ‘Hello there Mr. Potter. Thank you for getting rid of Riddle back in.. sorry I can't remember the year in English but in german we would say Neunzehneinundachtzig.' Asked Alexander while momentarily switching back to German.

‘I am sorry? I don’t speak German.’ Harry asked and made it known.

‘Oh! I am sorry! I meant nineteen eighty-one. I tend to switch to German when I forget any certain word. Forgive me.' Apologized Alexander. He then turned to his comrades and ordered them to go back to the Ministry while he turned back and said ‘I best believe, that it is time to go back to Herr Dumbledore’s manor?’ He politely asked while offering his elbows to both of the wizards.

‘Yes, I believe so old friend, that it is indeed the time to return.’ And he took hold of Alexander’s left elbow while Harry took hold of the other one.

'Alright, and now here we go!’ and then they apparated without leaving a trace.

As they reappeared in front of Dumbledore’s ward line, Alexander looked at the manor and whistled.

‘Just as I remember it being. Never ceases to amaze me. I believe this is my time to leave now, Dumbledore? Harry?’

‘Yes,I think so too, dear friend.’ Answered Dumbledore.

‘Yes, it is Alexander.’ Affirmed Harry.

‘Alright, then Albus, Tschüss! (3)’ waved off the German wizard.

‘Aufwiedersehen mein Freund. (see you again my friend)’said Dumbledore in german.

‘Goodbye Alexander!’ waved off Harry.

‘Tschüss Harry.’ Alexander said before promptly disapparating on the spot.

‘Well, that was quite anti-climactic Harry bluntly stated.

‘Quite anti-climactic indeed Harry’ Dumbledore replied and both of them started walking towards the front door of the manor. While walking, Harry asked a multitude of questions to Dumbledore. Primarily regarding the attack and was he alright.

‘Professor, ar-are you alright? Whosoever was the attacker, who do you think was he going for? Or she for that matter? And how come can an EMP wind you up that badly?’ Harry asked Dumbledore, stuttering out of worry and curiosity.

‘Harry, yes. I am alright. No need to worry about me, my dear child. And as to regarding the intended victim, it was most likely you as the spell looked like to be aimed for you but the funny thing is that after I had deflected it, the incoming barrage was focused on me. I have no idea as to why would they switch targets. And as for the EMP’s effects, I just staggered at first due to the sheer force of impact of the spell. And for the second time? I honestly have no clue. Perhaps Gigan’s weakness is the EMP charm. That’s what I can surmise. But seeing that the spell was aimed towards you, the attacker does know that the Gojirans were particularly weak to Electro-Magnetic Pulse waves and had a tough time dealing with the MUTOs. But as how would they know, I have no idea. Except for the fact that the attacker is a Magus Titanus and can turn into the Titanus Jinshin-Mushi' Dumbledore monologued.

‘MUTO’s? What are the MUTOs, sir? Another Titan species?’ asked Harry.

‘Yes, Harry. And seeing that it is nearly midnight it would be best if we talk more about this tomorrow. Ah, look! We have nearly arrived!’ Dumbledore informed Harry

As they walked up to the porch, Dumbledore turned towards Harry, lightly grasped Harry by the shoulders, looked him in the eyes, and softly said ‘Harry, listen. If I do not live to see the end of this war, if I do not make it, promise me. Promise me that you would live and defeat Tom. Promise me that you would settle down and have a family. Harry, I know that is what you want after all you had told me your deepest desire in the halls of Hogwarts when you were merely a first-year student. A first-year in their first christmas at Hogwarts. And a certain old man had said “It doesn’t do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Which I still standby today. After the end of the war, do not dwell on what you perhaps could’ve had. Focus on what you can have. Focus on what you will have.

Even if I die to make sure you will be able to reach that day, even if I die before seeing the next generation Harry, I would die happy to know that I helped you have a happy life. A happy and safe life for the young wizards and witches to come. So, this is where I bid you goodbye, my dear child. Get in the manor and get some sleep. Your bags and Hedwig are all on your bed. Both Tobie and I made sure of it.’ Dumbledore then lightly kissed Harry on the forehead and ushered him to get into the manor.

As Harry opened the door, he turned around and said in an emotional voice.

‘Professor, you are becoming the grandfather I never had. Th-Thank you for that, Albus.’

‘I couldn’t be any more grateful than I already am Harry, to have you as a surrogate grandson.’

As Harry went to sleep, his mind couldn’t help but ponder on today’s events. A particular event struck a deep chord within him. The attack. His mind couldn’t just let go of the emotions he felt during the attack. Dumbledore’s commands, the crashing of the spells against his shield, the surprise, and the freight and the chilling cackle he heard.

His mind wouldn’t just let go no matter what he did. It just wouldn’t.

As sleep took over him, he dropped into a peaceful sleep. But only hours later, the peace turned into restlessness.

He was in the attack again. Dumbledore yelled to duck but as the second spell streaked through the air, it hit Dumbledore again. But this time Harry knew the spell. He was intimately familiar with the goddamned familiar green beam of light. The godforsaken killing curse.

He just couldn’t help but watch on as his mentor fell to the ground, dead. All the while Harry couldn’t help but feel helpless.

His arms felt like they were made of lead, his legs felt like they were stuck to the ground. He tried to yell out that it was the killing curse, he needs to move out the way but he couldn’t, no sound would come out. The words died in his throat as he helplessly watched on As he saw Dumbledore being struck down with the killing curse, Harry fell through the ground and only re-appeared to what seemed like the attack once again but this time in place of Dumbledore it’s Hermione. And the first spell wasn’t like it was the last time.

The first spell itself was the goddamned killing curse. She was struck down, at that sight, Harry couldn’t breathe properly, couldn’t think properly. As he looked over to the general direction of the sniper, his eyes widened to see Voldemort himself stepping out and cackling. He tried to yell at him but Voldemort cast the Gravity Beams at Harry’s memory form and then seemingly looked over to the real Harry and cast it on him as well. Harry couldn’t help but feel confused. Did the dream Voldemort know that it was him? No, he possibly couldn’t. There had to be someone else behind him that Harry didn’t see. He filed it away to see it in a Pensieve. As Harry had the gravity beams cast on him, he exploded into a multitude of ribbons but only seemed to re-appear at a different sight.

He was looking at a world, no, not a world but one of the nine realms. Which one was this again? This seemed familiar. Ah yes, Asgard. This was Asgard. Then everything went by in a blink of an eye which a normal person wouldn’t be able to see but it was at a completely normal speed for him. He briefly saw a hammer being crushed by some pale thin feminine hand. Good lord. And as to what hammer was it? No idea. It looked like Mjölnir. What? Mjölnir? ‘Oh dear, that is not good at all.’ He thought.

He also saw a big, fire demon, with horns on his head, erupt from the center building of Asgard and destroy everything around it with ‘Wait. Is that a sword that the demon is carrying? And wait a bloody minute. That demon was…. who was it again? SURTUR! Yep. Wait. Surtur? Then that’s means- no. It just cannot.."

Realization dawned upon Harry’s face. Ragnarök. The end of Asgard. It loomed nearer. He could not tell when would it happen, but he knew. He then has a brief glimpse of the All-Father, Odin Borson, dying. Odin? Dear god. This all fits in with the prophecy of Ragnarök.

He also saw a glimpse of Loki, the god of mischief getting his neck snapped in half by a big gauntlet. Harry looked to the face of the wearer of the gauntlet and was momentarily confused by him as he was unfamiliar with him. Then as he watched on, a weird thin-faced person, is it even a person? Walk towards the owner of the gauntlet with a shiny blue cube and said

‘My humble personage, bows before your grandeur.’ The owner of the gauntlet was in battle armor and he took off his helmet and armor while the weird person kept on talking. But this time, he bent down on one knee.

‘No other being, has ever had the might to gain enough ability, to wield not one but two infinity stones. The universe lies within your grasp.’ And with that comment, the gauntlet wearer gently took the cube and crushed it with one hand. It took some force to break as he was scrunching his face up while doing so and once the cube broke, a faint blue light leashed forth from the palm of the gauntlet wearer.

Once he opened his palm, Harry saw there were glass shards of the cube, fine as powder, resting on the gauntlet wearer’s arms which Harry just noticed had a purple shiny stone. Harry was confused by all of this. The gauntlet wearer gently blew away the glass shards and the glass shards turned into blue wisps of light as they were blown away. Harry then took notice of a shiny blue stone within the powder-like shards.

The wearer then took the stone and placed it into a slot next to the purple stone and upon contact, there was a surge of blue energy all around. The wearer relished the power he felt. Harry’s mind was reeling with the next sentence he would speak.

‘There are two more stones on earth my children. Find them and bring them to me.’

And then he turned around and seeming looked at Harry and said, ‘Harry wake up.’

Harry’s eyes widened.

‘Wake up Harry’

Then a female voice came out of the wearer’s mouth ‘Wake up Harry’

And then he woke up.

AN: Kudos to anyone who can find out who is the 'Gauntlet wearer'

Till next time,

Toodles

1) A Magnified Rennervate

2) Incantation for Conjuration

3) Just another way to say goodbye in german

A big thank you to all of my beta readers for fixing my fic. Wouldn't have done it without ya.

Chapter Text

ARC 4

Part 3: Die Untoten und die Schulbücher. 

He woke up. To a female voice. He groggily said “Geroff me!” and there were some retreating footsteps to be heard. Harry then fumbled around for his glasses and once he found them, he put them on and blinked a few times to see it was…...Hermione?

“Hermione, the bloody hell are you doing here? When did you get here?” he asked.

“I was about to ask you the same question Harry. And as for myself, I have been here for 3 days not counting today “ responded Hermione.

“What? I just got here last night. Dumbledore brought me-“ Harry was then cutoff by some thumping downstairs. Both of them looked at each other and then pulled their wands out and put silencing charms on their feet to not startle the intruder. They both exited Harry’s room and slowly stepped down the stairs, one by one. As they got closer to the ground-level where the fireplace was, they heard some familiar voices.

“-are you certain Albus? Would it be alright for some of us to be here? You would be bothered.” asked an old female voice.

“I have no problem, Molly, in fact I would be happy to see this old manor be lively once again. It is far too quiet here with only a few occupants. Speaking of which, let me bring them down.” Said Dumbledore as he began walking towards the staircase.

Harry and Hermione then stepped down to make themselves known and Harry said “There is no need to go up, Professor. We are here.”

Dumbledore’s face broke into a smile as he walked forward and pulled Harry and Hermione for a hug “Harry! You had a good sleep, yes? Good morning to you Harry and to you too Miss Granger.”

“Good morning Albus.” Both Harry and Hermione echoed, eerily sounding like the Weasley twins for a brief moment.

“Good morning to you both. Molly here would be coming over with some of her family. Young Ronald should be here along with them as well.”

“Um….Professor….but what of the Burrow?” Hermione asked.

“And Number 12 too, for that matter.” Harry finished for her.

“Harry, they would continue to be in Number 12. Its that it was getting too crowded with you children, the entire Weasley clan and the Order so that is why they are moving in here. Well, at least some are moving here.” Dumbledore answered.

“Oh, understandable. Why are we even here? Let’s go and eat breakfast, don’t you think Professor?” asked Hermione.

A mischievous twinkle began to sparkle within the depths of Dumbledore’s eyes as he said “Yes, let us head to breakfast and I believe that the OWL results are due today.”

“WHAT?” cried out both of the teens.

A few minutes later as all of them sat down to eat, Hermione couldn’t eat. Concerned, Harry asked.

“Hermione, why aren’t you eating anything? At least eat a little bit of eggs and toast.”

“Harry, I am just too nervous. What if I fail? What if I score bad in Ancient Runes? You remember that Eiwahz mistake I made, don’t you remember? Would they deduct marks for it? God, I am so worried!” Hermione said worryingly.

“I am sure Hermione, that you would pass with flying colors. If Hermione Granger, THE Hermione Granger fails in a subject, we all are doomed! God save us! Now eat Hermione. Oh look! The letters are here!” Harry exclaimed.

Hermione spun her so sharply that Harry thought she might break her neck. Hermione nervously walked towards the owls and untied the letters.

“This one is for you Harry.” She said as she handed him his letter.

“Oh, goodie.” He said as he took his letter.

Hermione’s hands trembled out of sheer nervousness. She tried to open it but put it down and said “No. I cannot do this. Harry, open mine while I open yours.” She ordered him as they exchanged letters.

Harry opened Hermione’s letter.

“Oh, bloody brilliant! You absolutely rocked this Hermione. Look!” Harry happily exclaimed.

“Wha-what? Le-let m-me see.” Hermione stuttered, not believing what he said and still being nervous.

As her eyes fell on the paper, a grin broke across her face and Harry saw her the happiest she has ever been. The sight of her grin made Harry grin broadly.

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL EXAMINATION

SCHOLASTIC YEAR OF 1995-1996.

Passing grades:

Outstanding + (O+):Highest grade achievable only when the examination has been absolutely perfect. Full 100 percentile required to achieve this.

Outstanding (O): Second Highest grade achievable. Minimum 95 Percentile required to achieve this.

Exceeds Expectations (E): Third highest grade achievable. Minimum 80% Percentile required to achieve this.

Acceptable (A): Lowest Passing grade attainable. Minimum 60% percentile required to achieve this.

Fail grades:

Poor (P): Only obtained when the percentile achieved ranges from 40% to 60%.

Dreadful (D): Obtained when the percentile achieved ranges from 20% to 40%.

Troll (T): Obtained when the percentile achieved ranges from 0% to 20%.

Student name: Hermione Jean Granger

Grades achieved:

Defense Against the Dark Arts: E

Transfiguration: O+

Charms: O

Potions: O

Astronomy: E

Ancient Runes: O+

Arithmancy: O

History of Magic: O

Congratulations Miss Granger!

Signed,

Griselda Marchbanks

Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority

“Told ya you would pass with flying colors, didn’t I?” Harry smugly said.

“Thanks Harry” she blushed for the briefest of moments before hugging him.

“Now its time to look at yours Mister Potter” she haughtily said.

“Oh yes certainly, Miss Granger” he returned the favor.

They both shared a laugh at that. Then Hermione opened Harry’s report and both of them began reading.

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL EXAMINATION

SCHOLASTIC YEAR OF 1995-1996.

Passing grades:

Outstanding + (O+):Highest grade achievable only when the examination has been absolutely perfect. Full 100 percentile required to achieve this.

Outstanding (O): Second Highest grade achievable. Minimum 95 Percentile required to achieve this.

Exceeds Expectations (E): Third highest grade achievable. Minimum 80% Percentile required to achieve this.

Acceptable (A): Lowest Passing grade attainable. Minimum 60% percentile required to achieve this.

Fail grades:

Poor (P): Only obtained when the percentile achieved ranges from 40% to 60%.

Dreadful (D): Obtained when the percentile achieved ranges from 20% to 40%.

Troll (T): Obtained when the percentile achieved ranges from 0% to 20%.

Student name: Harry James Potter

Grades achieved:

Defense Against the Dark Arts: O+

Transfiguration: O

Charms: O

Potions: E

Astronomy: E

Care of Magical Creatures: O

Divination: D

History of Magic: T

Congratulations Mister Potter!

Signed,

Griselda Marchbanks

Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority

“Blimey. My OWL marksheet is way more….colorful than yours. Hah.” Harry said.

“Harry, you got a bloody troll and a dreadful. How can you be so NONCHALT?!?” Hermione practically imitated a banshee.

“Woah woah woah. Goddamn. Calm down Hermione. And if you hadn’t noticed, I got the “bloody troll and the dreadful” as eloquently you put it, in Divination and History. You remember what happened in Hi-History, don’t you?” Harry’s throat began to tighten as he remembered what had happened.

Hermione realized she brought Sirius up so she began to apologize.

“Harry, I am sorry that I brought Padfoot up. I didn’t mean to do it. I am sorry.”

Harry turned his head away and wiped away the tears that were beginning to form in his eyes. Without looking at her, he said, “No problem but do not do that ever again. Just…please.”

Hermione hugged him from behind and said, “I won’t. It’s just that seeing the D and T made me go haywire. I didn’t mean to strike a soft spot.”

Harry turned around and hugged her while whispering for only her ears to hear, “I know you didn’t mean it Hermione. I know it.” And like that, Harry and Hermione exchanged this quiet moment together while Dumbledore just watched with a sad smile and whispered to himself,

“Just like how they used to be…” and he kept on eating. All everyone could hear were the soft tinkering of the forks, knives and spoons against the plates.

3 days later.

Far away in Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore was in his office thinking who could be the new defense professor.

 Dumbledore thought “What if-? Ah yes. That would work. But if I put him in the defense position, who would take over potions? Horace would have been the perfect person for this. But since he is missing, who would take over? Aurelius perhaps? He had a NEWT in Potions and a mastery over it after all. But- I guess Aurelius would have to do until I get Horace. But how come Myhaver also went missing? Perhaps….ah yes. Credence would definitely have to do until- but-yes. Now let me floo call hi-.” And he couldn’t finish his train of thought as he heard a large and loud crash from the center of his office. He looked over to be….Myhaver?

Myhaver was looking bruised up, disheveled and his clothing looked to be burnt. As he got up, Dumbledore saw that he had a particular nasty cut running from his forehead to his upper lip. He was bleeding profusely from his stomach as he tried to keep from bleeding by keeping his hand over the wound. Dumbledore hurried over and asked “Myhaver? Is that you? What happened to Horace?”

Myhaver coughed profusely and shuddered out “Th-They have him Dumbledore. They have my d-dad and I could not do any-fucking-thing ab-about it. They were just to goddamn many to fight.” and then he fainted. Eyes wide from surprise, Dumbledore grasped Myhaver’s hand and summoned Fawkes. “Fawkes, take us to Poppy.” He quickly ordered.

Fawkes held out his tail and they were fire-flashed to the Hospital Wing.

In the deathly silence of the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomphrey was sleeping. As she heard a large thump, she awakened from her slumber in surprise. She wasn’t expecting ruckus in the summer of all things. As she stepped out of her quarters, she heard a familiar deep voice cry out “Poppy? I need your assistance!” a rich deep voice called out, echoing throughout the cavernous and empty, Hospital Wing.

She turned around to see it was Dumbledore calling out to her and a heavily injured man being levitated. Good lord, he looked so….brutalized. Poppy then took out her wand and then quickly shuffled over ordering Dumbledore “Albus, keep him in that bad and for god’s sake TELL ME what happened to this poor….hold on…is that Horace’s son?” she asked.

“Yes, my dear Poppy, that is indeed Myhaver. And as to what happened to him, I am afraid I have no idea. But I can deduce this much that Horace and Myhaver were attacked and Myhaver escaped but Horace didn’t. I am not well-versed in healing magic so I brought him to you, in hopes that you would look over his well-being as of now.” Dumbledore politely responded.

“Ah. Alright. I’ll shall look over right away.” And she began casting diagnostic charms all over Myhaver. “Egritudo” she cast.

The results nearly made her faint.

“Al-Albus?”

“Yes, Poppy?” Dumbledore asked, leaning forward curiously.

“Look at the results,” she shakily said.

Once Dumbledore’s eyes rested upon the results, he was utterly and vehemently….astounded.

According to the results, Myhaver was showing no vitals. He had no life according to the spell. But they could see him breathing in front of them. Dumbledore took a few steps towards the bed and kept his hand over Myhaver to see if he was an illusion or not. He was not going to believe the reports of the spell. So, he kept his hand over Myhaver’s chest.

His hand perfectly initiated contact with Myhaver’s chest.

Dumbledore could even feel the heart, beating at a rhythmic pace. What was this? What dark magic is this?

“Poppy cast again,” he commanded her.

“Egritudo.”

The same results were shown.

Dumbledore then took out his wand and cast a soul-checking charm. This charm was used to see if people were still alive or not.

He had no soul.

Yet, he was breathing. “HOW?” Dumbledore mentally screamed.

He tried again.

He got the same results.

As Dumbledore lowered his wand in thought and tried to walk away, Myhaver’s hand shot up and grasped Dumbledore’s hand so fast that it seemed to be a blur.

Astounded to the sight, he heard Myhaver say some bone-chilling words that would keep him on edge till the day he dies.

“D-Don’t go Dumbledore. H-He is coming.”

“Who is coming, Myhaver?”

“I-I have seen it” then his voice deepens. His eyes begin to glow a bright yellow, his skin appeared to be rotten and the room steadily turned darker as he spoke.

 “The time of the One-Who-is-Many, looms near. The legend of the plan of pogrom for half of all life of the universe would begin with the commencement of Ragnarök, the denouement of Ásgarðr. With the denouement of Ásgarðr, the Mad Titan shall rise” and with that, Myhaver launched himself at Dumbledore and burst into ravens and it was as if no one was in the bed ever.

Dumbledore then understood what it was.

A message.

Through a brilliantly made illusion of someone he particularly cared for.

Harry and Hermione had moved to the Burrow for a couple of weeks to spend it with Ron as Dumbledore’s manor was being used as the temporary headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix and Number 12 Grimmauld Place was being purged of all the dark objects and the removal of the effects they left was taking a couple of weeks. Ron apparently had got an Outstanding in Charms and Defence. An E in Transfiguration and Potions while he got A’s on every other thing, apart from History of Magic and Divination where he got double T’s.

Harry remained within the confines of the Burrow's garden over the next few weeks after they had moved in temporarily. He spent most of his days playing two-a-side Quidditch in the Weasleys' orchard (he and Hermione against Ron and Ginny; Hermione was dreadful and Ginny good, so they were reasonably well matched) and his evenings eating triple helpings of everything Mrs. Weasley put in front of him.

It would have been a happy, peaceful holiday had it not been for the stories of disappearances, odd accidents, even of deaths now appearing almost daily in the Prophet. Sometimes Bill and Mr. Weasley brought home news before it even reached the paper. To Mrs. Weasley's displeasure, the pleasant morning was marred by grisly tidings brought to the party by Remus Lupin, who was looking gaunt and grim, his brown hair streaked liberally with gray, his clothes more ragged and patched than ever.

"There have been another couple of dementor attacks," he announced, as Mrs. Weasley passed him a large slice of fruit cake. "And they've found Igor Karkaroff's body in a shack up north. The Dark Mark had been set over it... well, frankly, I'm surprised he stayed alive for even a year after deserting the Death Eaters; Sirius's brother, Regulus, only managed a few days as far as I can remember."

"Yes, well," said Mrs. Weasley, frowning, "perhaps we should talk about something diff..."

"Did you hear about Florean Fortescue, Remus?" asked Bill, who was being plied with wine by Fleur. "The man who ran--"

"-- the ice-cream place in Diagon Alley?" Harry interrupted, with an unpleasant, hollow sensation in the pit of his stomach. "He used to give me free ice creams. What's happened to him?"

"Dragged off, by the look of his place."

"Why?" asked Ron, while Mrs. Weasley pointedly glared at Bill.

"Who knows? He must've upset them somehow. He was a good man, Florean."

"Talking of Diagon Alley," said Mrs. Weasley, "looks like Ollivander's gone too."

"The wand-maker?" said Ginny, looking startled.

"That's the one. Shop's empty. No sign of a struggle. No one knows whether he left voluntarily or was kidnapped."

"But wands--what'll people do for wands?"

"They'll make do with other makers," said Lupin. "But Ollivander was the best, and if the other side have got him it's not so good for us."

The day after this rather gloomy morning tea, their letters and booklists arrived from Hogwarts. Harry's included a surprise: he had been made Quidditch Captain.

"That gives you equal status with prefects!" cried Hermione happily. "You can use our special bathroom now and everything!"

"Wow, I remember when Charlie wore one of these," said Ron, examining the badge with glee. "Harry, this is so cool, you're my Captain... if you let me back on the team, I suppose, ha ha..."

"Well, I don't suppose we can put off a trip to Diagon Alley much longer now you've got these," sighed Mrs. Weasley, looking down Ron's booklist. "We'll go on Saturday as long as your father doesn't have to go into work again. I'm not going there without him."

"Mum, d'you honestly think You-Know-Who's going to be hiding behind a bookshelf in Flourish and Blotts?" sniggered Ron.

"Fortescue and Ollivander went on holiday, did they?" said Mrs. Weasley, firing up at once. "If you think security's a laughing matter you can stay behind and I'll get your things myself..."

"No, I wanna come, I want to see Fred and George's shop!" said Ron hastily.

"Then you just buck up your ideas, young man, before I decide you're too immature to come with us!" said Mrs. Weasley angrily, snatching up her clock, all nine hands of which were still pointing at mortal peril, and balancing it on top of a pile of just-laundered towels. "And that goes for returning to Hogwarts as well!"

Ron turned to stare incredulously at Harry as his mother hoisted the laundry basket and the teetering clock into her arms and stormed out of the room.

"Blimey... you can't even make a joke round here anymore..."

But Ron was careful not to be flippant about Voldemort over the next few days. Saturday dawned without any more outbursts from Mrs. Weasley, though she seemed very tense at breakfast. Bill, who would be staying at home with Fleur (much to Hermione and Ginny's pleasure), passed a full money bag across the table to Harry.

"Where's mine?" demanded Ron at once, his eyes wide.

"That's already Harry's, idiot," said Bill. "I got it out of your vault for you, Harry, because it's taking about five hours for the public to get to their gold at the moment, the goblins have tightened security so much. Two days ago Arkie Philpott had a Probity Probe stuck up his... Well, trust me, this way's easier."

"Thanks, Bill," said Harry, pocketing his gold.

"'E is always so thoughtful," purred Fleur adoringly, stroking Bill's nose. Ginny mimed vomiting into her cereal behind Fleur. Harry choked over his cornflakes, and Ron thumped him on the back.

It was an overcast, murky day. One of the special Ministry of Magic cars, in which Harry had ridden once before, was awaiting them in the front yard when they emerged from the house, pulling on their cloaks.

"It's good D-da-I mean Dumbledore got these for us again," said Ron appreciatively as his throat tightened in remembrance of his father's death. He strechted luxuriously in his seat as the car moved smoothly away from the Burrow, Bill and Fleur waving from the kitchen window. He, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were all sitting in roomy comfort in the wide backseat.

"Don't get used to it, it's only because of Harry," said Mrs. Weasley over his shoulder. He and Mrs. Weasley were in front with the Ministry driver; the front passenger seat had obligingly stretched into what resembled a two-seater sofa. "He's been given top-grade security status. And we'll be joining up with additional security at the Leaky Cauldron too."

Harry said nothing; he did not much fancy doing his shopping while surrounded by a battalion of Aurors. He had stowed his Invisibility Cloak in his backpack and felt that, if that was good enough for Dumbledore, it ought to be good enough for the Ministry, though now he came to think of it, he was not sure the Ministry knew about his cloak.

"Here you are, then," said the driver, a surprisingly short while later, speaking for the first time as he slowed in Charing Cross Road and stopped outside the Leaky Cauldron. "I'm to wait for you, any idea how long you'll be?"

"A couple of hours, I expect," said Mrs. Weasley. "Ah, good, he's here!"

Harry imitated Molly and peered through the window; his heart leapt. There were no Aurors waiting outside the inn, but instead the gigantic, black-bearded form of Rubeus Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, wearing a long beaverskin coat, beaming at the sight of Harry's face and oblivious to the startled stares of passing Muggles.

"Harry!" he boomed, sweeping Harry into a bone-crushing hug the moment Harry had stepped out of the car. "Buckbeak--Witherwings, I mean--yeh should see him, Harry, he's so happy ter be back in the open air--"

"Glad he's pleased," said Harry, grinning as he massaged his ribs. "We didn't know 'security' meant you!"

"I know, jus' like old times, innit? See, the Ministry wanted ter send a bunch o' Aurors, but Dumbledore said I'd do," said Hagrid proudly, throwing out his chest and tucking his thumbs into his pockets. "Lets get goin' then--after yeh, Molly, Arthur- wait, where's Arthur?"

Harry looked up and said two words, "He's dead." "Oh- Molly, I am so sorry-" Hagrid began but Mrs. Weasley waved it off. "It's not your fault, Hagrid. There's no need to dampen the mo-" Mrs. Weasly couldn't say more as soft tears began to fall on her wrinkled cheeks. They continued on in silence towards the Leaky Cauldron and, for the first time in Harry's memory, it was completely empty. Only Tom the landlord, wizened and toothless, remained of the old crowd. He looked up hopefully as they entered, but before he could speak, Hagrid said importantly, "Jus' passin' through today, Tom, sure yeh understand, Hogwarts business, yeh know."

Tom nodded gloomily and returned to wiping glasses; Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, and the Weasleys walked through the bar and out into the chilly little courtyard at the back where the dustbins stood. Hagrid raised his pink umbrella and rapped a certain brick in the wall, which opened at once to form an archway onto a winding cobbled street. They stepped through the entrance and paused, looking around.

-------------scene break------------

Diagon Alley had changed. The colorful, glittering window displays of spellbooks, potion ingredients, and cauldrons were lost to view, hidden behind the large Ministry of Magic posters that had been pasted over them. Most of these somber purple posters carried blown-up versions of the security advice on the Ministry pamphlets that had been sent out over the summer, but others bore moving black-and-white photographs of Death Eaters known to be on the loose. Bellatrix Lestrange was sneering from the front of the nearest apothecary. A few windows were boarded up, including those of Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. On the other hand, a number of shabby-looking stalls had sprung up along the street. The nearest one, which had been erected outside Flourish and Blotts, under a striped, stained awning, had a cardboard sign pinned to its front:

AMULETS: Effective Against Werewolves, Dementors, and Inferi

A seedy-looking little wizard was rattling armfuls of silver symbols on chains at passersby.

"One for your little girl, madam?" he called at Mrs. Weasley as they passed, leering at Ginny. "Protect her pretty neck?"

"If Arthur was here..." said Mr. Weasley, glaring angrily at the amulet seller.

"He would've arrested that man," Molly then shook her head and wiped the tears forming and continued, "I think we'd better do Madam Malkin's first, Hermione wants new dress robes, and Ron's showing much too much ankle in his school robes, and you must need new ones too, Harry, you've grown so much... come on, everyone..."

"Mum, it doesn't make sense for all of us to go to Madam Malkin's," said Mr. Weasley. "Why don't we three go with Hagrid, and you can go to Flourish and Blotts and get everyone's school books?"

"I don't know," said Mrs. Weasley anxiously, clearly torn between a desire to finish the shopping quickly and the wish to stick together in a pack. "Hagrid, do you think...--?"

"Don' fret, they'll be fine with me, Molly," said Hagrid soothingly, waving an airy hand the size of a dustbin lid. Mrs. Weasley did not look entirely convinced, but allowed the separation, scurrying off toward Flourish and Blotts with Ginny while Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid set off for Madam Malkin's.

Harry noticed that many of the people who passed them had the same harried, anxious look as Mrs. Weasley, and that nobody was stopping to talk anymore; the shoppers stayed together in their own tightly knit groups, moving intently about their business. Nobody seemed to be shopping alone.

"Migh' be a bit of a squeeze in there with all o' us," said Hagrid, stopping outside Madam Malkin's and bending down to peer through the window. "I'll stand guard outside, all righ'?"

So Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the little shop together. It appeared, at first glance, to be empty, but no sooner had the door swung shut behind them than they heard a familiar voice issuing from behind a rack of dress robes in spangled green and blue.

"... not a child, in case you haven't noticed, Mother. I am perfectly capable of doing my shopping alone."

There was a clucking noise and a voice Harry recognized as that of Madam Malkin, the owner, said, "Now, dear, your mother's quite right, none of us is supposed to go wandering around on our own anymore, it's nothing to do with being a child--"

"Watch where you're sticking that pin, will you!"

A teenage boy with a pale, pointed face and white-blond hair appeared from behind the rack, wearing a handsome set of dark green robes that glittered with pins around the hem and the edges of the sleeves. He strode to the mirror and examined himself; it was a few moments before he noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione reflected over his shoulder. His light gray eyes narrowed.

"If you're wondering what the smell is, Mother, a Mudblood just walked in," said Draco Malfoy.

"I don't think there's any need for language like that!" said Madam Malkin, scurrying out from behind the clothes rack holding a tape measure and a wand. "And I don't want wands drawn in my shop either!" she added hastily, for a glance toward the door had shown her Harry and Ron both standing there with their wands out and pointing at Malfoy.

Hermione, who was standing slightly behind them, whispered, "No, don't, honestly, it's not worth it. "

"Yeah, like you'd dare do magic out of school," sneered Malfoy. "Who blacked your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers."

"That's quite enough!" said Madam Malkin sharply, looking over her shoulder for support. "Madam--please--"

Narcissa Malfoy strolled out from behind the clothes rack.

"Put those away," she said coldly to Harry and Ron. "If you attack my son again, I shall ensure that it is the last thing you ever do."

"Really?" said Harry, taking a step forward and gazing into the smoothly arrogant face that, for all its pallor, still resembled her sister's. He was as tall as she was now. "Going to get a few Death Eater pals to do us in, are you?"

Madam Malkin squealed and clutched at her heart.

"Really, you shouldn't accuse... dangerous thing to say... wands away, please!"

But Harry did not lower his wand. Narcissa Malfoy smiled unpleasantly.

"I see that being Dumbledore's favorite has given you a false sense of security, Harry Potter. But Dumbledore won't always be there to protect you."

Harry looked mockingly all around the shop. "Wow... look at that... he's not here now! So why not have a go? They might be able to find you a double cell in Azkaban with your loser of a husband!"

Malfoy made an angry movement toward Harry, but stumbled over his overlong robe. Ron laughed loudly.

"Don't you dare talk to my mother like that, Potter!" Malfoy snarled.

"It's all right, Draco," said Narcissa, restraining him with her thin white fingers upon his shoulder. "I expect Potter will be reunited with dear Sirius before I am reunited with Lucius."

Harry raised his wand higher.

"Harry, no!" moaned Hermione, grabbing his arm and attempting to push it down by his side. "Think... You mustn't... You'll be in such trouble..."

Madam Malkin dithered for a moment on the spot, then seemed to decide to act as though nothing was happening in the hope that it wouldn't. She bent toward Malfoy, who was still glaring at Harry.

"I think this left sleeve could come up a little bit more, dear, let me just..."

"Ouch!" bellowed Malfoy, slapping her hand away. "Watch where you're putting your pins, woman! Mother, I don't think I want these anymore."

He pulled the robes over his head and threw them onto the floor at Madam Malkin's feet.

"You're right, Draco," said Narcissa, with a contemptuous glance at Hermione, "now I know the kind of scum that shops here... We'll do better at Twilfitt and Tatting's."

And with that, the pair of them strode out of the shop, Malfoy taking care to bang as hard as he could into Ron on the way out.

"Well, really!" said Madam Malkin, snatching up the fallen robes and moving the tip of her wand over them like a vacuum cleaner, so that it removed all the dust.

She was distracted all through the fitting of Ron's and Harry's new robes, tried to sell Hermione wizard's dress robes instead of witch's, and when she finally bowed them out of the shop it was with an air of being glad to see the back of them.

"Got ev'rything?" asked Hagrid brightly when they reappeared at his side.

"Just about," said Harry. "Did you see the Malfoys?"

"Yeah," said Hagrid, unconcerned. "But they wouldn' dare make trouble in the middle o' Diagon Alley, Harry. Don' worry about them."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged looks, but before they could disabuse Hagrid of this comfortable notion, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny appeared, all clutching heavy packages of books.

"Everyone all right?" said Mrs. Weasley. "Got your robes? Right then, we can pop in at the Apothecary and Eeylops on the way to Fred and George's... stick close, now..."

Neither Harry nor Ron bought any ingredients at the Apothecary, seeing that they were no longer studying Potions, but both bought large boxes of owl nuts for Hedwig and Pigwidgeon at Eeylops Owl Emporium. Then, with Mrs. Weasley checking her watch every minute or so, they headed farther along the street in search of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, the joke shop run by Fred and George.

"We really haven't got too long," Mrs. Weasley said. "So we'll just have a quick look around and then back to the car. We must be close, that's number ninety-two... ninety-four..."

"Whoa,"said Ron, stopping in his tracks.

Set against the dull, poster-muffled shop Fronts around them, Fred and Georges windows hit the eye like a firework display. Casual passersby were looking back over their shoulders at the windows, and a few rather stunned-looking people had actually come to a halt, transfixed. The left-hand window was dazzlingly full of an assortment of goods that revolved, popped, flashed, bounced, and shrieked; Harry's eyes began to water just looking at it. The right-hand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the Ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters:

Why Are You Worrying About You-Know-Who?

You SHOULD Be Worrying About

U-NO-POO--

the Constipation Sensation That's Gripping the Nation!

Harry started to laugh. He heard a weak sort of moan beside him and looked around to see Mrs. Weasley gazing, dumbfounded, at the poster. Her lips moved silently, mouthing the name "U-No-Poo."

"They'll be murdered in their beds!" she whispered.

"No they won't!" said Ron, who, like Harry, was laughing. "This is brilliant!"

And he and Harry led the way into the shop. It was packed with customers; Harry could not get near the shelves. He stared around, looking up at the boxes piled to the ceiling: here were the Skiving Snackboxes that the twins had perfected during their last, unfinished year at Hogwarts; Harry noticed that the Nosebleed Nougat was most popular, with only one battered box left on the shelf. There were bins full of trick wands, the cheapest merely turning into rubber chickens or pairs of briefs when waved, the most expensive beating the unwary user around the head and neck, and boxes of quills, which came in Self-Inking, Spell-Checking, and Smart-Answer varieties. A space cleared in the crowd, and Harry pushed his way toward the counter, where a gaggle of delighted ten-year-olds was watching a tiny little wooden man slowly ascending the steps to a real set of gallows, both perched on a box that read: Reusable hangman--spell it or he'll swing!

"'Patented Daydream Charms' "

Hermione had managed to squeeze through to a large display near the counter and was reading the information on the back of a box bearing a highly colored picture of a handsome youth and a swooning girl who were standing on the deck of a pirate ship.

"'One simple incantation and you will enter a top-quality, highly realistic, thirty-minute daydream, easy to fit into the average school lesson and virtually undetectable (side effects include vacant expression and minor drooling). Not for sale to under-sixteens'. You know," said Hermione, looking up at Harry, "that really is extraordinary magic!"

"For that, Hermione," said a voice behind them, "you can have one for free."

A beaming Fred stood before them, wearing a set of magenta robes that clashed magnificently with his flaming hair.

"How are you, Harry?" They shook hands. "And what's happened to your eye, Hermione?"

"Your punching telescope," she said ruefully.

"Oh blimey, I forgot about those," said Fred. "Here..."

He pulled a tub out of his pocket and handed it to her; she unscrewed it gingerly to reveal a thick yellow paste.

"Just dab it on, that bruise'll be gone within the hour," said Fred. "We had to find a decent bruise-remover. We're testing most of our products on ourselves."

Hermione looked nervous. "It is safe, isn't it?" she asked.

"Course it is," said Fred bracingly. "Come on, Harry, I'll give you a tour."

Harry left Hermione dabbing her black eye with paste and followed Fred toward the back of the shop, where he saw a stand of card and rope tricks.

"Muggle magic tricks!" said Fred happily, pointing them out. "For freaks like Dad, you know, who love Muggle stuff..." Fred's voice broke off as he remembered what had happened but continued on, "It's not a big earner, but we do fairly steady business, they're great novelties... Oh, here's George..."

Fred's twin shook Harry's hand.

"Giving him the tour? Come through the back, Harry, that's where we're making the real money... pocket anything, you, and you'll pay in more than Galleons!" he added warningly to a small boy who hastily whipped his hand out of the tub labeled: Edible Dark Marks--They'll Make Anyone Sick!

George pushed back a curtain beside the Muggle tricks and Harry saw a darker, less crowded room. The packaging on the products lining these shelves was more subdued.

"We've just developed this more serious line," said Fred. "Funny how it happened..."

"You wouldn't believe how many people, even people who work at the Ministry, can't do a decent Shield Charm," said George. "'Course, they didn't have you teaching them, Harry."

"That's right... Well, we thought Shield Hats were a bit of a laugh, you know, challenge your mate to jinx you while wearing it and watch his face when the jinx just bounces off. But the Ministry bought five hundred for all its support staff! And we're still getting massive orders!"

"So we've expanded into a range of Shield Cloaks, Shield Gloves..."

"... I mean, they wouldn't help much against the Unforgivable Curses, but for minor to moderate hexes or jinxes..."

"And then we thought we'd get into the whole area of Defense Against the Dark Arts, because it's such a money spinner," continued George enthusiastically. "This is cool. Look, Instant Darkness Powder, we're importing it from Peru. Handy if you want to make a quick escape."

"And our Decoy Detonators are just walking off the shelves, look," said Fred, pointing at a number of weird-looking black horn-type objects that were indeed attempting to scurry out of sight. "You just drop one surreptitiously and it'll run off and make a nice loud noise out of sight, giving you a diversion if you need one."

"Handy," said Harry, impressed.

"Here," said George, catching a couple and throwing them to Harry.

A young witch with short blonde hair poked her head around the curtain; Harry saw that she too was wearing magenta staff robes.

"There's a customer out here looking for a joke cauldron, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley," she said.

Harry found it very odd to hear Fred and George called "Mr. Weasley," but both of them had an indescribable expression on their faces.

"Right you are, Verity, I'm coming," said George promptly. "Harry, you help yourself to anything you want, all right? No charge."

"I can't do that!" said Harry, who had already pulled out his money bag to pay for the Decoy Detonators.

"You don't pay here," said Fred firmly, waving away Harry's gold.

"But..."

"You gave us our start-up loan, we haven't forgotten," said George sternly. "Take whatever you like, and just remember to tell people where you got it, if they ask."

George swept off through the curtain to help with the customers, and Fred led Harry back into the main part of the shop to find Hermione and Ginny still poring over the Patented Daydream Charms.

"Haven't you girls found our special WonderWitch products yet?" asked Fred. "Follow me, ladies..."

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

"There you go," said Fred proudly. "Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere."

Ginny raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Do they work?" she asked.

"Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question--"

"-- and the attractiveness of the girl," said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he added, becoming suddenly stern, "not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've--"

"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf. "What's this?"

"Guaranteed Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher," said Fred. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?"

"Yes, I am," said Ginny. "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?"

She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks.

"Pygmy Puffs," said George. "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?"

"I dumped him, he was a bad loser," said Ginny, putting a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. "They're really cute!"

"They're fairly cuddly, yes," conceded Fred. "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?"

Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn't recoil.

"It's none of your business. And I'll thank you," she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, laden with merchandise, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"

"That's three Galleons, nine Sickles, and a Knut," said Fred, examining the many boxes in Ron's arms. "Cough up."

"I'm your brother!"

"And that's our stuff you're nicking. Three Galleons, nine Sickles. I'll knock off the Knut."

"But I haven't got three Galleons, nine Sickles!"

"You'd better put it back then, and mind you put it on the right shelves."

Ron dropped several boxes, swore, and made a rude hand gesture at Fred that was unfortunately spotted by Mrs. Weasley, who had chosen that moment to appear.

"If I see you do that again I'll jinx your fingers together," she said sharply.

"Mum, can I have a Pygmy Puff?" said Ginny at once.

"A what?" said Mrs. Weasley warily.

"Look, they're so sweet..."

Mrs. Weasley moved aside to look at the Pygmy Puffs, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione momentarily had an unimpeded view out of the window. Draco Malfoy was hurrying up the street alone. As he passed Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, he glanced over his shoulder. Seconds later, he moved beyond the scope of the window and they lost sight of him.

"Wonder where his mummy is?" said Harry, frowning.

"Given her the slip by the looks of it," said Ron.

"Why, though?" said Hermione.

Harry said nothing; he was thinking too hard. Narcissa Malfoy would not have let her precious son out of her sight willingly; Malfoy must have made a real effort to free himself from her clutches.

Harry, knowing and loathing Malfoy, was sure the reason could not be innocent.

He glanced around. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were bending over the Pygmy Puffs. Fred and George were both helping customers. On the other side of the glass, Hagrid was standing with his back to them, looking up and down the street.

"Get under here, quick," said Harry, pulling his Invisibility Cloak out of his bag.

"Oh--I don't know, Harry," said Hermione, looking uncertainly toward Mrs. Weasley.

"Come on," said Ron.

She hesitated for a second longer, then ducked under the cloak with Harry and Ron. Nobody noticed them vanish; they were all too interested in Fred and George's products. Harry, Ron, and Hermione squeezed their way out of the door as quickly as they could, but by the time they gained the street, Malfoy had disappeared just as successfully as they had.

"He was going in that direction," murmured Harry as quietly as possible, so that the humming Hagrid would not hear them. "C'mon..."

They scurried along, peering left and right, through shop windows and doors, until Hermione pointed ahead.

"That's him, isn't it?" she whispered. "Turning left?"

"Big surprise," whispered Ron.

For Malfoy had glanced around, then slid into Knockturn Alley and out of sight.

"Quick, or we'll lose him," said Harry, speeding up.

"Our feet'll be seen!" said Hermione anxiously, as the cloak flapped a little around their ankles; it was much more difficult hiding all three of them under the cloak nowadays.

"It doesn't matter," said Harry impatiently. "Just hurry!"

But Knockturn Alley, the side street devoted to the Dark Arts, looked completely deserted. They peered into windows as they passed, but none of the shops seemed to have any customers at all. Harry supposed it was a bit of a giveaway in these dangerous and suspicious times to buy Dark artifacts... or at least, to be seen buying them.

Hermione gave his arm a hard pinch.

"Ouch!"

"Shh! Look! He's in there!" she breathed in Harry's ear.

They had drawn level with the only shop in Knockturn Alley that Harry had ever visited, Borgin and Burkes, which sold a wide variety of sinister objects. There in the midst of the cases full of skulls and old bottles stood Draco Malfoy with his back to them, just visible beyond the very same large black cabinet in which Harry had once hidden to avoid Malfoy and his father. Judging by the movements of Malfoy's hands, he was talking animatedly. The proprietor of the shop, Mr. Borgin, an oily-haired, stooping man, stood facing Malfoy. He was wearing a curious expression of mingled resentment and fear.

"If only we could hear what they're saying!" said Hermione.

"We can!" said Ron excitedly. "Hang on--damn."

He dropped a couple more of the boxes he was still clutching as he fumbled with the largest.

"Extendable Ears, look!"

"Fantastic!" said Hermione, as Ron unraveled the long, flesh-colored strings and began to feed them toward the bottom of the door. "Oh, I hope the door isn't Imperturbable--"

"No!" said Ron gleefully. "Listen!"

They put their heads together and listened intently to the ends of the strings, through which Malfoy's voice could be heard loud and clear, as though a radio had been turned on.

"... you know how to fix it?"

"Possibly," said Borgin, in a tone that suggested he was unwilling to commit himself. "I'll need to see it, though. Why don't you bring it into the shop?"

"I can't," said Malfoy. "It's got to stay put. I just need you to tell me how to do it."

Harry saw Borgin lick his lips nervously.

"Well, without seeing it, I must say it will be a very difficult job, perhaps impossible. I couldn't guarantee anything."

"No?" said Malfoy, and Harry knew, just by his tone, that Malfoy was sneering. "Perhaps this will make you more confident."

He moved toward Borgin and was blocked from view by the cabinet. Harry, Ron, and Hermione shuffled sideways to try and keep him in sight, but all they could see was Borgin, looking very frightened.

"Tell anyone," said Malfoy, "and there will be retribution. You know Fenrir Greyback? He's a family friend. He'll be dropping in from time to time to make sure you're giving the problem your full attention."

"There will be no need for--"

"I'll decide that," said Malfoy. "Well, I'd better be off. And don't forget to keep that one safe, I'll need it."

"Perhaps you'd like to take it now?"

"No, of course I wouldn't, you stupid, little man, how would I look carrying that down the street? Just don't sell it."

"Of course not... sir."

Borgin made a bow as deep as the one Harry had once seen him give Lucius Malfoy.

"Not a word to anyone, Borgin, and that includes my mother, understand?"

"Naturally, naturally," murmured Borgin, bowing again.

Next moment, the bell over the door tinkled loudly as Malfoy stalked out of the shop looking very pleased with himself. He passed so close to Harry, Ron, and Hermione that they felt the cloak flutter around their knees again. Inside the shop, Borgin remained frozen; his unctuous smile had vanished; he looked worried.

"What was that about?" whispered Ron, reeling in the Extendable Ears.

"Dunno," said Harry, thinking hard. "He wants something mended... and he wants to reserve something in there... Could you see what he pointed at when he said 'that one'?"

"No, he was behind that cabinet--"

"You two stay here," whispered Hermione.

"What are you--?"

But Hermione had already ducked out from under the cloak. She checked her hair in the reflection in the glass, then marched into the shop, setting the bell tinkling again. Ron hastily fed the Extendable Ears back under the door and passed one of the strings to Harry.

"Hello, horrible morning, isn't it?" Hermione said brightly to Borgin, who did not answer, but cast her a suspicious look. Humming cheerily, Hermione strolled through the jumble of objects on display.

"Is this necklace for sale?" she asked, pausing beside a glass-fronted case.

"If you've got one and a half thousand Galleons," said Mr. Borgin coldly.

"Oh--er--no, I haven't got quite that much," said Hermione, walking on. "And... what about this lovely--um--skull?"

"Sixteen Galleons."

"So it's for sale, then? It isn't being... kept for anyone?"

Mr. Borgin squinted at her. Harry had the nasty feeling he knew exactly what Hermione was up to. Apparently Hermione felt she had been rumbled too because she suddenly threw caution to the winds.

"The thing is, that--er--boy who was in here just now, Draco Malfoy, well, he's a friend of mine, and I want to get him a birthday present, but if he's already reserved anything, I obviously don't want to get him the same thing, so... um..."

It was a pretty lame story in Harry's opinion, and apparently Borgin thought so too.

"Out," he said sharply. "Get out!"

Hermione did not wait to be asked twice, but hurried to the door with Borgin at her heels. As the bell tinkled again, Borgin slammed the door behind her and put up the closed sign.

"Ah well," said Ron, throwing the cloak back over Hermione. "Worth a try, but you were a bit obvious--"

"Well, next time you can show me how it's done, Master of Mystery!" she snapped.

Ron and Hermione bickered all the way back to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, where they were forced to stop so that they could dodge undetected around a very anxious-looking Mrs. Weasley and Hagrid, who had clearly noticed their absence. Once in the shop, Harry whipped off the Invisibility Cloak, hid it in his bag, and joined in with the other two when they insisted, in answer to Mrs. Weasleys accusations, that they had been in the back room all along, and that she could not have looked properly.

---Chapter End---

Chapter Text

ARC 5

Part 1: Skull Demons

While in England, the trio were figuring out the reason of Draco’s detour with the start of the term looming over their heads, all around the world, an uprising had begun. The first gods had started to rise again due to the call of an Alpha Titan. China, Antarctica, Russia, Skull Island, Mexico, you name it. The uprising had begun.

Seismic activity had taken a sharp upward turn. Volcanoes were more active; thunderstorms and hurricanes were more frequent. In deserts, rock spikes which looked like stalagamites were randomly erupting forth from the ground. In the midst of the south Pacific ocean, an island, known as Skull Island, could be found. The flora which is mostly found there comprises of carnivorous plants, swampy forests, knee high grass and tall mountains. The fauna mainly compromises of different species of Titans. Human inhabitants can also be found on the island. The Iwi tribe. The tribesmen worshipped the last of the Kongs as their god. He was undeniably the king and god of Skull Island. But on the island however, a race of Titans known as the ‘Skull Crawlers' had heard the alpha call ringing all around the world and were running to the coasts of Skull Island to get to the source of the location, the high hills of the northern part of the world. Somewhere neck deep in the cold, nail biting regions of Alaska.

The Skull Crawlers were also known by another name. Titanus Cranium Reptant. Cranium meaning ‘Skull’ and Reptant meaning ‘crawl’. Skullcrawlers are large reptilian creatures with only two long forelimbs and no hindlimbs, as well as long, prehensile, serpentine tails. They have long and slender, yet muscular, sturdy bodies. Several aspects of their appearance are noticeably skeletal, particularly their torsos and their heads. What appears to be the “eye sockets” of their skull-like heads are merely empty fenestrae presumably evolved that way to protect its eyes from enemies: their real eyes are set much further back, with the fenestrae perhaps serving to distract enemies from their more vulnerable eyes and acting as heat-seeking sensory pits. The pupils of their green eyes are horizontal and somewhat resemble those of frogs and toads. The colors of their scales range from dark brown to dark green to a bone-white color.

Their heads closely resemble those of mosasaurs such as Tylosaurus, and their jaws possess two rows of serrated, razor-sharp teeth. The Skullcrawlers have four clawed digits in a total of each hand, with the thumb being the smallest digit and the rest of the digits being larger and of the same size, and the adults have a prominent bony spike protrudes out of each of their elbows. The thorny, toothlike structures of their inner mouths somewhat resemble that of a leatherback turtle’s. Additionally, they have long, prehensile triple-forked tongues that they can use to grab their prey.

Juvenile Skullcrawlers are easily distinguishable from adults. Their heads are smaller and more sloped. They also possess a more prominently brown skin tone. Adult Skullcrawlers are much larger, with most being almost the same size as the Titanus Kong. Their heads are more defined, larger, and somewhat angled. Their tails are armed with a form of a club that can be used as a weapon, and they also have distinct bone-like spikes protruding from their elbows. Some adult Skullcrawlers have a unique patch of red coloration running down the length of its back, a sickly yellow tint to its skull, and appeared to be significantly larger than any Skullcrawler previously encountered.

As a Skull Crawler nearly made it to the ocean, a big brown primate hand covered in fur grabbed the skull crawler's tail and flung the skull crawler towards the think dense woods and it crashed against the trees, causing the trees to be uprooted but some trees were impaled into the skull crawler’s body. The skull crawler tried to regain it’s bearings and it tried to shake off the trees that were stuck in it’s body. As it shook itself, it saw a hulking shadow looking over itself and when it turned around, the creature that the shadow belonged to roared and pounded its chest. Recognition lit upon the skull crawler’s face. It right there, was facing the God of Skull Island.

It was facing Kong.

Kong stood at an intimidating two hundred and ten feet tall with a pair of muscular upper limbs covered in deep brown fur and battle scars. His fingers were battered and rough. His right eye sported a gash running from the top of the eye to the center of his right cheek. His chest was covered in claw marks as if some creature had tried to claw away Kong’s skin and tried to rip out his heart. He even sported somewhat of a beard which looked to be growing. As the pair heard more hustling, they turned around to see an entire horde of skull crawlers arriving.

Enraged by their entrance, Kong roared and pounded his chest in a show of intimidation. The Skull Crawlers took a step back as they clearly remember how Kong had ripped out the wind pipe of their leader and snapped his jaws. None of them wanted to face that fate. However, one of the Skull Crawlers saw the state of the Skull Crawler which earlier had nearly reached the ocean. It got angered and lunged. Kong clearly wanting them to stand back, grabbed the creature by the neck and slammed it into the ground.

Breath taken out of its body; the skull crawler tries to claw whatever part of Kong it could reach, only Kong tightening his grip on it’s neck and taking hold of its tail. After having a firm grip on its tail, he lifted the creature by the tail and slammed it into the ground repeatedly for good measure. The Skull Crawler had the wind knocked out of itself. It raised its arms weakly towards Kong’s face in an attempt to claw Kong.

Once Kong saw that the Skull Crawler was still moving, he took both of its jaws in his hands, and waited for the Skull Crawler to move further. As the Skull Crawler tried to claw at him again, Kong bent both of the creature’s jaws outward and snapped its neck, killing it.

After killing it, he roared at the other Skull Crawlers and pounded his chest as a warning to not to leave the island. The Skull Crawler at the back was angered at the murder of it’s pack mate. It was unsure on as to what to do, to run away or try to avenge his Crawler brethren? It felt frustrated enough to choose the latter of the two options.

As it attacked, Kong saw the shadow of the Crawler being cast on the ground in front of him and stepped aside for only the Crawler to crash into the ground in front of him. Deciding enough was enough, the Crawler got up and snapped at Kong’s feet which made him stumble. In attempts to avoid the jaw snaps, he kept stepping backwards which eventually made him fall flat onto the ground. As it saw he was down, it lunged for the throat. All of the other Skull Crawler’s didn’t want to die so they didn’t attack. As Kong saw it went for the throat, he raised his arm to protect his throat and the Crawler latched its jaws on his arm.

He howled in pain.

He then swung his left arm at the face of the Crawler to shake it off. He kept punching but the Crawler seemed adamant on hanging on. After one hard and painful punch at the neck, the Crawler fell off. Kong took this opportunity to get up and take hold of the Crawler’s neck and repeatedly smash the creature into the nearest hill he could reach. For good measure, he then grabbed both of it’s jaws and bent them outward without any hesitation, killing this Crawler as well.

After killing this Skull Crawler, he roared and pounded his chest at the other Skull Crawlers as a warning to not challenge him and to back off.

The other Skull Crawlers soon scrambled away.

In the Burrow, Harry felt the alpha call. He felt…. threatened. He felt like an animal when some other being stepped into its territory. He immediately stepped out of his room to look for Hermione but crashed into the aforementioned person as he stepped out of the door.

“Ow! Walk car- HERMIONE! Brilliant, I was looking for you in fact. Did you feel the alpha call?” Harry asked.

“Yes I did, Harry. I was actually coming to ask you that.” Hermione responded.

“Oh goodie. Since we both know now, we should better floo call Dumbledore." Harry offered.

“That would be the wiser course of action here. Let’s get up first and then call him.” Hermione suggested.

As they got up and made their way down to the floo, Harry couldn’t help but ask.

“Hermione, d’you think the other Titans are also responding to the call?” Harry asked.

“I don’t exactly know, Harry. They most likely could but there are some who just want to be left alone and guard their homes.” Hermione answered.

“Who are you talking about, Hermione?”

“Kong. The Kong species has always been like that.” And with that, they both reached the fire place. Harry took some floo powder and called out “Albus Dumbledore!” and threw the powder into the fireplace, in hopes of talking to the headmaster.

In the fireplace of the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts, Harry’s face emerged in the fireplace. As soon as he was about to call out for Dumbledore, he was greeted to a rather…. unusual sight.

Dumbledore was lounging in his chair and his beard was twirling around like a mini tornado a bit above his head. Harry’s eyes widened at first but then he realised that Dumbledore was twirling his wand in his hand to make his beard follow suite. Harry sported a grin on his face once he called out “Headmaster!”

Dumbledore then turned towards the fireplace and once he took notice of Harry, he quickly cancelled the charm which made his beard give one final spin, then it tugged towards all four directions before settling down, making his beard look fluffy.

“Harry, I just do that when I have nothing else to do. But however, when I do it, I get enamored by it and get lost in the moment….so to speak. So, what brings you here?”

“Headmaster you felt the alpha call, right?”

Dumbledore’s eyes widened out of sheer surprise. Once his eyes narrowed, he said “Harry, I did, I definitely did if my memory serves me correctly but I didn’t recognize it as an alpha call because I was doing…. what you saw me doing.” Dumbledore sheepishly admitted.

“May I come in Headmaster? It would be best if we talk directly. Should I bring Hermione too?”

“Yes, you may, Harry.” Dumbledore granted the permission.

And then Hermione and Harry soon followed suite.

“So, children, what do you want to talk about?” he politely asked.

“If I may Headmaster?” Hermione asked for the permission to speak.

“Yes, Miss Granger.”

“Thank you, Headmaster. Ok, so, we came here to inform you that we felt an Alpha call ring and from what we know, the only Alpha Titans to our knowledge are Harry, you yourself, Headmaster, Kong and Ghidorah. Since we know Kong is a terrestrial Titan, which leaves only you, Harry and him. The call felt close enough for it to feel like it’s near Hogwarts but far away enough for it to feel like it is even farther from here. And we know whose form Ghidorah is. So, we are thinking that whatever he is doing now, would have disastrous consequences.” Hermione finished.

“When has anything that Voldemort has done, not lead to disastrous consequences, Hermione?” Harry quietly muttered.

“Touché.”

Dumbledore pretended to not to hear what Harry just said but instead focused on what Hermione just informed. “As I feared, Harry, Miss Granger, the second war of the Titans has begun. Only for us mankind to be in the thick of it. So, I shall inform both of you and Mister Longbottom at the back there, you can step out now Neville.”

“What?” the pair could only mutter much as they turned around and saw Neville standing there beside the entrance.

“Neville? How long have you been there for?” asked Harry.

“I was here before you two came along. Dumbledore had asked me to bring this book I have in my hands from the library to him. That’s why you didn’t see me.”

Realization dawned upon both Harry and Hermione’s face as they understood.

Dumbledore coughed to bring their attention onto him. Once they all focused on him, Dumbledore continued.

“I am sorry to break the conversation but I believe it can be continued later on? As I was saying, the second Titan war has begun. From what I felt, the alpha call was towards Alaska. Expect reports of Titan attacks to be blared across the Daily Prophet. And I had expected this to be far later on but I believe that Harry, you may have to fight in your Titan form a lot more frequently now. The same goes the two of you Neville and Miss Granger, you will have to fight alongside if the worst comes. Now, any questions?”

Hermione raised her hand and asked “Please sir, you had said that all mages have a Titan that represents them when we had begun training. But you are saying that we would have to see more Titan attacks. What do you exactly mean, sir?”

“Ah yes, I knew that you would most likely ask that. So, as I said earlier, all mages have a Titan that represents them. There are a multitude of Titan species out there. There are currently seventeen known over-world Titan species known to man. But for the ones like the Titanus Kong or Titanus Gojira where only one Titan lives to our knowledge, there would be either no representative of that Titan or the real Titan wouldn’t be seen but instead would manifest itself into a wizard. Which in our case, is, Godzilla is manifesting himself as Harry whenever he is transforming into his Magus Titanus form. This applies to you too Miss Granger. And you too, Mister Longbottom but I am not so sure that there is only one Titanus Methuselah left…” Dumbledore trailed off in thought.

“Eh, no worries, Headmaster. Can you explain us what do you mean by 'over world Titans'? We all have another question that has been bugging our minds since we had been disclosed of it. We want to know about our leads on the search for Tom’s anchors.” Neville asked.

Dumbledore's eyes shone bright in remembrance as Neville finished asking his question. He then began “Ah! Which reminds me that I have may have found the coordinates of the next Horcrux. From my understanding, Tom has made seven Horcruxes. But out of those seven, Harry already has destroyed one.” Dumbledore ominously finished.

“Which one Albus, the diary?” Harry asked, anticipating the answer.

“Precisely”

"Sir, what do you mean by 'over-world' Titans?" Hermione asked, mirroring Neville's earlier question.

"By the 'over-world' terminology I was referring to the differences between the Hollow-Earth Titans and the over-world Titans. You see, the Hollow-Earth is just as it is called. A 'Hollow' earth. It is an entire ecosystem teeming with various species of flora and fauna. It's just like the beautiful planet earth we see, but more....primitive for a lack of word. Just like we have humans and gorillas here, the Hollow-Earth had the Kongs. The over-world titans that we know were once Hollow-Earth titans." Dumbledore finished.

"You mean, an entire other 'Earth' below our feet?" Harry asked.

"That actually sums it up in simple words. Yes, an entire other 'Earth' so to speak."

"What are it's entry points?"

Dumbledore stared at the three of them one after the another and whispered

"The Northen and Southern Poles."

“So, Albus, you are saying that the next location of the potential Horcrux has been found?” Harry asked.

“Exactly, my dear boy.” Dumbledore confirms Harry's statement.

“Where do you think it is, Headmaster?” Hermione asked before Harry could voice his question.

Dumbledore doesn’t respond but insteaf pulls out a map of England and rolls it out and spreads it across the study table. He then tapped a specific place with his wand and the map zoomed in on that particular place. Then he tapped it again to zoom in. Once at a desired level, he turned to Harry, Hermione and Neville and began.

“This next Horcrux I believe is one of the shrines of the Ancient and Noble House of Gaunt. And as to where it is, place is here,” he then points to a village on the map and continues “Little Hangelton. The village where Tom was born and raised in. Which more specifically, is here,” he taps the map again but this time with his wand and it zooms at the exact location where the wand had touched and he continued

“The Gaunt family shack. This is the ancestral house of the Gaunt Family which in turn could have deadly defences which could incapacitate us severely but not kill us as Tom would very likely want to question anyone who managed to cross his protections. And for this one, I would be going alone as this is one of the riskier Horcrux snatching we would ever do. Harry, you have to sit this one out and I shall be accompanied by Alastor and William."

“But Albus, you have to let me go as if I would be there, I could feel the Horcrux and easily pinpoint it rather than both of you searching for it. Face it, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack if it isn’t for me. You have to let me go, Albus. There is no other way, even if I don’t go, you two may potentially die because of the traps and we would be LOST like headless chickens!"

“Harry, you have to understand. You are crucial in this war effort. You are our wild card. We are elderly, old people who would not be remembered in a few years from now. We are not that crucial in this war unlike you, my dear child. You, Miss Granger and Mister Longbottom are the main fighters in this war even if you don’t realize it. Think of a game of chess. You know that the Queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard, don’t you?” Dumbledore asked calmly.

“Yes, I do, Headmaster."

“You are the Queen in this game of chess. You haven’t realized it yet as your time to shine in this war is not here as of now. But when the perfect opportunity arises, you would be the one to kill him. Let us old, forgettable people find the Horcruxes and destroy them."

“Even without me, you wouldn’t be able to find it, Headmaster"

“You wouldn’t relent, would you? Just like your parents. Both of them were the stubborn lot.” Dumbledore then sadly chuckled remembering Harry’s parents.

“No, I wouldn’t, Albus. You fail to understand how I can be helpful.” Harry vehemently retorted.

“Alright then, tomorrow, I will come and pick you up from the Burrow after dinner. And then we would embark on our dreary temptress adventure.” Dumbledore informed him.

“That we shall, Albus.” And as Harry said that, a patronus bounded into the room, morphed into the form of a big wolf and spoke in the voice of Remus Lupin.

“Albus, WE NEED BACKUP! DEATH EATERS ARE ATTACKING THE BURROW! WE ARE OUTNUMBERED TWENTY FIVE TO FIVE! HURRY!"

Chapter Text

ARC 5 PART 2

Lupine Internum Jinshin-Mushi

“ALBUS! WE NEED BACKUP! THE DEATH EATERS ARE ATTACKING THE BURROW! WE ARE OUTNUMBERED TWENTY-FIVE TO FIVE! HURRY YOU OLD GOAT!” sounded the wolf patronus in the voice of one Remus Lupin.

Dumbledore’s expression changed to something unreadable. If anyone were to try to see what he was feeling, nobody would know as the grim-determination set a strong wall all around the thoughts of Albus Dumbledore and his facial expression went stoic.

He raised his wand and cast the patronus charm. A blinding white light rushed forth from his wand and took to the form of a great phoenix.

“Remus Lupin. Go to Remus Lupin. Remus, help is on its way,” Dumbledore firmly said in a steely voice and then the patronus warped into a ball and flew out through a window in the direction of Remus Lupin.

Then the old headmaster turned towards the teenagers present in this room and both of them were shocked to see the familiar twinkle gone from his eyes but instead a steely gaze befell upon both of them. They now knew why Dumbledore was the only wizard in the plane of existence which caused an upsurge of terror and freight within Voldemort. The familiar grandfatherly, eccentric dorky headmaster wasn’t there anymore. Instead, the battle-hardened war general from the Global Wizarding War and the defeater of the tactical and terrifying dark-wizard, was present. He first focused on the male teen present.

“Harry, you cannot go. We cannot risk Voldemort and his Death eaters knowing about your other form. We absolutely cannot risk it. It is one of the keys to the victory of the wizarding world,” he then turned his gaze to the female teenager present and continued.

“You as well, Miss Granger. Your other form is damn crucial for the absolute protection of Harry in his effort to defeat Tom. We cannot risk them knowing about you either.”

Both of the teen’s eyes widened at listening to Dumbledore cuss and they exchanged a look with each other.

Dumbledore then got up and looked both of the teens in the eyes and said, “We cannot let them know.” As he said that, he marched towards the fire place, each step echoing in the office and his feet glowing due to the bright flames of the fireplace. He grabbed floo powder of the counter and marched towards the flames and let the floo powder he took, gently fall from his hands into the merry orange flames and he watched as they blazed alive into a vibrant, familiar emerald green. Before stepping in, he turned around and spoke his last statement before being whisked away by the emerald green flames.

“I however, am old blood. So, like many others, I am ready to die,” and he stepped into the flames. The teens watched as he turned around to give them a smile as the green flames warped around his figure and engulfed him, taking him, to Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

And it was at that moment, that Harry understood how alike he and Dumbledore were.

As the old Headmaster was whisked away, Harry slumped down in defeat and his mind began to race as he began to think how else can he go to the Burrow. He got up and walked around the office to think about his next move. Seemingly out of all options, he turned towards Hermione to voice his inner desire.

“Hermione, we need to go. The Burrow used to be just as much as our home in the Wizarding World as much it is to the Weasleys. Before discovering our forms, we used to spend our summer there, didn’t we not? We owe one to them. WE OWE IT TO THEM. What are you waiting for Hermione? Let’s go!”

Hermione but her lower lip in thought. She contemplated what to say and finally decided to voice her inner confliction. So, she began.

“But Harry, what if V-V-Voldemort comes? What if he uses his form on you and you are forced to use your form? We can’t risk that. It is our best bet that we stay back Harry. If you don’t want to stay back, then think what would he do to the Wizarding World once you die? Please stay back Harry,” she pleaded.

 At the mention of the Wizarding World after his death created a spark within him and gave fuel to his ire as he began to rant and rave.

“When has anything ever been not worth the risk? Fuckin hell, my entire life is a risk. I basically have a target painted on my back saying 'Voldemort's personal bitch target' which he tries to shoot at every goddamn year. He has been doing this since I was in my fucking diapers. And the wizarding world fucking paints me as I had actually offed him back in '81. When instead, it was my mum that did it. I mean, what would a fourteen-month infant do? Throw his crapped-in diapers? Chuck his fucking pacifier? I am going, you can't change my mind. My life has always been a risk so this is not any different. And what's life without any risk anyways?" and with that, he marched towards the exit and yanked the door open.

As he was about to step out of the office, he looked over his shoulder as uttered his last statement in this conversation.

"If you want to come, Hermione, feel free to do so." and then he left. Determined to help the Weasleys.

Hermione was only left to comprehend her choices. So, she sent out a patronus to Neville before following Harry.

The Burrow was an entire warzone. Flames spreading throughout the Weasley home, great portions of the garden being burnt, trees uprooted from the surrounding area, and mostly, the stench of dread and darkness as killing curses were hurled across the green and now black garden due to the flames which spread outward.

The Light was stretched pretty thin. Only sixteen of the Order members were present. The entire surviving Weasley clan, and the Order members the Weasleys could immediately call. Remus, Kingsley, Alastor, Emmeline Vance, Amos Diggory, Minerva McGonagall, Amelia Bones and plenty of ministry Hit-Wizards and Aurors.

Alastor, Kingsley, Amelia, Minerva and Remus were spear heading the battle while the others focused on blowing out the fire. But they couldn't, they tried all sorts of charms, charm combinations, counter curses, none seemed to work.

Unbeknownst to them, Harry and Hermione had just arrived outside of the ward border. They quickly shuffled into the bushes only to find a Death Eater raising his wand to kill Minerva McGonagall.

Harry took notice of that and whispered "Diffindo" which slit the Death Eater's neck but he began to choke on his own blood. When Harry noticed that the Death Eater began to choke, he quickly snapped his neck, killing the dark magic practitioner. Then the pair trudged on.

Only to move a few steps before their eyes rested onto the destruction wrought by the Dark on the Burrow.

They were horrified.

Flames licked away the Weasley home's walls and roofs. It looked to be on the verge of collapsing. As they were dumbstruck by the horror, Hermione had angry tears forming in her eyes as she choked back a sob. She couldn't believe the destruction wrought upon the Weasley home. Harry's eyes scanned the surrounding boundary to find the source of the flames but before he could completely look around, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Terrified, he swung his left arm in the direction the tap came from only to see his fist being caught in place.

"Bloody hell Harry, no need to start throwing hands here. I am here to help ya mate." said a familiar voice.

Harry lifted his eyes to meet the familiar and friendly face of Neville Longbottom. At the sight, Harry's face cracked into a smile and he said "Took your sweet time pal. Now let’s get to kicking arse."

Neville just chuckled in response before asking, “What’s the plan?" as he lent closer to Harry, anticipating his words.

Harry motioned Hermione to come over and once she leant forward as well, he softly whispered out the plan he had to both of them.

All of them grinned evilly.

"SHACKLEBOLT! 10'O CLOCK!" yelled Moody as he noticed a green beam of light heading towards Kingsley Shacklebolt. Kingsley took notice of it and conjured a marble wall to take the hit for him. As the green beam of light tore through the air, it struck the marble wall hard and fast which caused Shacklebolt to stumble a little. Once he dispelled his conjuration, he began fighting the masked foe.

Alastor Moody's mechanical eye was spinning madly and his real human eye shone in bloodlust. He didn't even spare a second thought before sending blood boiler curses, dark cutting charms and killing curses. Whatever foe came, they met the receiving end of his wand and a certain death, not until he was tackled to the ground quite brutally.

"SECTU- BLOODY FUCKING HELL!" was all he could scream as he was tackled to the ground by a man. Mad-Eye kicked away the man that attacked him to get a better look at his face. It wasn’t any ordinary man. He was very…lupine and bestial for a better lack of word. He was a large, vicious looking man with matted grey hair and whiskers. He had pointed teeth and long-yellowish nails, adding to his bestial appearance. Alastor recognized him at once, he was none other than the most famous werewolf of modern history. Some would say he is rather infamous for his heinous deeds but everyone would agree on a common fact. He was a vile creature. As he is none other than the heinous, infamous Fenrir Greyback.

Alastor face formed a twisted grin and his human eye visibly shone with bloodlust as he viciously said, “I am going to have fun killing you. I would very much like to look into your eyes as you die. Come on you bastardly fucking piece of shit. Come on.”

Upon hearing the voice, Greyback gave a malicious smile which bared his teeth and his sharp long canines.

“Ooh Mad-Eye, long time no see blondie. I am so gonna kill ya for imprisoning my kind. I AM GONNA KILL YA!” He then started running on all fours and lunged at Mad-Eye. Luckily, he dodged it and kept raining spells at Greyback. “COME ON LITTLE PUPPY!” and that angered Greyback. As he kept running at Mad-Eye, dodging his spells, he whipped his own wand out and was locked in a duel.

“CEREBRUM USTOR!” He yelled.

Mad-Eye summoned a dead-corpse of a Death-Eater to take that spell. He then responded in kind.

“FIDES USTOR! BOMBARDA MAXIMA!”

Greyback parried the first with a giant boulder which shattered but the second one barely missed. Now, determined to defeat the wolf, Alastor disarmed Greyback and was going to conjure a silver spear but as he began chanting, Greyback lunged.

He leapt onto Mad-Eye’s figure and began clawing him. But fortunately, Alastor conjured a metal shield which kept the lupine creature at bay, albeit temporarily. Frustrated, Greyback flung away the shield and raised his right hand to slash Moddy’s neck. Moody kicked him away to get up and catch his breath.

But before he could get up, the wolfman lunged again but luckily, Moody summoned the shield at the right time. Greyback’s face smashed against the hard metal but he recovered. The shield kept Greyback at bay, albeit temporarily. The wolf was continuously trying his damn hardest to get past the shield and to claw Mad-Eye. But said wizard wasn't going to let that happen at any cost come what may.

In desperation, he extended his hand to unclasp the sheath of his silver dagger but only for his shield being driven up against his arm and werewolf claws tearing his forearm and into his ribcage, making him howl in pain.

However, that howl became a roar of fury as in an adrenaline upsurge, Mad-Eye overturned the shield which led to Greyback falling on his back. He then yanked his dagger out of the sheath and drove it straight through the wolfman's chest and yanked it out briefly to only behead his foe.

Fenrir Greyback was dead.

Shaking his head, Mad-Eye took a few moments to recuperate and, in the meantime, he temporarily healed the slashes made by the werewolf. God did they hurt. As he healed the last agonizing slash, he launched himself at his next foe, imminent on killing the said dark magic practitioner.

Remus was duelling Rabastan Lestrange. They were both equally magically gifted as their battle went on at a standstill. Remus tried to gain the upper hand by cornering Rabastan but Rabastan would just apparate behind Remus and kept attacking him.

"CONFRINGO!"

"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"

Both of the duel combatants yelled and their spells clashed together in the middle. Remus then retaliated with a conjunctivitis curse which Rabastan blocked and sent an entrails-melting curse which Remus side stepped with ease and began to close the distance between them.

Rabastan yelled "CEREBRUM URI!"(1) which Remus retaliated with "FIDES USTOR!" and both of the spells clashed again. As the spells clashed together, Rabastan yelled out "SECTU-" but only could yell so much before crashing into the ground due to a furious Remus Lupin. Remus leapt and smashed against him with surprising speed and punched away Lestrange's wand from his hand.

He furiously began punching Rabastan repeatedly and for good measure, kicked him in the face to momentarily disorient him. He then picked him up and threw him against a sharp rock, giving him a severe concussion along with his already broken bones inflicted by the werewolf.

Heart beating violently due to adrenaline, Remus then repeatedly kicked Rabastan Lestrange in the face, which curved his nose in and led it to violently bleed out. Remus then slammed his boot on his face, disfiguring it. After wards, he grasped Rabastan by the neck and brought him up to his eye level of his 6'5 stature.

"See you in the next life."

And slammed Rabastan straight into the sharp rock, killing him.

Even with the backup Dumbledore brought, the number of Death Eaters were just too many. As the fighting waged on, the three teens crept around the field, keeping an eye and looking for the source of the fire. As Harry's eyes rested on a particular witch, unadulterated animalistic fury coursed through his veins.

Bellatrix Lestrange and Rodolphus Lestrange.

As the three watched on in sheer horror, Rodolphus and a few other known Death Eaters were setting the Weasley home on fire while Bellatrix was cackling madly and jumping at the sheer sight. Once she noticed that Dumbledore was here, her wand glowing alit in an all familiar purple light as she aimed her wand at the old Headmaster.

Once Harry recognised the light and connected the dots, he yelled out "NUCLEI SPIRITU!" and a thick blue column of fire shot forth from the tip of Harry's wand and it tore down everything in its path.

Bellatrix noticed the oncoming fire beam and side stepped it with pure ease while the beam narrowly missed her head. Harry barked out orders for the two to engage in combat with Rodolphus Lestrange while he fought Bellatrix.

They all launched themselves from the woods they were hiding in and engaged in direct combat. Hermione solely focused on Rodolphus while the boys focused on Bellatrix.

Seeing the two, Bellatrix laughed at the sight. "Ooh...you little boys can play?" and she laughed again.

 Neville grounded out, “We’ll show you who’s playin’ around”

"Hah, as if you ever could. Ickle Potty, I killed your dear old Black, did you know? I KILLED SIRIUS BLACK!" and she took off.

Fury coursed through Harry's veins upon hearing what the dark witch just said and he took off after her. Neville tried to follow him but he couldn't as a masked Death Eater began attacking him so he had to fight back.

Harry’s feet took him as fast as they could. Eyes opened but unseeing, His heart beating against his chest, keeping up with the pace Harry was running, adrenaline spiking through his veins, Harry kept on running. Paying no heed to the heat of the flames nor the screams, he kept going on. Only one thing fuelled Harry at that moment.

And it was the thirst for vengeance.

As he neared, he let out Godzilla's atomic breath again but this time it was... different.

His flame looked to be weaker. A lot less intense. As if…. no...it can't be.

Dumbledore had informed him about the Gojirans weaknesses. And one of them was an Electronic Magnetic Pulse which led to the atomic breath of the Gojirans to be a mere shadow of their true selves. And an EMP spell was launched on Dumbledore the night of his failed assassination attempt. The spell that Bellatrix was about to launch on Dumbledore was of the same colour. As if... Bellatrix was the one who tried to kill Dumbledore that night.

Upon his realization of the fact, his bloodlust and thirst for vengeance doubled and the kept on increasing at a fast rate. So fast in fact, Godzilla was showing through. His eyes and nose began to glow a bright blue and blue smoke began flowing out of the corner of his eyes, nostrils and mouth. He realized, that the natural predator of the Gojirans, handcrafted by evolution itself, was here.

In his anger, Harry launched a flurry of offensive spells on Bellatrix. Conjunctivitis curses, cutting charms, stunning charms and titan fire in one spell chain, all going for the killing blow.

Bellatrix pirouetted around the Conjunctivitis curse for only to be clipped in the thigh by the cutting charm. She blocked the stunning spell but her hair vapourised upon contact with the titan fire. Her eyes widened in realisation once she recognised the attack. She narrowed her eyes and returned fire.

Entrails expelling curses, dark fire, gut burners, blood boilers and EMP attacks. She truly was a force to be reckoned with. After the Dark Lord, she was the most feared dark magic practitioner. Not many wizards and witches came out unscathed after a fight with her. Nor many lived.

Harry jumped out the of the way of the entrails expelling curses and blew out the dark fire with a gust of water. He pulled up a shield to block the gut burner but unfortunately the EMP passed through and hit him dead on.

He was blown off of his feet. His head was spinning and he had his breath knocked out of him. He felt a lot weaker, he tried to stand up but he couldn’t. His ears were ringing due to the impact of the spell. His vision was…wait…he couldn’t see properly! Squinting, he tried to look for his glasses and fortunately, he found them next to his feet. He put them on and immediately noticed the crack in the left lens. Ears still ringing, he tried to get up and look around for Bellatrix but only to his abject horror, she began transforming into something that Dumbledore had fervently warned him about.

She began to transform into her own form.

Her body began to grew in size and then her skin began to harden and her hands transformed into giant hook-like forelimbs and she got an extra pair of legs.

Her form was a super species of an existing Titan species. The MUTOs. MUTO stands for Massive. Unidentified. Terrestrial. Organism.

The MUTO's bodies are covered in an iridescent, metallic greyish-black exoskeleton. They have orangey-red, narrowly shaped eyes. The shape of their head is reminiscent of a pterosaur and they have triangular jaws resembling a hooked beak.

As a species, the MUTOs are sexually dimorphic, as there are several notable differences between males and females. The female MUTO has two main pairs of forelimbs and a smaller pair on her abdomen, and is much bigger than the male MUTO, standing nearly twice the height of the male and being almost as tall as Godzilla.

She also has a pouch-like structure on her lower abdomen, which can contain visible eggs. The male specimen of the species is similar in appearance, except that he is much smaller with a nimbler build, and his front forelimb pair has been naturally repurposed to form his wings, which are long, pointed and membranous, similar to those of a pterosaur. Both males and females possess long, slender, somewhat deer-like hind limbs, with flat, broad feet ending in two hoof-like toes. The forelimbs all end in a pseudo claw form, being curved like a sickle. When walking the MUTOs use the front "knuckle" of their claws, giving it a hook-like appearance.

The MUTO Prime is nearly identical in appearance to a regular female MUTO, except for several notable differences. The MUTO Prime is significantly larger than a regular female MUTO, has a hardened outer shell covered with razor-sharp back spires, large clawed forelimbs covered in orange scales, as well as several smaller pairs of forelimbs protruding from her abdomen. Prime's jaws are more defined, along with larger and sharper mandibles.

Her exoskeleton is metallic-black in color, and she possesses two red visor-like eyes. Protruding from offices in her skull are four arrow-shaped ovipositors with an orange bioluminescent hue. When seen from the front her face eerily resembles that of a human. Unlike regular female MUTOs, Prime walks on four legs instead of six, as it appears that some limbs were fused during the process of metamorphosis. The hind limbs are tridactyl, ending in three claws as opposed to the hoof-like toes of regular MUTOs. Jinshin-Mushi's frontal limbs can be used to slam down upon the earth to cause earthquakes. They were the natural predators of the Godzilla specimen.

Bellatrix, or now who is the MUTO Prime, shook its head and put one of its forelimbs forward to crush our green-eyed wizard.

Eye’s widening due to the oncoming mass, he first began to run but then thought a better way to deal with it.

He waisted no time in transforming into his own form.

His body began to grew into a gargantuan size, matching that of the opponent. His skin turned into black scales and harden. His face grew large, blocky and a lot like a dinosaur. His teeth lined themselves on the gumline and began larger and sharper. His hands grew to enormous lengths and became clawed with four-fingers.

His feet bore resemblance to that of an enormous feet of an elephant and dorsal plates similar in shape on a maple leaf began to grow on his back.

And towards the lower part of his body, he began to grow a massive tail which was nearly as big as him and the dorsal plates continued growing on the tail.

His eyes glowed blue and he let out a massive roar to announce his presence.

Godzilla was here.

The MUTO Prime roared back, her roar sounded more like a shriek which made Godzilla stumble but made the people in the immediate vicinity clasp their hands on their ears.

Seeing this, Godzilla dragged his foe into the surrounding woods and towards mountains, where they could fight freely.

The MUTO Prime attacked first, digging its sharp forelimbs into the soft underbelly of Godzilla, making him howl in pain. Pain, pure undeniable, unadulterated pain he felt. This rivalled some. of his worst pains he had to suffer.

A flash of searing heat spread through Godzilla’s underbelly as the claws dug in. Sweat broke across his body as he tried not to keel over and let the opposing titan finish him. He began to fall, for only to realize he was being…. flung across? The bloody titan had lifted Godzilla and thrown him across.

He crashed into a nearby hill and a dozen of boulders fell upon his head. C’mon Potter, c’mon. GET UP! He mentally screamed and then yelled out in pain as he got up. Shaking his head trying to regain his bearings, he looked around to search for the bloody titan that had flung him across. As he kept turning, his eyes scanning the field, he felt a huge blow being delivered to his back. He audibly yelled out in surprise and pain. He looked around but saw no one.

As his eyes were cautiously scanning the fields and his body tensed up, MUTO Prime rushed in again from his left, making a loud gushing sound and smacked Godzilla hard enough to momentarily make him stumble. Annoyed now, Godzilla yelled out as he began searching for the Prime, his human side of his conscious thought, “So she first came from the back, and then from my left. Her next move could either be from the right or the front. If she comes from the right, I’ll use my tail to smack her into that hill she smacked me into and if she comes from the front, then an easy side step. Now where is this wretched pile of dogshit?” He thought.

He had his ears open to listen for her coming as the last time she attacked him, she had made this weird…. inexplainable...screech. He had his ears open for that. As he did that, he heard that same inexplainable sound to his right and smashed his tail, hard into where he’d estimate she would be.

And he was correct.

He had hit the MUTO Prime. But that however, wasn’t enough. The Jinshin-Mushi used her frontal hook-like limbs to get Godzilla’s tail off of her body and then smashed it into the ground which caused a mighty earth-quake. Godzilla, or in this case, Harry, felt the ground beneath him shake and he thought, “Woah woah woah the FUCK IS HAPPENING? WHAT THE FU-" but before he could finish his train of thought, Godzilla lost his footing and fell over. Seizing this chance, MUTO Prime used her claws to re-open the wounds her earlier stab had caused. Godzilla screamed and kicked out in pain, causing the MUTO to be forced backwards. He utilized this time to get up and use one of his abilities he hadn’t used. His neck and head moved backwards while his dorsal plates began charging up.

His arms began to close the area it had with his upper body and his fists began to clench as he was charging up.

And then he fired.

A giant, white-hot blue column of fire launched from his mouth and tore through the air in its path as it headed towards the Jinshin-Mushi, or in the human form, Bellatrix Lestrange.

The fire struck true. It contacted the opponent’s armour and began to tear it away.

Harry knew, despite this not being the full potential of the fire, he knew, that this was the atomic breath. Not in it’s true form, but the first time being used by him in his other form. Harry, or in this case, Godzilla, kept on increasing the concentration and saw that her armour was tearing away. He increased the intensity of his breath. But the MUTO charged onwards and raised its right forelimb to strike Godzilla. Seeing this he stopped firing and he began to use melee attacks but before he could retaliate, the MUTO Prime brought her huge frontal forelimbs down on the ground, causing an earthquake.

Godzilla was knocked down on the ground. Before he could get up, the MUTO Prime stomped its heavy forelimbs onto the King of the Monsters but he luckily rolled out of the way without facing much trouble other than the fact that his tail was visibly damaged. Seeing Godzilla move out of the way, the Jinshin-Mushi tried another attack. It's roar.

Her eyes began glowing a bright visible crimson and her jaws opened wide as she roared. Her roar was so loud that Godzilla visibly took a step back as his ears couldn’t bear the sheer intensity of the roar. Harry in his human conscious was screaming because this was way louder than any human should hear.

 His dorsal plates began to crack and one of them eventually began to shatter due to harmonic resonance. Harmonic resonance is a phenomenon in which different materials can shatter at specific frequencies. The roar of the MUTO Prime was tuned to the exact frequency required to shatter Godzilla's dorsal plates. It was tuned by evolution itself.

Head downwards due to reactive instinct, Godzilla tried to move out of the way and flank the Jinshin-Mushi but for only hear a massive clang and to feel the roar being stopped.

Confusion began to pile up within Godzilla’s human conscious as Harry began to wonder, “What had just happened? What stopped her roar? That shit was so damn loud holy hell,” he shook his head and  kept on thinking “Eugh, that mother-fucking roar really left the ears ringing holy fuck.” As he regained his bearings, he looked up.

As he looked up, he saw that a Titan with a horn like a rhinoceros beetle, clash against the lower jaw of the Jinshin-Mushi, causing it to be blown backwards. Upon closer inspection, Harry realised that one of Gigan's allies had knocked down the Jinshin-Mushi. He couldn't recall which Titan was this. Which one was this one again? Ah yes, according to Dumbledore's tomes, Megalon had went to assist Gigan in every battle he fought. And the book's descriptions matched perfectly with the new Titan in front of him. But why was it helping him? He wasn't Gigan and Godzilla had an animosity with Gigan after all.

Megalon superficially resembles a cross between a cockroach and a rhinoceros beetle though standing upright. Despite being an underground creature, Megalon is noticeably colourful, combining silver and grey tusks and claws with an orange-and-black carapace and wings. Megalon's forelimbs terminate with two sharp, drill-like appendages, which are never seen to be individually prehensile, always moving in tune with the monster's arms. And just like a rhinoceros beetle, he had a huge horn sprouting from his head.

As Megalon pushed the Jinshin-Mushi back, the latter stumbled and Megalon took advantage of that by unleashing a bright beam of lightning from his horn. The lightning caused the MUTO to stagger and fall back. Megalon concentrated his lightning even more as it began to break the armour of the MUTO at a fast rate.

Seizing this moment, Megalon tried to lift the MUTO up but couldn't as the MUTO was far heavier than him. The MUTO struck hard with its frontal forelimbs which caused Megalon to topple over but the Jinshin-Mushi was pushed back as she was caught off-guard.

She brought her forelimbs down again to kill Megalon but she was pushed back due to the sheer force of Godzilla's atomic breath. Unable to do anything, the huge earthquake beetle could only stagger and take the brunt of the damage caused by the atomic breath.

Godzilla trudged on, focusing the majority of the atomic breath on the earthquake beetle but unfortunately, as he was in melee range, he cancelled his atomic breath to slash down on his opponent. But as he cancelled it, the Jinshin-Mushi got up and began retaliating.

Blow after blow, slash after slash, the MUTO Prime began striking Godzilla at an astonishing rate. Unfortunately, due to the higher melee prowess that the MUTO Prime had, Godzilla couldn't land a single hit and his movement began to get constricted as he couldn't even take a step back due to the attacks.

Which only served to anger him.

Due to the movement restrictions, his body glowed for the briefest of moments before unleashing a pulse as bright as the sun, incinerating any sorts of vegetation within the immediate vicinity due to the radiation and it pushed back the MUTO far away enough for Godzilla to gain the upper hand again. As soon as the MUTO fell back, Godzilla used the atomic breath to tear away at her skin and armour.

Cracks, ridges and crevices began to form all over the titan’s armour as it began to crack. It had taken the damage that was aimed towards the MUTO but now it couldn’t do so anymore. It was falling apart as the intensity of the Atomic-Breath was too much to bear. As Harry notice that the MUTO's skin began to tear away and her armour began to break, he focused fire even more to permanently cripple the opposing titan.

As he realized that he was close to killing it, he stopped firing but instead picked up the MUTO by it’s face and brought it perfectly in line with his mouth. The Jinshin-Mushi realized that the fire had stopped so he weakly tried to lift his forelimbs to attack again but before it could do anything, Godzilla’s dorsal plates began to glow and he again fired the Atomic-Breath but this time it was focused at a specific spot on the inside of it’s neck. As the giant beetle had no armour inside, the insides of its neck began to burn away at an astonishing rate. As he kept on focusing the beam, the Jinshin-Mushi’s head came right off into Godzilla’s hands and the rest of the corpse of the giant beetle slumped over.

He gave a roar of triumph which echoed through the area.

As his roar came to a stop, he turned around to give Megalon a nod of thanks for only to see Megalon shrink.

Megalon kept shrinking and began to take on the form of a human. He transformed into... Alastor Moody?

Chapter Text

Confused by this sight, Harry had questions. He transformed back to his normal body to talk to Moody.

“Professor Moody? Since when were you one also? And thank you for distracting Lestrange. Helped me a ton.”

“No problem Potter. Enough of this chit-chat. We have got a job to do.” And then he hobbled off, apparating into the middle of the battle, imminent on helping to finish the battle.

“That was bloody rude.” He said to nobody in particular and apparated near the Weasley home.

As he apparated near the house, he began running towards the heat of the battle. Dread began to fill up his stomach and worry crossed his mind once he realized he didn’t know that whether the others lived or not.

His eyes open but unseeing, his feet taking his body as fast as they could, jumping over rocks and roots as if they were on autopilot. Only one thought crossed his mind. Only one.

Did Hermione make it through?

As he arrived at the fight and he stood on an elevated rock, panic began to fill him as he couldn’t see her. His eyes scanned the grounds and caught the bodies of prone Death Eaters. As his eyes scanned the grounds, a sight nearly made his heart stop and amazed him.

Hermione was in a tight duel against two masked Death Eaters and it was a standstill.

Neither side could do much, as much as both were on the offensive, both were equally as much on the defensive.

Wanting to help he out, Harry ran and jumped off the rock, aiming his wand at the Death Eaters and screaming

“BOMBARDA MAXIMA!”

A bright yellow and orange ball of light erupted from the tip of his wand and raced towards both of the Death Eaters.

Unfortunately for him, they had heard his scream and effectively erected a shield.

The spell bounced off and raced back towards Harry who just ducked out of its way.

Both of the teens began fighting one Death Eater each and Harry parried the oncoming spells in a smooth fluid like motion. Killing curses for blood boilers, entrails expelling curses for cutting curses, blood boilers for blood boilers, he could match this Death Eater for every spell.

He wasn’t using the Atomic Breath as he didn’t want to waste his remaining magical energy. But unfortunately, once he saw his regular spells being countered easily, he began to yell out the spell but he failed to finish it.

He couldn’t see a Death Eater creeping up behind him. The Death Eater non-verbally cast a bone breaker at his back.

Luckily, Harry jumped over a spell that the Death Eater in front of him launched but the bone breaker struck his femur and he screamed as the spell struck his legs.

Pain, pure undeniable, unadulterated pain he felt. Nothing he ever felt hurt this much, except Voldemort’s cruciatus curse. The area of effect of the spell had been wide enough to damage his femurs severely and injure his knees from the back. The hamstrings were crippled from the force of the spell and his femurs were surely broken.

A flash of searing heat spread through Harry’s legs as the curse hit him. His stomach heaved and sweat broke out all over his body as he tried to not puke his guts out. He fell to the ground, panic growing as he realized something was very, very wrong with his legs. Gasping for air, he focused his will on staying conscious.

But the pain however, was too much. As it became even more unbearable, grim resignation settled upon the features of his eyes as pain began to overtake his consciousness.

He rolled over onto his back in hopes to see the face of someone he held close to him dearly but he met the end of a wand, which was glowing a very familiar green.

“Goodbye Potter.” He could only hear this much as the end of the wand began to glow a brighter emerald green.

As he began to hear the words of the infamous killing curse, a big ape-like hand covered in fur, crashed into the Death Eater, visibly caving his chest inwards and a very audible snap was heard as Harry saw the spine of the Death Eater jut outward from his back, killing him.

As the edges of his vision began to grow dark and unconsciousness began to overtake him, he could only make out a furious Ron Weasley and Remus Lupin fighting the Death Eaters and a panting, clearly worried Hermione run over and come to a stop over his body.

As the last lights of consciousness began to flicker away, he could only hear her yell, “HARRY!”

Consciousness wasn’t an easy thing to regain once lost. Unconsciousness was a bliss for some, a lot like sleep. Which was the case if you think about it.

 People who longed for death but couldn’t do it, went for the next best thing. Sleep. Or in some cases, sleeping so deeply that they become unconscious. A specific green-eyed raven-haired wizard was current recovering from a battle. A battle where he was injured gravely

 The wizard being none-other, than our very own, Harry Potter.

As consciousness began to take over the green-eyed wizard, the first thing he felt was pain. “Argh bloody hell, why do my legs hurt?” Harry tried to open his eyes to see but instantly shut them as sharp bright sunlight momentarily blinded him. The overwhelming brightness of the sun and the pain from his legs made it difficult for him to be conscious. Trying not to scream, he took a moment to take a deep breath and slowly cracked his right eye open to look around where he is. He could identify himself being in an all-too familiar room. In a room, specifically, his room in Dumbledore’s manor.

Books and parchment strewn across the table, his muggle clothes lying in the corner of the room, his quill and ink bottles littered across the table. His trunk lying in the opposite corner to the pile of clothes lying in the other end of the room. As he turned his head, sun-light hit him head on so he had to close his eyes due to the brightness.

As he was turning around to face the opposite direction, he heard his door being opened and a patronizing female voice he would recognize any where.

“Good that you are up, Mr. Potter. You need to drink these potions for the rest of the day and absolutely no moving around!”

“Madam Pomfrey?”

“Yes Potter, it’s me. Now listen to me very carefully. You need to drink Blood Replenishing Potions every four hours. As right now it is eight in the morning, your next dosage would be at twelve noon. Also, I am sure you remember Skele-Grow?”

Harry grimaced and nodded as he remembered the time in his second year in which, he had to take this vile, disgusting potion due to that peacock-fraud of a fucking Professor. His right arm gave a phantom twitch as he remembered his second year.

“-have to take it every four hours for the next three days, Mister Potter are you listening?” Madam Pomfrey asked she noticed his eyes unfocused and his mind clearly somewhere else.

Harry’s attention snapped onto Madam Pomfrey at that very moment and his cheeks slightly pinkened as he realized that Madam Pomfrey had realized he wasn’t paying attention. He then answered back.

“Uh.um...Yes Ma’am, “He lied while his neck colored a little.

“Ah yes you definitely heard it. Mister Potter, your mother’s neck always colored whenever she lied. And I had caught that. Your neck is coloring so you are lying,” Harry’s face visibly pinkened as Pomfrey sarcastically commented. She continued, “Since you didn’t hear it, I’ll say it again. You need to take the Skele-Grow every four hours for the next three days. And then the muscle recuperator for every six hours for the rest of today and tomorrow. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Can I tell you something else, Mister Potter?”

“Yes ma’am?”

“Your friends are just outside the door.”

Harry’s face broke into a grin as Neville, Hermione and Ron came in. But unfortunately, his grin came off as a grimace and all of them bore expressions on their faces which screamed worry. He then quickly reassured them before they could say anything.

“Guys, don’t worry. I’ll be alright in the next-“ he turned back to Madam Pomfrey as she filled in the unsaid part, “Three days, Mister Potter. Three days. And also, I best be going now as your breakfast is due to come any moment now and you might need a private moment with your friends. If you would excuse me for a moment,” and with that, she left the room. As she left, he turned towards his friends and awkwardly continued, "Uh…so...gimme three days and then I’ll be back to normal before you can say ‘Quidditch’, anyways, how are you guys? And how many days has it been?” He questioned.

Ron spoke first, “It’s been four bloody days mate. You were knocked out cold.”

Harry sputtered out in confusion as this. “Fo-four days? You have got to be kidding me, Ron.”

“I am not jokin’ Harry. You were indeed knocked out for four-freaking-days.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He turned towards Neville for confirmation and he nodded. Hermione did the same as he looked at her for confirmation as well. He was shocked.

“But-But how?”

Ron continued, “I remember your thighs getting hit by a bone-breaker and then you probably hit your head on a rock or something. What do you guys think? Neville? Hermione?”

“I had seen him hit his head on a rock Ron. That’s why I came as fast as I could.”

Ron turned towards Neville but he just simply shrugged and said, “I dunno man. I was busy fighting on my own.”

“So..there’s that,” Ron lamely finished while scratching the back of his head.

Hermione’s eyes lit up in remembrance as she recalled what day it was. She gave Ron and Neville a pointed look as if to say, ‘Have your forgotten what day it is?’ and scowled for the briefly which however Harry managed to spot.

Harry furrowed his eye-brows in confusion as he was left thinking, “What was she scowling about?”

Neville stepped forward and began, “Harry, we need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“Um….actually it’s your birthday mate. Happy Birthday, Harry.”

“Wha-“ and before he could say much, Hermione launched and hugged Harry as hard as she could in the state he was in and she wished him a Happy Birthday, “Happy Birthday, Harry” and Ron could be heard saying, “Happy Birthday, Mate.”

As she let go, Harry asked the first thing he could, “It’s my birthday already? How long have I been knocked out for?”

“Four days,” sounded a familiar grand-fatherly voice.

They all turned around to see Albus Dumbledore with his beard a bit shorter as it was burnt in the fight, his eyes twinkling merrily while he wore a bright burgundy set of robes which had the picture of a lion on a broomstick, chasing a snitch. His half-moon shaped glasses resting on his nose while he wore a soft smile.

“Good morning, Professor!” All of them chimed.

Dumbledore wished them a good morning and he exclaimed, “Good Morning! I was just passing by this room so I thought why not to wish you a happy birthday? Happy Birthday, Harry!”

Harry smiled but his smile did not quite reach his eyes as Dumbledore left. ‘’Four days? How was I knocked out for four days?” and at that moment, his breakfast came floating right in and he began eating.

The other three left so he could eat in peace.

As he was eating his breakfast at a slow and steady pace, he just couldn’t help but let his mind wander and think about the recent most months of his life.

‘The D.A was a great thing that happened last year, wonder would it happen again. I guess not since it was only to learn DADA despite the tyranny of Umbridge. Well, nothing lasts forever, eh? It was great while it lasted,’ he thought.

‘Good riddance that the toad went off. The world would be a better place without her anyway. I see no wrong in doing what Hermione did, now that I think about it. And that fat toad even had the fire-places blocked and why? Cuz she fucking thought I was talking to Siri-,” with that, the dead realization, anger, grief and hollow-ness he experienced on the day Sirius died was back. All these days since his death, he particularly felt numb to everything. He even remembers how hollow his chest felt as Sirius crossed the viel. He could never forgive himself for falling for such a trick.

As he tried to think of something else, Sirius’s death, his vehement disagrees to Hermione’s idea that Sirius might not actually be there and it might be a trap, the day he first met Sirius, all played in his head again. Thinking of him, his throat started to choke up and his vision began to get blurry as he couldn’t help but cry as he let all the anguish flowed through him.

All the despair, helplessness, pain and sorrow burst now, tears spilling. Remus was holding him back and Sirius was falling again, falling through the veil. The sobs didn't cease. Choking him, fighting him, louder and louder. Someone was bound to hear now. Any moment, any moment now, someone would find him. A month of being good, of being ok down the drain... He sobbed. Nobody came.

As he kept sobbing softly, as if a voice in his ear whispered, an all-too-familiar fatherly young voice, whispered in his ear, “Remember the finer aspects of life, Harry. Do you really think the ones of who love us truly leave us? In your eyes right now, I might the only family member you see. But look around you, you will find people who love you, Harry. And one of them has stood by your side through thick and thin. She has always been there for you. Even if I am gone, which I probably would by the end of this motherfucking war, she has always been there for you Harry. You just need to look...”

His crying stifled to occasional sniffs as this memory played in his mind. Sirius was getting drunk and monologuing this one evening to Harry, in this very manor. He was getting frustrated by the fact that Voldemort had returned and he couldn’t do anything about it. He was frustrated at himself for the mistakes he committed all those years ago in 1981. The ghosts of the past never really left Sirius. They always came back to haunt him.

As he relived this memory, he realized that this very rambling of Padfoot, made him realize how he felt towards the particular witch in question. His sobbing ceased and he softly began smiling at the memories of her sticking by his side. He let out a sad smile as he remembered her saying, “We are in this together, Harry.”

Smiling softly, he began relieving his memories in his head, forgetting about the breakfast for a moment. He still couldn’t believe that back in first year, she gave him the nudge to go and face Quirrell. He gave let out a watery chuckle as he remembered her, nudging him on in the face of quite literal fire and just hours prior forgetting that she was a witch.

Then his second year at Hogwarts flew by. Dobby, Ron’s flying car, re-grouping with Hermione, the argument between Lucius and Arthur, the Willow, bloody Lockhart, the bludger, the Skele-Grow (he wretched as he remembered the taste), the Heir of Slytherin business and Hermione’s petrification.

He still did not want to re-live the times he was at a loss as to what to do when she got petrified. If it weren’t for the paper being crumpled into her fist, the basilisk would never have been found.

Boy was he utterly relieved when she came back.

Then his third year said hello. Marge, Stan Shunpike, the black dog…wait a bloody minute….”That dog was Sirius! He came to visit me as he got out! Bloody hell,” he thought as realization struck him hard.

As he kept pondering about his Hogwarts years, he consistently noticed it again that Hermione kept helping him no matter what happened. No wonder he had fallen hard for that witch.

A few hours later after he had eaten his food, he had noticed that his femurs were starting to heal quite nicely. The broken bones drew closer to the other half of themselves and began fixing themselves all thanks to Skele-Grow. As he was reading ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’, he heard footsteps growing increasingly louder as if they were coming towards his room. He raised his head towards the door and looked to find Remus standing there with a wheel-chair.

“Hello there Harry. Happy Birthday. Since you cannot move around due to your injuries, Dumbledore, Miss Granger and I have decided on having you on this nifty muggle invention called, ‘The Wheelchair’. It was quite ingenious of the muggles to come up with such a thing really. Having the injured travelling without having the need the levitate them. The minds of the Non-Magicals tend to surprise me quite often despite living in the Muggle World for good portion of my life,” he then laughed at himself and cursed himself for his stupidity.

“Anyway, as I was saying before, you would be able to move around the house despite your injury. Are you ready, Harry?”

Harry looked uneasy. He first looked at Remus, then the wheelchair, then at himself then at Remus again. He questioned, “But how would I go up and down the stairs, Remus? And I think me resting till my femurs are at least half way ok aaannndd,” he purposefully drew out the last word, “wheelchairs are annoying.”

“What? Are you serious, Harry? Don’t you see how beneficial this could be for you?”

“Remus, I decide what I do. And with these,” he pointed towards his fractured femurs, “I don’t want to move anywhere really. So, I am fine sticking my arse to this bed.”

“If that’s what you want Harry. I was just telling this so that you could join the birthday celebration of yours that is going to happen today.”

Cocking his head to the side, Harry asked, “Remus, what time is it? Feels like an eternity.”

Remus took out his wand and cast a Tempus to check the time. It was 1 PM oddly enough.

“Harry, I best be going and telling Molly as it is lunch time already. Your celebration was planned for lunch, thought I would tell you. So that is why I was telling you to come. So, are you going to come or not?”

Harry looked at his book, bookmarked it, kept it on the bed-side table and said, “Let’s get this party started.”

Jokes, tales and stories of old, laughter, joy and fun were all exchanged at the celebration. All members present had little anecdotes to share to Harry about his parents or his friends would tell some anecdotes and people good have a good laugh over it while Harry flushed a deep red.

As the festivities came to an end, everyone began handing out their gifts they had for Harry. Mad-Eye had given him a set of battle robes which were charmed to be shield the wearer from anything short of the killing curse. He even said that the robes could take two or three killing curses before falling apart.

Hermione handed him an album which had all the pictures of the trio from their first year and some of the pictures were solely for a particular member but the last three pictures caught Harry’s attention the most.

Two of the pictures were taken in the Christmas they had spent in Grimmauld Place with Sirius. One of them had Sirius and Hermione draping a hand over Harry’s right and left shoulder respectively while Ron slipped in the background on a banana peel. Hearing that, picture Harry, Hermione and Sirius looked over at what happened, and Sirius started laughing the most and Ron began swearing at him as it was Sirius who had dropped the peel.

While on the other hand, picture Harry and Hermione were barely able to stand as they were laughing soo much. Hermione had to catch Harry from not falling which led to Harry grasping Hermione’s hand quite tightly which pulled her to the ground as well and both of them started laughing in the picture. Seeing the picture, Harry just could not help but laugh.

In the second picture, it was mainly Harry goofing around with his wand, swinging it over head like a lasso if he were to be a cow-boy with a sock hanging from both ears which led the wand fly away behind a couch in what looked to be his own room in the Dumbledore manor. Harry just couldn’t help it as his cheek flushed a bright red as Hermione had caught him in the act and had taken the picture.

Harry then looked up and mock-scowled at Hermione which just led to her openly laughing while the others in the background just amusedly watched on as the scenario kept unfolding on its own.

The third picture was a bit soft as it was in his third year when Harry had scared Malfoy in front of the Shrieking Shack. The moment originally was Hermione laughing at Harry’s antics while Ron actually looked scared at Harry materializing out of thin air. But in this photo, Ron was out of the frame so it moreso looked like Hermione laughing at nothing and then Harry materializing out of nowhere and then having a good laugh with her. In the real world, Harry’s eyes moistened from the briefest of moments looking at this but then the tears never fell as he softly thanked Hermione with a small smile.

“Thank you ‘Mione. For this brilliant gift. I doubt anything could top this.”

She could just only let out a short giggle and respond, “No problem, Harry. I’d hazard there might be a plenty more to come which could top this.”

“I’ll see.”

And then more gifts came and were sent to Harry’s room. A box of chocolate frogs from Ginny, a book surprisingly from Ron. While giving this book, he said, “Mate, this book is about Puddlemere United as I knew that you followed Puddlemere you git.”

Harry could just smugly smile and respond, “That I do Ron. Thanks for the book though buddy.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Harry raised an eyebrow, “Oh really? Good news then I suppose.”

And then more gifts came in. A wand holster from Kingsley, a handbook on wand care from Tonks, a set of the latest pranking tools the twins came up with, a manual on the identification of wildlife flora from Neville, a small model of a Welsh-Green dragon from Charlie and a big box of chocolate fudge from Molly Weasley. He noticed Dumbledore didn’t give his so as he was about to ask, Dumbledore stepped forward and handed him a small package.

He looked at the old man with visible confusion but he motioned him to open the package. As he opened it, he found….two pairs of cotton socks and two pairs of woolen socks? He looked at Dumbledore again but this time he could see the all-familiar twinkle in his eyes at full blast. Dumbledore lent forward and whispered in his year, “Remember what I said all those years ago, when you were in your first year, sitting in front of the Mirror of Erised, Harry?”

“No, I don’t, sir,” Harry replied in the same lowly voice.

If it were to be possible, then the twinkle’s intensity increased even more as he kept whispering, “Socks. All I ever wanted were a nice pair of socks.”

Harry just couldn’t help but chuckle at that as Dumbledore moved away.

Then the last person came forth. Remus. His gift seemed larger than the others. As Harry opened it, he found a dark brown guitar and a few books on how to play the guitar. Confused, he asked, “Remus, why did you gift me a guitar of all things? It’s not like I don’t like it, I genuinely like it but I am confused as to why did you give this to me?”

Remus calmly replied, “Harry, your mother had gifted me this guitar and those books right there the year you were born on James’s suggestion that I need to ‘chill and relax while I can’ were his words. But since I could find no use of this, I decided to gift this to you.”

Harry didn’t look at Remus as his fingers ran across the body of the guitar in awe as the fact that this was his mother’s guitar had him in awe. He even picked up one of the books and flipped through its pages as to just see what was inside of it. He didn’t really understand most of it but words written at the back in a chicken scratch, all to similar to his own, caught his attention.

Future Days

If I ever were to lose you

I’d surely lose myself

Everything I have found dear

I’ve not found by myself

And it continued on and on Harry realized what it was. It was a bloody song written by someone. He pointed this out and asked Remus if he recognised the handwriting.

“Hey Remus.”

“What is it Harry?”

“Do you recognize this handwriting?” He asked as he pointed to the chicken scratch.

“Oh! That must be one of James’s guitar books! That’s your father’s handwriting kiddo.”

Harry was in awe that his father had written a song which most likely seemed to be for his mother./p>

He thought this was the best birthday of his entire life.

Chapter Text

As the days went by, September the first was steadily approaching nearer. After getting the guitar on his birthday, he tried learning it with the help of the books, he tried practicing the songs, and he prevailed. Steadily, as time went on, he began to get better at playing the guitar and at singing.

But nothing last forever as September the first had made its presence known. It was the morning of the first of September. The morning had a slight chill to it but otherwise it wasn’t that warm nor that cold. But however, a particular chilly breeze came by and blew Harry’s cap, from his nightstand into his face, which woke him up from his deep slumber.

And our Harry here, just moments prior, had drool coming out from his mouth and staining the pillow. As he groggily opened his eyes, he noticed his window was left open and a chill breeze was coming in.

You see, in these times of the year, chill breezes were fairly common in the mornings. But however, an imminent problem had risen up. Everywhere across the United Kingdom, at all times of the year, was this thin layer of fog which emanated depression, anxiety and made you feel what you had exactly felt in the most traumatic moments of your life. This fog is not limited to the magic world. Even the muggles have noticed it and have begun speculation as to what it could be.

Across news channels, many speculated the undead were returning. Many thought that a sort of doomsday is nearing steadily. Nobody knew what was going on. Nor what had caused this.

Not even the ones in the magical world.

Many in the world of magic thought this was a layer of fog which has been spread by the sudden uprise of rogue dementors. Many thought this was the sign of Death looming over their realm. All of them had faith in one thing. That, it would all end soon.

But little did they know, this would be one of the most brutal wars, in the history of man.

As Harry got up, he noticed his window being open wide despite remembering that it was closed the night before. So, he went over to the window and closed it.

As he was making his way to the bathroom, still half asleep, he stubbed his toe on one of the legs of the bed, which woke him right up.

“Argh!” exclaimed Harry. As he walked into the bathroom, his eyes travelled to the mirror and the first thing he looked at was the empty area behind him. Thankfully, no one was there. And then he observed his own reflection, taking notice of how different he is now compared to just a few months prior.

His hair looked more windswept than ever, his arms looked lean and strong but the scar that Wormtail had made all those years ago, stuck out more than anything on his white-complexion.

His emerald-green eyes had hints of blue in them and his face had a drool stain running down from the corner of his mouth to his chin. He was steadily growing stubble and his lightning bolt scar still looked raw and irritated as it were carved on his skin just moments prior.

He reached over to the holder which kept the toothbrush and toothpaste and started brushing his teeth. As he was mid-scrub, sets of images flashed across his eyes for only him to see, him to understand and him to think about.

He saw a multitude of pictures all differently depicting the death of Albus Dumbledore. Some had him stabbed in the back while he was unaware. Some had him falling from the astronomy tower, some had his head being bitten off by a humanoid creature which towered over him. Before he could think much about these, the topic of the images changed.

He only saw flashes of what could be described as...someone screaming for help. A black substance, darker than the darkest night, was covering them from head to toe as they were trying to free themselves but they could only scream for help. Then all of a sudden, the voice which Harry couldn’t recognise, changed to match his own scream.

He could hear himself screaming in that vision.

 He could see himself screaming as he tried to get the black substance off of him but it latched on all the more. If he tried to rip it off of his back, it would keep clinging on. If he tried to take it off of his face, it would just dig in deeper. Whatever he could do, the dark matter countered it effectively.

It would not let go.

As he kept staring at the mirror, he saw it again but…. differently... He was standing there, the thing covering him from head to toe, but this time, he wasn't putting any fight nor screaming for help. It was as if he had given up. It was as if...it had won.

He saw another vision which solidified what he was thinking. The substance letting Harry go, but to be exact, it was letting go of what was left of Harry.

As the thing slithered away in his vision, he was rooted in the spot with fear and shock at the sight he saw. Slathered in blood as red as the eyes of Dracula, muscles barely hanging on and nothing of his skin, eyes, hair left, it could only be described as Harry's skeleton being covered in his blood with just a few strands of muscles hanging on.

Thud.

The sudden appearances of these images sent Harry tumbling down backwards with a loud yell mixed with a multitude of emotions ranging from surprise to freight to horror which was loud enough for people nearby to hear but no-one was around, or so Harry thought.

His mind tuning out the outside world, Harry could only stare back at the mirror in horror as realization dawned upon his face. Dumbledore was going to die.

But then, as he remembered the other visions, he remembered seeing something else in one of them as well. In one vision, the mirror Harry had freed himself from the black substance for a few moments only. And those few moments were what the real Harry needed.

He noticed that the face of the mirror Harry was younger than his current face. It was like how he looked like in fifth year.

Only one question was flying all over his mind and was written on his face.

What does this all even mean?

As he was lost in thought, he didn’t notice Hermione rushing into the room as she heard the yell. She immediately held Harry’s hand and shoulder as she lifted him up. Worried, she began asking what happened.

“Harry, are you alright? What was- What was that yell all about? And why did you fall over?” She asked at a rapid rate.

Harry could only stare back in the eyes of his reflection as he replied, “I dunno."

Time flew by before he could even say, “Quidditch.” People bustled around the manor, getting ready to go to Hogwarts. Molly prepared the food as everyone present in the house came down to eat breakfast in the morning. As all of them sat down to eat, Harry’s couldn’t stop thinking about the visions he had seen.

 He thought as he lifted a spoonful of eggs into his mouth, “What was even that?” Possible explanations flew across Harry’s mind. Dumbledore dying, the black substance on his younger self, did this all show what could have happened? Were these visions of an alternate reality? And the black substance, what was that?

Usual breakfast chatter, with occasionally Molly Weasley chastising her children to eat quicker and to get ready, Remus listening to what Bill Weasley was saying with an occasional nod of acknowledgement, Kingsley Shacklebolt laughing at a joke cracked by Moody who was also chuckling and Hermione animatedly talking to Tonks and Ginny Weasley.

Ron kept talking while shoveling food into his mouth. Bits and pieces of food flew out until his mother reprimanded him. After that, he kept talking but only realized Harry was not talking at all. He had a glassy gaze as he was lost in thought.

Ron swallowed his food and then asked, “Harry, mate, why aren’t you talkin’? Are ya alright?”

His question broke Harry out of his stupor as he replied, “Wha- Ron? Yeah man, I was thi- I mean I was just lost in thought.”

He carefully studied Harry’s face and then continued, “About what?”

Harry stumbled over his words for the briefest of moments to cover up what he was actually thinking about, “Um…nothing really. Just thinking about how my life has been so far,” and then he gave a false grin as to cover up his lie. Ron noticed it not reaching his eyes. He looked totally unconvinced but he chose not to comment about it. But instead, he said, “Oi Harry, pass me the marmalade?” And so, breakfast went by in a jiffy and everyone was sent upstairs to get ready.

As he entered the room he was sharing with Ron, he took his Muggle Clothing and began changing while Ron was changing in the bathroom. As he put on his shirt, his mind wandered back to the times when he saw these visions after Sirius’s death. In the summer of last year, the fake vision from Voldemort and then twice this summer. One had this massive ship which as he could remember was in space. There was this big purple guy with a gauntlet in his hand and a double-edged blade. That person had taken a blue stone from another smaller guy which reverberated waves of power. Then there was this one of Ragnarök. When is this going to happen? He doesn’t know. When is Odin going to die? No idea.

But what he does know is that the end of Voldemort is near.

Harry walked down to the fireplace with his trunk and Hedwig’s cage. His broom was kept in his trunk. As he stepped down the last step, he met Ginny, Hermione, Molly and Remus waiting for Ron and him in front of the fire place.

“Is he here yet, Mrs. Weasley?”

“Not yet Harry”

And then as she said that, Ron lumbered down the stair case, trunk following him behind with Pigwidgeon’s cage on top of it.

Molly had a frown on her face as he asked, “What took you so long, Ronald?”

Ron stupidly looked at her for a second before saying, “Wha-? Oh, Mum it was just that I had forgotten the keys to my broom.”

Molly raised an eyebrow at that. “Really Ronald? Again? This is the third time in 2 weeks. At this rate, you’ll need a Remembrall.”

Embarrassed, Ron scratched the back of his neck then nervously apologized, “Eh sorry mum. Now can we get going?”

Molly didn’t say a word and let the kids through as they one after the another, flooed to King’s Cross.

In northwestern London lay King’s Cross Station, a Muggle railway station that was one of the busiest in the city. It was a perfectly ordinary station, with big plastic numbers over each track and guards who have never heard of Hogwarts School. However, every 1 September, as the clock overhead approaches eleven o’clock, and the InterCity 125 pulls into platform nine. A strange crowd turned the occasional Muggle head. The crowd was wizarding children, bearing enormous trunks and caged owls and other unusual pets, making their way toward — and then through — the solid metal barrier between platforms nine and ten.

Through this barrier, of course, lay Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, home of the famous Hogwarts Express. There, a look back at the barrier revealed it is instead a wrought-iron archway with the words “Platform Nine and Three-Quarters” on it. Over the scarlet steam train’s billowing smoke, there was a sign announcing that the Hogwarts Express would depart at eleven o’clock. The platform also had a distinct smell — one which lifted the spirits of young wizards who, like Harry Potter, look forward each summer to the start of term.

Speaking of which, our familiar green-eyed wizard had just made his first successful landing after being chucked out by fire places countless times in the past. His feet struck the ground, momentarily making him stumble at the sheer speed the fire place threw him out and he immediately began dusting himself and his luggage as the other witches and wizard came into sight.

After dusting off the floo dust, he raised his head and took a deep breath in as he enveloped in the autumn air. Parents and kids bustling about, Hogwarts students talking animatedly after seeing each other after a long summer, pets rattling in their cages made Platform nine and three quarters feel lively which made Harry realize how happy the world would be if Voldemort dies.

Shaking his head due to the depressive thought, he made his way to the steaming scarlet train as the others closely followed behind.

“Harry.”

Hearing his name, Harry turned and said, “Yes Moony?”

Remus put one hand on his honorary nephew’s shoulder and continued, “Don’t try to be in too much trouble, ok? If you ever need me, just ring me through the mirror. You have the mirror, don’t you?”

Harry’s mind went blank for a second as he tried to recall whether he had packed the mirror in his trunk. As he remembered, he let out a small relaxed sigh as he said, “Yea I did Moony.”

“Do not go looking for trouble, alright? We need you in one piece for Christmas,” he joked.

Both of them shared a chuckle at that.

As their laughter died down, Remus tried to continue but he was interrupted by the rather loud bellow of the train. He then looked over to the driver’s side and exclaimed, “You best be going Harry. The train’s leaving. Bye kiddo!”

“Bye Moony,” and then he climbed on to the compartment.

As the teens entered the train, the train began moving and all of them went to the nearest compartment to wave their final goodbyes to Remus and Molly.

Harry waved and watched them until the train turned around the corner and the platform was out of sight.

"Harry, Ron and I need to attend the Prefect meeting. We would join in a few minutes. Save the seats for us?”

“Sure Mione.”

And they left. Harry could listen to Ron hiss, “Why do you allow him to call you Mione but when I call you Mione, you hate it?”

Harry strained his ear to listen but he couldn’t listen to what Hermione was saying as they were a fair bit away from their compartment. As he went to sit down on his seat, he faintly heard Ron yell, “COME ON!”

He just laughed at that.

Neville and Ginny looked at him as if he was crazy. He explained to them what happened and then both of them shared a chuckle as well.

As they were trying to find their seats, something or rather someone bumped into Neville with very recognisable dirty blonde hair.

“Hello Neville. Hello Harry,” said a girl with long hair and large misty eyes, who was just behind Neville.

Harry turned around to see who was talking and so did Neville. “Luna, hi, how are you?”

“Very well, thank you,” said Luna. She was clutching a magazine to her chest; large letters on the front announced that there was a pair of free Spectrespecs inside.

“The Quibbler still going strong, then?” asked Harry, who felt a certain fondness for the magazine, having given it an exclusive interview the previous year.

“Oh yes, circulation’s well up,” said Luna happily.

“Let’s find seats,” said Harry, and the three of them set off along the train through hordes of silently staring students. At last they found an empty compartment, and Harry hurried inside gratefully.

“They’re even staring at us,” said Neville, indicating himself and Luna. “Because we’re with you!”

“They’re staring at you because you were at the Ministry too,” said Harry, as he hoisted his trunk into the luggage rack. “Our little adventure there was all over the Daily Prophet, you must’ve seen it.”

Neville muttered while his voice was beginning to choke up, “That I did. Gran must’ve been proud that I am living up to my dad’s legacy.”

“Aw, I am sorry Neville,” Ginny apologised as she drew comforting circles with her hand on Neville’s back.

“You have no need to be sorry about anything, Ginny. Also, one more thing. I got myself a new wand. Look!” He exclaimed as he pulled out a long dark wand from his pocket.

“Cherry and unicorn hair,” he said proudly. “We think it was one of the last Ollivander ever sold, he vanished next day—oi, come back here, Trevor!”

And he dived under the seat to retrieve his toad as it made one of its frequent bids for freedom.

“Are we still doing D.A. meetings this year, Harry?” asked Luna, who was detaching a pair of psychedelic spectacles from the middle of The Quibbler.

“No point now we’ve got rid of Umbridge, is there?” said Harry, sitting down. Neville bumped his head against the seat as he emerged from under it. He looked most disappointed.

“I liked the D.A.! I learned loads with you!”

“I enjoyed the meetings too,” said Luna serenely. “It was like having friends.”

This was one of those uncomfortable things Luna often said and which made Harry feel a squirming mixture of pity and embarrassment. Before he could respond, however, there was a disturbance outside their compartment door; a group of fourth-year girls was whispering and giggling together on the other side of the glass.

“You ask him!”

“No, you!”

“I’ll do it!”

And one of them, a bold-looking girl with large dark eyes, a prominent chin, and long black hair pushed her way through the door.

“Hi, Harry, I’m Romilda, Romilda Vane,” she said loudly and confidently. “Why don’t you join us in our compartment? You don’t have to sit with them,” she added in a stage whisper, indicating Neville’s bottom, which was sticking out from under the seat again as he groped around for Trevor, and Luna, who was now wearing her free Spectrespecs, which gave her the look of a demented, multicolored owl.

They’re friends of mine,” said Harry coldly.

“Oh,” said the girl, looking very surprised. “Oh. Okay.”

And she withdrew, sliding the door closed behind her.

“People expect you to have cooler friends than us,” said Luna, once again displaying her knack for embarrassing honesty.

“You are cool,” said Harry shortly. “None of them was at the Ministry. They didn’t fight with me.”

“That’s a very nice thing to say,” beamed Luna. Then she pushed her Spectrespecs farther up her nose and settled down to read The Quibbler.

“We didn’t face him, though,” said Neville, emerging from under the seat with fluff and dust in his hair and a resigned-looking Trevor in his hand. “You did. You should hear my gran talk about you. ‘That Harry Potter’s got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!’ She’d give anything to have you as a grandson…”

Harry laughed uncomfortably as he changed the subject to OWL results and Defense paper speculation.

While Neville recited his grades and wondered aloud whether he would be allowed to take a Transfiguration N.E.W.T., with only an “Acceptable,” Harry watched him without really listening.

Neville’s childhood had been blighted by Voldemort just as much as Harry’s had, but Neville had no idea how close he had come to having Harry’s destiny. The prophecy could have referred to either of them, yet, for his own inscrutable reasons, Voldemort had chosen to believe that Harry was the one meant.

Had Voldemort chosen Neville, it would be Neville sitting opposite Harry bearing the lightning-shaped scar and the weight of the prophecy… or would it? Would Neville’s mother have died to save him, as Lily had died for Harry? Surely she would… but what if she had been unable to stand between her son and Voldemort? Would there then have been no ‘Chosen One’ at all? An empty seat where Neville now sat and a scarless Harry who would have been kissed goodbye by his own mother, not Ron’s?

“You all right, Harry? You look funny,” said Neville.

Harry started.

“Sorry—I—”

“Wrackspurt got you?” asked Luna sympathetically, peering at Harry through her enormous colored spectacles.

“I—what?”

“A Wrackspurt… They’re invisible. They float in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy,” she said. “I thought I felt one zooming around in here.”

She flapped her hands at thin air, as though beating off large invisible moths. Harry caught Neville’s eye and hastily began talking about the new Defense Professor.

“So, who d’you reckon would be the Defense Professor this year? Neville? Ginny? What d’you think? Luna? What about you?” he asked as he turned towards the blonde girl.

Neville began thinking while Ginny spoke up which made Harry turn towards her, “Honestly, it seems like Snape could be the Professor as it is common knowledge that he has been after the DADA spot for ages. He could be the new Professor, honestly.”

Harry bitterly muttered, “Atleast we could see him either get offed by the end of this year or he might be getting the sack.”

Ginny nodded in agreement while Neville frowned in thought.

“I dunno Harry. It just doesn’t add up. Because if you see, Snape is the potions professor, if he were to come to the DADA spot, who would take over the potions spot?”

Harry brows furrowed. “Honestly Neville, I didn’t think of that. If he were to finally get the DADA spot, then someone new would most likely take over for potions. And by the way, this summer, Dumbledore and I had gone to talk to some Slughorn guy. He might be either the DADA teacher or the Potion’s master.”

Ginny’s eyes widened. “WAIT! Slughorn? You possibly can’t mean Horace Slughorn, can you?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, Myhaver and Horace Slughorn. Why? Do you know these two?”

Ginny replied, “Harry, Horace Slughorn taught Potions to my mum and dad. And if my memory serves me right, mum said he taught to your parents and Sirius as well.”

Harry was quite shocked to say the least. But however at that moment, Ron’s voice entered the conversation.

“Yeah mate, from what mum told us, he is pretty old. Not as old as Dumbledore perse but older than McGonagall or Flitwick.”

Harry turned towards the direction the voice was coming from. “Crikey! I guessed him to be as old as McGonagall! Also, how did your meeting get over this quick?”

Ron added, “Malfoy wasn’t doing Prefect duty for some odd reason. Also, there was all the same rules as last year so, we were handed these rolls of parchment. See?” He then waved a roll of parchment for the compartment to see.

“Yeah, we do, Ron. Now come in and sit down,” and so Ron did sit down with Hermione sitting to the right of him. “Wish the lunch trolley would come real soon. I am bloody starving. Also, instead of doing Prefect duty, Malfoy was hanging out with the other Slytherins for some reason. We saw him when we passed by his compartment.”

Harry sat up straight, interested. It was not like Malfoy to pass up the chance to demonstrate his power as prefect, which he had happily abused all the previous year.

“What did he do when he saw you?”

“The usual,” said Ron indifferently, demonstrating a rude hand gesture. “Not like him, though, is it? Well… that is”—he did the hand gesture again—“but why isn’t he out there bullying first years?”

“Dunno,” said Harry, but his mind was racing. Didn’t this look as though Malfoy had more important things on his mind than bullying younger students?

“Perhaps he preferred the Inquistorial squad as being a Prefect after that seems tame but both positions hold similar levels of power. So, it doesn’t add up really.”

Harry’s mind raced as he thought about this. But he thought to share what they were talking about earlier.

Harry shuffled a bit in his seat before leaning in forward. Seeing this, Ron and Hermione instinctively lent forward as well.

“You see, we were thinking who would be the Defense Professor this year. Ginny and I think it’s gonna be Snape. But what do you think, Ron? Hermione?” he asked as he looked towards the bushy haired witch.

Hermione’s brows furrowed as she lent back and thought about this.

While Ron then added to the conversation with a hint of venom in his voice, “It would serve him right to be honest. As we have seen all our DADA professors either dying or being sacked at the end of the year, Snape would do Hogwarts a favour once he gets kicked out.”

Hearing this, Hermione was broken from her train of thought as she began to admonish Ron, “Honestly Ronald! Curse him all you want but he still is a Professor. When are you going to get that through the thick skull of yours?”

Disgruntled, Ron grunted out, “Yeah yeah, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is bloody awful at teaching. Also, he might be my professor but you're not my mum and would never likely be so shut the fuck up Hermione.”

Hermione looked defeated for the first part of his sentence but her anger rose as he heard the second sentence. Everyone could feel the temperature of the room drop as Hermione said, “Say the last sentence again, Ronald?”

Ron looked confused as his heart thudded against his ribcage which threatened to break. He stammered out, “Wha-What do you mean, Hermione? I-I dunno what you are talking about.”

“Your statement after pronouncing your opinion about Professor Snape’s teaching.”

Ron’s eyes raced around the compartment as beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. Everything felt ten times louder and ten times sharper. His heart, at least what it felt like to him, was thudding against his chest so hard that he thought it might break his sternum. Nervously, he said, “ ‘Mione, I just said ‘shut up Hermione’.”

“First of all, don’t ‘Mione’ me Ronald and second of all, you had said something in between and right before that.”

Accepting his defeat, he admitted with a sigh, “Fine, I said ‘he maybe my professor but you’re not my mum and would never likely be so shut the fuck up Hermione.’ There. Are you happy now that I at least bloody said it?”

Then the thing he feared the most, happened. It was only short of spiders, his mom and Voldemort himself coming up here.

Hermione launched into a rant about his foul language and began to berate him.

The others couldn’t help but laugh at his expense. Hermione got annoyed by this and turned to rant at them but as she saw them laughing, she also couldn’t help but let laughter break her façade.

Ron also joined in their laughter a few moments later.

Time flew by faster than they could fathom. As they kept on talking, laughing and sharing anecodtes, the trolley lady came by with the sweets. Harry turned to look at his friends to ask their treat preferences.

“Hey guys, the trolley lady is here. What do you lot want? I am getting myself some chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties.”

“Same here mate,” Ron called out.

“Same here,” Neville requested.

“Same here Harry, but Ice Mice instead of some chocolate frogs,” Hermione requested.

“I’ll take some Ice Mice and some Cockroach Clusters,” Ginny said.

Harry got up and then ordered the respective sweets. They all turned out to be twelve galleons and fifteen sickles. Harry paid the respective amount and took back the sweets to his friends who picked out their respective choices and began eating. As they began eating, Ron voiced something which they didn’t think of and frankly, didn’t expect it.

Before speaking he first swallowed and then began. “Guys, if let’s say, Snape even were to be the Defense Professor, who would take his place for Potions?”

All of them could only stare at him dumbly. Well, all apart from Neville.

“I actually, didn’t think of that Ron.”

Ron let out a laugh as he said, “What? Hermione Granger not knowing something? I guess there is a first time for everything after all…”

At that, said witch let out an indignant snort which more so sounded like a squawk. “Either their would be a new Professor, or someone would take over his spot in Potions. And I clearly recall that all of the teachers are busy with their own subjects so none of them would be coming, but someone relatively – new.”

“That’s what I was saying before with Ginny and Harry here, Hermione. It just doesn’t add up. If Snape is already the Potions Professor, why would he take over Defense? Even if he were to take over Defense, who would take over potions?”

Then there was a brief period of silence which Harry broke.

“I think all of us agree with you on that, Neville.”

Fifteen minutes later, , the compartment door slid open again and a breathless third-year girl stepped inside. "I'm supposed to deliver these to Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Harry P-Potter," she faltered, as her eyes met Harry's and she turned scarlet. She was holding out five scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon. Perplexed, Harry and Neville took the scroll addressed to each of them while Ron and Hermione did the same and then the girl stumbled back out of the compartment.

Harry opened his invitation.

Mister Potter,

Your presence is required in the last compartment of the train in regards of the binders that tether the Dark Phoenix in the plane of the living. This has been requested by the Phoenix which leads the group of the inferno chickens. Come under your invisibility cloak.

Signed,

Professor M.H.E Slughorn.

“Who’s Professor Slughorn?” asked Neville, looked perplexedly at his own invitation.

“Probably the new teacher,” said Harry. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to go, won’t we?”

“But what does he want me for?” asked Neville nervously, as though he was expecting detention.

Hermione tsked before saying, “Neville, it wouldn’t hurt to go, would it? We have to find it out as we go, it seems like.”

“Alright then,” he said before leaving.

As they were about to leave, Harry grunted out, “Listen," he added, seized by a sudden brain wave, "let's go under the Invisibility Cloak, then we might get a good look at Malfoy on the way, see what he's up to.”

Ron was about to ask how would they all fit under the cloak but he stopped talking as he saw Harry enlarging the cloak to lengths which would cover then all.

This idea, however, came to nothing: the corridors, which were packed with people on the lookout for the lunch trolley, were impossible to negotiate while wearing the cloak. Harry stowed it regretfully back in his bag, reflecting that it would have been nice to wear it just to avoid all the staring, which seemed to have increased in intensity even since he had last walked down the train. Every now and then, students would hurtle out of their compartments to get a better look at him.

The exception was Cho Chang, who darted into her compartment when she saw Harry coming. As Harry passed the window, he saw her deep in determined conversation with her friend Marietta, who was wearing a very thick layer of makeup that did not entirely obscure the odd formation of pimples still etched across her face.

 Smirking slightly, Harry pushed on with a thought, “Not anymore, Cho. I am after someone else now." When they reached compartment D, the last compartment before the compartment which had all of the train material, they saw at once that they were the only Slughorn invitees. A man, whom they presumed to be Professor Slughorn, whispered out, “Potter, are you here?”

Harry whispered back, “Yes sir.”

“Good, now go near the table,” he ordered as he closed the door. Harry considered Ron a tall person but Slughorn however, was even taller than Ron, who stood at an impressive 6’2.

 He had a grey goatee with a handlebar moustache accompanied by oddly purple eyes which were hidden behind a pair of spectacles, bushy eyebrows and grey hair. His nose was fairly long and his lips were neither to big, nor to small. It took Harry one hard look to see that his left arm was actually, scarred beyond oblivion and his index finger was replaced with a finger made up of some metallic material.

As Harry removed the cloak, he noticed Slughorn had closed the door and had reached his hand out for a handshake.

“Hello Mister Potter, my name is Myhaver Slughorn and I am your new Battle Transfiguration Professor.”

As Myhaver was talking to the teenagers, Dumbledore was pacing around his office, waiting for his potions professor to come. As his instruments ticked on and Fawkes chirped in the deathly silence of his office.

Apart from those two, the only sounds in his office were that of the outside rain, the fireplace burning merrily and his footsteps. He decided to sit down to wait for his new Potions Professor. As he was waiting, he got the shock of his life as he saw the mutilated head of Horace Slughorn, with foggy eyes and a permanent expression of terror etched upon his face, scared of a threat which Dumbledore would never know, lying right there, on top of his paper work, staring into Dumbledore’s soul, giving him the shock of his life.

Chapter Text

ARC 6 PART 3: Revelations.

Harry couldn’t move. Not even a muscle. His arms were stuck to his sides and his legs were stiff as wood with the invisibility cloak on him. Try as he might, he could not get out. ‘Come on, how do I get out?’ He thought. ‘May be if I summon my wand?’ He then visualized the wand coming back to his hand. He poured his intent out as Dumbledore used to instruct him, specifically to get the wand back in his hand. His Holly and Phoenix feather wand slowly rose up into the air, but not towards Harry, rather directly upwards and it shot towards his hand but stopped just short of his fingers. ‘Just great, I can’t even hold my own bloody wand. What a way to start of this year. Lying down on the floor of the Hogwarts Express, with blood gushing down my nose and my Invisibility Cloak on me. Great. Just great.’

He then heard a distant compartment door being slid open then shut. ‘Someone is still on? I hope they find me,’ he thought. Then the door to the Slytherin compartment opened up and came forth Myhaver Slughorn, suspiciously looking around and then he kept on walking towards the other entrance to the Slytherin compartment, a little behind Harry’s prone figure. ‘Yes…yes…a bit closer…nearly there…BLOODY HELL!’ he thought as Myhaver’s hard boot clashed against the sole of Harry’s foot which led to him to stumble on his footing for a brief moment. Myhaver yelled out, “What in the name of Merlin’s balls was THAT?” Then tracing back to where he hit his foot, he smacked it again, not knowing he was hitting Harry’s sole every single time, he bent over and then waved his hand on the floor, searching for the thing which he was continuously smacking.

His hand then touched a silvery fabric and he pulled it up only to find Harry. “Potter?” He began, “What are yo- oh dearie me- let’s get you up, shall we?” And then he dispelled the petrification charm and hoisted Harry up by his wand arm and picked up his wand. Before Harry could say anything, Myhaver touched his nose with the tip of his wand and whispered out, “Episkey.”

As Harry heard the incantation, he felt a familiar cold sensation, emanate throughout his nose and an audible snap as the nose put itself back in its original place, perfectly aligned.

And then Myhaver tugged on his hand and pulled him off of the compartment with him, cloak in tow.

The older of the two then flicked his wand and sent his patronus towards the castle. After that, Myhaver worriedly asked before Harry could thank him, "What were you doing there on the floor? Are you alright?"  

Harry sighed out. As he scratched the back of his neck, he could not think how he could think how he could explain the whole scenario. He thought, ‘Well, this is going to be a bitch to explain.’

Licking his lips before contemplating what to say, he began.

“You see Professor...I had seen Malfoy threatening the owner of Borgin and Burkes by showing him something on his arm and asking him if he could fix a particular thing.”

“Oh really? Wrap your cloak around your neck and let’s start walking towards the castle, it’s cold out here,” Myhaver instructed as he put his hands in the pockets of his robes and set off, Harry tailing him.

He slowed down his pace and commanded, “Tell me more.”

Without a word, Harry complied and continued, “From what else I could remember him saying, he said that if he spreads the word of this, he would set Fenrir Greyback on hi-“

“Fenrir Greyback is dead.”

Harry did a double-take on this. Confused, he asked, “Wait what?”

“Yes, he was killed on the night of the attack on the Weasley’s home. Alastor killed him personally.”

Harry slowly thought about the repercussions of the wolfman’s death and what effects it would have. Sure, Remus would be happy, so a plenty of parents would be relieved that the wolf is dead. But this is just going to piss off Voldemort all the more.

“Have you ever thought about the ramifications of this, Professor? Have you ever thought that the Dark Werewolves might plan and extract retribution?”

Myhaver looked stoic as he kept walking.

“That I have, Mister Potter. But think about this, one of Riddle’s most powerful warriors is dead. And slowly the other Werewolves would most likely be killed off in this war, bar a few who are smart enough to stay out of it. But the number of lupine people which side with Tom, are most likely going to be hunted and the bastard is going to have less Werewolf-mutants.”

Harry was confused. Mutants? What? But he didn’t realize he voiced his questions out aloud and Myhaver was currently answering him.

“-work has been found in our latest raid on one of the manors that Riddle was researching on how to make the Werewolves sustain their forms and stay in wolf form despite having no moonlight.”

“Rotten twat.”

“Couldn’t agree anymore, Harry. And some – shall we say – more….abhor-worthy work.”

“Like what?”

“Do you seriously want to know, Harry?”

“Yes, I want to, Professor.”

Looking around, Myhaver put up sound-proofing wards to speak freely.

“He was trying to summon the bat god of darkness, Camazotz and the death bat, Titanus Camazotz.”

Harry didn’t understand what they were but he recognized the latter.

“Titanus Camazotz? You mean...”  Harry screwed up his eyes as he tried to remember what the creature was and what it looked like.

From what he had learnt during his time as Albus Dumbledore’s protégé was that, the Titanus Camazotz resembled a giant demonic bat, with rough brown skin, fur on his chest and back, a comparatively small head with jagged horns and sharp teeth, and large shredded wings adorned with sharp, bone-like protrusions. Its eyes are red, and one of its horns is broken. Camazotz also possessed a long, spiky tail.

Finally decided to speak out, Harry asked, “The demonic beat which looked like it came from the literal pits of hell?”

“Yes.”

“What about it?”

Myhaver scratched his goatee and spoke, “Recent reports have shown us that the Camazotz we were tracking, was trying to kill Kong to claim the title of an Alpha Titan, but it however was killed off by Kong. And to our surprise,” at this Myhaver stopped dead in his tracks and looked into Harry’s eyes and continued, “Another one has risen. This one seems more powerful than the last one and the ones who venture into the darkest corners of Skull Island, are likely to be killed by it. This one has slight resistance to sunlight and even ventures out once or twice – but always retreats back- in broad daylight. So far – the sun has been strong so it cannot come out but I fear if it can cause a major blackout and run amok.”

“What do we do to stop the Camazotz?”

“We need Kong – the world needs him. To stop what’s coming – if the Camazotz does decide to run amok one day on a Solar Eclipse. Or makes the jump to cause havoc one night. Because if he does, then pray Merlin save us all.

They walked on in silence before a question piped up within Harry.

“Professor- if you don’t mind- but how exactly did de-aging potions make you youthful? Aren’t they supposed to - y’know- de-age you? I haven’t heard of any such potion during my time learning under Professor Dumbledore.”

Myhaver let out a short, brisk laugh at that and began answering his question.

“Oh H-Harry,” he began, his voice a little airy due to the laugh, “I didn’t really mean the actual de-aging potions. They need to be taken at regular intervals to keep that young body. The de-aging potions I actually talked about were illusion charms in the form of a potion.”

Harry stopped right in his tracks.

“Wait what?” and then he quickened his pace to catch up with Myhaver who was walking at a relative quick pace.

“You heard that right, Mister Potter. Since I used to operate in the muggle world and I still sometimes do, I can’t always go around re-applying the charm with my wand, now, can I? That too in the muggle world no less.”

Harry furrowed his brows in confusion as he turned around to face him and asked, “But how do you constantly consume the potion without raising eyebrows of other people?”

Myhaver wore an expression of calmness as he spoke, “Some people in the muggle world tend to carry a canteen or a bottle of water wherever they go. So, I carried the potion around in a canteen and drank from it. Muggles mostly thought it was water.”

“But what did you do when people asked for it?”

“That is something which makes me thankful for magic. You see, there are specific potions which fail to work on muggles. Yes, they can brew but some specific potions- keep this in mind Mister Potter- Some potions like the illusionary potions fail to work on them.”

He looked into Harry’s eyes once before he continued, “So technically, the potion would taste like water to them and the magical ingredients would be rendered useless as the required temperature to brew concoction, makes quick work of the ingredients. So, barely anything is left when the potion is finished. “

“But how does the potion work then?”

“It takes help of the magic present within the consumer.”

“How much magic does it take?”

“Barely any magic.”

“So that’s why it’s drunk that much, Professor?”

“Yes Harry.”

 Following that educational conversation was a silent trek up the dark, deserted lane, following the freshly made carriage tracks. Harry looked sideways at Myhaver under his cloak just to make sure that he is still there.

Having always travelled there by carriage, Harry had never before appreciated just how far Hogwarts was from Hogsmeade Station. With great relief he finally saw the tall pillars on either side of the gates, each topped with a winged boar, flames emanating through the nostrils, mouth, eyes and ears of the said boars. He was cold, he was hungry, and he was eager to crash his head on his pillows in Gryffindor Tower.

 But when he put out a hand to push open the gates, he found them chained shut. “Alohomora!” he said confidently, pointing his wand at the padlock, but nothing happened. So, he tried another unlocking spell, a more powerful variant of the Alohomora, “Reserare hoc!” but that also didn’t work unfortunately.

 “That won’t work on these,” said Slughorn. “Dumbledore bewitched them himself.” Harry looked around.

 “I could climb a wall,” he suggested. “No, you couldn’t,” said Myhaver flatly. “Anti-intruder jinxes on all of them. Security’s been tightened a hundredfold this summer.”

 “Well then,” said Harry, starting to feel annoyed at his lack of helpfulness, “I suppose I’ll just have to sleep out here and wait for morning.”

“Someone’s coming down for you,” said Myhaver. “Look.”

A lantern was bobbing at the distant foot of the castle. Harry was so pleased to see it he felt he could even endure Filch’s wheezy criticisms of his tardiness and rants about how his timekeeping would improve with the regular of thumbscrews. It was not until the glowing yellow light was ten feet away from them, and Harry had pulled off his Invisibility Cloak so that he could be seen, that he recognized, with a rush of pure loathing, the hooked nose and long, black, greasy hair of Severus Snape.

“Well, well, well,” sneered Snape, taking out his wand and tapping the padlock once, so that the chains snaked backward and the gates creaked open. “Nice of you to turn up, Potter, although you have evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would detract from your appearance.”

“I couldn’t change, I didn’t have my —” Harry began, but Snape cut across him.

“There is no need to wait, Slughorn, Potter is quite — ah — safe in my hands.”

“I meant Hagrid to get my message,” Myhaver replied, frowning.

“Hagrid was late for the start-of-the-term feast, just like Potter here, so I took it instead. And incidentally,” said Snape, standing back to allow Harry to pass him, “Headmaster Dumbledore requires your presence in his office after dinner.”

He then allowed him in and continued his talk.

“And you are,” said Snape, malice prevalent like the moonlight which was falling on them, “in my opinion, not prepared for what he is going to share with you.”

As Snape swung the lantern about, Harry fleetingly saw the look of confusion and the brief look of worry on Myhaver’s face as his face was shrouded by darkness as he stood still in areas where the light of the flames of the boars did not reach.

“Goodnight,” Harry called out to him as he began to walk up to the school with Snape. Realizing something, he called out, “How are you going to get in?”

“There is another entrance for staff members only Harry. I am going to use that and also, goodnight.”

“Night,” and then Myhaver walked away.

Snape did not speak for a minute or so. Harry felt as though his body was generating waves of hatred so powerful that it seemed incredible that Snape could not feel them burning him. He had loathed Snape from their first encounter, but Snape had placed himself forever and irrevocably beyond the possibility of Harry’s forgiveness by his attitude toward Sirius. Whatever Dumbledore said, Harry had had time to think over the summer, and had concluded that Snape’s snide remarks to Sirius about remaining safely hidden while the rest of the Order of the Phoenix were off fighting Voldemort had probably been a powerful factor in Sirius rushing off to the Ministry the night that he had died. Harry clung to this notion, because it enabled him to blame Snape, which felt satisfying, and also because he knew that if anyone was not sorry that Sirius was dead, it was the man now striding next to him in the darkness.

 “Fifty points from Gryffindor for lateness, I think,” said Snape. “And, let me see, another twenty for your Muggle attire. You know, I don’t believe any House has ever been in negative figures this early in the term: We haven’t even started pudding. You might have set a record, Potter.”

The fury and hatred bubbling inside Harry seemed to blaze white-hot, but he would rather have been immobilized all the way back to London than tell Snape why he was late.

“I suppose you wanted to make an entrance, did you?” Snape continued. “And with no flying car available you decided that bursting into the Great Hall halfway through the feast ought to create a dramatic effect.”

Still Harry remained silent, though he thought his chest might explode. He knew that Snape had come to fetch him for this, for the few minutes when he could needle and torment Harry without anyone else listening.

Surprising Harry, he changed the topic of speech and said, “The fire bird requires the presence of the King today at midnight. Got that Potter?”

Still stunned from the change of topic, Harry stuttered out, “Y-Yes sir.”

“What? Cat got your tongue?”

The irritancy he felt at that moment was unparalleled. As much as he tried to control it, the frustration rolled off of him in waves which led to Snape chastise him.

“Anger management problems, Potter? He will do far more anger inducing things that you cannot even fathom to imagine – even if you look past the anger induction, he will mentally torture you, control your mind and force you to kill all friends of yours,” he then continued.

“You see your Muggleborn friend? She would be the first one to die. Then young Miss Weasley, Mister Weasley and everyone else who held any sort of connection with you,” he noticed Harry starting to get red and as he was preparing to yell, he calmly said,

“If you get angered at my provocations, then you wouldn’t stand a chance against the dark lord,” at this, Snape menacingly looked into Harry’s eyes, which creeped Harry out, and he said, “which will result in all of the prominent fighters of the light, to die and in him conquering Wizarding Britain and then slowly, he will extend his empire with the target being the entire world.”

After this Snape backed off and resumed in his stride, escorting Harry to the castle.

They reached the castle steps at last and as the great oaken front doors swung open into the vast flagged entrance hall, a burst of talk and laughter and of tinkling plates and glasses greeted them through the doors standing open into the Great Hall. Harry wondered whether he could slip his Invisibility Cloak back on, thereby gaining his seat at the long Gryffindor table (which, inconveniently, was the farthest from the entrance hall) without being noticed.

 As though he had read Harry’s mind, however, Snape said, “No cloak. You can walk in so that everyone sees you, which is what you wanted, I’m sure.” Harry turned on the spot and marched straight through the open doors: anything to get away from Snape.

The Great Hall, with its four long House tables and its staff table set at the top of the room, was decorated as usual with floating candles that made the plates below glitter and glow. It was all a shimmering blur to Harry, however, who walked so fast that he was passing the Hufflepuff table before people really started to stare, and by the time they were standing up to get a good look at him, he had spotted Ron and Hermione, sped along the benches toward them, and forced his way in between them.

“Where’ve you — holy hell, what’ve you done to your face?” said Ron, goggling at him along with everyone else in the vicinity. “Why, what’s wrong with it?” said Harry, grabbing a spoon and squinting at his distorted reflection. “You’re covered in blood!” said Hermione. “Come here —”

She raised her wand, said “Tergeo!” and siphoned off the dried blood. “Thanks,” said Harry, feeling his now clean face. “How’s my nose looking?”

“Normal,” said Hermione anxiously. “Why shouldn’t it? Harry, what happened? We’ve been terrified!”

 “I’ll tell you later,” said Harry curtly. He was very conscious that Ginny, Neville, Dean, and Seamus were listening in; even Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, had come floating along the bench to eavesdrop.

“But —”

“Not now, Hermione,” said Harry, in a darkly significant voice.

He hoped very much that they would all assume he had been involved in something heroic, preferably involving a couple of Death Eaters and a dementor. Of course, Malfoy would spread the story as far and wide as he could, but there was always a chance it wouldn’t reach too many Gryffindor ears. He reached across Ron for a couple of chicken legs and a handful of chips, but before he could take them, they vanished, to be replaced with puddings. “You missed the Sorting, anyway,” said Hermione, as Ron dived for a large chocolate gateau.

 “Hat say anything interesting?” asked Harry, taking a piece of treacle tart.

“As a matter of fact, yes. It went on in this really odd talk of how two kings would lock horns while a greater being is on its way.”

“What did it exactly say?”

Ron fumbled at that. Seeing this, Hermione picked up where Ron dropped off.

“It said these exact words, ‘King and King shall lock horns, while one comes out as the Master of all. Down the road the Master shall meet, the Champion of Death which they seek.’ And honestly- I also have no clue as to what these could mean.”

“Something is a tad too familiar about this, run it again?”

“King and King shall lock horns, while one comes out as the Master of all. Down the road the Master shall meet, the Champion of Death which they seek.”

“I need to run this with Dumbledore. Speaking of which, did Dumbledore mention Voldemort at all?”

“That’s the thing Harry. Dumbledore isn’t here.”

“Wha-?” Harry sputtered out confused as he looked towards the Professor’s table, he and Hermione heard a faint pop over the chatter and noise of the Great Hall and to their surprise, Dumbledore came through the back door, but battered and bruised for a moment as he changed his look to resemble that he wasn’t in any scuffle. Despite that, Dumbledore looked tired and was hunched over, taking deep breaths as if he just ran a marathon.

Harry and Hermione could only furrow their eyebrows at that.

“The heck are you on about? Dumbledore is there!” said Harry as he turned towards Ron.

Flummoxed, Ron turned around to see that Dumbledore was indeed there.

“But I could’ve swor- “began Ron but Harry cut across from him before he could say anything. Putting aside his confusion for a moment, he picked up his knife and fork and began eating some steak which was on the table.

“Anyways, Snape said Hagrid was late for the feast- “

“You’ve seen Snape? How come?” asked Ron as he gulped a piece of steak.

“Bumped into him,” said Harry evasively.

“Hagrid was only a few minutes late,” said Hermione.

Harry was dumbfounded as he looked over to the Professor’s table for confirmation and saw that Hagrid was worriedly looking over and talking to Dumbledore but however, at that moment, Hagrid caught his eye and waved at Harry.

Harry broadly grinned back at his greeting while Dumbledore was chuckling at this.

Turning his eyes to look towards Hagrid’s other side, he was surprised to see the Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney, sitting on Hagrid’s other side; she rarely left her tower room, and he had never seen her at the start-of-term feast before. She looked as odd as ever, glittering with beads and trailing shawls, her eyes magnified to enormous size by her spectacles. Having always considered her a bit of a fraud, Harry had been shocked to discover at the end of the previous term that it had been she who had made the prediction that caused Lord Voldemort to kill Harry’s parents and attack Harry himself. The knowledge had made him even less eager to find himself in her company, but thankfully, this year he would be dropping Divination. Her great beaconlike eyes swivelled in his direction; he hastily looked away toward the Slytherin table. Draco Malfoy was miming the shattering of a nose to raucous laughter and applause. Harry dropped his gaze to his treacle tart, his insides burning again. What he would not give to fight Malfoy one-on-one . . .

“So, is anyone asking you about what happened in the Ministry, Harry?”

“So far? Only a couple of people on the train. But on the grander scale? Not many.”

“Good because everyone is constantly interrogating us about it. Weren’t they Ron?”

“Yeah,” said Ron. “All wanting to know if you really are ‘the Chosen One’ —” “There has been much talk on that very subject even amongst the ghosts,” interrupted Nearly Headless Nick, inclining his barely connected head toward Harry so that it wobbled dangerously on its ruff.

“I am considered something of a Potter authority; it is widely known that we are friendly. I have assured the spirit community that I will not pester you for information, however. ‘Harry Potter knows that he can confide in me with complete confidence,’ I told them. ‘I would rather die than betray his trust.’”

 “That’s not saying much, seeing as you’re already dead,” Ron observed.

“Once again, you show all the sensitivity of a blunt axe,” said Nearly Headless Nick in affronted tones and he rose into the air and glided back toward the far end of the Gryffindor table just as Dumbledore got to his feet at the staff table. The talk and laughter echoing around the Hall died away almost instantly.

“The very best of evenings to you!” he said, smiling broadly, his arms opened wide as though to embrace the whole room. “What happened to his hand?” gasped Hermione. She was not the only one who had noticed. Dumbledore’s right hand which was bright red when he came to pick him up from the Dursleys, was in an odd color of black, purple and blue. The dominant color being black.

Whispers swept the room; Dumbledore, interpreting them correctly, merely smiled and shook his purple-and-gold sleeve over his injury. “Nothing to worry about,” he said airily. “Now . . . to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you.”

“His hand was a deep red when he came to pick me up from Number Four,” Harry whispered to Hermione. “I thought he’d have cured it by now, though . . . or Madam Pomfrey would’ve done.”

 “It looks as if it’s died,” said Hermione, with a nauseated expression. “But there are some injuries you can’t cure . . . old curses . . . and there are poisons without antidotes. . ..”

“. . . and Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shops called Zonkos and Weasley’ Wizard Wheezes.”

“I know that Hermione. . .. it’s just that I didn’t classify it as such a bad injury.”

“Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise. “We are pleased to welcome two new staff members this year, Professor Barebone and Professor Slughorn," both of them stood up as their respective names were called, Myhaver’s handle bar moustache and goatee being visible while Professor Barebone’s lithe frame, long hair, sharp jawline gleamed in the candle light.

“Professor Barebone is an old friend of mine who has agreed to teach Potions this year.

“Potions?”

 “Potions?”

The word echoed all over the Hall as people wondered whether they had heard right. The trio, Neville and Ginny all shared a look as they heard that.

“Professor Snape, meanwhile,” said Dumbledore, raising his voice so that it carried over all the muttering, “will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.”

 “No!” said Harry, so loudly that many heads turned in his direction. He did not care; he was staring up at the staff table, incensed. How could Snape be given the Defence Against the Dark Arts job after all this time? Hadn’t it been widely known for years that Dumbledore did not trust him to do it?

Snape, who was sitting on Dumbledore’s right, did not stand up at the mention of his name; he merely raised a hand in lazy acknowledgment of the applause from the Slytherin table, yet Harry was sure he could detect a look of triumph on the features he loathed so much.

“Well, there’s one good thing,” he said savagely. “Snape’ll be gone by the end of the year.” “What do you mean?” asked Ron. “That job’s jinxed. No one’s lasted more than a year. . .. Quirrell actually died doing it. . .. Personally, I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for another death. . ..”

 “Harry!” said Hermione, shocked and reproachful. “He might just go back to teaching Potions at the end of the year,” said Ron reasonably, “the Barebone bloke might not want to stay long-term. Moody didn’t.”

Dumbledore cleared his throat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were not the only ones who had been talking; the whole Hall had erupted in a buzz of conversation at the news that Snape had finally achieved his heart’s desire. Seemingly oblivious to the sensational nature of the news he had just imparted, Dumbledore said nothing more about staff appointments, but waited a few seconds to ensure that the silence was absolute before continuing.

“Since I would be away for a better part of the year, Professor McGonagall is going to take over my Headmaster duties while I introduce you to your acting Transfiguration Professor but when Professor McGonagall would resume teaching, your Battle Transfiguration Professor, please welcome, Professor Myhaver Slughorn!”

Everyone applauded for Myhaver as he grinned at the students in return. Many found him to be a kind fellow while others were intrigued by the mention of Battle Transfiguration.

As the applauses died down, Dumbledore began, “Now, as everybody in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength.” The silence seemed to tauten and strain as Dumbledore spoke. Harry glanced at Malfoy. Malfoy was not looking at Dumbledore, but making his fork hover in mid-air with his wand, as though he found the headmaster’s words unworthy of his attention

“I cannot emphasize strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle’s magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them — in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and others’ safety.” Dumbledore’s blue eyes swept over the students before he smiled once more.

“But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!"

With the usual deafening scraping noise, the benches were moved back and the hundreds of students began to file out of the Great Hall toward their dormitories. Harry, who was in no hurry at all to leave with the gawping crowd, nor to get near enough to Malfoy to allow him to retell the story of the nose-stamping, lagged behind, pretending to retie the lace on his trainer, allowing most of the Gryffindors to draw ahead of him. Hermione had darted ahead to fulfill her prefect’s duty of shepherding the first years, but Ron remained with Harry.

“What really happened to your nose?” he asked, once they were at the very back of the throng pressing out of the Hall, and out of earshot of anyone else. Harry told him. It was a mark of the strength of their friendship that Ron did not laugh. “I saw Malfoy miming something to do with a nose,” he said darkly. “Yeah, well, never mind that,” said Harry bitterly. “Listen to what he was saying before he found out I was there. . .."

While Harry was telling Ron what happened within the famous Hogwarts Express, at the same time, thousands of miles away, a plan of elaborate chaos begins.

From his throne-like chair, Voldemort got up, walked on over to his room of rituals and experimentations, Voldemort began a ritual which would insure that the time of each night would prolong its time, to such an extent, that one day, the sun will not rise and the bats from hell would cause chaos over the entire world, included Magical Britain.

Voldemort raised his wand, and caused a slab of marble on the floor in front of him, to rise a few inches above the ground and hover at that spot.

He then went around the room gathering the required ingredients, placed them on a desk, and slowly drew a circle around the raised marble slab. As he deems it enough, he sat down on the floor, surrounded himself with a circle of fine moonstone, conjured a small piece of wood and keeps it on the centre of the slab. He then lit the wood on fire and began the ritual.

‘Shards of moonstone, allow me to channel you power!’ he cast that as he placed down shards of a moonstone, from each corner to corner of the rectangular slab of marble which was floating in front of him.

“Essence of darkness, shroud your might over the outer realm!’ with that, he threw down a black powder which emitted dark fumes, onto the ever-heating slab of marble, which caused the shards to sizzle and the heat in the room to grow exponentially.

Beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead, Voldemort continued.

‘Fur of the Hellbat, place your foot and present yourself in the Outer-Earth!’ he then threw a few strands of fur into the fire and the rest of it onto the sizzling shards of the moonstone.

‘Venom of the Hellbat, step through and show us your might!’ he then unscrewed a vial of venom and dribbled half of it onto the sizzling shards and dumped the rest of it onto the flame he lit, which grew a lot and it’s flames were now beginning to swallow the entirety of the slab, along the contents in it. Now for the final step, Voldemort grabbed his wand and thrust it into the air, calling the essence of darkness towards himself with his wand-free hand which led the flame’s intensity to increase, and he chanted out the final spell.

‘ IAM VOCARE POTENTIAM IN HELLBAT! TO PER AC SUDARE TUAS IN UNIVERSUM REGNI NOSTRI!’ (1)

As he said that, the flames burst outward, leading the sizzling shards of moonstone to vaporise and the wisps of them, to go towards the moon and a bit of the essence of darkness entered his body and magically enhanced him.

As Voldemort’s eyes began to settle to the darkness of the room once again, he could feel the effects of the ritual taking place and the night elongating itself slowly. He knows that the next night would be longer and when it is three days before the full moon, the blackout would happen.

With moonlight falling on him and illuminating his snake-like face as he stared at the remains of the ritual, he chuckled and said, “And so it begins…”

-ARC 6 END-

Chapter Text

Arc 7 Part 1.

Onslaught.

As Harry finished telling Ron the entire story, they didn’t realize but they had reached the common room. The room was just as homely, inviting and comfortable as it had been when Harry stepped into it the first time back in his first year. Honestly, he thought, some things never change and this common room was one of them.

As they began walking up the stairs to get back, a sudden thought struck him which caused him to turn back to Ron.

“Mate,” he began.

“Yeah?” Ron replied back, opening the door to the dormitory as both of them and the rest of the boys in their year followed suit.

“I actually got an appointment with Dumbledore. I just remembered Snape saying I gotta go to Dumbledore when the clock strikes twelve and I think it’s midnight already. What’s the time?” He asked.

Ron cast and swore.

“Shit, Harry, it’s 11:50. Get a jumper on, get your cloak and fucking GO!”

“Wha- oh bloody buggering hell.”

As he neared Dumbledore’s office, Harry’s was panting due to exhaustion from the long run all the way from the Gryffindor common room. As closed in on the door, his heart still hammering in his chest, he could hear Dumbledore talking to what sounded like a loud and aggravated Myhaver. Curiosity getting the better of him, Harry stuck by and kept on listening.

“-kidding me Dumbledore? How will th-a mutilated head just materialize right in front of you? That too inside the castle no less?”

Dumbledore had an unreadable expression on his face as he said, "I dont even know, Myhaver. All I am sure is that his head came right on top of this very desk."

As an immediate reflex, Myhaver pulled his hands back from the table as if he didn't want to touch the table where the head of his father was on.

In a choked up voice asked, “But who could it be? He doesn’t have any immediate enemies from what I remember. He also managed to keep Voldemort off of his back for the most part.” While eavesdropping, Harry thought, “Interesting, so whosoever they are talking about must be bloody skilled.”

Back in the office, Dumbledore snapped his fingers and pointed towards him at that and said, “That’s what I am saying, dear boy. He kept him off of his back and was undetected for the most part and not ‘always’.

Myhaver licked his lips in thought at that.

“But when, Dumbledore? When was he killed?”

But however, to Harry’s surprise, instead of answering him, he called out, “You can come in now, Harry. There is no need for you to be eavesdropping.”

Scratching the back of his neck, he said the password and entered his office.

As he entered, he took notice of how his office didn’t seem to change. All the same tinkering gadgets, old books, ancient tomes, souvenirs from around the world, they all seemed to add a specific essence to Dumbledore’s office. While these were there, the portraits of the previous Headmasters, the presence of Fawkes really sold the atmosphere to be one of wisdom, magic and homeliness.

As Harry’s eyes roamed around the scene, he barely took notice of Dumbledore who was sitting down and smiling at him, the moonlight falling on him and Myhaver. Speaking of which, he looked morose and just simply looked over to Harry with a glint of sadness in his eyes and his lower lip began to tremble but to no result which Harry assumed was an effort to not to cry for whatever reason he was about to.

“Hello there Harry,” Dumbledore began with a smile and continued, “I was wondering when would you come.”

Harry visibly shrugged and said, “I mean, I did remember to come so there’s that.”

“True, please take a seat- and no, don’t pick it up, I want to talk. Just please sit down.”

Harry sat down with an amused glint in his eye, thinking on his Dumbledore knew what he was thinking to do when his eyes weren’t even properly looking at him.

Licking his lips, Harry decided to begin first.

“Professor, what were you exactly talking about before I entered the room? Who died?” He then turned to Myhaver and asked the same thing, “Who exactly died?”

Expectantly waiting for an answer, Harry looked at Dumbledore and then looked back at Myhaver and then looked at Dumbledore again, waiting for them to say something.

“I think you should tell him Albus. Tell him how he died.”

Harry interjected while looking back at Dumbledore, “How who died?” he asked.

Dumbledore let out a sigh as he couldn’t decide how would he phrase this sentence. He took a deep breath and said, “Horace Slughorn died today. As I was right in this chair, waiting for Credence to come-“

“Credence?”

Realizing he interrupted him rudely, Harry apologized, “Sorry about that but Credence? Who exactly is Credence?”

Dumbledore had an unreadable expression on his face as he said, “Professor Barebone, Harry. Your new potions teacher.”

As realization dawned upon his face, he could only say, “Interesting...”

Dumbledore gave a brief nod and continued.

“As I was saying, I sat here waiting for Credence to come while I kept stroking Fawkes but wonder my surprise as I saw my old friend’s head - materialized right in front of me - on this very desk.”

Harry could only widen his eyes at that.

Turning towards the window which had moonlight streaming through, Dumbledore said, “I may not know what killed him- or who for that matter but enough is enough ,” at that, Dumbledore clenched his cheek and as a result, the other occupants in the room felt the steady waves of magic pour off of the eccentric old Headmaster and could easily understand why Dumbledore was the only one Voldemort ever feared.

“We are losing enough members in this war and we already have lost enough in the last one. Horace would’ve been a valuable asset towards the war effort but alas, he has been killed,” he looked at both of the people present in this room and said, “Along with Horace, we kept losing numerous in the last war just like this and I have had enough.”

Then, he looked into Harry’s emerald eyes and said, “We are going to stand up and bring this fight to him. I am tired of playing on the defensive and not being able to do anything. The war is coming, and we all best be ready for it. Do you understand, Harry?”

Harry nodded fervently.

As Dumbledore said that, he immediately looked over towards the window as he felt a change in the air. With his brows furrowing in intrigue, he looked back at Myhaver and asked, “Did you feel that?”

“I did.”

“I did so too, sir.”

Dumbledore let out a sigh and said, “Just as I expected him to do.Tom didn’t bother to think for a second and he is beginning to bring the gods through.”

Harry wasn’t more confused. And adding to his confusion, even Myhaver furrowed his eyebrows in doubt. 

“Albus, you don’t mean-“

“I- I am not sure. He might’ve brought him through or someone else, but all I know, that he is bringing in someone and chaos and calamity is going to ensue."

Harry tried to get a word in this conversation but all he could do was listen to it.

“Myhaver, send a word to our foreign friends while I tend to the German Ministry personally. Tell them that if they see any sort of ancient Titan god, like that of the Camazotz or any ancient deity causing havoc, they need to report it to Monarch, immediately.”

“Got it.”

“Yes, now off you go Myhaver.”

“But hold on.”

Dumbledore let out an irritated huff and asked, “What?”

“How am I supposed to tell them without revealing that Voldemort is back? And how will they contact Monarch?”

“You are not supposed to hide it, Myhaver. He will soon become a global threat and I feel that he might just become worse than Grindelwald ever was if we don’t stop him from bringing the gods through,” Dumbledore got up, leaned closer towards Myhaver’s face and said, “He already has brought in one of them. There is no telling if he brings them all in because if he does, then may Merlin save us all. And as for contacting Monarch, they can just floo-call the chief executives. Now off you go.”

And with that, Myhaver got up and left. Harry never saw Dumbledore this angry ever before. He never saw him this let loose. Dumbledore was always the one who was the calmest in most situations and never lost his cool. But this, was something he had never witnessed before. Thinking about it for a brief moment, Harry finally understood what he was exactly witnessing.  Gone was the old Headmaster who loved to snack on lemon drops, and here is the war general Albus Dumbledore, defeater of Grindelwald, leader of the light, who led the war against Grindelwald back in the nineteen forties and won.

He looked at Dumbledore as if to ask whether he should go or not. Dumbledore caught on and said, “No Harry, I want to talk.”

“About what, Professor?”

“About- things.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows at that and said, “Go on.”

Dumbledore looked outside the window and into the distance where he could see an injured Unicorn limping over to the lake, shining all the while in the ink-black cover of the night due and said, “When you stepped through the doors of the great hall and sat on the stool to be sorted for the very first time,” he then grasped Harry’s hands and continued as his throat was choking up.

“I remembered a vow- one that I had made to yourself and my parents that I will always look after you if something happens to them in the war. Since Tom murdered them, I tried to do what I thought was right but- I- I failed.”

Harry couldn’t understand where was he trying to go with this. But from his time spent with Dumbledore, he knew this man well enough to know that there is more to this.

“For long, I thought Voldemort will make his return after you have grown stronger, after you have become better but from what I had witnessed him do, I wasn’t all that sure, dear boy.”

Dumbledore got up, put his hands behind his back and began pacing to and fro around Harry and took deep breaths to calm himself. Then, he continued talking.

“The massacres he had caused in his Titan form was enough for us to lose the little hope we had. Things were looking dark, people were going missing, major cities were being destroyed, all because of this war,” he then walked over to his shelf, rummaged through a stack of newspapers and pulled out a box dated 1979-1980.

“Sir-“

 Dumbledore put up a finger and said, “Just a moment Harry...”

As he kept rummaging through the old box, he handed Harry a newspaper and said, “Read this one.”

Harry took the dusty paper in his hands and his first instinct was to blow off the heaps of dust which was on it. As he cleared it, the first words which he saw confused him more than anything.

THREE-HEADED DRAGON ATTACKS WIZARDING LONDON.

By: Nathaniel Wilberg

He looked up with confusion evident in his eyes and asked, “Professor, what is this?”

Dumbledore looked morose as he said, “Report of Voldemort’s first attack as Ghidorah. This attack led to the Brighton massacre, the destruction of Liverpool and the Titan brawl at Bristol,” at that Dumbledore bent over the box and began rummaging through it. As he did so, he said, “Read on while I hand you more newspapers.."

Harry held a stare at Dumbledore and slowly looked away towards the paper as he drawled, “Alright…”

A few moments later, as he finished reading it, Dumbledore handed him another newspaper which looked to be even bigger.

THE VOICE OF THE STORMS STRIKES AGAIN!

By: Christopher Schultz.

That is right my dear readers, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, or to what some think, King Ghidorah, strikes Wizarding Britain again. This time, the city was Birmingham and the total counted causalities crossed the count of 20,000. Around 16,000 of those are deaths and the rest are the injured ones. But this doesn’t end here, there are COUNTLESS more people missing.

Questions have been asked to few of the survivors at Birmingham and read on what they have to say.

Mr.Waltz who was first asked about the attack had the following to say.

“I had just apparated back from the market place when all of a sudden the winds picked up and began flowing at an abnormally and thi-these big yellow bolts of electricity began whizzing over my head. As I turned around to see where did that come from, th-there he was.”

At this point, Mr.Waltz could not say any further about the attack as he had a mental breakdown remembering the incident. So, his friend, Will Reacher, was asked about the attack and he had the following to say.

“Chris was right. I was sitting by my window at the time and I saw it all happen. The winds began flowing at such a fast rate that I even saw a kid get picked up by those winds and he got his head smashed against the wall. In the distance, I swear I could see The Dark Lord transforming into this positively massive three-headed-dragon which only was cited in mythology and is only a legend. King Ghidorah.”

Things aren’t looking good at all, my dear citizens. This may very well be the last few years of Wizarding Britain as it looks like this war is going to bring in an innumerable number of victims.

There are darker times ahead, citizens, may Merlin save us all.

As Harry finished reading, he looked up to Dumbledore with an inquisitive look and seeing that, Dumbledore said, “This is not all, Harry. I will hand you the newspapers which you can read in your own time but now, I have something to show you,” at that, Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and asked, “If I may?”

“Yes sir, go on.”

Dumbledore went on over to his cabinet, opened it, put his Pensieve on his desk and before Harry could say anything, he put his wand on his temple and a smoky-silvery thread was pulled out as Dumbledore moved his wand away. Harry immediately recognized what the thread was. A memory.

“Professor, what is this memory about?”

Dumbledore turned his head and looked at him with his old blue eyes and said, “The Bristol Brawl. An unfortunate number of people were killed that day in Bristol.  Through this, you’ll also get an idea of how powerful Voldemort is when he has transformed into Ghidorah.”

As he said that, he put his hand on Harry’s shoulder and said, “After you, Harry.”

Harry put his finger into the Pensieve and was immediately sucked into the memory.

He landed on the ground with a loud thump. His head was spinning, his ears were ringing, and worst of all, it was bloody nighttime. He immediately put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wand and cast a Lumos. As far as he could see, there was nothing in front of him apart from an abundance of trees.

‘Ok, so it looks like I landed in a forest. But why a forest of all places?’ he thought.

As he moved his wand around him, he noticed on what he landed was a pile of leaves of all things. It didn’t take him more than a second to realize that he was being watched. He quickly moved his wand towards the direction he was sure he was being watched from and had a spell ready on his lips only to see Dumbledore walking down a small hill towards him.

“Professor?”

Hearing no response, he asked again, “Professor?”

As Dumbledore neared, Harry immediately knew it wasn’t his Dumbledore, so to speak.

His beard was shorter, he wore a dark blue trench coat with an equally dark top hat and a grim look on his face. Harry watched on as this Dumbledore walked on towards the trees and out of sight. Deciding to follow him, Harry raced in the direction that Dumbledore went through and saw him crossing a road while his Dumbledore was waiting for him.

He took Harry’s arm and said, “Stick close to me as we have to follow my other self here.”

Harry nodded in response.

As they walked behind the memory-Dumbledore, Harry looked around Bristol and absorbed the atmosphere of it. The river running through the city, the tall buildings and the cars bustling by with all this chatter going on made Harry feel good that despite of the looking war, there were moments where you could find solace and basically have a glance how life used to be. His face immediately dropped down to a frown because he realized that if a Titan brawl had happened in Bristol, then a huge number of these people will very likely die. Wait, Dumbledore did say that an unfortunate number of people had died in Bristol. But how many? There have to be wizards here, right? Right?

It then clicked within Harry.

Bristol was a muggle majority city with a few wizards and if there indeed were to be a Titan brawl, then the destruction and deaths must’ve been numerous.

Holy fuck.

As realization hit him, his heart began slowing down as dread built up within him, his hands began sweating and he began to panic as a sensation of pure emptiness began to settle within Harry. But then he remembered that he was in a memory so his panic turned into immediate sadness as he realized he could only be there and watch the massacre happen.

Dumbledore noticed Harry’s rollercoaster of emotions but didn’t comment as he himself began to remember what he felt when he was going to the site and the aftermath of the battle.

It truly was an unfortunate event.

They could only do nothing but watch as the younger Dumbledore walked away from a bar and into a big white building which Harry didn’t recognize but his old Headmaster sure did.

They swiftly entered the building themselves and kept following Dumbledore’s younger self. They followed him to the third floor, watched him turn right and enter a room with a sign, “For the Phoenix Only.”

Seeing this, Harry face-palmed and Dumbledore chuckled at that.

Harry could only mutter as they followed the younger Dumbledore, “Totally inconspicuous, totally not going to attract unwanted attention…”

They entered the room and Harry was surprised to see nearly nobody present. The room was like a version of the kitchen at Number 12 Grimmauld Place but way cleaner, neater and more of a better place to be in. From the entry point, right in front of them was a big dining table with a stove, oven, kitchen cabinets behind and diagonal to them, was another doorway which had a stairwell.

“Sirius? Caradoc?  Anyone here?”

No answer. As the other-Dumbledore was about to pull his wand out, all of them heard slow footsteps and the other Dumbledore as a result, pointed his wand towards the direction the footsteps were coming from.

The door opened and in came in Caradoc Dearborn.

Caradoc was a short man, only a couple of inches taller than Harry, looked to be in his late twenties with a full beard, wearing a dark brown pair of trousers with no shirt.

Caradoc asked, “What is it, Dumbledore?”

Dumbledore pocketed his wand and asked back, “Where are the others?”

“They haven’t returned yet. Only Fredrick has made a return. Last I heard of Potter and his friends were that all of em were safe in Godric’s Hollow. But which house? I don’t ruddy know.”

Dumbledore then waved his hand and said, “Call Fredrick then, I want to talk to him.”

Caradoc then went up the stairwell and all the memory-Dumbledore, Harry and the real Dumbledore could hear was, “FREDRICK! WHERE ARE YA?”

A more distant yell could be heard across from Caradoc which also was above and diagonally right from the trio in the kitchen.

“WHAT IS IT DEARBORN?”

“DUMBLEDORE WANTS TO TALK TO YA!”

“ALRIGHT HOLD ON! DON’T GET YOUR KNICKERS IN A TWIST! I AM COMIN’!”

And after that, they heard from what they could assume was Fredrick running down the stairs to meet Dumbledore.

“MERLIN, FRED! QUIT RUNNING!” Caradoc yelled but by that time, this ‘Fredrick’ had reached the kitchen. This person, was Fredrick Fenwick, brother of Benjamin Fenwick. He was a fairly tall man, with brown hair and equally brown eyes. His right arm was covered in silver which Harry assumed to be a result of his right arm being chopped off.

He wore a half-sleeve brown shirt with a pair of black trousers which really brought his silver arm in focus.

“You called for me, Dumbledore?”

Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, “Actually, yes. As I had requested you to get information stored on the Titan spirits in the archives of the Department of Mysteries, did you get them?”

“The archived information? Ah yes, I have. It’s on my desk, gimme a moment to summon it.”

At that, he stuck out his wand and cast, “Accio Archive Files.”

The files flew in and landed firmly in Fred’s hands but at that very moment, the winds began to pick up at an abnormal rate outside. All three of them noticed the speeding winds and instantly were on alert. As far as the eye could see from the window they were peering through, all they could see was a storm forming.

Before memory-Dumbledore could yell the command to put up a shield, the nearby wall blew up and through all the rubble, tendrils of yellow electricity came through and struck Fredrick and Caradoc, killing them instantly. It was even more painful than the cruciatus curse cast by the Dark Lord himself. And the better thing about it? For them, it only lasted for a second as the tendrils of electricity ate away are their bodies and reduced them to dust.

Thankfully, memory-Dumbledore managed to raise a shield strong enough to deflect it while the real Dumbledore flinched a little and Harry was taken by surprise at this sudden strike.

As the dust settled, it was evident that the entire city block had been blown up and standing at the centre of it all, was a gargantuan dragon with golden-brown scales, standing at a massive height of five-hundred and twenty-one feet with three heads akin to that of a hydra. All of them present knew what or rather who it was.

King Ghidorah or also known by his better name, Lord Voldemort.

At first instinct, Dumbledore apparated out of the broken building, re-apparated behind him and sent out his Patronus for backup. Then, he began transforming into his own form while the real Dumbledore and Harry watched from the ruins of the building.

His body grew and his skin began to become metallic as his beard shortened into pincers which were on both sides of his face.

His arms transformed into large metal hooks and he began sprouting spikes on his back and his entire attire slowly began to transform into body armor. The spikes which began sprouting from his back began growing on his stomach as well. They slowly took on the form of a buzzsaw and then wing-like attachments began growing on his back with sharpened ends.

His old kind face morphed into a huge bird-like face with a singular red bar for the eyes and a metallic beak with teeth in them.   

At that point, there stood Gigan, in all his glory in the darkness of the night.

Seizing the moment, he brought down his hooks hard on Ghidorah’s back which penetrated his thick hide and dug in firmly into his skin, causing im to roar out in pain. Feeling this, Ghidorah turned around and all three heads were aiming for Gigan’s neck but fortunately, he stuck out his two hooked hands which struck directly on the two side heads as the hook’s sharpened ends firmly embedded themselves within the thick scalp of their heads but unfortunately, the middle head got a grip on Gigan.

Gigan began shaking him off but Ghidorah had stuck on firmly- his teeth sinking in further and further with each attempt Gigan tried to free himself. Whatever he did, it made Ghidorah tighten his grip all the more. Due to his numerous efforts, Ghidorah had Gigan’s head in such an odd angle with his teeth so far into his metalic body, that if he were to turn his head, his neck would snap.

Gigan even tried bringing up his hooks but they stayed where the were because he realized if he were to release his grip on the two heads and began focusing on the middle one, the side heads will pummel him into submission and he will ultimately die by Ghidorah’s hand.

 So, as a last resort, red sparks of lighting began crackling out of the cracks and crevices of Gigan’s battle-damaged armor as he began to power up. The sparks of lighting strengthened and turned into bolts of lighting, streaming throughout his body. As his body began to glow, he angled his head just enough to not to break his neck as he knew that any excess movement will break his neck.

After adjusting it, he fired a shot which actually was a collection of energy orbs and it spread when he fired. This was akin to a shotgun, but far deadlier.

It was highly effective.

The shot seared the middle head’s skin and scorched all the nearby tissue to such an extent that the middle head had to let go of Gigan. As he was free, Gigan took a step back and fired another shot but this time, it was aimed straight at the left head. The shot seared through the air and as it initiated contact, the head was blown off cleanly.

Enraged now, from a human perspective, it would look like Ghidorah was taking a deep breath but in reality, he was charging up for a shot of its own.

He was charging up for his gravity beam.

Gigan saw this coming and tried to side step but the speed at which the gravity beams came through was just too much. The yellow tendrils of electricity crackled through the air and hit Gigan square in the face and upper torso, electrocuting him.

He was blown backwards and he crashed into a building from which, screams ensued. Harry visibly cringed at that and Dumbledore also had a slight grimace set upon his face. It was clear that the casualties had begun.

“Any moment now…Any moment now…” Dumbledore, or in this case, Gigan, thought as he tried to get up.  He tried to support himself to get up with the help of his hooks but he couldn’t. He tried again but this time, Ghidorah rushed in and slammed him into the building again, causing Gigan to cry out in pain.

But this time, the cry of pain then became a cry of fury as his left hand morphed into a giant sword and then he stabbed Ghidorah right in the stomach and then he used his other hand to get up and slash Ghidorah in the face. Ghidorah retaliated with his own wing-slams but this time, one wing slam left Gigan reeling from pain as it knocked him over and he landed on a crowd of people trying to escape, blood, bones and guts flew everywhere as his side was coated in blood.

As he tried to recover from the wing slam, out of the corner of his field of view, he noticed a total barbaric and horrifying sight. A sight which slowly made him devoid of all hope.

The head that he blasted off earlier, was regenerating and growing back.

And at that sight, Harry couldn’t help but curse.

“Holy shit..”

At first, the left most neck was no more than a mere stump. Then, the markings of Ghidorah’s face appeared on that head but it still was that same stump. Then as it began to grow, a white film began forming over it as a protective substance.

The middle head saw it and ripped it off once the head grew back.

As it regrew, the next thing Ghidorah did was that he fired his gravity beams straight at Gigan. Bright golden bolts of electricity warping through the air and going for Gigan’s head. With what energy he had, Gigan brought up his claws as a defense mechanism but the force exerted from the beams was too much and he was beginning to be pushed back as the gravity beams began to eat away at his hooks.

To avoid further damage, he stepped to the side to avoid the beams. They crashed into nearby buildings and from the screams and dulling of the beam crashes, he could very easily assume that the innocents were being killed in this carnage. With a roar of fury, he got up and began showing his melee prowess on Ghidorah who couldn’t get a moment to strike back.

His right hook slashed across all three necks, drawing blood which splashed against his body. His hook parried, blocked his attacks while his left sword continuously fought back against the might of Ghidorah. As they kept on fighting, the neighboring buildings all began to be destroyed one after the oother

Some were destroyed due to titans falling over, some were destroyed due to gravity beams and flare shots while some were destroyed due to Ghidorah flattening the surface to get fighting ground.

Gigan and Ghidorah fought hard and long. At one moment, Gigan couldn’t stop Ghidorah from charging towards himself and knocking him over. As he tried to get up, Ghidorah used his two tails to hoist up him and fly him up above the clouds.

Due to having spent nearly all of his energy and being brutally hit at times, Gigan couldn’t put up much if a defense nor he could free himself.

As they reached the Stratosphere, he, Gigan, took notice of the beauty of the dark thunder clouds which were being summoned due to Ghidorah’s presence. They had a beautiful essence to them which personified and portrayed the might, and the darkness which was present within Ghidorah yet the beauty of life which was everywhere.

But however, before he could see much, Ghidorah dropped him. And he was falling.

Fast.

33,000 feet.

28,000 feet.

23,000 feet.

18,000 feet.

Gigan was falling and he showed no signs of stopping. Whatsoever Before he could apparate out of the way, he crashed into the set of buildings beneath him, killing whosoever was present and at the very same time, ending the memory.

Dumbledore and Harry were immediately taken out the memory and both of them were back where they previously were- Dumbledore near the desk and Harry being seated.

Harry’s eyes had to re-adjust to the sudden darkness as the only source of light in the office was the fire place and the wispy rays of moonlight which were streaming through the window.

 As his eyes readjusted to the darkness, his first words he could say were, “Damn, that was one heck of a ride.”

Dumbledore briefly chuckled at that. Then, after clearing his throat, he asked a question.

“So, what did you exactly learn from this?”

Harry was confused at first. His mind was blanking as he couldn’t think how he should answer it. But then realizing how obvious it was, he said, “Um... Voldemort’s fighting style as Ghidorah...?”

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

Realizing where he went wrong, he said, “Telling you, Professor.”

Dumbledore appreciatively nodded. He then cast a swift Tempus and saw it was two in the morning turning back towards Harry, he said, “Harry, you must go now as it is two in the morning. I need you to comeback here tomorrow, at the same time you did tonight. Got that? Also, you need to get your sleep for tomorrow as the classes are starting-” as he saw Harry get up, he continued, “-Before you leave, do you have any questions you want to ask?”

Harry thought about the memory, but nothing he could find was something worth asking questions for. At least for now as it was two in the morning and all he wanted to do now was sleep.

“No, Professor. None as of now.”

Dumbledore then briefly smiled, got up, and ushered him to go back to his common room.

“Off you go now, pip pip.”

As Harry turned around and as his retreating figure left the office, in the darkness of the night, Dumbledore felt the essence of dark magic which lingered in the air, magnify. As a response, he could only fall back into his chair and let out a shaky, frail breath as he felt every bit of his age then and there. Fawkes trilled as to light some hope within Dumbledore.

“I know, Fawkes, I know. But I am afraid that I might not be able to assist him for long. My days are numbered, by dear friend-,” at that, he looked straight into Fawkes’s amber-colored eyes which if they belonged to a human, he was sure that they would’ve been swelling up in tears. Seeing this, Dumbledore’s own eyes began to water and he said, “I will miss you, old friend. This has been a good life,” and then he looked away to clear his eyes and he began to write a letter to the German Ministry of Magic.

Had he not done that and listened a bit closely, he would’ve heard Fawkes speak for the first time and probably, the only time.

“The best.”

As Harry was walking down the dark hallways of Hogwarts at two in the morning, his footsteps echoed loudly with each step he took but since he was far away from any dormitory, it wasn’t any issue. As he walked under the starry cover of the night sky, thoughts of the Bristol Titan brawl kept circulating in his mind. For the most part, they were thoughts of self-doubt. Seeing how Voldemort, or in his Titan form, Ghidorah going relentless against Gigan, made him doubt his power capacity to take him down. He didn’t have prowess in flight, nor was he much experienced in combat with his Titan form, nor was he much experienced in combat in general. But there was one thing - that one little thing he was sure he was experienced in – that one thing that he perhaps was truly a master in.

And that was being the survivor.

No matter how much the odds were against him, no matter how hard the circumstances were, he always managed to come out on top. No matter what happened, he always survived.

And this time, he isn’t only going to make sure that he survives, he is going to make sure that he wins.

He isn’t going to let Voldemort win, never.

But what if he loses?

What if he lets everyone down?

What if he dies?

No, he won’t loose. He just won’t. And even if he dies, he is going to make sure that he is going to take Tom with him.

And let’s face it, there were many worse things than death. At times, it was merely the most merciful option there is. He is going to go out of his way, to make sure, that he bloody wins.

Because he will be damned if he doesn’t.

As he turns around the corner and reaches the portrait of the Fat Lady, he murmurs out the password, “Song of the little ones” and enters the common room.

The common room was dimly lit with the fireplace’s fire slowly dying out, he came closer and took notice of a familiar head of bushy-brown hair. With a soft smile, he conjured a blanket, and softly draped it over her so that she doesn’t catch a cold. He then softly kissed her forehead and went to his dormitory to retreat in for the night.

While climbing up the stairs, his soft smile turned into a full-blown smirk as he heard the entire boy’s dormitory sleeping but one specific snore was the loudest of them all.

And that being of one Ronald Weasley.

As he opened the door to his dorm, as expected, he saw Ron sprawled over his bed, snoring.

He then got ready for the night and he took one last look at Ron before sleeping, there was only one thought in his mind.

And that’s how some things never change.

Chapter Text

Hello there you fantastic mother lovers, as you can see, I am not dead.

I just had life happen to me - I am busy as hell. Though why am I writing this rn? To announce that I am back in business and you're gonna see more uploads from me buckaroo! Woohoo!

Okay so, I have been practising my writing for long enough that now I think I can do a rewrite of this fic proper justice.

By the time this upload will go live, I should've started posting the rewrite. 

So, here's to 2023 and me writing like a boss!

See y'all soon in my rewrite,

4thPeverell