Beyond the Emerald Green

Special Thanks: This chapter has now been revised & edited, re-posted without typos thanks to the wonderful RavenNat. I wouldn’t feel right posting without her approval!

Attention: Again, this chapter has some actual Japanese words in it. To help you, the following new words have been defined- baka atamameans stupid/idiot mind/head; Inumeans dog; ai means love; nekomeans cat; kawaii means cute/pretty; oiishi means delicious/yummy; and nani means what. Don’t worry, the Japanese lingo ends in this chapter J

 

 

Chapter Six

Ambush

There was a persistent dripping noise, echoing off the hallowed walls. The ground was hard and wet, rough and gritted with mud. There was little light filtering in through Harry’s closed eyelids, painfully shutting out his surroundings.

Where am I? What happened? He thought to himself, letting out a soft moan.

"Well, well, well…" A malicious voice echoed dully through Harry’s ears. "The famous goody-goody finally decides to wake."

At first, Harry was confused. Malfoy? How did he get into Gryffindor Tower?

"Not so tough, now, eh? Without your precious protectors, you’re nothing but a worthless bum. Capturing you was too easy!" The voice laughed.

Harry opened his eyes and took in a sharp breath as an enormous headache overtook him. Carefully, he searched for the source of the voice. Aside from the sunlight that was creeping through a bared, small window, darkness surrounded him. Harry opened his eyes and took in a sharp breath as an enormous headache overtook him. Carefully, he searched for the source of the voice. Aside from the sunlight that was creeping through a bared, small window, darkness surrounded him. He was in a stone cell, damp and covered in mildew. Harry struggled to sit up.

"Where am I? Who are you?" He demanded icily.

"Aww, I’m hurt! I was always one of your most devoted peers. It shocks me that you don’t recognize my most dashing voice." The voice played.

Harry stumbled to his feet and searched for that familiar voice. He bumped blindly into jail bars, in which the voice laughed… then he knew.

"Malfoy!" Harry hissed.

"Took you long enough, but then again, you’re not as smart as everyone thinks you are."

"Figures you’d be a Death Eater. Fancy that you expose yourself now. What? Afraid of getting caught back home? Ran away to Japan, did you?" Harry seethed with anger.

"Well, I see you still have your pathetic use of sarcasm." Malfoy sniffed. "And, yes… I ran away to Japan with my master. For you see, the path to our victory starts here! Not back in jolly-‘ol England… no, the whole time the answer was here."

"Answer to what?" Harry snapped.

"Wouldn’t you like to know? No, I’ll leave the honor to my master if you are to know the grand plan. He’ll be here soon, and he’s very anxious to meet with you again." Malfoy crowed.

"I’m sure." Harry growled dryly. His scar was beginning to throb increasingly every minute.

"As much as I’d like to stay and chat, dear boy, I have important business to take care of. Do try and keep your pretty self clean for the dark lord; wouldn’t want to shame your fame by looking all shabby." Laughing, Malfoy turned and left.

"You don’t know who you’re dealing with, Malfoy!" Harry yelled after him. Malfoy’s laughter only got louder, echoing off the walls and resonating in Harry’s head. Anger and hatred consumed Harry’s soul, nearly beyond control. "MALFOY!"

Harry sank down to his knees and tried his best to sort out all that had happened. What was the last thing he remembered before waking up in this cell? He had run into an American auror, who told him that there were others all around Tokyo. He and Harry were on their way to meet up with the rest, when a group of Death Eaters held them off. The American… Cobal, his name was, used some sort of spell Harry had never seen before. Fire broke out everywhere. Spells were fired rapidly… they split up. Harry chased after some Death Eaters… he had been mad with fury… when everything went black. Next thing he knew, he woke up in this cell with Malfoy’s malicious voice taunting him. What had happened to Cobal? Was he in a cell too, nearby? Or was he dead? What of his other team members? Did Sirius know Harry was missing? Ron… what was Ron doing? That stupid Japanese minister… Summon… where was he?

"You… you think too loud, Mister Potter."

Harry violently snapped out of his deep and troubled thoughts at the sound of a small, harsh and tired voice.

"Who’s there?" Harry barked.

"More correctly… who was there. Damare, I don’t have much time." Harry recognized the small voice as Minister Summon.

"Where are you?"

"On the floor." Summon’s voice was weak.

Harry searched the stony ground, finding only puddles, when he saw a small movement in a shadowed corner.

"That’s not…?" Harry gasped.

A small bug was mercilessly crushed upon the stone, it’s legs waving about uselessly.

"I’ve been stepped upon." Summon said blankly

Harry’s face instantly went pale.

"Oh. My. God. I… I didn’t… did I…?"

"No. I was left this way. Now, quiet! I don’t have much longer." Summon snapped.

"How… h-how are you talking to me, if you’re obviously in an Animagus form?" Harry asked incredulously.

"MUST YOU QUESTION EVERYTHING, BAKA ATAMA?! HUSH! And let me tell you what you must know before I die, you fool!" Summon’s bug legs flailed furiously. Harry immediately shut his mouth and went from pale to bright crimson.

"If you are mortally injured, either as yourself or in your Animagus form, you can’t turn back. I was injured as my human self, and transformed when they left me. They returned, thought I had escaped. I was then stepped on by one of them, thinking I was a real bug. They don’t know we’re Animagi… and they also don’t know that Animagi have their own special abilities. If I hadn’t been injured, I would be able to escape unnoticed in this form, but you can." Summon said quickly.

"I’m afraid a black panther is a little more noticeable than a bug." Harry lamented, ignoring the shock of Summon knowing that he was an Animagi as well.

"Animagi have their own special abilities!" Summon hissed as a stab of pain shot through him. "Figure it out!"

"But-"

"No time to explain… I must tell you what the dark lord’s plan is! Y-you… must… l-listen!" Summon’s voice was growing fainter and weaker. Harry leaned down closer to hear better. "He’s bringing together the four known elements!"

"Four known elements?" Harry whispered.

"The very forces that keep the world together, magical and not! W-with… them… he…" Summon’s voice trailed off.

"Minister Summon!" Harry urged him. "Minister… what do these four elements do? Why does Voldemort want them? What is his plan?"

"Time… not much… soon! World… p-power…" Summon’s bug legs ceased to move.

"Minister Summon!" Harry prodded his crumpled bug form, but there was no more movement. Summon was dead.

Suddenly, a massive explosion boomed from outside. Harry heard countless people start to scream. There was violent laughter pealing up from the dark passageway beyond Harry’s cell. Things were getting very, very serious.

"What am I going to do?" Harry moaned, running his hands through his tousled black hair. Footsteps were beginning to become audible from the hallway among the chaotic noise flooding in from the cell window. Harry’s mind began to swim… what was it Summon said?

"Am I going to enjoy this!" Malfoy’s voice crooned.

"We can’t really touch him, if we do, we’re in trouble." Said a dark, almost bored voice.

"Try to contain your excitement, Goyle. Of course I know that, you idiot." Malfoy shot back.

"Hey, where’d he go?"

Harry crouched down low, hiding in the shadows. He watched three hooded black figures stare dubiously into his cell, at a loss for words.

"B-but… I made sure the spells were flawless!" Malfoy raged!

"You’re in trouble now…" Said one figure that must have been Crabbe.

"Not me, you fool! You two! You’re the ones in trouble! You let that worthless scum escape!" Malfoy was livid.

The cell door opened and the three of them stumbled inside. Now was Harry’s chance.

RAAAARRRRRROOOOOWWWWW!!!

"AHHHH!"

"What in the name of everything evil?!"

"AHHHH! BIG KITTY! BIG KITTY!"

With amazing strength and agility, Harry plowed his way through the three Death Eaters and out the door. He made sure to scratch them up bad on his way, and sprinted down the damp hall. Chuckling with triumph inside, Harry realized that the spells around the cell were specified only for human wizards. In his panther form, he could get through… thus being able to get past the many other spells set around the passageways he was now running through. Yet, it wasn’t long before he began to realize he wasn’t really getting anywhere.

Where on Earth is this place? He thought bitterly annoyed.

By this time, Harry could hear with his more acute sense of hearing that many other Death Eaters were beginning to fill the passageways. The explosions and screams outside were also clearer. He had to find the rest of Cobal’s team, contact home, and get help. There was no way Harry could handle this on his own.

Continuing to sprint in the direction he thought would get him out, Harry wished desperately that he had Ron and Hermione with him. They were always better at figuring things out, as a team. He may be talented, but Harry felt more capable of anything with his friends by his side. But they were back home, in Britain, and Harry was trapped in Tokyo where the city was most likely already doomed. He was so caught up in his wandering thoughts that Harry didn’t realize that he had suddenly leapt out into twilight. It was the explosion in front of him that woke him from his troubled thoughts.

KABOOOM!

Harry yelped and skidded away, slinking into a patch of dark trees. He panted and stared incredulously at the spot from which he had appeared. The Death Eaters were hiding out in an old sewage pipe, just outside the city. It was huge, and apparently long out of use. Another explosion of sound and light brought Harry’s gaze upward. The city of Tokyo was ablaze in fire and ash. Distant screams, car horns and alarms, more explosions, and the crack of spells could clearly be heard at the outskirts where the sewage pipe was. Harry was standing among a forest surrounding the metropolis, watching the destruction with large green eyes.

It’s too late. The city has totally succumbed to control. Voldemort has Japan. Harry blinked rapidly, trying to absorb the fact. What on Earth could he do now?

Angry shouts began to issue from the sewage pipe, snapping Harry back to attention. Still in his panther form, he leapt off toward the city.

It was almost impossible to enter the ruins.

"HI!"

"HELP!"

"Inu! Inu ai! Come!"

People were everywhere, running around all confused. Death Eaters chased them, facing off the few revealing common wizards that dared to fight back. Harry scurried stealthily amongst the debris, carefully avoiding anyone. There was only one thing he could do, he kept reminding himself as he resisted the urge to help, find Voldemort and stop him.

Ahead of him, Harry could see an apparently abandoned warehouse, charred black from a fire that must have been already put out. Thinking it a good place to better assess the situation and plan out his next move, Harry padded forward quickly to cross inside. He needed only to cross a narrow street from amongst the fallen boxes around him in front of a smoking market stand to make it. Yet as he carefully set out a paw to cross…

"YEEEOOOWWWW!" Harry screamed with a feline tenor. A Death Eater had suddenly stepped out from a hidden part of the market onto his path, stepping on Harry’s outstretched paw.

"Baka neko!" The Death Eater shouted irritably, not noticing that Harry was more than just the average alley cat. Harry had already dashed over tumbled cardboard boxes and out of sight, to the left astride the warehouse down to a dead end. The Death Eater must have run out of nearby victims, for with a malicious chuckle, the black shrouded figure followed Harry’s clumsy escape precariously.

Harry reached the wall of the dead end, which was much too high even for a black panther to jump. He turned around to face the Death Eater, who was much closer than Harry thought he was. So far, all the Death Eater could see of Harry was his large emerald green eyes.

"Wa neko, neko, neko! Kawaii neko! Oiishi neko!" No need telling Harry now that this cloaked idiot was Japanese. Never the less, Harry was defenseless against an armed Death Eater that could counter him once he found out that the cat he was expecting was really a large black panther. There was really only one thing left to do.

"Ah," the Death Eater chuckled as he focused on Harry’s feline eyes. "Neko has kawaii eyes!"

It didn’t dawn on the Death Eater at first that the pair of emerald green eyes were suddenly twice the height they were originally. Nor that they were burning with a dangerous glow.

"Natsaku!" he shouted, laughing as he cast a spell at the "cat". But he stopped abruptly, confused, when his spell was simply blocked. "Nani…?"

"What did a cat ever do to you?"

Harry stepped out of the darkness, fully human, with his wand outstretched and himself bristling with power. The Death Eater’s jaw dropped to the ground in surprise and fear. Without hesitating, Harry grabbed him by the collar of his cloak and lifted him up with one hand with surprising strength. His anger showed clearly in his eyes.

"Where is your master now?" Harry demanded. The light from another explosion nearby illuminated his face, and the Death Eater caught the glimpse of Harry’s scar as his bangs fell to one side. Fearfully, yet trying to sound menacing, the Death Eater began to gabber in Japanese.

"I can easily kill you know, you demon, without a conscious thought. Now, I know you can understand me! Where is Voldemort?!" Harry shouted, violently shaking his captive.

"You only boy!" The Death Eater spat. "Never!"

Harry had to focus very hard not to loose control and shout out the one spell he was ready to use. There was a sudden scuttling sound over a discarded computer monitor box in the corner of the alley, and both Harry and the Death Eater looked. A rat was rummaging around on the box.

"Avada Kedavra!" Harry suddenly shouted, pointing his wand at the rat. Instantly, a blinding red light shot out of his wand, hitting the rat with unrelenting force. The rat fell off the box instantly dead.

A disturbing silence suddenly fell. No explosions or screams could be heard… just the jagged, fearful breathing of the Death Eater now still under Harry’s grip… and Harry not breathing at all. He, aside from the required exam at the Society, had never used the killing curse before. Harry had been taught that the curse was never to be used, only under extreme cases of self defense- or in the defense of others in immediate danger. That had never happened. What he had just done to the rat was only to prove his capability. It was uncalled for, but it drove the point home into the Japanese Death Eater’s mind.

"Please… no kill! No kill! I do as you ask! Just no kill!" He began to plead tearfully, disgracing his aura as a Death Eater.

Harry felt sick inside, but masked it with a tight swallow and cold stare.

"T-tell me where your master is. Or that rat will be you."

After nearly ten minutes of jumbled directions and pointing, Harry hexed the Death Eater with a binding and silencing spell. He dragged him, angry and writhing, to a spot hidden away where his comrades would have a hard time locating him. In disgust at both himself and his tied-up foe, Harry slammed a cardboard box over his head.

"What am I doing?" Harry whispered hoarsely to himself as he stepped away, running his hands through his sweaty hair. Unaware that he was shaking from head to foot, Harry stumbled toward the warehouse he originally was headed for. He didn’t bother to see if anyone was around, but by the silence, Harry didn’t need to.

Lighting his wand with the Lumos spell, Harry shuffled into the dark warehouse. He closed the door behind him and walked inside further, looking around for any signs of life. Peering closely, he could tell that a lot of people were once in here, despite that this warehouse seemed years out of its proper use. Boxes were turned up here and there, grouped around dusty tables and sheets of parchment. Harry went over to them and looked it all over. While having been abandoned for a while, the way everything was, it looked like whoever was hiding here had only left a short while before.

"International Confederation of Wizards…" Harry read from a lone piece of parchment lying on an upturned bucket. "Western District rescue operation code name: China Tea."

This must have been where Cobal’s team and the other wizards were hiding out. Harry thought slowly, looking around the gloom. Looks like they’ve been gone a long while.

He shuffled around the other sheets of parchment, hoping to get a clearer idea on where Voldemort was. All he had managed to milk from the Death Eater was that he was somewhere north of Tokyo, at a place called Maigo Nano Hi. From there, Harry concluded that Voldemort was going to do something with the four known elements. Voldemort’s last card to rule the world, and Japan was the first step.

There was a sudden crash and stumbling sound behind Harry. He gripped his wand and twirled around so fast he felt dizzy, ready to face-off another Death Eater. But there was no more movement. Tentatively, Harry inched forward toward where he had heard the disturbance.

"By order of the British Ministry of Magic and regulations of the International Confederation of Wizards, I demand you reveal yourself!" Harry forced his voice to come out steady and calm. His wand arm was shaking, and he swallowed hard to focus on calming himself.

"B-but… I am a…" a pained voice drifted up from the shadows.

Harry snapped to attention and kicked aside some strewn boxes that were muffling his sight. One of the service doors to the warehouse had been knocked open, light pouring in from the outside. He looked down and saw someone lying facedown on the dirty floor, hardly breathing.

"I’m a… but I’m…" the figure continued to moan.

After sweeping over a look on the man with his wand, Harry concluded that he was not a Death Eater. In fact, looking closer incredulously, he saw that this man was wearing Royal Aurors Society apprentice issued robes! Quickly, Harry got on his knees and turned the man over… and gasped.

"Richard Noin!"

Noin painfully opened his eyes and peered closely up at Harry. A weak smile managed to crack through the dirt and blood on his face.

"Harry!" he croaked. "Is that really you?"

"Noin, what are you doing here? Where is everyone?" Harry tried to get him to sit up, but a loud gasp of pain stopped him. Instead, he laid Noin down in a more comfortable position and held his head up.

"I got on the team," Noin issued a small laugh. "Assigned to the International Confederation of Wizards. Secret project… China Tea. We were here to take out You-Know-Who’s forces by surprise… while you worked on finding the dark lord himself. But… but, you didn’t contact anyone after they said you left home. The team was forced to move on…"

"I’ve got to get you help." Harry looked up, trying hard to think on how he would find a healer. Noin coughed suddenly, spitting up blood painfully all over himself. Harry grimaced, and forced himself to avoid becoming sick at the sight.

"Everyone… left… including Weasley…" Noin sputtered.

Harry did a double take.

"Weasley? Ron Weasley?"

"He was the only one left… got worried about you… he left earlier, before the attack…" Noin’s eyes were becoming unfocused and dilated.

"Stay with me Noin, c’mon!" Harry shook him gently. "Where did Ron go?"

"A place… a place called…" Noin coughed again.

"Where?!" Harry pleaded.

"Maigo Nano Hi." Noin gasped, and his eyes closed.

"Noin? Noin! Where is it? Where is Maigo Nano Hi? Noin!" Harry shook him again, but there was no answer. Noin’s chest no longer rose and fell.

Harry’s heart stilled. He looked down at Noin’s pale and bloodied face in utter disbelief. How could things have gotten so bad so quickly? This man with whom he had trained with was gone, right before his eyes. Noin had been hit hard with numerous spells that Harry was too distracted to recognize. An unknown number of members from this apparent rescue operation were gone, either missing or dead. Ron was out there… headed straight for Voldemort, most likely thinking Harry was there as well. This brought him to terms, laying Noin’s head gently down as he got up.

"You did good, Noin. You did good." Harry whispered, taking his wand to use a spell that would keep Noin’s body safe until it could be returned home. He hid it in the cleanest part of the warehouse, memorizing its location so he could tell someone as soon as possible, and transformed to his black panther form. There he waited until dawn.

There were still explosions in the distance as sunlight hit Harry’s closed eyelids. He stretched and yawned, showing all his sharp feline teeth with a loud purr. Quickly remembering the events of the previous night, Harry checked around to make sure he was still alone and transformed back to human. He then grabbed all the parchment he could find revealing that the Confederation had been there, and burned it all in a trash bin. The fire and smoke would not stand out in the daylight.

Ignoring his growing hunger, Harry double-checked the warehouse, then changed back into a black panther. He carefully left the building, making sure not to be noticed, and set out into the city. By that time, in the morning light, the streets were deserted of people. Fires were still burning on fumes, water mains poured out water in a relentless flood, storefronts were in ruins, and homes were ransacked. Occasionally, a stray person would stumble onto the street from nowhere, forcing Harry to leap behind a dumpster or pile of debris. There he would hide until the coast was again clear, then continue on what he hoped was the path north.

It was nearly mid-day, and close to the edge of the city, by the time Harry saw any other signs of life. The Death Eaters apparently emptied the city of its millions of citizens. How and where, Harry was too exhausted to contemplate. But as he continued to pad along the dirtied sidewalk, a sudden shout shook the fur on his back to stand upright in full attention.

"Why aren’t you at the cliff?!" Came a cold voice from somewhere off.

"Please! Please, do not hurt me!" Pleaded a young man. He sounded only a few years younger than Harry.

"Everyone is to be at the cliff! Or have you chickened out? You know what happens to those who refuse!" The cold voice sneered. Harry strained to see above a turned over mailbox that he had leapt behind. A Death Eater was standing over a younger one, both dressed in the traditional black cloak. Only the young man was cowering on the street, crying and pleading for his life.

"No… no, please! I c-can’t!" the young man sobbed.

"You worthless sniveling pig! You vowed your loyalty! There’s no backing out. You either go up to Maigo Nano Hi or loose your life. It’s your choice." The older one sneered.

Harry’s rounded ears perked up at the mention of the name.

"Okay… okay, I’ll do as you say. Just please, p-please don’t h-hurt me!" The young man stumbled to his feet, only to be kicked down again by the older one as he laughed mirthlessly. Harry fought down his ever-growing anger and hatred as he watched the two walk on down the street, out toward the city limits. He was going the right way, and he need only to follow these Death Eaters the rest of the way.

Letting out a soft, triumphant purr, Harry stealthily followed the pair through the rest of the city. They didn’t stop at the city’s border, and he carefully sprinted off to follow from amongst the trees lining the road going off toward the coast. The older Death Eater continued the taunt the younger, reminding him continuously of his bondage to the dark lord. Harry managed to hear snippets of Voldemort’s plan as they walked along.

"Do you know how long our master has been looking for those retched elements? He’s gained so many new followers for the job that you’re lucky if he knows your name personally. Who would’ve thought the key to those elements would be here, so far from our homeland. But you wouldn’t know, eh? You’re a Jap!" He laughed, slapping the young man on the shoulders as he whimpered.

"Everything’s going according to plan. That Potter doesn’t have a chance to screw things up this time. It’s flawless! Even with the scare that the elements were lost… that Potter was out again… our master still managed to set up the spell." He continued. Harry strained to hear more.

"B-but… I heard…" the young man dared to utter.

"Heard what?!" the older man snapped, slapping the youngster across the back of his head. "That Potter is still out there? He doesn’t have a chance! There’s no way he can get through the whole group of us that’ll surround the master as he puts the final points to the spell in place! When the day is through, the whole world will be under his power, and dark shall reign over the light!"

The younger man whimpered and nodded dejectedly as they kept walking at a brisk pace. Harry had to catch himself as he let out an instinctive growl, before he was noticed.

"Anyway, don’t worry… we haven’t missed the main event. That doesn’t happen until nightfall, when the spell is complete and the elements are in place." The older Death Eater carried on.

Nightfall. Harry thought to himself as he followed quietly from the shadows. Should be easy to sneak among them then… but what am I going to do from there? How can I possibly stop both Voldemort and his minions at the same time? Going in as a panther won’t do much more than surprise… and going in as me is pretty stupid. If only I can mingle and sabotage from the inside?

The younger Death Eater mumbled something incoherently, and the older one slapped him again. Harry jumped slightly as the young man let out a painful shout.

"You are such a weakling!" the older man crowed. "Of course there is no turning back after the spell has been cast. Our master is going to rule the world! We will be his servants… attending to his commands for the new order. What’s that word you Japs say for idiots? Baka? Consider yourself one!"

An idea suddenly hit Harry; it distracted him so completely that he walked smack into a large tree. To his horror, the loud thump that followed drifted to the pair of Death Eaters.

"What was that?" The older Death Eater snapped suspiciously.

Now or never… Harry concluded. He shook himself back to his senses and leapt. Straight at the Death Eaters.

"What the…?! Ahhhhh!"

The whole of Harry’s heavy feline bulk landed flat on the older Death Eater. Harry growled and snarled, clawing away at the flailing man. The younger one stood off to the side, staring in pure shock. He made no move to help, and for that Harry was grateful.

As Harry continued to claw away, he managed to knock the Death Eater’s wand from his cloak pocket onto the road. The Death Eater screamed in rage, and tried to move to retrieve it… but Harry continued to hinder him. By the time he managed to get the man down flat on the road, the man’s face was all scratched and bloody from Harry’s razor-sharp claws. Harry jumped on the man’s back, and before he could reach his fallen wand, Harry knocked him out cold with one swipe of his large paw. The oldest Death Eater went completely limp.

Panting, Harry staggered off the unconscious body. The younger Death Eater backed away fearfully, obviously scared that Harry would attack him next. Harry merely looked up at him with his large and human emerald green eyes. Then, after a deliberating thought of his plan, he transformed in front of him.

"Ahhh!" the young Death Eater screamed. He crouched on the road and covered his head.

"I’m not going to hurt you. Get up." Harry said in a clear voice.

Slowly and uncertainly, the young Death Eater stood up, looking at Harry nervously.

"Y-you… you…" he stuttered.

"Yes, I’m Harry Potter. And you are?" Harry pocketed his wand and crossed his arms.

The young man looked shocked. His mouth opened and closed like a fish, his eyes wide, before he answered a moment later.

"Li." It was all he managed to utter.

"Well, Li… I take it you don’t want to be a Death Eater, correct?" Harry took his chances on his plan. Li nodded. "Then, Li… there’s only one way out."

"What?" Li whispered.

"Voldemort and his followers must be stopped before the spell can be cast and the elements used. I will need help… can you help me, Li?" Harry asked in his most determined and encouraging voice.

"If I go free… yes." Li nodded.

"Good. Now listen closely…"

Ten minutes later, Harry was dressed in the older Death Eater’s black cloak and walking with Li toward Maigo Nano Hi. Li, from what Harry could see from under the cloak’s hood, was obviously trying hard to hide his relief. However, Harry couldn’t share in the feeling. He walked behind Li with his head down, yet with a stance of power to further conceal himself as a Death Eater. The whole time, as the sun continued it’s journey across the sky, Harry went through his plan over and over in his head.

It was a longer walk than he expected, but by the time the sun had begun to set, Harry could begin to feel the dark malice of the dart arts in the air. A sign on the side of the road up ahead read "Maigo Nano Hi", and the first sign of other Death Eaters began to appear. Harry walked closer to Li.

"What does Maigo Nano Hi mean, anyway?" he whispered curiously.

"Lost Fire." Li answered shortly, becoming anxious at the sight of other Death Eaters.

"Why is this place called that?" Harry looked around, trying hard to keep his face hidden. While Li was thinking, Harry realized he was still wearing his glasses. After uttering a special charm he learned from Sirius, his glasses became transparent.

"This cliff used to be a volcano, before it fell into the ocean many centuries ago. Ancestors say that the smoke from it’s drowned fires filled the sky for many, many days." Li explained, wincing a bit as one particularly tall Death Eater glared at them as they passed.

"What significance does this place-" Harry began to ask, before a burly looking Death Eater stepped in their path.

"Where have you been?" he snapped, glaring at them both.

"This young piece of trash was creating a hold up," Harry grunted, trying hard to mimic the attitude of the man he had knocked out. "I had to knock some sense into him."

The Death Eater squinted his eyes suspiciously at them, and pushed Li’s shoulder enigmatically.

"Scrawny little runt, ain’t he, ‘eh?" The Death Eater suddenly bellowed a laugh. "Oh well. Malfoy’s been ordering everyone to the front. He’s gonna start soon. Consider yourselves lucky."

Harry coughed up a rough laugh and nodded, grabbing Li’s shoulder and pushed past the man. I wonder how Malfoy feels about loosing me… wonder if his "master" knows at all, yet. Harry thought grudgingly.

"What are you going to do?" Li whispered nervously as they walked through an even larger group of Death Eaters, toward the cliff face.

"Blend in until the time is right." Harry said through his teeth. Li’s eyes were constantly wide open at that point, and merely nodded in response.

Harry felt his own nervousness well up inside of him, almost counteracting the anger and utter disgust. He had never been among so many Death Eaters before, even with Sirius. Nearly half of all the ones around him were Japanese, obviously most of them recently recruited. The others were either British or Australian, but he heard some French and American accents as well.

Several times, Harry had to tighten the cloak around his face and double check that his glasses were still transparent. He ducked from curious and mildly suspicious glances as he led Li further up the cliff, hoping to catch a glimpse of Malfoy or Voldemort. It really wasn’t necessary to look, however, for Harry’s scar was beginning to burn and blur his senses. He hissed with pain through clenched teeth, making Li raise his eyebrows.

"Act casual!" Harry barked suddenly, noticing that Li was looking at him vaguely. Li jumped and averted his gaze straight ahead, his breathing slow and deep.

At last, just when Harry thought that the sheer number of Death Eaters would surely notice his true identity, they reached the cliff’s summit. Here, the Death Eaters were standing in a circle, eerily reminding Harry of his first duel with Voldemort in his fourth year at Hogwarts. Only, instead of surrounding him, the Death Eaters were surrounding what looked like one of the arches from Stonehenge. A marble slab table was set up in front of it, on which four stone pillars were arranged. Everyone was whispering in hushed tones, the loudest sound being thunder from a storm that was blowing in from the ocean. The sun had nearly gone down, and giant fire-lit torches were lit around the cliff. It cast an uneasy ominous glow to the atmosphere.

There was a sudden wave of voices and parting of places in the circle, and the pain in Harry’s scar became intense. Harry fought down the urge to grab his forehead in pain, as he watched the very epitome of evil walk regally to the marble table in front of the arch. Silence swept the cliff in every direction as those red snake-like eyes searched among his followers. Harry felt Li shudder as they fell on their spot, and to Harry’s relief, move past. Yet, there was some instinct inside of him that said that he knew Harry was there.

"My most loyal subjects," Voldemort mused with a wide, lip-less grin. "The fruit of our labors will finally come to bloom this evening."

Nods and quiet words of agreement uttered from the crowd of black cloaked people. Harry heard Li stifle a sob.

"The last points to the spell which will enable me to move past this dimension, and into the space between time and matter, will be complete!" Voldemort raised his skinny, bony arms high. "And once the portal has opened, I shall go into that space, and I shall wreck havoc with the balancing good!"

What does that mean? Harry thought quickly, trying hard to ignore the searing pain in his scar as the crowd murmured approval again.

"So," Voldemort ginned casually, lowering his arms. "Let’s not dawdle, we haven’t… I haven’t… come this far to delay the ultimate conquest!"

Harry gripped his wand so tight his knuckles lost color. If he could just create a distraction… he’d be able to do what no one else could.

The Death Eaters around him, including a reluctant Li, raised their wands in union. In one voice, they chanted:

"Enspelreana!"

Instantly, green light flowed from each raised wand and met in an arch above Voldemort and the arch. The spell drifted down from the center and poured into the four pillars. The four known elements.

"Earth, fire, wind, and water… I call upon your lawful power!" Voldemort commanded, pointing his own wand at the table. The four pillars began to give off a red glow.

"Release your natural right!" The Death Eaters chanted as one voice.

The red light coming from each pillar grew so intense that one could no longer make out the four distinct sources. It glowed as one blood-red orb.

"Now! Bring in the last element!" Voldemort shouted.

Last element?! Harry looked around wildly. What last element?

Another break in the circle opened, and four Death Eaters could be seen dragging something to the front of the marble table. Voldemort wore his inhuman malicious smile as the four Death Eaters dropped their burden. When they stepped away, Harry felt his heart stop and his stomach plummet to the ground.

Ron was bound, hand in foot, on the dirt in front of the arch.

"The very channel of the four known elements! The result of their power! The fifth element! Life!" Voldemort bellowed, raising his wand high in the air.

Ron was gagged, and even in the gloom, Harry could see his helpless tears. It was too much to bear.

"With your power, I command the portal to the ultimate source be opened!" Voldemort lowered his wand slowly, and directly at Ron. Ron closed his eyes, waiting his fate.

"NOOOO!" Harry bellowed, whipping off the cloak and stepping out from the circle. Li grabbed at him, but was too afraid to keep him back. Harry was much too strong.

Voldemort, much to Harry’s disgust, smiled slowly and widely.

"So… you decide to show yourself after all, Potter."

Every eye in the circle turned to him, each pair identical to the rest in the sea of black… made even darker by the storm that was brewing a nasty wind. Harry looked briefly at them all, feeling his heart beginning to pound out of his chest and his scar burn like fire. Ron looked up at him in surprise and pleading.

"This won’t work, Voldemort." Harry said dumbly, hearing his voice crack. Sweat broke out all over his body, as he felt his plan drain out of him hopelessly.

"Oh?" Voldemort chuckled, the sound hitting Harry’s ears like shards of ice. "I’m sorry to tell you, but I’m afraid that not even you can stop me now!"

Harry fought every nerve fiber in his muscles not to tremble, reaching down into his lessons from the Society… reacting as if this were any other confrontation with the dark arts.

"By order of the British Ministry of Magic and regulations of the International Confederation of Wizards, I place you under arrest!" Harry shouted, leveling his wand at Voldemort. The laughter that followed hit him like a brick.

"You’re just a wee bit out of your league, here, little Harry." Voldemort was nearly doubled over. "Why, not even your father was this naïve!"

Harry didn’t even realize he had shouted out a curse before it was over. The entire circle of Death Eaters was hit by a hex, spread out like a domino effect. Caught completely off-guard, there was no time to ward it off. Each black cloaked person went up into flames, creating an inextricable uproar. Harry kept his gaze on Voldemort… the laughter gone from his serpent-like face.

"Well, you’ve grown up, Potter." His eyes narrowed and his mouth level. "But you still cannot defeat me!"

In a duel, Voldemort was correct. Because their wands were brothers, it was impossible for Harry to duel with him or else their wands would create a dangerous effect. For all those years, Harry wondered how he would defeat him… but he never came up with an answer.

Voldemort took that moment of Harry’s momentary distraction and lifted his wand again… before Harry could act.

"By the powers combined, I command the portal be opened!"

Ron’s face went wide with terror. Green light was headed straight toward his back. Harry screamed.

"Ron!"

Harry leapt on top of him and rolled away, just as the spell was about to hit. Instead, it flew above their heads and straight at the disarrayed circle of Death Eaters. In a blinding flash, it hit someone.

What happened next happened so quickly that Harry had a hard time recalling. The red orb of light surrounding the four elements on the table expanded and a ray of its light shot out toward the person the spell had hit. The person screamed, and the light refracted back toward the arch. Voldemort leapt to the side just as the light hit the space under the arch. In one large flash, a shimmering luminescence exploded in the arch, creating an after shock of power that nearly knocked those still standing to the ground. In that moment, it began to pour as the storm settled over the cliff.

Harry looked up to see Voldemort run into the opened portal.

"No!" he screamed, jumping to his feet. Ron somehow managed to remove his bonds and leapt up after him.

"Harry! No, don’t!" he shouted after him. Ron began to follow and stop him, before he saw a wand rise out of the corner of his eye. "HARRY!"

Harry was just about at the portal when he saw Malfoy raise his wand, a wild and exuberant smile on his face. He turned to face him, when Malfoy shouted "Avada Kedavra!"

Ron leapt on top of Harry, knocking him to the side. All Harry saw was the blinding green light, Ron’s petrified face, and a white explosion from the portal. He fell against the table, rolled under, and hit a large boulder back first. Pain shot up his spine and he yelled in agony. But, where was Ron?

The portal! Oh no! Harry thought wildly in his head. Despite the pain, he crawled to his feet and looked up… only to see Malfoy standing over him.

"I’ve wanted to do this for sooo long!" he crowed, wand directly in Harry’s face. "Goodbye, Potter!"

"Avada Kedavra!"

Malfoy’s face went blank, and he suddenly fell backwards. Harry looked up incredulously at Li, who was standing about a yard away… his wand shaking in his hands. Harry had no idea Li was that powerful.

"G-go g-get that j-jerk! Senshi Potter, ojison!" Li grinned shakily at him.

With a small, wary smile, Harry got up painfully to his feet. He paused and nodded at Li, and looked into the portal’s swirling mass. Then, without looking back, Harry stepped inside.