Harry Potter and the Infinity Matrix

Aeareanine: Chapter 1: Of Swords and Demons.

It may have sounded cliché but it was Harry's Quidditch training that saved him. Long years of being trained to instinctively dodge high speed harmful projectiles kicked in and his body immediately lunged sideways, hurling himself to the floor as the killing curse hissed malevolently by, scorching a massive patch of the floor behind him. Harry looked up in shock and met Dumbledore's eye. There was nothing but hatred and raw fury there. For a moment Harry was so shocked that he was immobilised but as Dumbledore swept up his wand in an elegant twisting motion, he scrambled to his feet and zigzagged towards the entrance hall. Streaks of cursed fire billowed past him, scorching his clothes but miraculously not catching his skin.

He ducked round the side of the door frame, a barrage of curses following him through and immediately had to cast off his robes which had began to burn with black flame. There was a swell of noise as Dumbledore roared with fury and Harry heard the unmistakeable noise of benches scraping back, the students and teachers getting up. Harry had always taken pride in his instincts, they'd saved him before countless times and if the magical world had taught him anything it was to trust his intuition. And right now his intuition was screaming at him to run because he didn't think anyone in that hall had gotten up to ask the Headmaster politely to stop.

Making up his mind instantly, he conjured his strongest magical shield and sprinted for the front door of the school. He almost made it. Dumbledore, flanked by scores of students strode into the hall and brandished his wand like a whip. Harry took the bludgeoning curse straight in the small of the back, his shield diffusing the impact enough to save his spine but not enough to prevent him being hurled from the building like a skittle. Ironically it was Dumbledore's curse that probably saved Harry's life from the blaze of spell fire that was fired a second later by the student body.

Harry landed heavily on his knees 20 feet out on the lawn. He would have screamed with pain at what felt like thousands of weights sinking into the flesh of his back, but again instinct took over. He gritted his teeth and immediately began to run as fast as he could towards the gate. He was once again blessing the moonless misty night as torrents of flashing light arced through the air a couple even skimming across the surface of his reconstructed shield.

'Spread out fools! We'll corner him at the gate!'

Harry felt the blood draining from his face as he heard Dumbledore's order. The 30 foot wall was ahead and the gate was closed, in a matter of seconds he was going to be trapped. His mind began ticking over a mile a minute, desperately searching for an escape plan as his retreat grew steadily shorter and shorter. With a flash of hope he remembered his broom, that wonderful, wonderful scabby broom he had stolen from Voldemort's hideout and promptly placed... In the entrance hall... Ahhh fuck...

Harry resigned himself to his fate and was preparing to turn and fight when a shout rang across the grounds.

'Harry!'

He looked up and almost groaned in horror. There on the far side of the gate was Gilderoy Lockhart, hapless excuse for a wizard and, apparently, a Death Eater. He kept running though, even Lockhart was better than nothing when a seemingly insane Dumbledore was chasing him. There was a brief shifting motion behind Lockhart then a massive crash sounded through the night.

Twisted lumps of metal from the gate spun towards him, narrowly passing by on either side as an enormous uprooted tree was slammed into them at subsonic speed. There, wand holding the tree aloft, was Voldemort. Fuck this, Harry thought, I'd rather face Dumbledore! He spun, fully intending to rush back to the relative safety of the mob that was rapidly bearing down on him when he felt a hook in the belt of his jeans and he was yanked backwards hard and landed in a tangle at Voldemort's feet.

'What in Merlin's name are you paying at! Get out of here Harry! Gilderoy, get him out!'

Harry scrabbled backwards desperately trying to get some distance between him and the dark lord but Lockhart seized him roughly by the arm and yanked him to his feet, stretching out a hand to place on Voldemort's shoulder

'I can't leave you here Thomas...'

Voldemort cut him off and shoved him roughly backwards towards the road to Hogsmeade.

'Go! I can hold Dumbledore for a few moments, just get Harry out and run! That's an order!'

Lockhart hovered for a second, as if memorising the features of his companion before turning and breaking into a loping run, dragging Harry with him as they retreated from the shattered gate. Harry winced as he was roughly pulled down the road then cried out in pain as resonating titanic words rippled through the air. Behind them Voldemort was drawing a massive spell into being with the few seconds available before the horde from Hogwarts reached the gates and the powerful incantations rippled and tore the fabric of the air as they cut into Harry's eardrums. The spell was so powerful he couldn't even understand the words being used. There was a massive roar and a blaze of heat rolled over Harry and Lockhart as they fled and suddenly screams echoed through the night behind them. Neither of them looked back.

They were about halfway to Hogsmeade and drawing very close to the edge of the school grounds when a sickly blaze of purple light cut through the air towards them. Acting almost simultaneously, Lockhart and Harry threw themselves down to avoid the curse, then immediately leapt back up wands drawn.

'Well lookee here Fred! Looks like we caught a couple of slimy spies trying to escape!'

'So we have George, no we wouldn't want that would we. They'd just go and smear their filth where it's not wanted.'

Harry's jaw dropped as the Weasley twins stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the inferno occurring down the road. Both had their wands trained on the wizards before them as Lockhart was quickly switching between the two, trying to cover both of them at once. Harry's wand hung uselessly by his side.

'It seems to me that where we're least wanted is right here.'

Lockhart narrowed his eyes at the twins and continued.

'Step aside and we'll remove ourselves with no bloodshed.'

Fred started laughing uncontrollably, a sick mad laughter that dug deep at some vital part of Harry. This was too much, capture by Voldemort was one thing and seeing Dumbledore lead a furious rampage was even worse but he could never have imagined the twins like this, looking so insane so... evil. His instincts were screaming at him to run, attack, anything! Warning him that these weren't the same twins he considered as good as brothers and that he was in very great danger, but for once he didn't listen and just stared in horror at the pair before him. A twisted smirk slowly spread across George's face and he twitched his wand in Lockhart's direction.

'Sorry blondie but that isn't an option I'm afraid.'

Fred sniggered and recovered from his laughing spree.

'Yeah, we know one place where you are wanted after all.'

Lockhart raised one eyebrow delicately at the twins.

'And where would that be exactly?'

Both twins assumed identical manic grins that weren't remotely amusing. It was then that Harry realised they didn't just seem different, they looked different. He couldn't place why but their body and facial structure was slightly... broader than he remembered. He didn't have time to ponder on the realisation though because the twins were already answering, in an eerie simultaneous duet.

'Unmarked graves of course!'

Both immediately opened fire with lances of purple fire from their wands but Lockhart was faster. He immediately stepped left so he slightly covered Harry and flung his wand hand high in a slashing diagonal motion. A shimmering blue bubble immediately expanded, completely obscuring both of them and the purple flames instantly rebounded straight for the twins. Fred shrieked as the arm of his robes immediately caught alight while George neatly sidestepped and severed Lockhart's shield with a sundering ward breaker spell.

He immediately followed it up with a bolt of yellow that Harry didn't recognise that Lockhart knocked aside with a deflective body shield. Harry's wand still hung uselessly at his side, he was still too shocked to move. Fred was still beating at his arm trying to put out the cursed fire while George and Lockhart exchanged a brief flurry of furious spells until George reeled backwards, a thin cut sliced across his cheek.

He furiously spun and aimed at Harry while Lockhart was still conjuring a shield for the expected counterattack.

'Avada Kedavra!'

Harry still couldn't move as the death curse formed and shot at him. This wasn't like in the great hall, his usual instinctive dodging had faded into the background in the absurdity of the situation and he was completely incapable of responding. Luckily he didn't have to. Lockhart slammed into his side, roughly throwing both of them down and the green light sailed overhead harmlessly. George shrieked in rage and advanced hurling curses which Lockhart desperately parried as he attempted to regain his feet. Still Harry didn't move, he didn't even have his wand now, Lockhart's tackle had knocked it from his grasp. Finally one of George's banishers smashed through Lockhart's guard and blasted him back into a tree. George hesitated and looked down at Harry, contempt and hate roiling in his eyes.

'I think the liability should be first.'

George turned his wand onto Harry.

'Crucio!'

Pain. He had been in so much pain lately that he would have argued that he would be getting used to it. Sadly such philosophy was worthless against the unforgiveable. Every pain receptor in Harry's body went into overdrive and he thrashed, screaming on the path as George held the torture curse on him. Abruptly the pain ended, though the sounds of screams didn't. Harry looked up dazed to see George clutching a bleeding stump several inches below his elbow where his hand used to be. Lockhart stood over Harry, a bloodstained sword held ready in his grasp. He watched coolly as George staggered backwards before being seized by Fred who had finally managed to extinguish himself.

'Phoenix Fire Activate!'

There was a flash of light accompanying Fred's words and both twins had vanished, leaving behind George's severed hand and wand. Lockhart growled in disgust.

'Portkey... Figures...'

He stepped forward and stamped on George's fallen wand, snapping it in two along with a couple of stray fingers from the hand. He waved his own wand briefly, cleaning his sword and summoning Harry's wand which he held out to the boy who still lay on the ground.

'Harry?'

Lockhart narrowed his eyes in confusion and leaned forward.

'What is wrong with you? Whatever is going on you need to snap out of it, we have to escape!'

Harry's brain finally switched back on, he took back his offered wand with a shaking hand then staggered to his feet. Lockhart gave a brief grim smile that looked horrendously out of place on his almost artistic features, sheathed his sword in a carefully concealed scabbard under his cloak and seized Harry's arm before they set out again.

Harry stumbled along behind Lockhart, still in a state of severe shock as they finally arrived in Hogsmead.

'Over here...'

Lockhart dragged Harry under the eaves of a nearby house and they shrank into the shadows. Harry desperately wanted to ask what they were doing but his instincts were thrumming on high alert and he wisely kept quiet. Several groups of people passed by, clearly search parties but they did not see the pair concealed in the darkness. Finally a lone figure approached, deeply wrapped in a long cloak. A familiar hissing voice came from under the hood.

'Gilderoy! Harry! Are you guys okay?'

'No worse for wear, I assure you my friend.'

Harry had realised who the voice belonged to however and cut Lockhart off.

'Neville!'

His shocked exclamation was too loud though. Shouts immediately came from a trio of cloaked figures down the street who swiftly drew their wands and started to run towards them.

'Fuck Harry! Do either of you know where Tom is!'

'Right here Mr Longbottom'.

Harry turned and had to stifle another scream as Voldemort calmly appeared and laid a hand on his shoulder, the other stretched out into the middle of the group, completely ignoring the rapidly approaching guards.

'The Portkey Neville, with haste please.'

Neville quickly reached into his cloak and immediately pulled out a large hoop. Voldemort immediately placed a hand on it followed immediately by Lockhart who quickly tapped it with his wand. Attached through Voldemort's grip on his shoulder Harry was dragged into the vortex of the Portkey with his three companions just as three blazes of light streaked through the area they had previously occupied.

The Portkey vortex was even more unpleasant as usual as he lacked direct contact with the device itself and when they landed he predictably slammed to his already abused knees. Harry staggered slowly to his feet and looked up at the three silhouettes of his companions, their outlines just visible in the darkness. Voldemort turned to look at him and smiled and for the first time Harry realised that he had a nose and his eyes weren't red.

'Welcome back Harry, to Aeareanine.'

Harry looked past Voldemort seeing nothing, then followed Lockhart and Neville's gazes and looked into the sky.

Harry swore.