Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Inc., Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Raincoast, and any other affiliated party.
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"Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."
Revelation 5:5
Chapter 2: The Hero Returns
Ron stared at the young man leaning against the wall. There was no mistaking his best friend whom he hadn't seen in two years. He was tall, about six feet. His emerald green eyes sparkled behind a pair of rimless glasses and his lightning bolt-shaped scar was clearly visible behind his bangs. His raven black hair stuck from underneath a tattered and patched up black hat that looked just like the school Sorting Hat. He wore sleeveless scarlet robes that went down to his knees and was held in shape by a black belt around his waist. An image of a golden lion's face was drawn on the torso part of the scarlet robes. Underneath the robes, he wore a white long sleeve shirt that disappeared into a pair of black dragon hide gloves. He also wore white trousers that disappeared into black dragon hide boots. He had a black cloak that he wore like a cape flowing down his shoulders.
The masked men, Death Eaters stared at the young man in shock. "Harry Potter?" demanded one of them.
Harry made a small bow and said, "In the flesh." He straightened up. "I have a number of questions I need to ask you guys. I leave for two years and come back to a world completely different. What happened while I was gone? And Ron, what are you doing in New York?" Ron was too shocked to say anything.
The Death Eaters started drawing toward Harry, completely forgetting about Ron, Margaret, and Peter. "If we can kill the famous Harry Potter, than our reward would be that much greater," said one of them with a chuckle.
Harry simply lowered his stance and grinned. "Give it your best shot," he said.
The Death Eaters all fired curses and hexes at Harry. Harry simply grinned and deflected all the curses with a shield charm. With lightning fast reflexes, Harry leaped forward and made a flying kick into one of the Death Eater's faces. He then spun around and backhanded another one. Two more Death Eaters pounced at Harry but he simply whipped his wand out and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" He placed enough power in the curse to knock them out.
Harry leaped forward and placed a drop kick on another Death Eater. He used the momentum of the kick to flip over in the air. While in mid flip, he flicked his wand and shot out a shock wave that blasted five Death Eaters away. Three more Death Eaters fired curses at him but Harry, with the image of a racket or bat hitting a ball, swung his wand around and deflected the curses back to their originators. Harry crouched down and started firing stunners and disarming spells at the rest of the Death Eaters, occasionally blocking one of their curses.
Another Death Eater came forward. He started twirling his wand around like a baton making all sorts of fancy moves. After the Death Eater had finished with his wand twirling, there was a moment of silence before Harry pointed his wand and said, "Stupefy," knocking the Death Eater out.
That left only one Death Eater. Rather than face Harry, the cowardly man grabbed the Cleansweep 7 broomstick that he had on his back and fled into the air through a hole in the roof. "Oh no you don't!" yelled Harry. He pulled out his Firebolt from beneath his cloak, mounted it, and took off after the Death Eater. Harry's superior broom soon caught up.
It was then, that Ron witnessed an amazing sight. Harry's hair started to grow thicker and longer. His nails started to change into claws and his robes started to change into golden fur. Within less than a second, Harry Potter had transformed into a magnificent golden lion with a shaggy black mane, emerald eyes, and a scar on his forehead!
Ron instantly remembered the words of the seer he had met earlier that night:
"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."
'Harry is the lion,' thought Ron. 'The prophecy was true.'
With a mighty roar, the lion that was Harry pounced on the Death Eater, bringing the broomstick he was riding crashing down. At the last moment, Harry transformed back into his human form and performed a charm that cushioned their fall. In this way, all the Death Eaters were defeated.
Harry studied the motionless forms of the Death Eaters and grinned. "Hmm. Not bad. I was afraid that my wand skills would be a little rusty but it looks like I've still got what it..." Suddenly, Ron ran forward and punched Harry's cheek as hard as he could! Harry rocked back but held his footing. He stared at Ron with an expression of surprise and bewilderment. Ron looked livid.
"Two years!" he yelled. "Two bloody years and no word from you! Where the bloody hell have you been?! Do you know how much we needed you? Do you know how much I needed you? Or how much Hermione needed you?"
Harry looked sorrowful. "Ron, all I can say is that I'm sorry. I can explain, but it still doesn't warrant my leaving without any word. You have every right to be angry with me. But please, at least hear me out."
Ron threw his arms up looking exasperated. "OK, fine. I'll hear what you have to say. But we should really get back."
The company returned to Margaret's apartment. Little Peter had completely forgotten his fear and was awed by Harry's powers: especially his animagus powers to transform into a lion. Eventually, Margaret put him in bed. Harry also placed a minor memory charm on Margaret's aunt while Ron repaired the apartment. Soon, there were no traces of the attack in the apartment.
After everything had been set in order, Harry and Ron sat down and explained everything to Margaret. They told her about the wizarding world, about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and about Voldemort. Margaret was a good audience who gasped at all the right places. She seemed frightened to find out what the "darkness" that was threatening the world really was.
After everything was explained to Margaret, Ron turned to Harry. "Alright, explain," he said with a stern face. Harry sighed.
"Well to begin with, you remember what happened after the third task of the Triwizard Tournament, right? That was pretty much the start of things. After Voldemort's (Ron shuddered at the name) return, Dumbledore wanted full preparation for the war that would inevitably come. So he took me to a special training facility in Tibet during the summer before sixth year. I was trained to become a Battle Wizard."
Ron remembered that that was when he had lost contact with Harry. "Why didn't you ever tell us? At least you could've written."
Harry shook his head. "One of the conditions of training in this facility was that I sever all contact with the outside world until the end of my training. For two years, Dumbeldore and my other trainers drilled me in all forms of dueling, martial arts, and combat magic. I was also trained to become an animagus as I demonstrated before. Dumbledore stayed behind but he will also come back eventually." He sighed. "I only found out what happened after I completed my training about a week ago. If I had known I would've come as fast as I could, training or no training."
"Well you didn't know did you?" yelled Ron. "While you were gone getting pumped up in the Himalayas, the world as we know has changed! You-know-who is the absolute ruler of Europe and is threatening the rest of the world! People are dying by the thousands everyday! And I don't even know if Hermione is alive or not!"
"I know Ron," said Harry. "That's why I want you to come back to Britain with me."
Ron stared at Harry looking shocked. "What?"
"Lets go back home Ron. We can work to bring Voldemort down together. That's the main reason why I came to New York first before I went back, to bring you home."
Ron looked frightened. "But...but I abandoned everyone. They wouldn't welcome me back."
"The treatment you get will be no different from mine for not being around the past two years. If we go back together, things will work out fine. We'll defeat Voldemort, find Hermione and everything will be back to the way it used to be."
"What about Hermione? We don't even know if she's alive."
"Oh no, she's alive. That's one thing I'm absolutely positive about."
"What? How come?"
Harry pulled a bracelet from his cloak. It had three gems on it, one red, one blue, and one green. All three were giving off a dazzling light.
"Before I left for my training," said Harry. "I had this bracelet created as a connection between the three of us. The red gem represents you, the blue gem represents Hermione, and the green gem represents me. So long, as the gems give off their light, I know that the person it represents is alive. Its also through this bracelet that I was able to find you."
"So we can use that bracelet to find Hermione?" asked Ron.
"Unfortunately no. Hermione is somewhere in Europe and the Dark Magic there is much too powerful to find her exact position. But at least I can see that she's alive. Whichever way, we can't start looking for her until we go back to Britain. So Ron, will you come with me?" Harry stood up, smiled, and offered his hand.
Ron stared at Harry's outstretched hand for a moment. Finally, he grinned and said, "You know, I'm still angry with you. But that doesn't mean I don't want my best friend back." Ron grabbed Harry's hand. "I'm in mate."
"And I'm going with you two," said Margaret looking determined. Ron faced her looking surprised and angry.
"Oh no you're not Maggie," he said. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes I do, Ron," said Margaret glaring at him. "I am coming with you. And don't you dare try to leave me behind. I can take care of myself."
"Oh, so a muggle can take care of herself against a bunch of bloodthirsty wizards," said Ron sarcastically. "It's too dangerous for a muggle, Margaret!"
"Hang on a minute," said Harry. He tossed his wand to Margaret who caught it. "Say 'lumos'," said Harry.
Margaret shrugged and said, "Lumos." To her and Ron's surprise, a brilliant light lit up on the wand's tip!
Harry grinned. "Now say 'nox'." Margaret shakily said the word and the light went out. Harry pulled out a feather from inside his cloak and placed it on the table. "Swish and flick the wand like this," Harry did the hand gestures, "and say, 'Wingardium Leviosa'."
Magaret shakily nodded. She swished and flicked the wand and said, "Wingarium Leviosa." The feather rose about two feet into the air. Ron was utterly speechless.
Harry grinned. "Just like I thought. You're a muggle-born witch, Margaret."
Margaret was completely speechless. Finally she managed to say, "B-but, how is that possible."
Harry seemed to be thinking, "Where did you grow up?"
"In Albany."
"Which means you should've attended Salem Academy of Magic when you turned eleven. Well, that explains it. Remember Ron, the old principal of Salem was notorious for his prejudice toward muggle-borns, seven years ago."
Ron nodded in understanding. Margaret however, didn't look quite that convinced. "B-but how could I be a witch? I m-mean, how is it possible. Before tonight, I've never performed any magic."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Haven't strange things happen around you whenever you were angry or upset?" he asked.
"Well once, when I was twelve, I was upset for being grounded and a light bulb in my lamp exploded. And there were times when my aunt's hair turned green when I was angry with her."
"Well there you have it," said Harry. He took his wand back and tucked it into his belt. "Besides, those tricks you just used should be enough to prove that you, Margaret Chapel, are indeed a witch."
Margaret finally seemed to accept her identity as a witch. Ron however still wasn't satisfied. "Just because you're a witch doesn't mean she can come with us."
"Actually it would be safer for her to come with us," said Harry.
"What? What kind of logic is that?"
"Think about it Ron. Margaret is a muggle-born who has absolutely no training whatsoever. If we left her behind, she'd end up as a target of Death Eater agents in America with no means of defending herself. It would be much safer for to come with us and learn magic first hand. We'd probably run into some of our old Hogwarts professors, they'd help train her."
Ron spluttered for a moment before he grudgingly said, "OK Maggie, you can come with us." Margaret beamed at him.
"Right, now that we've got that worked out, we need to get back to Britain," said Harry. He pulled out an old glove from inside his cloak. "This portkey will take us to Hogwarts. I've done some research during the week I've been back and I found out that the school is being used for the British resistance against Voldemort. The portkey will take effect in about thirty minutes. So hurry up and get everything you need."
Margaret hurriedly went to her room and packed a few belongings she would be bringing. She also left a note for her aunt. Ron summoned all of his belongings from his residence.
"OK, is everyone ready?" asked Harry.
"Yes," said Ron and Margaret.
"OK, we've got a minute before the portkey takes effect. Grab on." Ron and Margaret took a hold of the old glove Harry was carrying. Slowly the seconds counted down. Finally, the time came and the three disappeared with a flash.
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A/N Well, now you know why I titled this story, "Return of the Lion". Because Harry is the lion and his return signals the start of the downfall of Voldemort's order. The reason why it is PG-13 is because it's a lot darker than my previous fics. But that shouldn't be too much of a hindrance though I can't say about anybody younger than 11. So do you like this chapter? Well things will get even more exciting in the following chapters. So enjoy. And please R/R.