Chapter One
Extinguished By The Blade
Rain rapped quietly but relentlessly against the mucky window that looked into the spare bedroom of number four, Privet Drive. Its barely audible patter seemed to sooth the room's sole occupant, who had been woken by another nightmare. These dreams were neither premonitions nor trespasses into his enemy's mind or vice versa. Instead, they were his recollection of his godfather's death three short weeks ago.
Nightmares woke him, and the rain's accompaniment in the form of strong winds prohibited his return to sleep, where he risked encountering yet another nightmare. A flash lit the lightless room for a fleeting moment before thunder filled the atmosphere with a prolonged growl. Harry counted the time between them to pass the time, coming to the conclusion the storm was on the retreat from Little Whinging.
His mind trickled onto the subject of the prophecy causing his heart and stomach to collide at the thought. He had to kill Voldemort, Voldemort had to kill him, or they had to kill each other. There was never a chance he could do it all by himself, even though he wanted to; to stop more people he loved from falling into the Dark Lord's deadly grasp.
Truth was, he needed all the help he could get to end up the better half of the prophecy. He thought of Dumbledore, his mentor and protector, and his heart eased. Then he thought of Ron, and his uneasy stomach settled. And finally of Hermione, which made him smile. They were his advantage over Voldemort. Harry had many friends, who cared for him and looked to him; whereas Voldemort just had followers, who envied his power or were just frightened of him.
Harry could not wait for the next school year to begin - to be home. He could not wait to be surrounded by his friends again, to be surrounded by the people he cared for - the feeling was unparalleled. They were his hope. If he had any chance of defeating Voldemort, it would be because of them.
Another flash disturbed his thoughts. A second barely passed before thunder shook the house. Either that or Dudley had a case of midnight munchies. It made Harry curious how quickly the storm turned since its last strike; he found it odd how the wind would change direction so suddenly.
For no reason at all, Harry grew anxious. He reached for his wand under his pillow but stopped short, he anticipated the familiar feeling of the invisible grasp of the Dementors. He struggled to conjure his happiest memories, his mood not ready to accommodate such a quick change of demeanour. Such efforts were fruitless, however, since any of the cloaked wraiths failed to appear. Harry released one long breath, its invisible composition further assuring him of the Dementors' absence.
Lightning flashed again; any and all fear returned as the blast of light revealed a lone figure silhouetted in the corner of Harry's room, but was gone when a subsequent strike flashed half a second later. In that time, Harry finally snatched his wand and extended it to the now vacant corner; his heart beating faster than the rain and louder than the thunder, or at least it felt like it. Before he had the chance to calm himself, the phone downstairs rang throughout the house. Harry froze, and waited for any of the Dursleys to answer the phone's heed. After five minutes, the phone continued to announce its need for attention.
Harry cushioned the light switch to suppress its click, not that it could really be heard over the telephone - it was just in case. He quickly threw on some old tracksuit bottoms and a baggy t-shirt before descending the stairs, he didn't want to be found half-naked just in case the Dursleys decided to get their fat arses out of bed. Navigating the darkened landing and ultimately, the stairs, was barely second nature but he had a rough idea of the pacing to save himself falling arse over tit down the stairs. A few tentative minutes later, with the phone ringing ever louder, he lifted the receiver slowly; as though lifting it any higher would cause it to detonate. The earpiece finally rested over the relevant area ... "Hello?" spoke Harry cautiously.
"You have three minutes," warned a deep but juvenile voice, "more had you answered earlier. Get changed, arm yourself, run as far as you can from that house and hide."
The line extinguished once the warning was complete. Harry did not know whether to dismiss or heed it. Somewhere in between the two, he ran as quietly as he could up to his room, though he gauged the threshold of waking the house as quite high following the Dursleys' ignorance to the telephone. His mind buzzed with theories and opened his wardrobe to look for a change of clothes before he laughed to himself and abandoned any escape plan.
Hedwig suddenly went berserk. Her wings flapped furiously, sounding off her discontent. Nothing had ever spooked Hedwig like this and whatever it was, it seemed to build credibility for the stranger's warning. A few more flashes broke his contemplation but no thunder succeeded the lightening ... this was the instigation of his escape. The panic that swept over him did not allow for any desire to change his clothes. Unleashing Hedwig and grabbing his wand was all he wanted to do, both of which he did within seconds of each other. His owl flew over to the open door and perched herself atop on the corner, ready for Harry's imminent escape. He flipped open his trunk and pulled his broomstick from under the mess that was gathered over it. Despite a slight struggle, he managed to unearth it and tear out of his room.
An explosion knocked him from his feet, the heat carried through the door into the hallway. Harry was lucky not to have knocked himself out with the broom handle as he fell meaning he was fortunate enough to regain his footing and escape. Descending the stairs, he mounted the broomstick vertically by stepping on the footrests, sliding down them smoothly before jumping off it once he reached the bottom. Muted voices came from behind the door before it blasted from its hinges and slammed into Harry, forcing him to yield his broomstick whilst dislodging his tight grip from his wand.
"What do we 'ave 'ere then?" pondered the invader, footsteps marking their approach. "Depulso."
The door flipped off Harry, flying through the kitchen window with an accompanying crash. "O, look 'oo it is," remarked a second intruder. "Little 'arry Potter ... the Dark Lord's been lookin' fer you, laddy." They were both about to restrain Harry before he found his wand poking from underneath the refrigerator. With barely his fingertips on the handle, he sent two blurring stunners at the two Death Eaters.
There wasn't much time to linger so he snatched his broomstick before running outside onto the front garden, Hedwig followed and went ahead to avoid anymore confrontations. Without any thought or hesitation, he mounted his broom properly and kicked off from the ground that catalysed intense acceleration. It was a couple of seconds before the Death Eaters had noticed his flight, their spells useless due to the distance he had already gained. Harry dared not gain any altitude just in case one of his enemies' spells hit true and he was forced off his broom, he did not want to add a thousand foot drop to whatever curses they could think up. Despite that, he raced incredibly fast along the rooftops, roads, alleys and fields of the surrounding suburb. He had not even bothered to think of what direction he was travelling; his warning said run and hide, with no specifications as to where.
After twenty minutes of what must have been full-hilt flying, Harry settled down in a large field having just passed a large town centre. Here, the weather had mercilessly waned but the humid summer air remained warm and humid, the rain having thinned substantially during the journey
He was still panting with his wand stowed albeit poised for any subsequent action. He didn't plan on settling yet, he just needed to regroup and get his bearings. Harry transfigured his broomstick into a very wonky staff - it would have to do. Just as his wandlight dimmed from the spell, a green light came from behind. Instinct kicked in and he ducked, throwing a Disarmer at the source. Yet the presumed attack never materialised and Harry's spell rebounded off of something with an unmistakable pang of metal. Harry could barely make out a tall silhouette with his barely night-adjusted vision.
"Lu-" Harry started.
"No," said the stranger.
Harry furrowed his brows, noticing the intonation of the new voice. "You're the one who warned me. How did you know?"
"Foresight. That house is no longer safe. You need another place to stay."
"Who are you?" Harry still had his wand poised, never letting himself fall into a false sense of security.
"There will be a time when you find that out. Now isn't that time," the new arrival explained.
He pulled a device from his pocket, fiddled with it and held it to his ear. Several moments passed before any action followed. "I'm sincerely sorry to wake you up so early, Mrs Granger." Harry perked up even more. "I have a Mr Potter in my company and acting upon his behalf, I wonder if you could possibly extend your hospitality." Harry could hear Mrs Granger's tired albeit pleasant voice from the speaker from what he now knew was a telephone, but not as he had experienced before - since when had mobile phones become so ... compact? "His guardian's house became the target for Voldemort's minions earlier tonight and is thus compromised; I believe relocating to yours would keep him safe." Another pause. "I shall have him over right away, thank you, and again my apologies for getting you up so early."
The stranger refocused on the young wizard but became immediately distracted. "O, shit! Harry, arm yourself!" he exclaimed.
Totally bewildered by the appearance of this person and his subsequent conversation with his best friend's mother, he found it hard to shake himself out of it. Apparation cracks erupted all around the field but the final one was so loud that it nearly knocked Harry to the ground. "If you're really on my side, you need to get out of here!" warned Harry, knowing who had just arrived.
"I doubt your chances if I choose not to stay," remarked the stranger.
"There you are, Harry!" came the chillingly pleased voice of his nemesis. "And you've brought a friend; just when I thought I had finally deprived you of such a thing."
Harry felt the Death Eaters encircling them, gradually losing any possible escape route. Light erupted from each of their wands, conjuring the picture of the two people they were entrapping. Through this, Harry finally saw the stranger. By the way he was dressed, Harry would have thought he came straight from the sixties, every garment a distinct colour of maroon, garnish with touches of turquoise such as an unusual necklace bearing an emblem he had never seen before. Even his hair was the same colour, but unfortunately, it was long and styled so Harry could not see the man's face although Voldemort could.
"No wizard would disgrace themselves by wearing such hideous clothing," commented Voldemort. "Should make for an easier kill. Avada Kedavra!"
Harry closed his eyes. No longer than several minutes with his supposed rescuer and he was already being executed, Harry needed no more proof that he was the personification of bad luck. He thought it best that his death would come swiftly after, so he could no longer inflict this curse onto anybody else. And perhaps this way would be the fulfilment of the prophecy, so the Wiazarding World could vanquish this monster and live happily ever after.
Metal rang out again before somebody grunted, and in the silence, the sound of someone collapsing. "Die!" screamed Voldemort, making Harry open his eyes.
He looked next to him, bracing himself to see the death he had effectively caused but no body lay there. To his complete surprise, the stranger still stood, blade posed defensively. One of the surrounding Death Eaters lay lifeless. The Dark Lord unleashed another killing curse which the swordsman intercepted and deflected behind, incapacitating a second Death Eater. "You are doing nothing but supplying my ammunition. I only need so much before I turn your own spell against you."
Voldemort's scowl turned into a malicious smile. "I'm dubious of your skill when being fired at from multiple angles. Drop him!"
The remaining Death Eaters laughed and simultaneously set their sights on their aggressor, extinguishing the illumination and firing their own spells. In the same moment, the swordsman grabbed Harry around the neck and span on the spot, wielding his weapon. Due to the lack of light, Harry only saw oncoming spells, each of which were dispatched quickly as their fleeting light was extinguished by the blade. The ferocity and quantity of the spells gradually diminished as successful deflections sometimes found their source. After several seconds an unspoken ceasefire erupted between the Death Eaters and Harry's protector concluded his dervish.
Voldemort's minions were undoubtedly demoralised as they began to back away but their master's presence instilled their hesitance to actually retreat. Even in the darkness, Harry could see the awe in Voldemort's pale face. "You have tremendous skill with a sword," praised the Dark Lord and Harry knew what was coming. "Kill the boy and I will take you under my wing and train you to be truly powerful - invincible, even."
Harry's restraint around his neck loosened although it hadn't been very forceful anyway. "I have no need to be invincible. I enjoy the thrill of fighting to stay alive - it's almost euphoric," replied the swordsman.
"Then I have no choice," Voldemort sighed as he waved his wand. "Fircrux."
Jets of liquid fire poured endlessly from his wand, consuming the two. Harry cowered as they were enveloped by the flames, but apart from the intense heat, he felt nothing. It simply flowed over and around them as though they were in a bubble in the middle of it. "Harry," called the stranger, his arms outstretched above him trying to maintain whatever was protecting them from the spell. "We need to escape. Take my hand at the earliest opportunity, okay?"
Harry nodded. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, mate." The man dropped his arms and snatched Harry's hand as the bubble collapsed allowing the cursed fire to completely consume it.
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