A/N Still here. Thanks as usual to Lady Starlight for her work on this chapter. Any mistakes are purely, my
own, however. I still own nothing except the plot.
Chapter 35: Through the Looking Glass
*********************Near the Edge of the Bermuda Triangle******************
June 22, 2020
1:15 pm
Over the past several hundred years, planes, ships and at least one submarine, which the American navy had never acknowledged, had vanished in a roughly triangular patch of sea demarked by Florida, Bermuda and the Bahamas. The vessels had vanished, mostly without a trace into crystal skies and deep blue water, never to be seen again, or if they were found, they were generally found years later, empty and abandoned.
Into this stretch of ocean, six people were riding a fifty-foot yacht. A red banner with a gold lion decorated the transom of the Sea Lion as they headed towards a destination that very few people in the world could even see. Up on the open bridge, a ballcap pulled low over his eyes and covering a mass of jet hair, Harry glanced out over the waters looking for their destination, even though he knew he wouldn't be able to see it. He glanced down at a map, with a scrying glass moving slowly over it, marking their destination. He nodded and took a drink from a water bottle clipped to the console in front of him. He turned around to look to the rear after touching his wand to the wheel. It started steering by itself, tracking ever closer to a spot on the map marked with an 'X'.
Off of the back of the ship, Ron and Neville were fishing...supposedly. From the pile of bottles next to them, it seemed that the pair was more interested in the beer than the fish. He shook his head as a slight, fire-haired young woman climbed the stairs behind him to stand at the rail next to him. Harry glanced over at Ginny and nodded. She handed him a beer as she looked at Ron and her husband. "I saved this from the endless appetites."
"Thanks Gin." Harry replied. They pushed off and walked back to the front of the bridge.
"It's not fair." Ginny griped suddenly, as she looked down onto the foredeck. Harry followed her gaze and smiled slightly as he saw Hermione and Luna lying face down on a pair of beach towels sunning. Both women had the ties of their bikini tops undone and were stretched out with their long hair pulled up and out of the way. Luna appeared to be asleep, with Hermione reading a large book, of course.
"What's not, Ginny?" Harry asked bemusedly. He took a sip of his beer, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"This," Ginny snapped as she waved over herself. Harry grinned at her slightly as he noticed the desert camo boonie hat pulled down low to shade her face, and the light weight long sleeved shirt that she had on over her black top. Her legs were slightly red under a pair of shorts. "I look at the sun funny and I burn, or worse get about a billion freckles, but those two..." she waved towards the bow, "they just get tanned." Harry laughed.
"You'll live." He pointed at the helm and Ginny nodded. Harry tipped up the beer bottle, finishing it in a few gulps and stepped down to the ladder. He vaulted over the rail, not bothering with the ladder and landed lightly on the deck below. He took another pair of beers from a cooler next to Ron, before shaking his head at Ron and Neville's efforts at 'fishing'. "It works better if you actually put the lines in the water," he commented sotto voice and headed forward, ignoring their sputtering protests.
Harry paused and watched Hermione from behind as she read some thick book that she had picked up in port at a small Wizarding shop hidden down an alley. He paced across the deck and dropped next to her, crossing his legs before him and bending forward to kiss the side of her head. She turned her head and smiled at him, before sitting up to face him. She grabbed her top from the blanket and tied it back on, before accepting the cold beer he handed over. How long? she asked as she took a sip of her drink.
Harry shrugged and scooted backwards until he reached the railing. Hermione moved, settling in between his legs and resting her head back on his shoulder. Dunno, Harry replied after another couple of minutes, taking the time to settle her more comfortably and take a sip of his drink, looks like four or five hours...we'll have to go in at night, I suppose.
That's fine, as long as we make the window before tomorrow morning, she replied, closing her eyes and letting him support her. She snuggled back, letting his arm wrap around her more tightly. Em and Cat want you to help them with new cathouses, by the way, Daddy...seems that Hipper and Nergal must have them, even though they will probably never use them...and you know that Horry is going to want something...an owl perhaps.
There has to be a joke there, four girls...women and three cats at home, but I'm too smart to say it, Harry muttered and Hermione laughed out loud.
She turned her head enough to peck his lips, Good boy...See how well I picked, you're the trainable one. She sighed and looked across the ocean, watching as a rouge kelpie splashed by. Hermione looked down at her toes, wiggling them for a bit, This whole, every equinox thing sucks, Harry. I understand why they hid them in a pocket universe, but they should have had them cascade release when we got the first part...We'll be spending Christmas looking for the Orb, yet, I'd bet. Harry just nodded as she went on, reaching down and absently spinning his ring on his finger. Do you think we can hold on another year?
We're going to have to, aren't we, Hermione? Unless we cut off the X'Sheen, cut them from his control, we can't hold...unless we want to turn the planet into a cinder. Harry kissed the top of her head as she slipped down slightly; Let's just hope that Lucius would rather have something to rule, than the alternative.
************************London*****************************
Lucius Malfoy swept down the hallways of the palace, like a dark wave of malcontent followed by the remainder of his inner circle. His wife, still loyal after all these years, even after the defection of her son to the light, his major domo, Bariss, Xavier Hamilton and Michelle Prichart, his enforcers and executioners. He pushed open a set of doors leading into a darkly apportioned throne room and stalked down a black runner, passing prostrated Death Eaters and weres.
A pair of Vampires stood against the wall, watching with practiced indifference as Malfoy sat on a dark throne, his wife folding herself at his feet. The smaller of the two, a black-haired vampiress, smiled faintly and reached down, pulling her pet to her feet. She lowered her lips to the young girl's neck, as she reached in through the blonde's mostly unbuttoned shirt and lightly caressed a breast. The girl shuddered, her dark green eyes utterly vacant, as the vamp slowly slid her fangs into her neck, causing a thin stream of blood to trickle down the column of her neck and between her breasts.
The vamp lifted her head, and licked the girl's neck clean after a moment, only having wanted a snack. She smiled faintly as the girl spun in her arms and started to nuzzle on her neck, small hands slipping under the vamp's shirt to run along her back. "Not now, love," Rebekka muttered, even as she let her fingers slowly, work along the hem of her pet's short skirt.
The Familiar sat at her feet, looking up adoringly and wrapping her arms around one slender, leather-clad leg. "What have you called us here for, Malfoy?" Rebekka said flatly, looking across the room, at the new Dark Lord. She looked across to find a pair of dark, robed figures in the shadows, "we are not bound to you, I am here merely as a courtesy."
Malfoy snarled softly, and rose from his seat, "I wish to know why the clans have chosen to not honor my requests?"
Rebekka reached out and stopped her bodyguard as his fangs dropped and he started to leap forward. She gave him a small, almost indistinguishable headshake, and then looked at Prichart meaningfully, "Because the clans do not do a human's bidding, unlike your pet."
"Cowards," Prichart snarled, "you are afraid..."
"Yes," Rebekka said softly, "if that is what you wish to believe, then so be it...Unlike you, not all of us are undead whores to command." Prichart leapt across the room, fangs bared and crashed back against the far wall as a small fist flashed. Rebekka slowly knelt down next to her human familiar, who was whimpering softly, she slowly pulled the girl's face up and kissed her gently, then kissed her forehead, "Know your place Prichart...Yes, we have refused your, request, to kill the Potters' children, Malfoy."
"How dare you defy..."
"Silent, Bariss," she snapped, and glared at Malfoy for a long moment, "It is the combined opinion of the clans that we will not participate in this war...those individuals that are already involved," she nodded to Prichart who was slowly picking herself from the floor, "may of course continue to act as they have." She picked up the girl from the floor, cradling her to her chest like an outsized child and started towards the doors, her bodyguard falling into step after her.
"What about O'Connor?" Prichart yelled after her.
"I seem to remember that your last human master started that feud..." she said with a small smile and left, casually tossing a Death Eater standing in her path back to crash against the wall of the dark room.
Malfoy snarled and looked over at the Death Eater slowly pushing his way back to his feet, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" A bolt of green rushed across the room, sending the Death Eater tumbling back down, his suddenly lifeless eyes staring up at the slightly gothic carvings decorating the ceiling. The body was almost immediately removed as Malfoy's grey eyes flared red, and slowly panned around the room, settling, finally on Xavier Hamilton, then over at the dark corner.
Silently, a tall, armored X'Sheen slipped from the shadows, dark black steel plates whispering against each other as it moved. It stopped in front of Malfoy's throne, and sketched a barely respectful bow to the Dark Lord. Malfoy's scowl deepened, but he did not comment, nor reach for the glowing orb that even now rested in his pocket. Instead he steepled his hands in front of his face, and started towards the new X'Sheen general, the one that taken the place of the fallen leader Harry Potter had executed at Azkaban so long ago.
"Are your forces ready?" Malfoy asked without explanation. The dark one nodded mutely and Malfoy looked to Xavier. "Xavier."
"My Lord."
"The time is upon us, execute the plan." He smiled darkly, "If I cannot end Potter's line then I will settle for removing his allies." Xavier gave a quick, sidelong glance to Bariss, but nodded and spun on his heel. Every eye of Malfoy's inner circle watched him leave, even Prichart trembling slightly. Malfoy stood and extended his hand to his wife, pulling her to her feet. "Bariss, find something...appropriate for my lady and I to enjoy...send her to our chambers." He left, passing through a shimmering portal at the rear of the room, directly behind his throne.
***************************Near Bermuda******************************
10:15 pm
In the late twentieth century, Muggle Archeologists had been puzzled by the discovery of a "road" lying underwater just off the north shore of a tiny island in the Caribbean. At the time, the stones, lying along the sea bed in the warm, shallow waters had been thought, by many, to be a road to, or perhaps part of the long lost city of Atlantis, whose existence had echoed across both Wizarding and Muggle cultures alike.
They had been partially right.
The flat lines of stones had been a pathway of sorts, but not for foot or animal or even wheeled traffic, but the landing zones of the Atlantian versions of the magical powered crafts that darted along the skies these days, launched from military bases or carriers, or as had happened within the last year, from Airports that were slowly converting to the newer "technology". The actual city, one of several actually, had been several hundred miles to the northeast, centered around, what was now the island of Bermuda.
The secret of the location had been hidden from the public, both Wizarding and Muggle for centuries, pushed aside with misdirection in the Wizarding world, and outright denial in the Muggle one. Not that there were not ones who knew, in fact the Bermuda branch of Gringotts', which was currently the headquarters for the financial institution after the sealing of the London Office, used a converted and relatively poorly disguised section of an Atlantian fortress, sunken under the waves, as the basis for their vaults. In all that time, in the thousands of years since the lost of the continent to a series of X'Sheen attacks, few had returned, and only two had returned to where six prepared to go.
The waves slowly rocked the Sea Lion as Hermione finished pulling on a darkly colored wetsuit. She gave Harry a brief smile as he pulled her thick plait of hair out of the way and zipped it up for her, before she grabbed a equipment belt from the desk and buckled it on. She bent at the waist, buckling on a wand sheath to each thigh and straightened, watching as Harry began to pace.
She slipped up to him, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder, stretching slightly to do so. She smiled, faintly as she heard Ron growl a curse, and disparage the Muggles who ever invented such a thing as a wetsuit. Remember the last time we did a night dive in these waters? she asked, smirking as Luna muttered something about gits and her hormones and went to help Ron.
Yeah, Harry replied, though we both had a tad less on, at the time. He spun, turning sideways to see her out of the corner of his eye. He kissed the side of her head and looked up towards the flying bridge, where in the dim, red night lighting, her could see Ginny and Neville looking down at him. Ginny gave them a high sign, both her and Neville were staying topside, just in case, and Harry nodded. "Ready to go, oh, King?"
"Shut it, you," Ron growled, even as Luna giggled faintly. She finished with Ron's suit, having already donned hers and grabbed a pair of fins from a dive bag. She walked to the rail, sitting backwards on it, and looked off to the east, where the lights of a Muggle resort on the coast of St. George's Island could be seen, several miles away.
"Let's go," Hermione said, glaring at both of her "boys" for an instant. She sat next to Luna, and both of them concentrated. A faintly visible shimmer surrounded their faces as modified Bubblehead Charms took hold, and without another word, the pair rocked backwards, falling into the ocean with faint splashes.
"Come on," Harry said, and followed Hermione, his charm establishing itself a bare instant before he hit the water. Ron muttered something, and yelped as Ginny flicked her wand, sending him crashing into the water.
The black waters instantly lit as Hermione thought a spell and a floating white orb of light appeared at her shoulder, and she started down, swimming towards a sandy bottom thirty feet below. She looked back, up towards the surface where the running lights of the boat could be dimly seen, finding the other three swimming down towards her.
As they slowly approached the bottom, passing schools of brightly colored fish, a pair of slight annoyed sharks and a immature Kraken, which snapped its beak at Ron. He sent a jet of hot water at it from his wand and it swam off, shooting a cloud of ink his way. His sputtered complaints came over the wireless in their ears for the next few minutes, as they moved ever closer to the bottom, that as they got closer seemed to look further and further away, the image, even in the dimness of their lights seemingly distorted and warped.
Hermione swam a touch longer, and without warning, the image ahead suddenly cleared and changed. Where there had been only sandy bottom, suddenly, several obsidian columns reached for the surface, like fingers of a hand. Directly in the approximately circular formation, a shimmering two-dimensional oval hung vertically in the water. The surface of the portal was opalescent, like a bit of mother-of-peal. Hermione looked back towards Harry, and waited as he caught up to her.
She reached back grabbed his head and pulled them both forward. She reached out and gently touched the surface with just the tips of her fingers. For a long instant nothing happened, then...
Without warning, a slamming sensation, like they were a pair of bludgers hit by the world's largest Beater's Bat, slammed into the small of their backs sending them flying forward. A sudden rush of images, of impossible places and creatures, of young children and old wizards snapped past. A tall man, with a long beard and a carved staff waved at them, and suddenly they slammed to a sudden halt on a white sand beach under a bright yellow sun. They tumbled along the beach for several meters until coming to a stop with Hermione sprawled artlessly across Harry's stomach.
Hermione rolled off Harry, pushed up on her hands and desperately canceled her Bubblehead Charm as her stomach rebelled. She heaved, spewing the contents of the last three days dinners onto the sands. She leaned on her hands, dry heaving and looked over at Harry to find he had done the same thing.
Hermione fell to the side and Harry grabbed onto her as she curled back into him, shivering from a sudden, unknown cold. After a minute, she stopped shaking and Harry sat up, pulling her up with him. They leaned together as Hermione conjured a canteen and handed it to him, and watched him wash out his mouth and hand it to her.
What the hell was that? Harry said hotly, if silently. He watched as Hermione chewed her lower lip in thought, and slowly looked up. Her eyes panned across the cloudless blue sky, and tracked about thirty degrees to the right, finding a smaller, orange ball of light
She swallowed heavily, and her hands shook as she reached out and grabbed Harry's hands in hers. Harry reached up and ran his hands over her wet hair as he looked into huge brown eyes, What's wrong, Hermione? he said softly.
Look up, Harry.
He paused and looked at the sky for a long moment. Oh.
Yeah.
That's probably not good.
You think? She snapped, then gave him an immediate, apologetic look. She closed her eyes and took a breath. I think we just took a Portkey Jump for lack of a better term.
You mean like the starships?
Like the GE Large displacement Portkey Drive...yeah...we ran into that same issue with the first prototypes, took me a month to balance out the effects, Hermione held his gaze for a beat, before she answered the question he did not ask, I don't know where we are, Harry. Somewhere in a binary or maybe tertiary star system. Maybe...Alpha Centauri...but that's just a guess and it really doesn't matter all that much.
Harry looked around, Where's Ron and Luna?
Hermione shrugged, I guess they weren't let through or something. She slowly pushed to her feet and looked down at her bare feet then walked over and picked up her flippers. She shook them once and watched as they changed to a pair of rafting sandals, which she strapped on. She reached back, unzipping the top of her suit and pulling it down so the top half hung loose from her hips, exposing the bikini top she had worn underneath.
Harry turned to her; then looked out over the ocean, watching as something large and orange leapt out of the water at the edge of the breakers. "I suppose we should look for the third piece of the guide," he said without turning from the waves. Hermione came up to his side and linked her little finger with his. "So you think this is Alpha Centauri?" Harry said quietly, "You think we can get a place here after this is over?"
"Kids would like it," Hermione mused, "not too many paparazzi to harass us, nice lines of fire for security," she watched something small with entirely too many legs scamper by at the edge of the water, "plenty of things for the cats to chase...why not."
"It is a rather fine place," an unfamiliar voice said from behind them, in a perfect Oxford accent. Harry and Hermione flickered and vanished, reappearing meters apart, all four of their wands pointing at a man that neither of them had ever seen before. In many ways, the man looked like Dumbledore, his long white beard bound with small gold rings and matching the tail of hair behind. Incongruously, the man wore a dark, tailored suit, with polished short boots that even from a distance, Harry could tell were the finest black dragonhide. He leaned on a tall, carved staff, set with a fist-sized faceted diamond that glowed and pulsed, readily visible even in the daylight.
But it was the eyes that sent a flutter through their hearts. They were featureless, depthless, glowing lights. Even when Harry or Hermione, Dumbledore's, even Voldemort's eyes, when they lit from within with magic, there was still structure to be seen, even if faintly, underlying the glow. In this newcomer's there was none to be seen. "I had thought myself about establishing a home here, perhaps in another thousand years or so..."
"Who are you?" Harry asked, even as his eyes lit, followed a moment later by Hermione's...
A deep, roaring belly laugh came from the Wizard, he leaned on his staff, totally unconcerned with the shimmering energy gathering at the tips of four wands. "Why, Lord Gryffindor...my name is known to many, and yet known to none. I have walked the worlds of man and of races yet unknown, and I have stood in the line when the hordes charged Arthur on the fields of Glyndonberry."
"That does not answer my husband's question," Hermione snapped, her eyes flaring further.
The Wizard snorted, "Lady Ravenclaw...if I could only express the number of times Rowena railed upon me when a fact eluded her." He stood straighter, and fingered his staff, "Very well then, let me introduce myself, my name dear lady, my Lord Gryffindor, is Merlyn Ambrosius, First Court Wizard of Britannia, defender of the Magical Realms and creator of the sandwich..." Hermione gave him a look. "Lord Sandwich stole my idea, quite improper that."
****************************Hogwarts************************************
Horatio Potter sprinted through the halls of the castle, chased by his sisters, all three of them, and a pair of scampering kittens. "Horry," you're dead," Emilia screamed, as her hair flashed bright blue and stood on end. He laughed and dove into a hidden passage that slammed closed just as Emilia and Caitlin reached it. Emilia flicked her wand at it, and growled, as it did not open.
"Come on," Makaila said from behind them, grabbing her sisters' hands and pulling them down in the opposite direction, "That passage leads to next to the kitchens, we can cut him off near Dumbledore's office." They sprinted off, towards a staircase down, a large glowing smiley face in the back of her hair and two kittens running after them as fast as they could move.
***********************Somewhere with a Binary Star************************
Merlin smiled at their gobsmacked expressions and waved his free hand. An overstuffed couch appeared across from a large, chintz armchair. A small table complete with a silver tea set, the pot already steaming, appeared with a slight twitch of his left eyelid. He looked at Harry and Hermione, Harry still in his wetsuit and Hermione in hers, half undone and he waved his hand.
Instantly, a column of sparkling golden light appeared around Hermione, fading slowly to reveal her, clad in a soft white, shift-like dress, her hair unbound and hanging loose down her back in soft waves and her feet bare on the white sands. The Ravenclaw sword hung from her slim hips off a black dragonhide belt, the rubies and sapphires in the hilt glinting softly in the light of the sun. She glanced over at Harry, to find him in a dark black suit, his hair wild as ever, but dry, and the Gryffindor sword, likewise at his hip. "Excellent," Merlin said, and waved to the couch, "please."
He sat, parking his staff vertically in the sand and poured himself a cup of tea. He watched over the rim of the cup as Hermione shared a quick look with Harry and she sat, carefully detaching her sword and laying it at her feet, before bringing them up onto the couch beside her. Harry sat next to her, setting his sword down on the sand, crossing over hers.
Merlin gestured in the air, and the third piece of the triangle, appeared, spinning in the air next to his head. He pointed to Harry and it floated over to him, dropping neatly into his hand. "There is what you came for, as you surmised, only the pair of you, together, could proceed through the portal. I will not send you on a misleading, meandering thought process to find where you must progress next. The Orb of Annakus may be accessed on the longest eve of the year, at the hold of night, with this key, at Stonehenge. In the same place that the first portal was opened. I myself created the pocket universe."
Hermione reached forward and took a cup, and had Harry do likewise with a glance. Somehow it did not seem...polite, to not do so. She took a sip and gave an appreciative nod, "Then we will be able to break his hold on the X'Sheen?"
Merlin nodded, "Yes, however the Orb has been hidden away for so long that it may take time to gather enough power to challenge its brother..." He took a contemplative sip, and then looked down, at the twin swords lying on the ground, "Your blades were part of a set of six actually...Lord...Harry," he said with a faint smile, "it was often speculated that Godric's blade was in fact, Excalibur...It is not, though she was made at the same time, with many of the same powers. Either yours or Hermione's may suffice to destroy the Orb of Maccabus, providing that you first bind its powers with the light Orb. If that is the case, you may break Malfoy's hold on his dark legions."
"Then the field is level," Harry said softly.
"One would think, my friend, one would think," he agreed, "However you must be careful, when they are released from the Dark Lord's hold, they may strike out randomly, or they may choose to pull back to their dark origins to wait their chance to strike. Remember that their goal is ultimately the destruction of humanity. They have had the same goal for the last ten thousand years." He looked out over the crystal waters. "As a boy, I watched the dark ships of the sky rain down blood and horror on Atlantis...and I watched from the shores of Britannia as the west horizon lit with fire."
Harry slowly reached over and took Hermione's hand in his, "Sir...we need to return." He paused, "If you would join us sir, surely you could..."
"I am very, very old, Harry, even though I feel rather spry, and in fact would dearly love to go dancing. Perhaps I will in the New World, tomorrow..." his gaze went suddenly blank, "You must return...to my eternal regret I am not permitted to directly participate in our conflict at this time, it is my duty to hold the line here...waiting for the time when the true host of the Dark Horde will appear in the night." He stood and waited as Harry and Hermione stood confusedly, gathering their swords in their hands. Harry slipped the fragment into a pocket. "I will see you again my friends, please give my best to Albus, and tell him he still owes me fifteen Galleons from the Portree Game in '05."
"They were pretty good in 2005," Harry said absently.
"No, Harry," he corrected him with a grin, "nineteen O' five." Merlin grasped his staff and raised it above his head. The diamond started to pulse rapidly, "Goodbye, my friends, I will see you soon, perhaps only a century or two from now." A bright white thunderclap of light filled their senses, and they felt themselves being tossed back, hurtling the way they had come.
The same sensations, though muted from before grabbed them, and a heartbeat later, they tumbled out of space a dozen feet above the softly rolling deck of the Sea Lion. Both of them twisted in the air automatically, landing softly on their feet. Harry looked over at Hermione and causally waved his hand, dismissing the wands of Ron, Luna, Ginny and Neville.
"Bloody Hell, where the fuck did you come from," Ron shouted, his eyes still as wild as when he saw them vanished into the portal and it collapse behind them almost four hours ago. He looked over them critically, "And why are you two dressed for a bloody ball?"
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you, Ron," Hermione replied for the both of them, reaching over and grabbing Harry's hand. "Harry and I are going to bed, I'm sure between the four of you, you can manage to get us back." Hermione gave them a small smile as she and Harry stepped below and a loud, happy squeal came up to the main deck a moment later and then silence.
"Yes, ma'am," Ron replied to the air and waved Ginny to the upper bridge, "You heard the man, sister dear, come, luv," he grabbed Luna's hand and started towards the cabins below.
"Why us," Ginny groused, loudly, even as she started to climb the ladder to the bridge. Neville did not say a word as he followed.
"I outrank you, Ginevra," Ron replied with a grin, "And I'm older."
He managed to just shut the hatch cover as a Bat Bogey Hex glanced off the hatch.
**************************Mount Weather, Maryland*********************
A large, glowing stone stood in the center of a ring of inscribed runes, the center keystone for the defensive wards preventing the invasion of the X'Sheen into the east coast. Around the stone, a dozen, flat black armored suits stood, looking outward, swaying slightly in the insanely high winds that ripped across this mountaintop on a daily basis.
One mountaintop away, a truck pulled up, and stopped. Within the truck, in the back of the stolen, panel truck that rocked and swayed in the winds, four cloaked figures sat, looking at a dark, twisted crystal that sat on a burnished metal tripod. "How long are we to wait?" one asked as he poured a cup of coffee from a thermos.
"We are to wait the signal, then we are to plant the device and leave," another, who had been the driver for the conveyance answered. He started to say more, but fell silent as he watched the crystal begin to pulsate faster and faster--
A green wave tore through the early morning sky, reaching across and shattering the keystone into a billion shards, even as the Kedavra Device destroyed its defenders and sent them tumbling into the night.
All along the Eastern Coast, a line of fire erupted in the eastern sky as the wards crumbled, and a beat later, at a hundred sites all along the sea coast, from Florida to Maine, flat depthless portal opened in the darkness with the sound of a thousand screams and dark, cloaked shapes appeared and green fire lit the night.
A/N And there is its, the game is fully afoot.