Harry Potter and the Legacy of Heaven

Chapter 3: The Chase

He felt the strangest feeling when the arrow hit him. He felt four things all at once, not one of which should have actually been possible. First, the arrow did not hurt him at all. If anything, it made him even more calm and relaxed than he had already been. Second, it flung him backwards at what felt to him to be an immense speed. Third, he felt himself pinned down, and utterly incapable of movement. He was about to panic at this, because he could neither see nor move, but the next thing changed that. The fourth thing that he felt, and this one was the weirdest, was a sort of separation, and more movement. He had just enough time to wonder at how he could move while he was still immovably pinned down before everything went dark.

~.~

Ron was sitting on a couch in the sitting room, looking through a large book that he had borrowed from Hermione. The information in it might've been interesting, if not for the soporific effect it was having on him now. He was about to fall asleep, but he didn't really care. It was late, anyway.

Hermione was sitting on the other end of the couch, reading a book that was even larger than the one Ron was reading. He closed his book, and looked over at Hermione to tell her that he was going to go to bed. What he saw, however, startled that thought out of his mind.

"Hermione..." he said. She had tear stains down both of her cheeks. He mentally kicked himself for not noticing earlier. They had been sitting there for some time, so she must've been absolutely silent.

"What are we going to do without him, Ron?" she asked. She looked lost.

"I don't know, Hermione. We have to make sure that it never happens to anyone else again."

She sniffled a little at this. "You know, I was beginning to think he'd always be there. He'd escaped from Voldemort more times than anyone else. I thought he'd always be safe, but I was wrong," she said, her eyes bright. "And think of what Ginny's going through. She told us she'd gotten over him, but I'm not so sure..."

She started sobbing at this thought. Ron, obviously forgetting himself, reached over and hugged her.

"It'll be all right, Hermione. It'll be all right."

~.~

Where am I?

Who am I?

Some primitive part of his being was telling him to open his eyes, but all he wanted to do was sleep. Sleep now, and forever, and never worry again that he didn't know where, or even who, he was. The sleep was so comfortable... Warm, soft, and it made no demands on him. He could stay forever, and let eternity pass him by in the sleep. Calm, content. He'd never have to worry about anything again. All his hardships would simply melt away. Yes... That was what he would do. Sleep for all eternity, until the universe ended and all was put before judgment...

Harry! Wake up!

The sound was blurry, like he was hearing it while underwater. Still, he could tell that something was trying to impede his slumber. Why did it always have to be him? Why did they always have to try to make him be the one to do things? For that matter, who were they? Harry seriously doubted that they, whoever they were, really mattered at all. If they did, he'd remember who they were. Content in the knowledge that he really could sleep, he retreated further into himself.

Harry Potter! Wake up! You can't sleep now, your tasks are not yet completed!

Harry didn't know where that voice was coming from. It sounded like his own mind speaking to him, which was utterly absurd. His mind wanted him to sleep right now, he was sure of it. It didn't want him to wake up. Having two voices inside his head was a most disconcerting experience for him. He decided that maybe he really should wake up. Maybe he could find out where the second voice was coming from, and then he could get back to sleep...

"Harry James Potter! I know you, I know where you live, and I swear that if you do not wake up this instant, I will not take your side at the judgment!"

Harry groaned. Obviously, the voice was bluffing. If you believed in it, only Jesus could stand with you at the Judgment, and this guy obviously wasn't him, if he couldn't bring him out of his slumber with a thought. Yet, whoever the voice belonged to was irritating him, and also the reason why he wasn't being allowed to enter into his eternal slumber. He decided he'd wake up and deal with the person, and then get back to sleep. He tried to open his eyes, but they were enormously heavy.

"Good job. Open your eyes, you're almost there..."

Harry flexed the muscles in his eyelids, and was immediately astonished that he felt them moving. He had never felt them before, just used them. His eyes slid open slowly. He had expected to see the irritating person hovering over him, for he now realized that he was laying on a soft patch of grass, but this was not the case. He sat up and looked around, and was unable to comprehend what he saw.

He was easily in the most beautiful place he had ever seen. He would have compared it to the mythical Avalon, or even Eden, but he was sure that this place outshone both of them combined. He was sitting at the top of a gentle slope that went down several hundred feet, into a valley. At one end of the valley he could see a river flow over a gentle series of falls. As the river fell down the gradual slope, it was separated several times by small islands that were brimming with brilliantly colored flowers. On the other side of the valley was an immense forest that looked stately and handsome compared to the jubilant river. The whole side of the hill leading down into the valley was covered in small specks of the most brilliant colors he had ever seen. And then he caught the reflection in the river, and looked up.

The sky was unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was almost like the beginning of the brightest sunset he had ever seen, but the clouds that the sun cast its rays upon were translucent, and fairly glowed with illumination. Even the clouds had completely unnatural, but beautiful, shapes. Then he realized that there was more. The stars in the sky could be clearly seen, even though the sun had not set. There were billions of them. He imagined that if he had seen the sky from the darkest part of Little Whinging, he would not be able to see half of the stars that he now saw, and it wasn't even night yet. With his unaided eyes, he could pick out several bright clusters of stars that looked like individual galaxies, and paused with wonder that he could see them without aid. As if some celestial request thought this was not enough, a star would fall from the sky every few seconds. Harry had no words that his logical mind could use to describe such a wonder, and as such, he merely sat gaping at it.

In time, he came to realize that a voice had spoken to him while he was in the process of waking, but he had been so filled with amazement by the sight of his surroundings that he had completely forgotten about the voice. It was night now, and the brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows that the setting sun had illuminated the place with had switched to equally beautiful blues and purples. It was definitely night, as the stars were out in full force now, but it was a bright night. Although no moon hung in the sky, the stars seemed almost eager to illuminate the area like their closer brother had done hours before.

Harry was in danger of forgetting about the voice again, so he stood up. He looked around himself, and when he saw nothing, he became confused. He had heard the voice, but it seemed as if the voice had abandoned him. Seeing that nobody else was around, and believing anything possible in this place, he drew a deep breath into his lungs.

"Where are you!" he shouted, and the shout reverberated, each time it came back to his ears it was both more beautiful, but also quieter, until the reverberations stopped. Then he was caught by surprise, for he had truly not suspected a reply.

"Look and ye shall see!" came the voice. Harry squinted, and a fair distance away, he saw a blurry figure. This was a startling contrast with the rest of his surroundings, which had been very sharp and crisp. As he looked closer, and the figure began to move towards him, the image resolved. By the time the figure was in front of him, he could see that it was a muscular man of average height. What was odd about the man was that his hair was as black as the void, and his eyes were the most piercing blue that he had ever seen. He knew he was staring but, the man just smiled.

"Who are you?" Harry asked. The man grinned mischievously, and for a second Harry was reminded of Sirius, before those blue eyes paralyzed him with their appraising gaze.

"Now, now," the man said, "It wouldn't do to be just going and telling you secrets, now, would it? You have to earn your answers from me. Let me see..." he rubbed the stubble on his chin contemplatively. Harry was nonplused. "Yes, I think that should do. We've got plenty of room here, after all. Your task is to catch me. When you catch me, if you can hold me for ten seconds, I shall answer all of your questions." With that, the man took off. He moved gracefully, and then, in his place, was the most handsome deer that Harry had ever seen. It galloped down to the river, where it drank quickly. Then it turned to rest its blue eyes on Harry.

"Prongs?" whispered Harry. The deer seemed to hear him, and gently shook its head before taking off down the valley. Realizing that this was the entity he was supposed to catch, he took off after it at a run. He moved fast, faster than he ever had before, and without tiring. Yet he was still no match for the deer. He wished he could move faster, wished he could catch up with the deer. He closed his eyes for a brief second, and when he opened them, he was surprised to see the deer running at him. Startled by the object in its path that had not been there a moment before, the deer seemed to shift shape. Before his eyes, the deer changed to a falcon, which took to the air. Harry didn't know how he had gotten in front of the deer, but he wasn't worried. Rules didn't seem to apply here.

Watching as the bird rose, Harry longed for his old firebolt. What surprised him was when, a second later, the most amazing broom he had ever seen was hovering in front of him. As obvious as it was that this was not his firebolt, it was also just as obvious that is was better. With a grin, he jumped on, and took off after the falcon. He raced after it for several minutes, and was getting close, when the bird folded its wings in fell like a bullet shot to the ground.

Harry remembered reading something about falcons being able to fly at several times faster than any broom, and as good as the one he was riding was, he knew instinctually that it would not be able to catch that bird. It wasn't a matter of his skill, there was just no way he could get it to perform as well as the bird could. Seized with a reckless idea, he launched himself off the broom, and plummeted towards the ground.

He had been noticing that this place was different, and that weird things could happen here. So it was with no surprise that as he dropped from his broom, he felt wings grow from his back to help him guide his fall. He dropped towards the falcon, but it had already seen him. It had spread its wings and converted its downward motion into horizontal motion. Harry did the same, and shot off after it.

He was struck by how good the wind felt in his wings. Chancing a quick glance back, he could see that they were quite large, and the feathers looked strong. He smiled at this, and took a quick second to think about what Ron would say if he saw this. No doubt it would be quite amusing to watch.

He chased the bird for several more minutes, but was having no luck catching up to it, when he thought of another idea. If one set of wings were good, what would he be able to do with two? By now he had gotten the hang of how this realm worked, and he willed himself to grow a second pair of wings. They sprouted from his back just below the original pair, which now swept forward slightly to make room.

Beating both pairs of powerful wings, he shot forward faster than he ever had before. He was now gaining easily on the small falcon, which went into another evasive dive. He followed after it, using his massive wings to go even faster than a freefall. When the bird moved out of the dive, he was ready, with his wings already spread. He adjusted a little, shot forward, and closed the last few feet to the falcon. He grabbed it with his hands, and the drifted to the earth.

As he landed, the falcon tried to bite his hand. Harry squirmed out of its way, and it began to thrash around, trying to escape. Harry swept his wings forward, to create a temporary barrier in case it escaped. It began to change forms, until it was a small ant, that easily fell out of his hand. When it hit the ground, it changed into an elephant.

Harry grinned. This thing, whatever it was, was definitely cunning. He would have had a hard time catching something that could change size and shape so easily, but he had an idea. He messed up his face in concentration, and the wings melted back into his skin. He had long since lost his shirt, and so his movement was more liquid.

Concentrating again, he imagined large ribbons of strong material flowing from his back. He didn't know what they were made of, but they were there. With a thought, he moved them so that they would wrap around the elephants legs, and then its stomach. He brought more of the ribbons into existence, until the whole elephant was wrapped up in them.

The elephant gave a mighty bray, and shifted again. This time, it was a lion, and it tried to dodge through the gaps in the ribbon. Harry was too fast for it, though, and directed the ribbons, which were still attached to his back, to close around the lion. The lion tried to slash the ribbons apart with its mighty claws, but Harry hardened them before it could get away. He continued closing the ribbons in until the lion was trapped in much the same way as the elephant was.

It tried to shift to a larger form, but Harry squeezed the ribbons, keeping it from changing. Seeing that it was stuck, the lion transformed into a cat, to make one last desperate attempt at escape. Harry tightened the ribbons once more, and the cat was immobilized. Seeing that it was defeated, the cat gave up. Harry then remembered the second part of the task, and began to count aloud.

"Ten... Nine... Eight... Seven..." Did that cat just grin? "Six... Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Zero..."

When he reached zero, he gently retracted the ribbons, and willed them to disappear. The cat just looked at him, almost as if it were proud of him. It then shifted back into the man that he had seen before. The blue eyes were fairly sparkling at him, and he thought he could almost see the crash of waves in them. The man looked sweaty, but had a huge grin on his face.

"Well done, my boy, well done! Good show lad! I must say, I've not had that much fun in ages!" The man just kept grinning. Harry was nonplused. This guy was happy that he had been caught? What was going on here?

"Who are you?" Harry asked incredulously.

"My name is Proteus. I'm named after a god of the ocean, and I'm proud to say that I share his shapeshifting powers, and also his love of games. This was his favorite. He would only answer the questions of those who were powerful enough to catch him." The man looked like he was about to explode into laughter at the look of dawning comprehension on Harry's face.

Harry was beginning to understand. He had caught this person, that had been his task. He had been so wrapped up in the chase that he had almost forgotten the discussion with the strange man that he had had when he had first woken up. Now that he thought about it, though, he could feel his curiosity rising. He wanted to make sure, though.

"So that means..." Harry started, unsure of what to say. He was quickly interrupted by the man.

"Quite right, quite right. I do believe that you have some questions for me?"