Harry Potter and the Defiance of the Hero

Harry Potter and the Defiance of the Hero

Chapter 19 - Demon Army

God is a comedian playing to an
audience too afraid to laugh.

~~Voltaire

Billions upon infinite billions of worlds and universes exist in the smallest of spaces. Imperceptible to the eye, the vast distances between two atoms could not be crossed in a lifetime, if you were on that scale. Believe me, that is a hell of a lot of empty space - between just two atoms.

The universes are similar in spacing, lying almost right on top of each other - like a layer of thin paper. The space in between each sheet is extraordinary, all consuming, and full of nightmares. Monsters live in the darkness between universes, in the Stream and the Boundary.

Forever they have been kept banished by the magic, the power, of existence. Hidden in darkness for all eternity, these monsters that defy imagination, have spent the aeons alone tearing themselves apart. Occasionally one slips through into the universe of light, but it is usually a small matter best left undiscussed.

Darkness is all these monsters have, pure and unrelenting darkness for all time. Not a speck of light, not a chance of flesh or life - simple unfaltering darkness. Hate and anger drove these creatures insane when the universes were first created - how is anybody's guess? - and that situation has not improved with aeons of darkened captivity.

To say it would be bad if these monsters ever escaped into the universes would definitely be quite a bit of an understatement.... but everything was failing, moving towards the End - and the Boundary had weakened almost beyond the point of no return.

Evil had caused the destruction, evil in a once seemingly insignificant scar upon the forehead of a small boy in one of the infinite mortal worlds. This scar now acts as a beacon for the monsters in the Stream darkness, and it has created more than one doorway out of there millennia old prison.

Also, if someone were to give a monster the right... push... it may break free. But who would want to do that?

If anyone ever thought that things could not get worse, they didn't realise that Existence is a very cruel thing, and it was only just getting warmed up.

****

49 Days until the Autumnal Equinox

Four men and three women stood next to two dark carriages just on the edge of the ring of roses inside the Hogwarts castle grounds, about twenty feet from the castle gates. These carriages belonged to the school, and were harnessed with Thestrals - of which all of the seven people could see quite clearly.

Harry knelt down in front of one and ran a hand across its dark, almost skeletal mane. The creature growled deeply in response, enjoying the run of Harry's hand across its back.

"Remind me again what those are?" the old man Glen Thomas whispered, swallowing audibly.

"Thestrals, Grandad," Dean Thomas, seventh year Gryffindor, said. The school term hadn't started yet, and may not this year, but Dean was now, technically, a seventh year student. "Harmless as anything - tame."

"They look... dark!" he whispered.

Harry chuckled and gave the beast in front of him one of the blood dripping steaks from the preservation box lying in the gravel next to him. "Would you rather walk to Dumfries?" he asked. "One hundred and seven miles?"

Glen Thomas coughed and wiped a band of sweat off the dark skin of his forehead. "Not on your life, son. Perhaps forty years ago..."

"Hop on in the carriage then. I'll feed the rest."

Harry disappeared around the side of the first black, six-seater carriage with the box of meat levitated behind him, and everyone else began to climb into the cushioned carriages.

Glen and Dean Thomas chose the first carriage along with Nymphadora Tonks and a French Auror named Jennifer Estrez. A young woman like Tonks who possessed some small metamorphmagus abilities. Tonks was helping her develop the talent further, and as such her appearance was constantly changing. As she climbed into the carriage, her hair was waist length blue, face fairly angular and eyes a sharp grey.

Into the second carriage climbed Dermas Trask, wearing his basilisk armour and sword. From the bottom step he looked out upon the busy Hogwarts grounds, saw few people looking in their direction from the many thousand who were queuing for lunch from the extremely large house elf kitchen that had been set up near the lake. A twenty four hour service that kept the elves very busy and very happy.

Behind Dermas, Sophia Tréla waited patiently, looking out at the community that had built itself in the last few days. For all they knew it could be the last such place anywhere, as it was the only place unaffected by the weather phenomena plaguing the earth. She climbed into the carriage after Dermas, and was soon joined by Harry.

"All set then," Harry said, and as soon as he did the Thestrals began to move and pull the carriages.

Their departure wasn't farewelled, as their mission was a secret one. Only Dumbledore and a few select others knew that they had left, having chosen the most opportune time to leave, and it was to be kept that way until they returned. There were too many unknown variables around and about - the less people knew the longer they survived.

The Hogsmeade road and eventually the Muggle ones were deserted and wide enough for the carriages to roll side by side. Conversation passed between both Thestral-drawn vehicles and it was light, excited, eager, anxious. Everyone wanted to know what had happened to civilisation.

For the first few hours on the road, they didn't see any signs of life. This was actually quite normal for the long, empty roads of Scotland - which sometimes ran for a hundred miles or more without any other soul being seen, but this wasn't normal. It felt empty, because it was - probably for the length of the country.

In the past few days the weather had cooled down to a bearable twenty two degrees Celsius, with a heavy grey overcast. Storms were a-coming, and they were set to flood the earth. Harry gazed out of his carriage window at the passing countryside, talking little and thinking a lot.

As always, his thoughts were on his eventual return to his own universe-

God... that thought still amazed him, as he looked out at the horizon. A horizon that belonged to a completely different reality, so far away and yet right on top of his own.

He sat, looking out at the parched sun-stained landscape and in the distance saw the peak of Ben Nevis in Glencoe. Slytherin Fortress laid a few hundred miles in that direction.... They were wheeling along an empty two-lane Muggle road that was built on a curving piece of elevated ground, looking out down into a vast and dry valley.

They were a few hours out of Hogwarts and many hours still lay ahead on these empty ghost roads. They had passed through a small recently abandoned hamlet two hours ago, and that was their first sign that everyone may be gone... to where was anyone's guess. A strange smell had hung over the down, decay and death. Not everyone had left because they were dead.

Everything still showed signs of the tremendous thunderstorms of a week and a half ago. Fallen trees and power lines pockmarked roads and homes. It was way too quiet out here.

I have to fix this, Harry thought. God knows how... but I have to.

"We're about halfway there, son," Glen Thomas called between carriages, his sunburnt arm resting on the window sill of the black vehicle.

"Right you are," Harry replied, thinking briefly on what they were going to do.

They were heading to the town of Dumfries - which was about eight miles from the Scottish-English border, on the Scotland side. In his youth, Glen Thomas had been an SAS soldier, and knew of a training facility hidden in the forests around the large town. Muggle weaponry could be found there, if they wanted it - and all signs so far told them that they could take it unchallenged, to defend Hogwarts with.

Harry patted the small lump in his jeans pocket, which was a shrunken trunk containing many things. A broom, spare clothes and cloaks, destructive and restorative potions, a spare wand, knives and boots. It was his battle trunk, paid for by the Ministry months ago and never used. He hoped to be soon adding Muggle weaponry to his box - any advantage, after all, should be exploited.

There was no time for morals anymore.

The two identical carriages rounded a bend in the road, and were now looking out down at the Muggle motorway, which was - as expected - deserted. The road they were on now ran for a few more miles and then joined the A8, which was seven lanes wide. At this distance Harry could see dozens of cars parked here and there along and across the large road.

At this distance they appeared empty, but Harry didn't like to think what might be rotting in those vehicles... the smell would be the worst. Those cars would have been sitting out there for days, and as of a few days ago the temperature soared into the high forties (Celsius). No, this leg of the trip wasn't going to be fun.

"It's so quiet...." Sophia commented, gazing out of her own window at the approaching motorway.

"Too quiet," agreed Trask, and nothing more was said about that for now.

Harry's motorway predictions proved to be more than correct, and he had to purify the air in both carriages when they were still a quarter mile away from the main road. The smell was terrible, and they were all gagging when Harry stopped to renew his charm every five minutes.

"We'll follow this down until Dumfries," Glen said. "It's alongside the River Nyth, and that's the beginnings of it there."

Harry followed Glen's gnarled and arthritic finger out over the road and saw a small stream flowing down a parched hillside. He could also see plenty of dry riverbed. The stream wasn't at its full strength.

They had set off from Hogwarts at noon, and it was now approaching eight o'clock and the Sun was beginning to set in the west. Always set late in summer, which was now approaching Autumn - something Harry looked forward to with an eagerness that was full on obsession. They would arrive at Dumfries just after midnight.

When the Sun finally did set, Harry looked up lazily at the night sky with tired eyes. It was still mostly covered with cloud, but there was a large portion of it through which the moon and a thousand stars were clearly visible. Harry knew, as he gazed up at the star shot patch of sky that they belonged to an alien world.

Not just different from those of his own world, because those stars weren't. No - that patch of sky up there had slipped in the destruction of existence, and actually belonged several million miles away, on the other side of this galaxy. Harry saw the moon, but it wasn't Earth's moon. The thought made him feel incredibly small and more aware of the scale upon which everything was ending.

Navigating the motorway proved to be more difficult than first thought. For one thing as they approached towns and the city of Carlisle, which was about twenty miles out of Dumfries, the traffic increased greatly. None of it was moving, and at times the Thestrals were forced to leave the road altogether and use the farmer's lane that ran alongside it. At other times the two carriages weaved through the mass of stinking dead metal, careful not to disturb the dead.

Harry glanced over into the lantern lit cabin of the carriage next to theirs and saw Glen Thomas had fallen asleep, that Jennifer was practicing her metamorphmagus abilities - with Tonks' guidance, and Dean was gazing absently out of his window at the dark world. Behind Harry, Sophia and Dermas were speaking quietly to one another.

Harry returned his eyes to the alien sky and saw, with little to no surprise, that it had righted itself. Stars and a moon he knew now shone down once again upon the earth. The moon was half full - but even the phases of such a huge thing could not be certain anymore. It was worrying for Remus Lupin, whose condition made him sensitive to the fluctuations in the moon.

"Not good...." Harry breathed, and turned away with guilt upon his face.

It was then that a bright light lit up the horizon ahead for a few seconds, and Harry whistled for the Thestrals to stop as it did, the carriages coming to an abrupt halt on the motorway about twenty feet away from a large truck carrying ten, one thousand can pallets of Coca-Cola.

"Christ... what is that?" Dermas said, as the three of them disembarked from their carriage. They were soon joined by everybody but Glen from the other carriage, watching the light show on the horizon.

It lasted for about twenty five seconds, tearing up the horizon just beyond the next set of hills. Probably around the town of Dumfries, knowing Harry's luck. A tremendous, unbroken dome of bright white light that lit up the cool night sky.

"I think," Harry began, "that it may be nothing. But," He sighed here. "But it's in our road. Whatever it is we're heading towards it... I just got the shakes about it."

"Me too," Tonks whispered. "Well... we came all this way already, and we do have you with us Harry. You took down two Nundus on your own."

Harry clicked his teeth thoughtfully, continuing to look at the now black hills ahead. He didn't reply to Tonks, just got back into the carriage silently, and remained that way for the next ten miles.

****

On the outskirts of the town of Dumfries, the silent and dead town of Dumfries, a large sphere of light was slowly receding and out of it walked a limping figure - roughly twelve feet high.

This figure was unlike any that had ever walked any world anywhere. It was grotesque, naked, covered in a tight scaly charred hide that resembled wet bark in texture. Eleven misshapen and three blind eyes had been thrown onto the creatures face and neck , and it had a single slit on its left cheek for a nose. No mouth and one loose piece of flesh on the side of its bald grey head for an ear.

Its chest was bloodied, corded with ancient muscles and around the throat was a single, long bleeding hole that harsh grunts were emerging from systematically. It had two legs, and a third which dangled down from its stomach but didn't touch the ground. It was decomposing and gangrenous.

The monster looked around itself, took a few rough breaths and a few rough steps. Each step it took lit the ground alight with roaring orange flame. All around it the remaining forms of life in this area; birds, bugs, foxes, even the fish in the river, began to flee - sensing and rightly fearing its evil and power.

Through the trees, the creature could see faint glowing lights - something it had never seen - and began to limp in that direction, murder and anger always on its mind.

All bets were off on this one... although I still wouldn't bet against Harry.

****

"What can we expect if there are still people there, Glen?" Harry asked from his carriage as they approached the end of the motorway south.

"Well tha' depends, son," Glen replied, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"On what?" asked Dermas.

"On whether or not they'll help us. Whether or not they have a line out to anyone, or even a radio - which is very likely."

Harry nodded. "We'll do better for ourselves if they're not there," he said. "Though I hope they are... its too quiet."

"I talked to a man who came to Hogwarts from Dumfries," Glen said. "He said the town was hit hard by the storms, and was emptying when he left."

Harry was shaking his head slowly. "It'll be empty. We'll take what we need and get back to Hogwarts probably for dinner tomorrow night."

You might encounter one or two.... problems... along the way, Allarius sneered within Harry's head.

Harry jumped back in his seat, unprepared for that assault.

"Harry... you okay?" Sophia asked.

Harry took a deep breath. "Fine."

BOO! HA HA HA! When I say problems, I mean problems. Sod's Law - anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

What are you talking about? asked Harry.

I can't tell you. It'd spoil the surprise... it's a little late, but I got you a birthday present, Potter. Happy Seventeenth! You'll get a real kick out a this one.

I'll bet, Harry sighed.

They rounded the final hill before Dumfries, the River Nyth flowing quite strongly beside the road, and saw a small splatter of lights down on in the town - but not a single car moving. This wasn't surprising as it was near midnight, but of a town this size you'd expect to see at least one. Harry was fairly certain it was deserted.

Harry directed the Thestrals to take the next exit off the motorway and onto the main road through the town. Glen said he knew the SAS training facility would be a mile or two out of town, if anywhere, but he wasn't certain where. He had only been there once, thirty years ago - and was a little fuzzy on the exact location. It was decided they'd roll through town and look for either signposts or a map.

As was expected, the smell of the town was putrid. Like old cheese and stale air, Dumfries had the weight of over a thousand dead upon it. Cars were piled up or turned over as they made their way towards the town centre, travelling in single file now to avoid the worst of the traffic jams and corpses.

"Well... this is what we expected," Dean Thomas said, looking grave but strong. Some people just had what it took, others didn't. Harry was glad Dean was here, if it had to be anyone.

Some of the street lamps worked, some had blown - most had blown. The streets were dirty, the buildings all had broken windows, and their was a body every twenty feet or so - on average. It had been a week and a half since the storms, and nothing and no one had come for these people. It would be like this across the entire world... worlds.

The River Nyth roared with ferocity to their right, as the Thestrals pulled the two carriages up an empty back alley towards the town centre. The wind blew almost silently across the dead town, disturbed by only Harry's group.

"Stop here," Harry said five minutes later, and the Thestrals stopped.

Not waiting to explain, Harry dismounted the carriage steps and walked over passed three bodies towards a broken glass window in the storefront of a shop that still had power.

W H Smith, the blue and white sign said above the door.

"Harry!" called Tonks. "What...?"

"I'll be half a minute."

Harry stepped into the deserted shop, noticing the storm damage more than he noticed the decomposing corpses on the floor. The smell though.... he held his shirt up over his nose. His boots crunched glass underfoot as he walked through this book store towards the Map section.

It didn't take long, and Harry was soon breathing the fresher air outside the shop, holding up a lantern to a map of Dumfries and the surrounding area back inside the carriage.

"What am I looking for, Glen?" he asked.

"The training grounds are military property," Glen called from his own carriage. "It'll probably be in the map key."

It was, and Harry soon found what he was looking for to the south of the map. About one mile out of Dumfries, on the map, was marked a small section of land that was coloured in with orange stripes. The map keyed this as 'military training facility', and nothing more.

"We need the road south out of town then," Harry whispered, just as an ear splitting cry sounded throughout the night, reverberating for miles across the silent countryside. "Shit..."

"Shit, indeed," agreed Dermas. "What the hell was that?"

Harry was shaking his head. "Haven't a clue, but it didn't sound friendly. Let's get the job done and get out of here. I'm not in the mood for any of this tonight."

With a few quick instructions, Harry got the Thestrals moving again, heading for the south entrance to the town and the land beyond that. They never heard that scream again, and perhaps that was a good thing.

****

The creature which had lived all the time of Existence within the darkness of the space between universes screamed with uncontrolled anger as it picked up the scent of the living through the hole in its throat. It picked up the trail, and moved swiftly after the source - murder and blood ever on its mind.

****

The lights were on but nobody was home as Harry brought the Thestral drawn carriages to a halt at a chain link fence ten feet high on the edge of the ground marked 'military training facility' on his map.

NO TRESPASSING
OFFENDER'S WILL BE PROSECUTED
THIS IS A MILITARY FACILITY

VISITORS ARE TO REPORT TO THE
GUARD HOUSE.

NO EXCEPTIONS
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

"Yeah..." sighed Dermas. "I think this may be the place."

"They've got power," commented Dean.

"That they do," agreed Harry - looking through the fence at the collection of single storey grey concrete buildings lit by a series of high powered large white lights. From what he could see there appeared to be seven buildings, the nearest one marked

BARRACKS-A

and all deserted. There was a padlock on the gate, so at least someone had closed the door before they'd left - but that didn't make much sense.

"Perhaps they were called into service, and the facility was closed until they returned," Glen mused. "They wouldn't have had time to take all the weapons... we came all this way, and there's no one here. Let's break in, Harry."

"Why not?" Harry agreed, and blasted the large, chain link barbwire fence with a melting charm. The ten foot high gate was reduced to a sheet of dirty hot metal upon the earth at their feet in a matter of seconds.

"I'll go first - everyone follow. I'm not entirely certain about that cry we heard earlier, and we should stick together."

Harry took the lead and was followed by Tonks, Glen, Jennifer, Dean, Sophia, and Dermas - who was keeping a hand on his sword just in case. The ground beneath their feet was heavily gravelled and completely open all the way to the buildings. They were bathed in light from the massive torches upon the roof of the nearest buildings and their shadows stretched in four directions around their bodies.

Everyone but Glen and Harry had drawn their wands, rightly feeling nervous and apprehensive. Harry's palms were faintly aglow though, he was ready for anything. As was to be expected, the seven of them arrived at the first building without incident. The door required a key card, to be swiped in a special slot, to gain entry.

"They wouldn't keep weapons in the barracks, would they?" Harry asked, looking at the plastic sign nailed to the wall - Barracks-A.

"Unlikely," agreed Glen. "We should look for a building marked 'Armoury', or something like it. 'Storage', perhaps."

Harry nodded and led the group around the side of that large, grey concrete windowless building, gravel crunching underfoot. It was dark and silent in the world around them, and for all they knew they could be the last people alive on this world - it was a scary thought because it could be true.

The next building was similarly locked with a key card slot, though that wouldn't stop Harry's magic, and marked 'Administration'. They moved on in single file, stopping only once so Dermas could relieve himself in the darkness.

Two buildings later and they arrived at a smaller one that resembled more of a warehouse than anything else. There were several big metal grilles running down the front of this building, much like that on a garage. A few lights were on here and one highlighted a sign they had travelled a hundred miles to see.

WEAPON/VEHICLE
STORAGE

CODE 4 ACCESS REQUIRED

"Looks promising...." commented Dermas. "What's the bet that it's open?"

Harry moved forward and knelt down in front of one of the large metal grilles. He could see the silhouette of a large vehicle inside the building, and light shone behind the warehouse so several crates and boxes were highlighted as well. He gave the grille a pull on the off chance it'd be open. It wasn't.

"Well I definitely think what we came for is in there," he said. "And taking it wouldn't be wrong, considering the circumstances... so...

"REDUCTO!" Harry bellowed, his palms glowing with a deep white light that turned crimson in the form of a beam.

The red beam of magic hit the garage grille and blew a hole wide enough for them to get their carriages in if needs be, but it would probably be easier to levitate the gear to them. Flaming metal fell to the ground around the door, and Harry stepped over that with care and entered the weapons warehouse.

It was dark inside, too dark, so Harry sent up half a dozen large balls of light magic to float in the air above their heads, casting a pale circle of light in a forty foot radius. It didn't take long to find what they needed.

"Oh yeah, this is it," Glen said with a smile, remembering his own SAS days, perhaps.

Parked in the centre of the warehouse were four large military vehicles. They were armoured green, nine-seater with a lot of trunk space, ATVs (All Terrain Vehicles). Very impressive, but not what Harry and the others were after.

Sitting on wooden crates were several larger wooden crates, lining the east wall near the trucks. Harry sent out balls of light to highlight what was written upon the side, and was not disappointed.

Along the side of the first row of crates, this was burnt into the wood.

5.56 MN L85AI
INDIVIDUAL WEAPON (IW)
SA80 WITH SUSAT

"Ah," smiled Glen. "Cattle shooters. Carries a thirty round magazine, weighs about ten pounds, made right here in the UK. We should definitely grab one or two crates of them."

Harry nodded and did just that, levitating six crates down to the ground at their feet. "According to the box there are fifteen weapons in each crate, so I doubt we'll need much more than that, but we should look around anyway."

"Right you are, Harry," Dermas said.

They left the six wooden crates holding the L85AI on the hard ground and moved on down the line of crates, Glen practical bouncing on his old heels. Half a minute later Glen called a stop.

"Sidearms," he smiled. "Grab a few of these, Harry."

Without question, Harry levitated another six crates to the ground. These were smaller and lighter, marked with this,

9MM MODEL .92FS
SELF-LOADING
PISTOL

Once those crates were down they continued down the line of racks holding the weapon crates. Glen was mumbling under his breath about the previous guns. "Fifteen round magazine, light weight... effective close quarters."

"I don't think we'll need much more," Harry said as Glen stopped again. "Make this the last bunch."

Old Glen Thomas nodded. "Yeah... people are crazy enough. We don't need to throw too many guns into that mix. Grab a couple of these, Harry, and we'll move back to the carriages."

Harry agreed and it only took him half a minute to levitate a final half dozen crates to the ground. These weapons were,

5.56 MM STEYR AUG

"Used by the Australians lately," Glen said speculatively. "Forty two round magazine, weighs about nine pounds, good range... scope equipped."

"Eighteen crates should be enough," Jennifer said, her hair deep orange. "Especially after we've made some modifications to these weapons."

"Modifications?" asked Glen, as Harry picked up four of the cases with levitation spells, one on top of the other.

Jennifer shrugged. "Aurors like to customise their weapons, given the chance, and I believe we can benefit from a Muggle/Wizard weapon. A few small charms to increase rate of fire, silencing, weight reduction, energy blasts. They should still work in Muggle hands, as an enchanted object."

Glen nodded, he understood. "Doesn't sound too bad," he said.

Harry cleared his throat. "Let's get these crates back to the--"

A terrible, and heart wrenching cry went up in the night - one of misery, pain, fear and regret. It was the Thestrals, Harry knew, and dropped the crates. Something was attacking their transport.

"WAIT HERE," he cried, just as the others were beginning to react. Harry was nothing if not quick of the draw.

Not waiting for a response, Harry ran from the warehouse palms alight and battle on his mind.

I've got you a birthday present, Allarius had said. Harry didn't like to think what he might find back at the carriages.

He was still a building away when the smell hit him - burning flesh and wood. The Thestrals and carriages were in flames, he realised that much - but what had caused it?

Harry rounded the corner of the building marked BARRACKS-A and stopped in his tracks, coming to an abrupt halt and falling over backwards onto the gravel, cutting his palms open.

Standing with half a Thestral in its grip, about one hundred feet away near the smoking remains of the carriages, was a beast so hideous that it was the final, clinching proof that God may no longer have control over his creation.

That God may have died and left all us kids to play on the road unwatched.

Harry saw through wide eyes that it stood at least twice his height, had about a dozen bloated eyes, a third useless leg and rough blotchy skin that stunk even from where he lay. The beast had killed all of the Thestrals and, Harry could see, was drinking their blood.

Now, most people might have turned to run at this point, but not Harry. Pulling himself to his feet, Harry summoned the blue fire into his palms and watched as it encased his arms up to the elbow, his veins running blue further up his arm. He looked from that to the thing eating the Thestrals, and began to move forward.

"HEY!" he shouted as the second carriage collapsed in on itself in a cloud of black smoke and greasy flames. "UGLY! OVER HERE!"

The creature whirled, throwing the Thestral away without a second thought. The carcass spun on the gravel and came to rest as a dead lump fifty feet away. Upon seeing Harry, the creature cried in fury, pure fury, and charged.

Harry took a deep breath and prepared to unleash his power. He noticed with growing horror that with each step this monster took the ground burst into flame beneath its feet. It was quite a thing to see gravel burst into flame, but there was no time for that now.

"Come on then, ugly," he whispered, and when it was barely fifteen feet away he thrust his arms forward.

Electrical fire surged forward destructively in a thousand bolts of pure power. They rippled and surged across the creature's chest, and as Harry cried out he pounded the monster twice his size into the ground, driving blue power into and through its hideous chest - pinning it to the ground.

He kept his power flowing into the beast and approached slowly, breathing through his mouth to avoid the worst of the thing's stink. It screamed and writhed on the ground, but couldn't break free of Harry's power.

"POTTER!" it cried.

Harry heard the hate in that voice, and knew this beast would kill anyone and anything to get to him. He would destroy it first, disgusted that it could speak through the hole in its chest. Its voice sounded deep, throbbing, as if it were gargling liquid - blood.

"What are you?" he whispered. A birthday present...

"Potter...." it gurgled now, its blood seeping out and staining the white gravel. "Allarius..."

"Sent you to your death," Harry growled. "What are you?"

"De.... Demon," its deep throbbing voice broke and its chest burst into green flames. "One of many... you'll soon be seeing more of us.... Potter."

It died and Harry incinerated the corpse just to make sure. The once quiet night returned to its silence, the landscape also lit up now by a trail of flames running back into the darkness of the forest a mile or two away.

He turned, feeling a little worse for the wear, and met the amazed and frightened faces of Glen, Dermas, Sophia, Tonks, Jennifer, and Dean.

"What was that, Harry?" Glen found his voice first.

Harry walked back over to his friends, shaking his head slowly. His arms were still glowing faintly blue as he spoke. "A messenger," he said. "And not the last."

"It was hideous," breathed Tonks. "It... it wasn't a magical creature?"

Harry continued to shake his head. "No," he said. "Something... deeper... than that."

Dermas cleared his throat, still looking at the charred lump of stinking flesh that was the demon. "How are we going to get back to Hogwarts now? We can't walk it...."

Harry had already thought about that, as soon as he'd seen the destroyed carriages, actually. "Glen," he said, "could you drive one of those trucks in the warehouse?"

Glen was looking at Harry as if he had never seen him before. Like a man who has discovered magic for the first time. He sighed inwardly, and then spoke. "I reckon," he said. "Stick shift, just a lot bigger than anything I've driven before. Might need a few minutes practice..."

"Go for it," Harry nodded. "We'll prepare the crates while you do it."

Back inside the warehouse, Glen Thomas climbed behind the wheel of one of the large nine-seater ATVs, easing it in for his height and weight. The keys were hung in the ignition, which he found odd but didn't have time to question now. To his right he saw Harry and the others piling the crates up on top of each other, ready to be moved into the back of the truck.

Taking a deep breath, he turned the key in the ignition. The green truck roared to life and Glen pressed the clutch down to put it into First. He applied pressure on the accelerator at the same time, a bit too much, and rolled three feet before stuttering to a stall - the large engine jumping under the bonnet of the vehicle.

"Oops," he whispered, glancing sheepishly at the others, and tried again.

Once more the engine roared to life, running smoothly and almost silently. Shaking the gear stick, Glen was more careful this time and eased the large truck forward and out through the twisted and broken grille that Harry had made an entrance out of. No key card required there.

Outside under the night sky on the gravel road, Glen managed three laps of the warehouse without stalling, and felt confident in his driving abilities. It had been a decade or so since he'd last driven, and he was hot with nerves for this time, but some things were just like riding a bike. He brought the truck to a stop just before the metal grille of the garage entrance, and reversed back into the building with excellent precision.

The eighteen weapons crates, plus one or two more with extra ammunition in, were loaded into the back of the truck. The trunk space wasn't big enough for them all, so Harry strapped two crates into the spare seats inside the truck, and put some on the floor as well.

With the body of the truck several inches closer to the ground, Glen pushed it into First and tapped the accelerator. With little effort, the army vehicle pulled back out into the night, headlights shining complete with six passengers and enough weapons to... well, to last.

They drove out passed the still steaming corpse of the creature, and Harry's stomach turned at the sight of it.

You're like a kid with a box of matches, Potter, Allarius said from within the Boundary. You start fires you can't put out.

How did that thing get here? he asked.

I sent it through, no harm in you knowing that. And it's only the first one, oh yes, plenty more where he came from. Allarius laughed and screamed in Harry's head.

Harry was thinking fast. You broke through the Boundary?

The damage is now so extensive I tore right through it with a thought, and will again.

Then I could leave early, and take care of you sooner.... Harry smiled.

Nope, Allarius stated. Don't work like that, partner. It's a one way trip for now--see ya real soon though.

"We should be back at the castle in about two and a half hours," Glen said from up front, turning out onto the road back through Dumfries. "Shame about those animals though."

"Hagrid's not going to be happy," Dean sighed. "He'd raised those Thestrals since birth."

"I just hope we don't run into anything like what killed them," Tonks shuddered, her hair changing from green to black.

"We won't," Harry assured them, and said no more.

The drive back to Hogwarts was a quiet and uneventful one. They only had to make one stop about three quarters of the way there, following the same road that had brought them this far south, and that was at a Muggle Fuel Station - deserted - to fill up the truck's tank with diesel.

They had to avoid the parked traffic on the way back, but eventually they turned off onto a dirt road that led to the remains of Hogsmeade, and beyond that the road to Hogwarts castle. As they drove through what used to be the main street of the wizarding village, the lights of the castle could be seen.

It was early morning - near four o'clock - and most would still be asleep. The guard would be about to change though, and Glen knew they'd have to approach carefully. The Aurors were all anxious and nervous. A stray curse wasn't out of the question.

But his fears were unfounded, and after the Aurors had checked them all over - impressed with their vehicle - they waved them through. A few of the electrical systems on the truck's dashboard ceased working as they drove over the Hogwart's boundary - like the clock and radio - but the engine kept running and Glen drove it silently right up to the castle entrance doors.

"Hell of a thing seeing the country in that state," Glen said, turning off the engine and leaning back in his seat with a sigh. "Nothing on the radio either,' he continued, tapping the black box on the dashboard. "Tried for hours on the way up."

"We're on our own, but keep that to yourselves," Harry began. "Three thousand people are living on hope over there," he pointed towards the houses by the lake. "Let them realise what's happened slowly on their own."

"You sure that's the best idea?" Dermas asked him, stepping out onto the castle driveway.

"We don't want a panic," Jennifer said. "I agree with, Harry."

"It'll do for now," Harry replied. "Now let's get these crates up to the Room of Requirement."

Pooling their magic, they levitated eleven of the twenty two crates up to the room and got the rest on the second trip. It had been a productive day.

****

August 5^th
46 days until the Autumnal Equinox

Around the perimeter of Hogwarts castle the long high wall had been completed and reinforced with half a dozen protective and strengthening spells. At the base of the wall, following it around the perimeter, grew hundreds upon hundreds of powerful white roses - that, for some reason, managed to negate the effects of the weather over Hogwarts.

The Hogwarts grounds had become an island in a bitter and unexpected snow storm that wasn't natural, even if it had been winter. Snow fell in torrents around the castle in a full circle radius. It piled up just on the line of the white roses and surrounded Hogwarts with six feet of snow on all sides within hours.

Not a flake of snow passed the boundary though, and thank God for that. It had been snowing almost constantly for eight hours and the only green in the entire land remained on the Hogwarts grounds. From the highest point in the castle one could look out and see nothing but a curtain of snow in every direction across the boundary. It was unbelievable, and probably meant their small community had grown as much as it ever would.

Not many would have survived this blizzard. The temperature on the castle grounds was just above zero, cold enough, and the snow was piled high in what had become a natural wall, creating a barrier between them and the outside world.

Harry watched the snow continue to fall from the window he had required in the busy and magic smelling Room of Requirement. It was the most snow he had ever seen in his life, and he knew he'd have to go out and tend to the rose's care this afternoon - if they died the snow would bury their community.

"Almost done on the sidearms, Harry," Glen Thomas said somewhere behind him.

Harry watched the snow a few moments more, regret and guilt upon his face, and then turned to the room - which had become a workshop over the last day and a half. Long benches scorched with magic and littered with tools and pieces of metal ran the length of the room. A dozen witches and wizards were busy casting spells and enchantments over Muggle weaponry and Harry was here to provide raw power for that extra kick.

Glen was holding a pistol towards the target that had been required against the far wall. A red circle. The black machine in his hand had been modified quite moderately over the last day, and was the first real test of the weapons for the use of Muggles - in the defence of the castle. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew Voldemort was waiting out this storm.

"Go for it then," Harry said.

Glen nodded and took careful aim. His hands were old and slightly arthritic, but he didn't seem to have any problem with the gun. "Weighs almost nothing," he said. "Like a piece of paper or somethin'."

He pulled the trigger, and the paper target exploded in a ball of white light.

Harry's eyes widened with surprise and, sadly, approval. He didn't want to be doing this, but once again knew he rarely got what he wanted. The gun hadn't made a sound beyond a small hiss when it had been fired, and now Glen required another three targets and they met a similar fate as the first one.

Grace Arnair, Lily Potter, and half a dozen others that Harry didn't know watched with pride. They had done their work correctly, and it would be easy to copy the prints of that weapon into all of the others - with a few modifications on the whole.

"Want to give it a try, Harry?" Glen asked.

Harry was leaning against the wall and, with a sigh, walked over to Glen and took the weapon from him. He required a target and aimed, holding the sleek black object before him as if he had done it a thousand times before.

Feels good, don't it? Allarius whispered in his mind. One more weapon for the pile. Do you even know who you are anymore?

Harry ignored him, holding the light weight weapon and looking down the sight. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger and the target exploded in a white haze. That white haze was the raw magic that had replaced the conventional metal bullets of the gun. It had been Tonks' idea, and it would serve them well.

The clip in the gun had been emptied and replaced with a magical core, the pure power required for it to last had been provided by Harry easily enough, and this charge of magic would fire small bursts of raw power for centuries before running dry. It was the perfect weapon for the Muggle guard.

"Oh well," Harry sighed, and gave the gun back to Glen. "Good job, guys."

Outside the snow still continued to fall unfalteringly and the world grew ever whiter. This storm covered almost fifty per cent of the entire planet, and was mirrored across every other world - in some it was worse - causing the death of billions upon billions. Harry found himself standing at the window again; the storm reflected in his tear stained eyes and felt the guilt of each and every death.

It was only going to get worse.

****

44 days until the Autumnal Equinox

Atop of the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts stands a lone figure. We see him as his black cloak blows around him in the wind, revealing the holster he wears on his right hip. Within this holster sits a black pistol, modified to be more lethal than ever intended, and in the figures pocket sits a trunk with half a dozen other similar weapons in it.

Grasped tightly in the boy's right hand is a long shaft of wood, a piece of wood with a feather in its centre - a phoenix feather. Up and down this boy we can see signs of battle, of weariness, of a life lived hard. He is scarred mercilessly... but he remains unbroken.

In this boy's eyes is the pain of the universes, and the weight of a billion deaths. This boy is unique, a survivor. He may not look like much if you were to pass him on the street, and yet he has seen and dealt with horrors we've never even heard of.

This boy's name is Harry Potter, as you probably know, and he has the potential to either destroy or save all of existence with a wave of his hand - if anyone knew it....

Around the castle Harry stands on is a world completely covered in ice and snow for hundreds of miles in every direction. Almost twelve feet deep and only now beginning to melt, it no longer surprises or scares Harry. He doubts anything would anymore.

Running through his mind are thoughts better left not heard now, as around him the world is growing thin, existence is growing thin. Think of it as a thin wall between Harry and the darkness of the Stream and Boundary. Here there be monsters, and to have them tear open the sky and fall upon the world would be devastating, to say the least - so we'll keep Harry's thoughts silent, lest they be heard by something undesirable.

Pointing his wand at the tip of his finger, Harry mutters a small cutting charm and breaks the skin on the tip of his left index finger. Round drops of crimson blood began to drip down to the earth, and Harry catches them with a well placed stasis spell. He catches about three thimble fulls of the red liquid, and has it float in the air before him.

Blood magic requires blood, after all.

Taking a deep breath and a step back, Harry focuses all his power into the wooden stick in his hand. He runs over the incantation within his mind, remembering it clearly from that final day in his own world, March 20^th. It felt like a millennia ago.

The world was silent as Harry and the Death Eaters alike waited for whatever end was coming. When Voldemort spoke, the strength in his words was so much that the air vibrated and they resounded off of every tree, every rock, for miles around.

"TEMPUS AC CAPACITAS!"

What happened next, Harry would remember for the rest of his life. All was completely an utterly silent for a long moment, and then a great and powerful roar erupted from the end of Voldemort's wand, with a blinding white light.

The light shot high into the heavens and reached the very clouds, lighting the area for miles around. Wave upon wave of power emanated from the light and the Death Eaters struggled to remain standing. Loose rocks and dirt from around the clearing were blown forcefully away.

"One hell of a bad day...." Harry whispered, knowing he was about to repeat it. He was hoping beyond hope that the equinox rule would no longer be in effect, that somehow he could bypass it. It had gone on long enough, he had to stop it.

God, or whatever, was no longer in control, that much was obvious. So much death gone unnoticed. IT HAD TO END!

"Tempus ac Capacitas..." Harry whispered and his wand began to glow. It's working, he thought. I'm gonna go home-

It didn't work and Harry was blown back off his feet ten metres into the window on the balcony. He went straight through it, and landed in a pile of broken glass and splintered wood at the top of the stairs that led back down to the castle.

Harry, the survivor, didn't say anything. What was there to say? A silent tear, one from many, rolled down his cheek and he remained on his back for a good hour, staring pointlessly at the cloudy sky out through the window. The thunder and lightning outside sounded like mocking laughter to him.

****

40 days until the Autumnal Equinox

Patrols of both Muggle and Magical guard walked the high wall around the Hogwarts perimeter. The ground before them was still piled high with snow, but it had begun to melt and run off towards the valleys nearby.

The Muggle guard each carried a magically enhanced rifle, capable of firing an infinite number of high powered energy blasts - for as long as the magical charge lasted in the clip. Several of the Aurors had also seen these weapons tested, and were themselves carrying one or two.

There had been nothing to report for the three days the patrols had been active, nothing had been seen or heard of anyone or anything, including Voldemort. It was all quiet on the castle front.

Across from the wall by the lake slept three thousand people, comfortable in their well furnished rooms inside houses that were huge on the inside. Near the main castle doors the house elves were preparing breakfast for another day. It was only three in the morning, but breakfast for three thousand took hours to prepare. The elves never complained and likely never would.

Inside the castle many of its students slept comfortably enough in their dorm room beds, dreading another day of not knowing what was happening and suffering troubled sleep. None of them knew that the Dark Lord's army marched on Hogwarts.

None of the thirty two hundred people at Hogwarts knew they would be attacked within a few days. There was no way they could know, but that didn't change the fact.

The snow was the only thing keeping two hundred Death Eaters at bay and that was melting. The new weapons would get live testing sooner than all expected, save maybe Harry Potter. He knew in his life that he wouldn't go long without a fight. Evil would find a way to get to him in some form. It's what evil did.

So... how many times have we been here at the calm before the storm? Too many to count, but its enough.

One more last fight for this world and then the time will come for it all to be decided. We're beyond fate and destiny in these final days, Harry is beyond them. Nothing is certain, remember that.

****

With thirty-eight days left before the Autumnal Equinox, the snow around Hogwarts was almost gone. The sky overhead was still overcast with thick, heavy rolling black cloud, but all the snow was spent.

Around the perimeter patrol the Muggles and Aurors, vigilant in their guard and waiting nervously for the fight they know will soon be on their doorstep. Around the grounds and in the castle everyone else is also contributing in someway - whether it be picking up litter, cleaning the grounds they now lived in, or just listening to someone who needs to speak about their feelings and what happened, they are all contributing.

Everyone is doing something, and that is important.

Up in the castle a few classes have resumed for the students, both Magical and Muggle, today. Not all the Hogwarts professor's had returned, perhaps they were dead, but Sirius Black and James Potter taught Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts respectively, and Severus Snape resumed Potions.

A few Muggles also took it upon themselves to teach the dozens of non-magical children, using a few classrooms as directed by Dumbledore. It was something to do, and it helped to keep the children's minds away from matters best left unthought at this point in the game.

All in all, Harry, Glen, and Dumbledore had scraped together the best defence possible for the small amount of days that had passed. Had it been left to anyone other than these three, it may not have gotten done - the wall certainly wouldn't have been built. In times of strife there are few you can rely on for protection, most are just out to survive themselves.

The weather, in and around Hogwarts was improving, by last week's standards at any rate. God knew what it was going to do next, perhaps nothing... mayhap it had run itself out and was now just laying down in defeat and waiting for death. It was possible, these days anything was.

And as Harry Potter sat with his back against the wall in the field of roses he had created beneath the Astronomy Tower, his eyes gazing out at the world and feeling tired, he thought deep things - and pondered the meaning of his life. Getting philosophical in his final days, perhaps, but then maybe he had the right to.

Harry had heard brief mutterings from Allarius over the last few days, and felt more than anything else that something big was on the horizon - perhaps the very reason for his surviving over the years. He seriously doubted he'd survived just to live a normal life--no, that wasn't for him no matter how much he may have wanted it.

He was a warrior of Light (and Dark), and to be so was to expect to do great things. Hadn't he already broken all the rules, even those of Death? Harry was prepared, he supposed, for whatever lay ahead. It had gotten to a point where everything began to make sense, and he was given a glimpse of a grand design, a plan that had been lain down for us all in the Beginning by a being that may not exist anymore.

A God....

The more he thought about it; Harry felt more than anything that God, if there was such a being, was either no longer in control, dead, or dying. No master, no matter how cruel, could watch His creation fall into chaos and ultimate ruin. And that thought felt right, beyond all else.

Evil be damned to Harry's stubbornness and single minded will never to give up, to never surrender, to always fight the good fight. Over time Harry would gain the attention of those in power, those who wielded universes as swords on their belts, and wrapped time around their little fingers. To be held in the gaze of such a being would drive one insane... like catching a glimpse of infinite, or even God Himself.

Such a thing would be a first, and more than beyond imagination. More than words or worlds could ever explain.

Oh well.

One world at a time, Harry thought, leaning back against the base of the tower. I'll take it one world at a time....

****