Return of the Lion E. C. R. Potter
Summary: In the future, Voldemort has conquered all of Europe and has set his sights on the rest of the world. But there is a light of hope when Harry Potter returns after a two-year absence to challenge the Dark Lord. H/H and R/OC.
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Inc., Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Raincoast, and any other affiliated party.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
Romans 8:25
Chapter 1: The Dark Times
The world was facing dark times those days. As far as muggles knew the world had suddenly been isolated from Europe and whatever had taken over that continent was slowly spreading into Africa and Asia. However, that was only part of the truth.
The entire truth was known to the wizarding world. Within just a few years of his rebirth, Voldemort had overthrown the ministries of magic of Europe and set up his own order. An order where purebloods received all the privileges and muggle-borns were degraded to slavery status in hundreds of labor camps built throughout the continent. Dark creatures wandered around the lands freely terrorizing anyone who was in their path. Muggles who failed to flee to foreign lands were carted into extermination camps where misery and despair were prevalent. Those wizards who were caught smuggling muggles out of Europe were executed. Many wizards fled from Europe.
As if that weren't enough, Voldemort's forces were slowly moving into Africa and Asia. He also had hundreds of agents working secretly in Australia and the Americas. Indeed, the wizards and witches of those lands feared the day that would inevitably come when Voldemort would be the ultimate master of the world.
New York city was one of the few places that was generally unaffected by the terror in Europe. Yet, the atmosphere in the Big Apple was one of high tension and fear of the darkness spreading across the world. There were many people in the city that knew the truth about the darkness that was spreading. One of those people was sitting in a bar near Times Square looking depressed.
He was a young man around 18, and towered over most people at a tall 6 foot 2. He had brilliant fiery red hair and freckles all over his pale face. He was dressed completely in black as if he were in mourning. He wore a black trench coat that went down to his ankles, black combat boots, black jeans, a black belt, and a black button up shirt with collar.
"Give me anything with alcohol," he said in a clear southern British accent.
"I.D.," said the bartender, a gruff looking man in his mid forties. The red haired man pulled at a Columbia University Student I.D. "Sorry pal, says here you're underage."
"Bloody hell," cursed the red haired man. He dropped his head on the counter just as the news flashed on the T.V.
"Records confirmed that some 300 people were massacred today in cities throughout Europe in Berlin, Paris, Prague, and Barcelona. It is still not entirely clear how these civilians were killed but experts believe that it has something to do with the phenomenon that has been dubbed as the 'darkness'. In related news, five people were killed in Jerusalem as the 'darkness' seems to have started spread into Israel..."
"Ronald Weasley! There you are!" The red haired man turned to see a young girl of his age enter the bar; her hands on her hips and stern look on her face. She had wavy, waist length auburn hair, hazel eyes, and was wearing fashionable winter clothes of a college student. She was also quite tall at 5 foot 7.
"Hey Maggie," said Ron with a weak grin. Ron Weasley and Margaret Chapel had been steadily dating for a few months since the beginning of their freshmen year at Columbia University. Margaret was a muggle, but she somehow knew that there was more to what was happening in Europe than most muggles did.
Since the first time they had met, the mysterious red haired British man whom was attending Columbia with a full scholarship had entranced Margaret. After steadily dating for months, the two had completely fallen in love with each other. Yet, Ron always seemed depressed, and Margaret guessed that it had to do with "darkness" overtaking all of Europe, including England.
"Come on Ron, you don't belong here," said Margaret as she pulled Ron off of his stool.
"OK, OK. I'm up Maggie," muttered Ron as Margaret pulled her out of the bar into the cold December night outside. It was Christmas Eve and the snow was falling between the skyscrapers. Ron and Margaret started to make their way to the campus of Columbia University where they lived. They past many Christmas festivities along the way, which seemed to be making Ron more and more depressed.
"I should be spending Christmas with my family," muttered Ron. "I should be in England, with my parents, my brothers and my sister. But that can never happen now."
"Ron, your family's OK."
"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THAT?!" yelled Ron. "Do you have any idea what its like in Britain now?! They're probably all dead! And I'm living here in New York, hiding like a coward!"
Margaret bit her lip and looked down. She knew what it was like to lose a family; her parents who lived in Albany had died in a car crash right before she had graduated from High School. Margaret didn't know entirely what had happened to Ron before he came to New York. The only things she knew about Ron was that he was the sixth of seven children and that he went to boarding school in Scotland.
"Sorry," muttered Ron as he cooled down. "Its just that, I have no idea what's happening to them right now." Margaret nodded in understanding. They started to make their way back again.
"Its not just my family," said Ron suddenly. "Did I ever tell you I had two best friends?"
"No," said Margaret, interested in finding out another aspect about Ron's life.
"The two greatest friends I could ever ask for, we were inseparable. But then, one of my best friends disappeared without a trace, two years ago, right when this 'darkness' was starting to take over. He disappeared, along with the headmaster of our school. People lost hope after they were gone and many just gave up. I haven't heard from him in all that time."
Margaret had no idea what Ron was talking about, but she continued to listen.
"For a long time, I was angry at him. I blamed him for abandoning us when we needed him the most. But my other best friend never gave up hope that he would return. And then, about eight months ago, I abandoned her and ran to New York. I bloody abandoned her!" Margaret was surprised when Ron stifled a sob. "Who am I to accuse my best friend of abandoning us while I myself abandoned our other best friend?! I'm nothing more than a bloody coward who fled when he was needed!"
Margaret placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. "Ron, you're not a coward. I know you as one of the bravest people I know and I love you because of that."
Ron made a weak grin and kissed her. "Thanks Maggie. I needed that. Oh, and I love you too."
"Um, excuse me sir. Could you please come here for a minute?" Ron and Margaret looked up to see a short old man walk over to them, leaning on a cane. "Ah, why don't I find your fortune for you." Ron and Margaret ignored the man and continued walking down the sidewalk. Suddenly, the old man called out, "You're a Hogwarts alum, are you not?"
Margaret was surprised when Ron stopped still in his tracks. Without a word, Ron turned around and walked up to the old man. "All right, what do you have to say?" demanded Ron, his brow furrowed.
The old man chuckled. "I'm a seer, fellow wizard. I can make a prediction for you."
Ron snorted. "Oh, so seers can make predictions," he said sarcastically. "Sorry but I'm skeptical about divination."
"At least hear me out," said the old man. He suddenly went into a trance and in an eerie voice said:
"When the dark days have come and the serpent rules, there will be a day when light enters the world again. For the days of the serpent are numbered and his doom shall be signaled by the return of the lion. And the days of darkness will be over."
Ron simply stared at the old man before he went back to Margaret. "What was that all about?" she asked.
"Nothing," said Ron. "Lets just go back now."
After a while, the two finally made it back to the apartment where Magaret lived with her Aunt and 8-year old cousin, right next to Columbia's campus. Margaret's family had taken an immediate liking of Ron. So the two went up to her apartment. They started kissing passionately while in the elevator but met with a horrifying sight when the doors opened on her floor.
The door to Margaret's apartment was ripped off of its hinges and the living space itself looked like a hurricane had flown through. Everything was either broken or damaged on the floor. Margaret gasped when she found her aunt unconscious on the kitchen floor, blood leaking out of her left temple. She started looking everywhere for her cousin Peter but was distressed to find that he was nowhere in the apartment.
"Ron!" she shouted. "Peter's gone! Where could he...Ron? What's the matter?" Ron was staring at the living room wall. His face was pale and his body was shaking. Margaret slowly made it Ron's side and gasped.
Burnt into the wall was a livid skull with a serpent protruding from its mouth. "The dark mark," muttered Ron. Underneath the mark, burnt into the wall were the following letters:
Ronald Weasley,
If you ever wish to see the muggle child alive again, come to the abandoned shoe warehouse in south Harlem at midnight. If you even think about alerting the authorities, the muggle will die. Surrender yourself to us, fugitive.
Margaret glanced at one of the few clocks that survived and saw that it was 11:46 PM. A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "Ron, what is this about?" she asked.
Ron suddenly screamed. "This is my fault!" he hollered. "If I had never come here, the Death Eaters wouldn't have taken Peter! It's me they want!" He calmed down and whispered. "I should just surrender myself."
"Ron, I don't know what's going on but surrendering won't do anything!" yelled Margaret angrily with tears falling.
Ron looked up at her, a defeated look on his face. "This is all my fault. If we never..."
"I don't care whose fault it is! All I care is that those people have my cousin and I'm going to fight them to get him back!"
Ron stared at Margaret for a second. His face suddenly took on a look of determination. "You're right!" he said. "Lets go fight for Peter." He grabbed Margaret's shoulder.
Margaret suddenly felt a tingly feeling when her apartment started to dissolve away. A second later, Margaret was shocked to find herself standing in the middle of the warehouse in Harlem!
"Wha...how...how," she stuttered.
Ron was studying his surroundings as he said, "Its called apparation." He pulled out a wooden stick from his coat.
"What's that?" asked Margaret, feeling a little scared.
"My wand," said Ron. He looked at Margaret and grinned. "You see I'm a wizard."
"A wizard? As in magic and stuff?"
"That's right."
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Margaret wouldn't have believed him if it weren't for the demonstration of apparation he had just shown.
"I'll explain later." Ron suddenly motioned for quiet. A second later, about thirty men in dark black cloaks and masks entered the room. One of them led a crying Peter Chapel into the warehouse, holding a wand to his throat.
"Peter!" shouted Margaret. She tried to run to him, but Ron held her back.
"Ronald Weasley," said one of the masked men. "You are hereby under arrest for treason against the Dark Order. Surrender yourself and we will take you into custody back to England."
"I'll go, " said Ron, "only if you let that boy go."
The masked men started to laugh hysterically. "Do not be absurd, Weasley," said one of them. "Did you really expect us to pass up a chance to kill muggles?"
Ron swished his wand and shouted, "Accio Peter!" The young boy suddenly flew into Margaret's arms. They both stared at Ron eyes wide. "RUN!" he shouted.
Margaret and Peter tried to make a dash for the exit. Before they could get there, one of the hooded men shouted "Petrificus Totalus!" Margaret and Peter both collapsed to the floor, their bodies frozen solid. If her lips could move, Margaret would've screamed.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Ron. He disarmed one of the masked men and dashed to Margaret and Peter. He hurriedly performed the counter curse, and Margaret scrambled to her feet, clutching a very frightened Peter. Before they could move, the masked men surrounded them.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted one of the masked men. Ron's wand shot out of his hand. "It ends now Weasley," gloated the man while his comrades chuckled. "Why not watch us kill the muggles before we kill you." Margaret and Peter were clutching each other, sobbing while Ron stood in front of them.
"You'll have to kill me first before I let you lay a finger on these two, Death Eater," yelled Ron.
The man grinned behind his mask. "Suit yourself," he said. He pointed his wand at Ron.
Suddenly, a voice with a strong London accent called out, "Oh come now, surely you don't want to kill him first and miss your chance to kill me."
The masked men all whipped around, shocked and surprised. But the most shocked of all was Ron, for he had instantly recognized the voice. "It can't be," he muttered. It was. The voice had come from a young man who was leaning against the wall next to the exit, his arms crossed.
It was Harry Potter.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A/N I'm back! And I'm better than ever! At least I hope I am. So here's the first chapter to my latest fic. Is it enjoyable? I sure hope it is because it's going to be novel length. So read and review, please. And just sit back and enjoy the "Return of the Lion"!