A/N: To my previous readers: I've had a very personal event happening in my life for the past year, it affected me greatly, on my priorities, moods, and such. Even now I do not know if I can find enough time to keep at this. I apologize for the wait. I would like to thank you for still have enough interest to read this, since this note is adressed to my previous readers and all :P
Chapter 20
The Fated Hour
'It is a power you could never hope to wield, Voldemort!' Harry replied resolutely, his wand at the ready. Perhaps this was the power the Prophecy was talking about? Harry thought. Perhaps my fated hour has come, and this will be the decisive duel that will determine which one of us will go on living?
'I grow tired of your childish insolence', Voldemort stated with some annoyance. He started to slowly circle around Harry, seizing him up for the first time the way one would do a worthy opponent before a battle to the death. 'DIE!'
And with that, Harry and Voldemort each launched their own spells.
The duel has begun.
…………………………..
Ron and Hermione apparated above the once peaceful village of Hogsmeade and promptly got caught in another aerial battle, the scale and fierceness of which far surpassed the one they had just left behind. As nobody seemed to have targeted them as of yet, Ron and Hermione did a quick survey of the surrounding battle.
'Looks like the aurors and the Order are battling it out with the dragons', Hermione commented after having spotted several order members (as well as recognizing the auror uniform) riding on a surprisingly diverse type of mounts harassing a lesser number dragons.
'That's weird', commented Ron. 'The dragons seem to be coordinating between themselves. I've seen groups of dragons with Charlie, and he never mentioned dragons can do that.'
'Ron? Hermione?' Exclaimed an all too familiar voice as a broom rider pulled alongside them.
'Charlie!' Ron yelled excitedly. 'What's going on?'
'Too long. To. Explain. Hogsmeade under. Attack.' Charlie replied, seemingly a bit out of breath. 'Land and floo to Hogwarts. Mom is there right now. Headquarters might be compromised, by the way.'
And before they could request any clarification on the matter, Charlie sped away, a spell already cast towards a particularly fierce looking Welsh Green.
Ron decided that landing was probably the safest thing to do right then, since they have no idea what was happening. But as he slowly descended toward the familiar and seemingly peaceful town, he couldn't help but notice that the dragons were slowly winning the aerial clash. After a particularly nasty exchange where two aurors were shot down from the sky, Ron had made his decision.
'Hermione, I'm going back up', Ron said resolutely as they finally landed next to the Three Broomsticks. 'Charlie is up there.' Ron added, hoping to pre-empt Hermione by giving justification to his decision.
'Ok', Hermione said simply. Then, as if waiting just for the moment Ron started to relax, she added: 'As long as I'm coming with you.'
And, after a short and condensed version of their normal argumentative routine, where everything from Ron's apparently invulnerability to fire and Hermione's growing powers over water, the best defense against fire, were critiqued in detail, they finally took off into the fierce battle overhead.
…………………………..
'Letum ut hostes hostium!' Voldemort hissed out, getting tired of staring down Harry Potter in an impromptu Mexican standoff the two wizards had been engaged in for the past half hour. A gooey, slimy cloud of viscous liquid jetted out from his wand, heading straight at The Boy Who Lived.
Harry stood his ground, his shield firmly in front of him, and promptly cast his own spell toward the dark lord. He had no idea what spell Voldemort just cast, but was confident that he could handle absorbing any spell so long as it wasn't the Killing Curse. Voldemort, having anticipated that Harry would disregard his own safety from their exchange of spells earlier, already had a strong shield in place. What he was not prepared for, however, was how the scorching, arrow tipped beam of light, the power of which was multiplied by several orders of magnitude by the Holy Shard, went straight through his shield and headed straight at him (much later, when historians would analyze this duel in detail, they would conclude, correctly, that the reason how the beam of light so easily defeated the protection cast by arguably the most powerful wizard of the time, was due to the combination of the spell being super powered, and the fact that such a pinpoint attack only need to defeat the protective barrier at a precise point).
In a much undignified action for the usually stoic dark lord, Voldemort dove to the ground in the split second he had to act. But it was far too late, and the dark lord gasped out more in surprise than pain as his entire left arm, from the elbow down, was torn away from him, purified into nothingness by the radiant beam of Harry's counterattack.
For his part, Harry was also caught off guard by the slowness with which his shield was absorbing the slimy liquid. He belatedly realized that so far, all the spells they had cast at his shield for testing were made out of some form of energy or another, and that this was the first time spell-created physical material was cast at his shield. Still, the goo was being absorbed, and it seemed like Voldemort had been badly injured by his attack.
Not wishing to give the dark lord any time to recover, Harry promptly hurled two more hexes at his hated enemy: one taking the shape of a golden disk of light that will cut through anything short of several super powerful shields, and the other, a personal favorite of Harry's, transformed into a ominous cloud, electric blue energies slowly building up for a lightning strike.
At the same time he was casting his spells, Harry heard the now familiar sound of the angel-winged jewels detaching themselves from his shield, having charged enough from the absorbed spells, and, after a brief climb to stabilize their flight, all seven jewels promptly headed toward the dark lord.
Voldemort, having earned his reputation of dark lord honestly and deservingly through lots of evil hard work, assessed his increasingly deteriorating situation in a flash whilst dodging away from Harry's golden disk at the same time. As soon as the disk overshot him, the dark lord promptly raised a magical mirror in front of him a split second before Harry's cloud discharged its deadly attack towards the dark lord. The attack was predictably reflected by the mirror (it's a magic mirror, after all), and not so harmlessly stroke the ceiling instead, dislodging a few bricks. At this time, the seven flying jewels simultaneously discharged jets of now white energy upon Voldemort, who, to Harry's surprise, entirely ignored this latest attack and used this time to summoned two more giant suits of armor, their malevolent green gaze promptly focusing on Harry as they took shape.
Voldemort had gambled on his still functioning shield, the one that had so easily been pierced by Harry's powerful and pinpoint light arrow spell, would be able to handle whatever attack the flying jewels could muster against him. For in his mind, they were too small to pose a significant threat, and were merely flying annoyances designed to distract him. Unfortunately, he lost his gamble, as the simultaneous discharge from all seven jewels hit him at once, and his already stressed shield collapsed under the strain. Voldemort was instantly hit by seven jets of energy, and collapsed to the ground. Belatedly, the two suits of armor moved into the path of the beams to protect their master, and swatted at the flying annoyances in the hopes of destroying them.
Harry mentally commanded his jewels to attack the suits of armor instead, deciding that he'll deal with Voldemort himself. Having made sure that his angel-winged allies were doing well against the two suits of armor, Harry returned his attention toward his eternal nemesis, and realized with a shock that the dark lord was already struggling to get back up, having already succeeded in getting up to his knees.
The dark lord, who, up to now, had his head down due to all the effort he was exerting, suddenly looked up, and locked gaze with Harry. For a brief moment, both opponents were frozen in place, and just as suddenly, burst into action. Unfortunately, Harry was a split second too late, and was blown backwards into a wall from the concussion of Voldemort's blasting hex, his silvery magic shield useless against the torrent of real shrapnel detonated into the air.
Voldemort allowed himself a slight smile, as he had guessed correctly that the accursed little boy's new shield was only effective against magic or things created by magic. With a heavy grunt, he managed to get back to his feet and advanced on his still dazed foe.
At that precise instant, the seven flying jewels from Harry's shield flew back into their nest, their stored energies having been spent. Harry took a quick look at the spot where the two giant suits of armor had been fighting with his winged jewels, and was disheartened to see that one of them had survived the attack, and was even now pacing back to rejoin its master. Lying there, with pieces of rocky shrapnel embedded through out his body, Harry wondered if how the situation could get any worse. True to form, he was overwhelmed with a new sense of hopelessness as he noticed the forearm he had so recently blown off of the dark lord starting to regenerate itself.
'Ah yes. The benefits of having gone through all those dark rituals', Voldemort explained, having followed Harry's gaze. 'Well, Harry Potter, I must say, you have given me quite a worthy battle, you should consider yourself honored to have made me exert so much effort. No wizard could ha…'
'Avada Kedavra!' Harry shouted, having brought up his wand arm to point to the dark lord while the latter was distracted with his ramblings. Unfortunately, much to Harry's confusion, the dark lord started to laugh instead of dropping dead. And it was not the usual maniacal evil cackling that many in his inner circle had come to know either. It was, in fact, a laugh of genuine amusement, which, coming from the dark lord, was all the more scary.
Finally, Harry realized that his wand was broken, having already been snapped when he was blown back by Voldemort's curse. He had, in fact, been pointing a half broken length of stick without even the magical core at the dark lord. No wonder the dark lord was laughing at him.
'I was going to let you live a bit longer', Voldemort hissed after his laughing bout. 'But I see now that my generosity was misplaced. Well… I think for a muggle loving fool like you, a muggle execution is appropriate, wouldn't you say? Tell me Harry, have you ever wondered how it would feel to be torn apart limb by limb?' Voldemort asked almost casually as his remaining giant suit of armor started to advance on Harry, metal gloves extended.
Harry was only half-listening to the pronouncement of his eminent execution. There was something that bothered him about seeing the wand in his hand broken in half. As if there was something fundamentally wrong about it. It felt like he should have been more chagrined by the snapping of his wand, but for some reason, he wasn't.
Suddenly, it clicked. This was not his wand! He had been using the one he found in his family vault all this time, initially to evade ministry detection, and later on because he had gotten so use to it. And with that realization, he promptly unzipped a waist strapped pouch he had been mechanically clipping on for the past weeks. Rummaging through it quickly, he finally dug out his real wand from beneath a pile of chewing gum wrappers. And as he held his true wand once more, he felt a boost of magic rush through his body.
Energized, he eagerly cast the spell to piece together a rock golem from the mountains of rocky debris around him. To his surprise, the golem that took shape was even taller than the giant suit of armor advancing towards him. Harry was a bit taken aback by this sudden jump in power until he remembered that he had been using a wand not suited for him all this time, and that now, with his real wand in hand, his true power can finally shine through.
With a giant crash followed by a horrible screech of bent metals, the giant suit of armor was knocked back, one arm severely bent and seemingly no longer useable. The armor didn't concede defeat so easily, however, and pulled a wicked looking twelve feet long sword from its back with its still useable arm, and charged Harry's rock golem. The golem used one of its rocky arms to block the sword's blow, with the sword biting deep into one of the rocky chunks and getting stuck there. With another punch, the rock golem knocked the giant armor back once more, forcing it to release its grip on the still stuck sword.
Voldemort, who of course had not been idle after seeing Harry's golem, already sent two more blasting hexes Harry's way, aimed a bit in front of the boy instead of directly at him where his silvery shield could absorb the spells. Harry, mean time, had been healing himself with the aid of the Holy Shard's power, and was almost done when he saw the hexes coming. Thinking quickly, Harry dove right in front of the incoming hexes, his magical shield extended, and promptly absorbed both spells.
Not fully recovered from his injuries, Harry almost passed out from the drain on his powers caused by the absorption of the two spells. He shook himself out of his daze just in time to see Voldemort melt down his rock golem with some sickly yellow spell. With Harry getting sluggishly into his combat stance and the dark lord whirling around to face the annoying little boy, the two combatants' wands came to point at each other at nearly the same time. Harry absently noted, with some satisfaction, that his golem had permanently disposed of the remaining giant suit of armor before its own demise.
'You do realize that our brother wands will be locked into a priori incantatem again, don't you?' Voldemort asked conversationally. Harry couldn't help but note that the dark lord's once disintegrated left arm had almost entirely regrown by now.
'Not if I get off a quick hex first!' Harry replied, not taking his eyes off Voldemort's.
For what seemed to Harry like a long moment (but in reality just a blink of an eye's time), he and the dark lord both hesitated on what to do. Then, as if by common agreement, they both erupted into action.
Harry dove to the side, while casting a quick hex towards Voldemort at the same time. Voldemort, despite his earlier injuries, managed to get off the Killing curse a split second too late towards Harry before the electric blue glow of Harry's spell slammed into him, blasting him backwards into the air.
Harry, lying face up on the ground and just out of the way of where Voldemort had pointed his wand, was shocked to see the green light of the Killing curse bend towards him. Too late did he remember that his shield would attract and absorb any spell that came close to its vicinity. With an eerie sluggishness, as if time decided to dilate for this momentous occasion, Harry watched his magical shield suck in the green jet of light of the Killing Curse.
…………………………..
Ron had easily spotted his brother Charlie amongst the swarm of aurors and Order members still buzzing around the dozen dragons attacking Hogsmeade, and promptly headed toward that group. On his way, he took a quick analysis of the situation and, with the sharp mind of a strategist from all the years of chess playing, noticed a trio of dragons was the key to turning the tide of the battle. The said trio was free of any auror harassment, and flew around the battlefield, ambushing the auror and Order members from behind. In addition, Ron noted that every time the trio came close to a group of defenders, the said group promptly scattered disoriented, as if in panic.
As luck would have it, the dragon trio was now headed straight for Charlie's group. Ron put on a burst of speed, and arrived just before the dragons did.
'Charlie! Look out for those dragons to the left! Concentrate your fire on them!' Ron tried to yell toward his brother across a growing wind. This evidently didn't work out too well, as Charlie didn't even bother glancing at the approaching menace, or his own brother.
'Ron! He can't hear you!' Hermione had to practically shout to hear herself.
Ron, seeing his brother in danger and remembering the earlier incident in Bulgaria where he had unexpectedly proven to be immune to fire, wanted to take on the three dragons by himself. But he was also worried about putting Hermione in danger. It was finally Hermione's prompting that decided him.
Ron flew himself and Hermione straight into the dragons' path, and, wand extended, quickly let fly three Incendio spells. The size of his fire balls was so great that it took all three dragons by surprise. The three great wyrms of the sky reflexively dodged in different directions, breaking off from their original attack flight.
Seeing this, Hermione started to feel like they indeed stand a good chance of winning. However, her victorious thoughts were quickly crushed when a familiar cold and fearful sensation swept over her, giving her goose bumps all along her arms. A shiver from behind her informed her that it wasn't just her who felt the chilling effects.
'Ron. Those dragons, they are carrying dementors!' Hermione shouted above the constant wind toward her red-haired friend seating behind her.
'How strong is your patronus?' Ron asked as he let fly a few more flashier but far less harmful fire displays to keep the dementor-strapped dragons at bay.
In response, Hermione concentrated and cast the Patronus charm. Her familiar otter soon started to jump and bounce excitedly around them, as if they were still on the ground.
'Well, phew. I was afraid it was gonna fall, since otters can't fly and all', Ron commented as the cold feeling was replaced by warm, happy sensations.
'Don't be stupid, Ron', Hermione remarked in the know-it-all tone that Ron had become so familiar with over the years. Then, pointing her finger at the advancing dragons, she yelled: 'Charge at them!'
Ron reluctantly complied.
…………………………
Charlie and his group had finally managed to hit the Welsh Green they were cornering with enough spells to bring it down. Turning his head around to survey the situation, he was surprised to see, not far from his own position, a broom with two riders on it charge straight toward three menacing looking dragons, with some kind of small, luminescent creature flying erratically around the riders.
Realizing there was no way in hell those two can win against three dragons, Charlie shook his head in resignation. There was nothing he could do to stop them from being slaughtered, as, even in the best of times, it would take two dozen well trained flyers to take down a group of three dragons. Probably some poor blokes trying to foolishly avenge their fallen friends, thought Charlie as he looked at the impending clash with sadness.
Suddenly, a blue globe of what Charlie thought looked like water poured into existence around the riders. And not a moment too soon, as the three dragons decided that was the moment they'd simultaneously shoot their fire at the riders. Large plums of white fog started to form as the dragonfires came into contact with the blue globe. If Charlie didn't know any better, he'd almost thought that the fog was water vapor. When the fog cleared, Charlie was surprised to see the globe still intact, and still heading right at the three dragons. Then, as if commended by some unseen force, ripples of liquid started to concentrate on the surface of the blue globe, and, at the centerpoints of the concentrations, sharp spikes of ice quickly formed. A blink later, the lances of ice streaked towards the still charging dragons, giving them little time to dodge.
Then, the four combatants flew past each other. And to Charlie's amazement, one of the dragons fell from the sky, having taken an ice spear in the wrong place. The other two looped around, some superficial damage visible on their wings from the riders' strike.
The riders also came about, the translucent blue globe of water still about them. Then, a giant opening started to form on the globe's surface. Charlie was puzzled at this until two giant fireballs shot through the opening, and headed toward the now angry dragons. As the fireballs were moving relatively slower than the ice lances of earlier, the two dragons managed to scatter away from their paths. However, as if the riders in the blue globe had planned for this all along, the globe accelerated and caught up with the nearest dragon, and somewhat similar to earlier, a jet of water rippled into existence and shot away from the globe only to impact on one of the dragon's wings. As soon as the contact was made, the water on the targeted wing promptly turned into ice, encasing the dragon wing in pounds of unmovable material. Soon, the dragon could no longer sustain its flight, and also fell from the sky.
…………………………
'Ron… I…tired… can't…' And on those words, Hermione passed out from exhaustion, having used too much of her new found powers in too short a time. At the same time, the protective water bubble around them collapsed, falling like rain toward the ground far below. Ron, one arm holding on to Hermione and the other trying to steer the broom they were both on, had no where near the speed or maneuverability needed to escape from the remaining dragon. With Hermione's patronus now also gone, Ron started to feel the chilling, despair inducing effects of the dementor attached to the dragon once more.
Angling his broom so that he can completely cover Hermione against the remaining dragon's attack, Ron made for his brother Charlie at the best speed he could manage. Behind him, a raging dragon and a hungry dementor was slowly catching up.
And then, the dragon's fire breath was upon him. Ron felt nothing but energized while basking in the fires that would have fried any other wizard to a crisp. The fires raged all around him for almost half a minute before subsiding. Ron quickly checked Hermione, and besides a few loose strands of singed hair, she seemed fine. He just had enough time to pull beside and slightly above Charlie, dump Hermione into his surprised brother's lap, and veer off before the dragon let loose with its fire once more. Had he stayed close to Charlie and Hermione one second more, they would no doubt have been caught in the backlash of the firestorm.
Free from the comforting but realistically encumbering weight of his crush, Ron led the dragon away to a comfortable distance from his brother with a far superior grace. Once he felt he was far enough, he spun around, wand at the ready and charged back at the dragon head on. Knowing he would be overcome by the effects of the dementor sooner or later, Ron simply let loose with a sustained fire spell at the same time the dragon breathed its fire again. The two streaks of fiery flame clashed against each other for a brief moment before Ron's much thicker jet overwhelmed the dragon's and pushed the dragon flame back toward its source. A second later, Ron's spell blasted through the dragon's giant, open maw and came out of the back of the flying wyrm's head. After mechanically flapping its wings for a second longer, the massive body of the once proud beast spasmmed violently and plunged toward the ground below.
By this time, as if sensing the danger presented by this new foe, half a dozen dragons had converged toward Ron and let loose a volley of fire impossible to dodge. Much to a still open mouthed Charlie amazement, Ron did not bother using what precious time he had left before the flames hit to cast a protective spell. Instead, his younger brother simply sat up straighter on his broom and puffed out his chest. And then Charlie's view of his young sibling was blocked by the violent firestorm that had been sent at him. When the flames cleared, Charlie was relieved to see that Ron seemed unscratched (after all, by this point, he was a bit beyond being surprised). Then, as if he was filled with excess energy that he had no idea what to do with, Ron let loose a rapid, crazed volley of fireballs in all directions. The fireballs were poorly aimed and fairly slow, but nevertheless induced enough caution in the attacking dragons to scatter them for a while. With some amusement, Charlie idly thought that his brother should try to learn a few new fire spells.
Almost at the same moment, a monstrous flying object spewed into existence directly above Hogsmeade, much in the same way people arriving by portkeys would have appeared in thin air. Charlie could only guess at what the metallic contraption was, as he did not recognize anything on the now rapidly approaching floating platform. About five times the length of an adult dragon (for Charlie usually measured things in terms of dragons and related items), the… thing was glimmering with protruding metal tubes and steel towers. The contraption's entire bottom half was shaped like a… Boat? Charlie thought with some confusion.
Finally, a voice decided to enlighten Charlie: 'That's a World War II era American destroyer!'
Looking down, Charlie saw that Hermione had woken up, and was staring at the floating warship with awe.
'I… The power that it would take to keep this thing afloat… This is incredible! Can you imagine…'
Charlie stopped paying attention at his young charge at this point, for one of the turrets on the flying warship had swung around and let loose what looked like a concentrated and very strong stunning spell at one of the dragons still harassing his younger brother. The dragon was hit dead on, and promptly fell from the sky.
Seeing this, all the dragons not attacking Ron, and some that were, sent a volley of fire at the new threat. The flying warship was far too slow to dodge the incoming danger, though it would seem that it wasn't making any efforts to do so. After the volley impacted, a few scorch marks could clearly be seen on the armored hull of the metal ship, but overall, it seemed hardly effected. A few more volleys from the airship were let loose, with some more hits and a few misses. It was nevertheless more than enough to convince the attacking force to call it a day.
Charlie let out a sigh of relief as he watched the flight of dragons, now much diminished, turning around and head off into the distance. Nobody on what's left of the aurors and Order members defending the skies of Hogsmeade gave chase.
'Wow… Looks like there's going to be a lot of explanations going all around', Charlie heard the bundle of bushy haired teen in his lap murmur matter-of-factly, with just a hint of understatement.
No kidding, Charlie thought sarcastically as he pointed his broom toward the flying warship, his younger brother rapidly approaching from behind him.
………………………
Harry woke with a start. Having momentarily no memory of what happened to him, it took Harry a full minute before he remembered why he had passed out and how he survived the Killing Curse …again. He tried to get up and see what happened to Voldemort, but quickly realized that there was a slight discrepancy between his mental and physical wellbeing. His body felt like it had just gone through 20 of those famed Oliver Wood's Quidditch practices in a row. None of his body parts wanted to move, and even blinking his eyes took some effort (mostly on the reopening segment of the action).
With a supreme demonstration of force of will, Harry managed to turn on his side, giving him a view on what's happening with Voldemort. With a chill down his spine, Harry saw the dark lord, though extremely badly injured from the lightning bolt Harry sent earlier, was slowly but steadily crawling his way toward the now incapacitated Guardian of the shards… and the Shadow Shard that it still holds.
'Reducto…' Harry managed to whisper while feebly pointing his wand at his nemesis in a last ditch attempt to stop the dark lord from getting his hands on the dark jewel. Unfortunately, all that coughed out of his wand was a few wheezing sparks, his magical energy having been drained too the max.
And with one last push, Voldemort's now fully regrown left hand finally landed on the Shadow Shard. Instantly, the dark lord seemed more alive, and managed to get into a sitting position with minimal grunting. 'Now, Harry Potter, you die!' The dark lord hissed as he pointed his wand toward the Boy-Who-Just-Won't-Die. Wasting no more time on speeches that might give the boy a chance at some miracle come back, Voldemort started to hiss the Killing Curse, not knowing that the boy had already survived the Killing Curse he had sent earlier.
Harry was out of ideas. His body felt so weak, and he was so magically exhausted that he couldn't even cast the simplest of spells. With a tremendous effort filled with muscle protests, Harry brought the silvery shield up in desperation.
Just as he was about to finish the incantation that would surely end his supposed rival's life, Voldemort sensed an imminent danger on his right. Having survived more than a few times thanks to his instincts, Voldemort trusted them once again and reflexively rolled left, a move that saved him from being bitten in two. However, his wand arm was not so lucky, and Voldemort found himself once again without the use of an arm.
With something akin to shock, Voldemort instantly recognized the giant creature that had just spit out his wand arm (with wand still clutched). A great dragon? Here? Voldemort thought before realizing that being shocked was not what he should be doing. The dark lord quickly erected a magical shield. Not a moment too soon, for he was instantly engulfed within a fiery bath of liquid flame that had no trouble melting the walls and floor around him.
'I should have known your kind would come!' Voldemort yelled defiantly at the great beast still assailing him. 'You should not have meddled! I'll make su…'
The rest of Voldemort's tirade was cut short as the great dragon blasted apart the ceiling directly above the dark lord, burying him under tons of debris.
Knowing that being buried under tons of rock would probably not hold the most evil dark lord that had also gotten a hold of the Shadow Shard for that long, the great dragon disappeared in a bright flash, and an unclothed young girl rushed into the now totally ruined hall.
'Harry!' Celeste yelled as she rushed to her beloved's side. Already knowing that Harry could not die as long as she was alive, Celeste quickly scanned him for any severe injuries. Finding none, she heaved her beloved onto her back with some effort, for she too, had been weakened severely through the life-force link she shared with her Harry. Carrying the still dazed Harry, Celeste rushed out of the great chamber where the Guardian and the Shards had been kept, and, collapsing several key exits too slow down any potential pursuit, promptly fled as fast as she could towards the surface.
After what seemed like hours, she finally reached the ruined castle where Harry had so recklessly shared and linked his life-force with hers. Thinking back on the happy memory, she glanced down at the once again passed out teen in her arms. Harry had woken up several times during their flight through the mazes of traps, and after an inexplicable (to Celeste) bout of blushing and averting of eyes towards her direction, Harry would insist on being allowed to walk on his own. Harry would then pass out from exhaustion after about five minutes of walk, at which point Celeste would put him once again on her back, and the cycle would restart once more next time Harry woke up.
Knowing that there is no way she could stop Voldemort now that he was in possession of the Shadow Shard, Celeste decided that her immediate course of action should be to get Harry to safety, and then contact her own people for reinforcements. With that decision made, Celeste gently shifted Harry into her arms and, with a running leap, jumped off towards the artificial ocean surrounding Merlin's Island. After a bright flash, the silvery dragon, a dark haired teen clutched gently in its claws, flew up towards the exit near the ceiling of the giant underground cavern.
A fuming dark lord burst out into the open just in time to see the majestic dragon gracefully fading into the sunny lights of the cavern. Contemplating what the entrance of this new foe would mean for his carefully mapped out plans of world domination, the dark lord squeezed the Shadow Shard he held in anger, and, with a grunt, apparated right through the remaining wards of Merlin's Tomb, the power of the Shadow Shard easily overwhelming those of the failing protections'. Shortly after he left, Merlin's Tomb, sensing that its protections had failed, self-destructed spectacularly in a shower of explosions, cumulating with the sinking of the island and the collapse of the entire cavern in which it had rested for so long.
A/N: Lots of REVIEWS would go a long way in motivating a faster update!!! So just drop by even just a word or two!
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