Categories > Books > Harry Potter > The Company We Keep
DISCLAIMER: See the Prologue.
NOTE: A small dedication to the people in Draco664's Yahoo group who recommended that I watch the first "Highlander" movie. Thanks, guys!
Chapter 10: Pushing Past One's Own Limit
While everyone else was gearing up for a movie night (Harry suspected this was why Logan planned his punishment for then; not that it mattered Harry all that much), Harry met up with Logan.
To Harry's great surprise, Logan led him to the Danger Room.
"Well kid, ya wanted extra training which was extra difficult, so here you go," Logan said with a small grin.
'Turning what you wanted against you,' Harry thought. 'Interesting tactic, I suppose.'
"Here we go," Logan said cheerfully as he pressed the button, starting some of the highest exercises.
Much to the dismay of everyone who was looking forward to a movie night (including the Brotherhood, who had been invited), the TV wouldn't work. It turned out that Ray tripped while getting up to get something, accidentally releasing energy which fried the VCR.
Naturally, no one was particularly happy about this, and Jamie even went so far as to claiming that without watching some "good, wholesome violence," he would go into terrible withdrawal!
'The horror,' Hank thought dryly, looking for an alternative means of entertainment.
Fortunately, Damian was quick to come up with something. He took out this wizard's chess set, and after making enough room for it, he magically enlarged it to make it life-size.
The other mutants were looking forward to seeing this...
Logan had set it to one of the highest levels of difficulty, if not the highest. Harry felt like he was fighting for his life against the devices which tried to cut, electrocute, and disable him in various ways.
Harry had worked on trying to exercise his "mutant magic" to see what it could do. So far, he saw that his magic would allow him to do one thing with a lot of energy, and the more things he tried to do at once, the weaker each action would be. He worked on trying to maintain equilibrium with whatever he was doing.
Damian and Hank were having fun with a wizard's chess set: The animated, life-like figures acting like human beings and therefore carrying out orders made the experience very real for the blue-furred instructor. The new experience of watching the magical chessboard violence also amused the other students.
However, things began to get interesting when one of Damian's white knights met one of Hank's black knights.
The white knight made to capture the black knight, and after a small scuffle, the white knight raised his sword high and declared, "There can only be one!" The next moment, it decapitated the black knight.
Hank raised an eyebrow as the other students laughed and cheered. "Hey, wasn't that a line from the movie 'Highlander?'" Todd inquired over all the noise.
At one point, Harry magically increased his own speed (though he wasn't as fast as Pietro was) in order to avoid a tentacle with a scissor-like pair of blades on the end of it; a moment later, he shot a Reductor Curse at it while still running, blasting the claw off.
Harry got a small headache, but he ignored it as he continued to run before something nailed him.
As the game progressed, things began to get tougher, but both players hung in there.
As one of Hank's bishops captured that same white knight, it said in a deep voice, "The skill is strong with you, Board-Crosser... but you have no checkmate yet." Then it knocked Damian's knight aside.
Hank raised yet another eyebrow, as Jamie innocently asked Damian, "Why did it 'quote' Darth Vader just now?"
Damian could only shrug.
At another point, a flying drone with traps hidden in it flew at Harry; he responded by throwing fire at it, causing it to explode prematurely before it could hit him.
Another drone appeared and flew at Harry, and this time he tried encasing it in ice; a moment later, it fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
A third drone attacked Harry; after a small struggle, it exploded in sparks after being electrocuted.
Harry was beginning to feel distinctly ill now, but he didn't let it show.
Towards the end of the game, Damian and Hank began to make great use of their more important chess pieces after more of their less important ones were captured.
As Damian's king moved out of the potential line of fire from a rook, it moved past two talkative pawns.
"How do you know he's the king?" one of them asked.
The other pawn began to answer, "Because he's not covered in sh-"
"A word of advice, Damian," an exasperated Hank said, loudly over the talking pawns (and the stifled laughing from the spectators). "Next time, don't leave your chess set out while you're watching movies."
"Sorry," Damian said as sincerely as he could, but he still couldn't help but grin a little.
Later on, Harry used his magic to levitate himself when the ground began to disappear underneath his feet (it was a trap). Suddenly realizing that he could essentially "fly" (if not for short periods of time) Harry raised himself up in the air (about level to the control room where Logan was) and rained down curses, jinxes and hexes upon the remaining targets and obstacles.
By now, Harry just wanted to go to his room and collapse in his bed, but he just dealt with it. He did want this in the first place, after all.
As he lowered himself back down to the ground, Logan said over the speaker system, "Okay kid, I think that's enough. You shouldn't wear yourself out."
Breathing heavily, Harry began to relax. He wiped his brow and realized he was sweating a lot. 'Wouldn't the old DA be impressed at what I've done?' he thought to himself.
As he walked to the door (his legs were now very sore), something began to move behind him.
One of the other drones was getting up and moving towards him, still ready to attack.
Now quite bored, Harry merely threw a small ball of energy at the drone, causing it to collapse (and also giving him a small twinge in his head from using his power).
Harry was a few feet away from the door when it happened.
After quoting a few more movies, the chess set returned to its normal size and was put away after Hank pulled through and had his pieces corner Damian's king into checkmate. The chess set was reduced to its normal size and packed away as the Beast bowed like an actor to their "audience."
A moment later, there was rumbling which caused the room to shake.
"What was that?" asked Ororo, walking into the room as it stopped shaking.
"Don't look at me," Lance said in his defense after some people glanced at him for answers.
"Sounded like it was coming from the Danger Room," Scott said.
"I saw Logan leading Harry there earlier... he must have gotten in trouble for something," Jean commented.
The rumbling was renewed, and a household full of worried mutants ran to see what was going on.
In the control room for the Danger Room, Logan could only watch as all the destroyed training equipment and weapons were slowly moving... that and the fact dark, mist-like auras surrounded them.
If Logan didn't know any better, he'd say that the destroyed pieces of equipment were /changing/...
As if by /magic/...
Logan//, what's happening? Xavier demanded telepathically.
Wiz-boy did something with his magic to all the DR equipment/, Logan mentally growled. /I don't know what's happening, but I don't think I like it!
I'm on my way; try to shut it down before it gets any worse.
Unfortunately, Xavier had spoken too soon...
The door suddenly slammed shut, making it nearly impossible for Harry to get out of the Danger Room now. A strange magical aura was now on the entire room, and Harry had a feeling this couldn't be good...
One of the combat drones from earlier was changing shape, now in the form of some oozing black thing, in the process of metamorphosis...
It was now a dementor.
Harry felt the chill from across the room, and as the pseudo-dementor eagerly floated over, Harry could hear those memories again... of his mother pleading with Voldemort for mercy, and his father telling her to take him and run...
Then it occurred to Harry that this was no illusion, and this was now real.
Gearing up and shielding his thoughts the best he could, he roared "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A valiant stag made of silver mist shot out of his glove and trampled the pseudo-dementor.
As the Patronus faded away, the dementor returned to the form of that black ooze stuff.
A moment later, it reappeared in the loathsome form of Umbridge. With a truly heinous smile on her face, she threw that evil black quill at him as though it were a kind of dart.
Harry magically stopped it in midair, and it flew back at pseudo-Umbridge, going right through her hand.
As she shrieked in pain, Harry inflated her like a balloon. She floated up for a few moments before exploding with a loud /POP/.
Her remains (they looked like rubber from a popped balloon) suddenly formed the black ooze again, which reformed into one mass, which was now changing shape again...
Logan was watching the unimaginable events from inside the control room. He kept trying to shut everything down, but to no avail.
The others rushed in, worried. "What's happening, Logan?" Xavier asked.
"I don't know, Chuck," Logan ground out, "But I'd say his magic is in control now, and not him..."
"How about shutting it off?" Hank inquired, inspecting the control panel."
"His magic infected the equipment or something," Logan snarled, banging his fist on the unbreakable glass.
"Hank, contact Forge," Xavier instructed, "See if he can get over here as soon as he can so he can repair the equipment."
"I'm on it," Hank responded, bounding out.
Ororo was transfixed on Harry's new nemesis. "What's it turning into /now/?"
The black puddle of goop was now changing into something else...
Quirrell arose, dressed in black robes and that ridiculous purple turban he used to disguise Voldemort on the back of his head. He raised his hands to perform a deadly curse -
Harry dodged pseudo-Quirrell's attack in time, and the sickly red lightning hit the floor. Moving in fast, Harry utilized his magic through his gloves and slammed the phony Quirrell in the gut.
Pseudo-Quirrell's body started letting off steam, and after an agonized scream, Voldemort's former minion crumbled into smoking dust.
The ooze recollected itself faster than before, and turned itself into...
...a book?
Looking closer, he could see it was a replica of Riddle's diary!
Harry threw a Silver Dart Curse at the book before it could do anything, but the book was quicker. It flew up in the air at eye level with Harry, and its pages flipped through until it was halfway through the book. Around it, the sixteen-year-old form of Tom Riddle appeared, that smirk plastered on his face.
The imposter shot some sickly green curse at Harry, which the latter deftly avoided. From the side, Harry set the pseudo-Riddle on fire. With an agonizing scream, the enemy disintegrated back into black ooze.
"When they say 'you burn books, you burn people,' they aren't kidding," Harry muttered.
The ooze was taking shape yet again, even quicker than before, and now took on the form of...
An acromantula, spitting and ready to devour Harry.
As the colossal spider rushed forth in a blur of hair and legs, screeching at its prey, Harry used his speed again to run off to the side. From there, he threw fire and sharp objects at the monstrosity, and only after a minute was enough damage done to halt the rampaging insect.
The fake acromantula regressed back into black ooze only for a moment before it turned into something even bigger - /a basilisk/.
Harry deliberately avoided eye contact, just in case, but paid the price for his blind escape when the King Serpent's tail threw him across the room. After skidding across the floor, Harry tried to get up but stopped when he heard the phony basilisk coming right at him.
Without even looking up, Harry threw Conjunctivitis, Reductor and Silver Dart Curses at its face. A couple of moments later, screeches of pain told him it worked.
Now back on his feet, Harry used his magic to leap high into the air, causing the blinded basilisk to ram straight into the wall, which in turn caused the room to shudder. After raining down countless curses on the basilisk (and ignoring the headaches now spiking in his head from the extended use of his powers), it finally stopped moving.
The ooze recollected itself, and a moment later...
Harry found himself at the same eye level as a great black ugly dragon.
"Oh no, not this thing /again/..."
Harry began to fly aside, but the Hungarian Horntail's tail swung in an arc, which hit Harry in the back (fortunately, his enchanted cloak negated most of the force and damage), which then in turn sent Harry flying head over heels...
...straight into the unbreakable glass window to the control room.
Everyone present in the control room flinched as Harry crashed spread-eagle against the window, his back facing them. The panel didn't break, but it now had an obscure Harry-shaped dent in it.
"That's gonna hurt," Logan muttered.
With a groan of pain, Harry got himself out of it.
The dragon screeched, and shot fire from its mouth; Harry ducked aside just in time, sending a blast of fire against the window which made a few people nervous.
"Well, this enough to put Dungeons & Dragons to shame," Jamie commented, trying to lighten up the situation with some humor.
Most of the others looked at him and made no comment.
Harry flew around the room, avoiding the horned tail (and occasionally the fire, since Horntails tended to use their tails as primary weapons). After a few moments of scurrying for his life, he finally came up with something.
Finding some lint in a pocket, he took it out and transfigured it into lead. Next, he enlarged it until it was about four feet in diameter.
Flying up with it, he took careful aim and threw it into the dragon's mouth.
The dragon foolishly swallowed it, and the next time it tried breathing fire, it screeched horribly and fell over, dead; the molten lead scorched its insides.
He had only a moment to return back to the ground on the opposite side of the room and rest himself before the black ooze changed into something else.
The dragon was now replaced by a mad-as-hell centaur with wild black hair and a black horse's body. Bane.
Pseudo-Bane charged at Harry full-speed, and fired an arrow from his bow. Harry shielded himself with his cloak, and the arrow glanced off.
Bane galloped nearer to Harry and shot a couple of more arrows, which also glanced off his magically strong cloak.
When the imposter Bane was ten feet away and closing, Harry fired a bola at the centaur; as it tangled up the fake Bane's legs, Harry jumped aside. As it fell forward, the centaur whacked his head against the hard steel wall and did not get up again.
The centaur regressed into ooze for only a moment, then reappeared as someone whom Harry loathed terribly, especially after Sirius' death.
Wormtail.
The short, balding man wore a scowl on his face, and his silver hand flexed as though itching to strangle Harry while the other held his wand.
After a moment, Wormtail shot a Stunner at Harry, then lunged with his silver hand.
Harry dodged the Stunner by inches, and used electricity to electrocute Wormtail (made much easier by the silver hand as a conductor); Wormtail screamed in pain as smoke began to come off of him.
Ready to finish the job, Harry conjured transformed debris into small animals and grew them to their proper sizes. Three animals now stood ready to attack: A brown stag, a black dog and a gray wolf. The small pack charged at a staggering Wormtail; the traitor Marauder did his best to stop the wolf with his silver hand, but was powerless he was trampled by the stag and mauled by the dog.
A moment later, a deranged-looking Bellatrix Lestrange stood on the spot, cackling madly as she took out her wand.
Anger rising, Harry threw a Reductor Curse at her, but she blocked it and sent a Killing Curse his way. Harry dodged that and continued to run as she threw out other Dark and deadly curses with cat-like reflexes, not stopping for even a moment. While in the process, she also spat threats and insults at him, some of them pertaining to Sirius.
Harry continued to run, dodging most of them while throwing others back at her. After a minute so of hectic running and not being able to squeeze in a few good offensive spells, Harry resorted to using a spell that was labeled by the British Ministry of Magic as Dark, only because of its intent: the Wand-Destroying Curse. "Occidiarmus!"
A sickly red beam of light shot out at Bellatrix's wand, destroying it in a small explosion. As she was now powerless, Harry moved in and landed a few punches on her using moves he had learned from Logan. She staggered, but in a last-ditch attempt, lunged at him with a poison dagger she concealed. Harry dodged Bellatrix's intended strike by jumping aside, and while in the air, landed a brutal kick that connected with the side of her head. Bruised, battered and beaten, she collapsed and did not move again.
The ooze recollected, a moment later forming...
...the arch and veil which Sirius fell through.
Harry paused, unsure of what to do. How could he attack a structure like that, and it him? He could hear the whispering from beyond the veil...
The veil blew outward, and the ground started rumbling ominously... But before Harry could destroy it, some force threw him back...
And as Harry got up, his heart clenched as he realized four gray figures coming out beyond the veil.
The dreary gray yet solid figures of James and Lily Potter came out from beyond the veil, scowling as they approached Harry. Cedric Diggory came out behind them, and a few seconds later, Sirius joined them.
Harry scrambled to get to his feet, but staggered as he looked at them approaching him. As they all got close enough to do something to him, he could sense this would not go well...
"No, wait, please," Harry muttered as they approached.
"You're a disgrace!" his father's doppelganger yelled in an unearthly voice as he lifted Harry by the scruff of his outfit. "You're no better than Wormtail, not with how everyone dies around you!"
"No, that's not true," Harry began to protest.
"You're certainly not worth dying for, either!" his mother's form yelled. "You deserved everything my wretched sister and her family gave to you!"
Harry was dropped roughly and tried to get away, but he was weak from all the fighting and his splitting headache was reaching terrible levels of pain...
"You're nothing more than a fool with an obscene amount of luck!" Cedric yelled. "You got me killed, and now my parents are dead as well! And you had the audacity to date Cho after what happened to me? When they catch you, I hope the dementors suck your soul out like you deserve!"
"No, you've got it all wrong," Harry argued weakly, scurrying to escape.
"You're an idiot with a hero complex!" Sirius roared, looking so frightening that even the pictures of him after his escape from Azkaban didn't do it justice. "You get the prophecy of destroyed and get me killed by that bitch Lestrange in that so-called 'rescue' of yours! I never even lived to see my name cleared! You're no godson of mine! I should have never accepted the role as your godfather to begin with!"
"No!" Harry yelled, getting up and trying to run. "That's not true at all!"
Harry was about to get away when Sirius' doppelganger grabbed him and held him back. They continued to accuse him and advance on him, and now his headache was near-unbearable.
"Murderer!"
"Freak!"
"Traitor!"
"Abomination!"
"STOP!" Harry protested as he magically wrenched himself free, desperate for this to just end.
Damian had had enough of this. He was not about to stand by and watch as Harry was verbally tormented by imposters of people that meant something to him while Logan and the others tried to regain control of the Danger Room.
Taking out his wand, Damian blasted holes through the otherwise unbreakable glass. Stowing it away, he transformed into a dragon and burst through in a shower of glass shards.
As he flew into the Danger Room, he enlarged himself and landed on the ground between Harry and his attackers after there was enough space between them.
The four shades could only look at this strange dragon for a moment as it flared up.
The next moment, the imposters and that damned arch vanished in an inferno unleashed by a very angry dragon.
After all the fire and smoke cleared, that black ooze was moving yet again, but Damian finally put a stop to that. "Finite Incantatem!"
The ooze stopped moving and evaporated into ugly black steam. The rest of the magic on the Danger Room that Harry unintentionally released all disappeared with more spells.
After all that was done, Damian turned his attention back to Harry, who was lying on his side and shuddering as though it was cold, shaking slightly.
"Harry?"
Turning him over, Damian saw beads of sweat running down the younger wizard's face, and his eyes half-open but unfocused. The very sight unnerved him; exactly how much hell had Harry gone through before.
Kurt teleported by their side. "How is he?"
"He needs to get to the infirmary," Damian said heavily.
Collecting both of them, Kurt took them both to the infirmary.
Working together, Damian and Kurt got him onto a hospital bed. Kurt teleported back to the others while Damian removed the cowl, gloves and boots.
Just looking at Harry's mournful face for a moment was enough to make Damian remember this for a very long time.
"That's one mistake a lot of people made," Damian said quietly to no one in particular. "They push past their own limits in their efforts just to get to the limit."
A/N: I needed this, I think. Besides, I slaved away on this for much longer than I feel I should have, so hopefully this will be sufficient!
Regarding the fate of pseudo-Quirrell: Think of Quirrell's fate from the first HP movie.
Regarding the Wand-Destroying Curse: This spell I created was inspired by the disarming spell ("Expelliarmus"), and was first used in my fic "Reap What You Sow."
Next chapter is Harry's first Christmas without his wizarding friends... -Quillian
/QUICK POLL!/ You think I should bring Sirius back to life somehow?
/CHALLENGE!/ How Harry killed the pseudo-dragon is a reflection of a Greek hero myth. Kudos to anyone who can guess it!
NOTE: A small dedication to the people in Draco664's Yahoo group who recommended that I watch the first "Highlander" movie. Thanks, guys!
Chapter 10: Pushing Past One's Own Limit
While everyone else was gearing up for a movie night (Harry suspected this was why Logan planned his punishment for then; not that it mattered Harry all that much), Harry met up with Logan.
To Harry's great surprise, Logan led him to the Danger Room.
"Well kid, ya wanted extra training which was extra difficult, so here you go," Logan said with a small grin.
'Turning what you wanted against you,' Harry thought. 'Interesting tactic, I suppose.'
"Here we go," Logan said cheerfully as he pressed the button, starting some of the highest exercises.
Much to the dismay of everyone who was looking forward to a movie night (including the Brotherhood, who had been invited), the TV wouldn't work. It turned out that Ray tripped while getting up to get something, accidentally releasing energy which fried the VCR.
Naturally, no one was particularly happy about this, and Jamie even went so far as to claiming that without watching some "good, wholesome violence," he would go into terrible withdrawal!
'The horror,' Hank thought dryly, looking for an alternative means of entertainment.
Fortunately, Damian was quick to come up with something. He took out this wizard's chess set, and after making enough room for it, he magically enlarged it to make it life-size.
The other mutants were looking forward to seeing this...
Logan had set it to one of the highest levels of difficulty, if not the highest. Harry felt like he was fighting for his life against the devices which tried to cut, electrocute, and disable him in various ways.
Harry had worked on trying to exercise his "mutant magic" to see what it could do. So far, he saw that his magic would allow him to do one thing with a lot of energy, and the more things he tried to do at once, the weaker each action would be. He worked on trying to maintain equilibrium with whatever he was doing.
Damian and Hank were having fun with a wizard's chess set: The animated, life-like figures acting like human beings and therefore carrying out orders made the experience very real for the blue-furred instructor. The new experience of watching the magical chessboard violence also amused the other students.
However, things began to get interesting when one of Damian's white knights met one of Hank's black knights.
The white knight made to capture the black knight, and after a small scuffle, the white knight raised his sword high and declared, "There can only be one!" The next moment, it decapitated the black knight.
Hank raised an eyebrow as the other students laughed and cheered. "Hey, wasn't that a line from the movie 'Highlander?'" Todd inquired over all the noise.
At one point, Harry magically increased his own speed (though he wasn't as fast as Pietro was) in order to avoid a tentacle with a scissor-like pair of blades on the end of it; a moment later, he shot a Reductor Curse at it while still running, blasting the claw off.
Harry got a small headache, but he ignored it as he continued to run before something nailed him.
As the game progressed, things began to get tougher, but both players hung in there.
As one of Hank's bishops captured that same white knight, it said in a deep voice, "The skill is strong with you, Board-Crosser... but you have no checkmate yet." Then it knocked Damian's knight aside.
Hank raised yet another eyebrow, as Jamie innocently asked Damian, "Why did it 'quote' Darth Vader just now?"
Damian could only shrug.
At another point, a flying drone with traps hidden in it flew at Harry; he responded by throwing fire at it, causing it to explode prematurely before it could hit him.
Another drone appeared and flew at Harry, and this time he tried encasing it in ice; a moment later, it fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
A third drone attacked Harry; after a small struggle, it exploded in sparks after being electrocuted.
Harry was beginning to feel distinctly ill now, but he didn't let it show.
Towards the end of the game, Damian and Hank began to make great use of their more important chess pieces after more of their less important ones were captured.
As Damian's king moved out of the potential line of fire from a rook, it moved past two talkative pawns.
"How do you know he's the king?" one of them asked.
The other pawn began to answer, "Because he's not covered in sh-"
"A word of advice, Damian," an exasperated Hank said, loudly over the talking pawns (and the stifled laughing from the spectators). "Next time, don't leave your chess set out while you're watching movies."
"Sorry," Damian said as sincerely as he could, but he still couldn't help but grin a little.
Later on, Harry used his magic to levitate himself when the ground began to disappear underneath his feet (it was a trap). Suddenly realizing that he could essentially "fly" (if not for short periods of time) Harry raised himself up in the air (about level to the control room where Logan was) and rained down curses, jinxes and hexes upon the remaining targets and obstacles.
By now, Harry just wanted to go to his room and collapse in his bed, but he just dealt with it. He did want this in the first place, after all.
As he lowered himself back down to the ground, Logan said over the speaker system, "Okay kid, I think that's enough. You shouldn't wear yourself out."
Breathing heavily, Harry began to relax. He wiped his brow and realized he was sweating a lot. 'Wouldn't the old DA be impressed at what I've done?' he thought to himself.
As he walked to the door (his legs were now very sore), something began to move behind him.
One of the other drones was getting up and moving towards him, still ready to attack.
Now quite bored, Harry merely threw a small ball of energy at the drone, causing it to collapse (and also giving him a small twinge in his head from using his power).
Harry was a few feet away from the door when it happened.
After quoting a few more movies, the chess set returned to its normal size and was put away after Hank pulled through and had his pieces corner Damian's king into checkmate. The chess set was reduced to its normal size and packed away as the Beast bowed like an actor to their "audience."
A moment later, there was rumbling which caused the room to shake.
"What was that?" asked Ororo, walking into the room as it stopped shaking.
"Don't look at me," Lance said in his defense after some people glanced at him for answers.
"Sounded like it was coming from the Danger Room," Scott said.
"I saw Logan leading Harry there earlier... he must have gotten in trouble for something," Jean commented.
The rumbling was renewed, and a household full of worried mutants ran to see what was going on.
In the control room for the Danger Room, Logan could only watch as all the destroyed training equipment and weapons were slowly moving... that and the fact dark, mist-like auras surrounded them.
If Logan didn't know any better, he'd say that the destroyed pieces of equipment were /changing/...
As if by /magic/...
Logan//, what's happening? Xavier demanded telepathically.
Wiz-boy did something with his magic to all the DR equipment/, Logan mentally growled. /I don't know what's happening, but I don't think I like it!
I'm on my way; try to shut it down before it gets any worse.
Unfortunately, Xavier had spoken too soon...
The door suddenly slammed shut, making it nearly impossible for Harry to get out of the Danger Room now. A strange magical aura was now on the entire room, and Harry had a feeling this couldn't be good...
One of the combat drones from earlier was changing shape, now in the form of some oozing black thing, in the process of metamorphosis...
It was now a dementor.
Harry felt the chill from across the room, and as the pseudo-dementor eagerly floated over, Harry could hear those memories again... of his mother pleading with Voldemort for mercy, and his father telling her to take him and run...
Then it occurred to Harry that this was no illusion, and this was now real.
Gearing up and shielding his thoughts the best he could, he roared "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A valiant stag made of silver mist shot out of his glove and trampled the pseudo-dementor.
As the Patronus faded away, the dementor returned to the form of that black ooze stuff.
A moment later, it reappeared in the loathsome form of Umbridge. With a truly heinous smile on her face, she threw that evil black quill at him as though it were a kind of dart.
Harry magically stopped it in midair, and it flew back at pseudo-Umbridge, going right through her hand.
As she shrieked in pain, Harry inflated her like a balloon. She floated up for a few moments before exploding with a loud /POP/.
Her remains (they looked like rubber from a popped balloon) suddenly formed the black ooze again, which reformed into one mass, which was now changing shape again...
Logan was watching the unimaginable events from inside the control room. He kept trying to shut everything down, but to no avail.
The others rushed in, worried. "What's happening, Logan?" Xavier asked.
"I don't know, Chuck," Logan ground out, "But I'd say his magic is in control now, and not him..."
"How about shutting it off?" Hank inquired, inspecting the control panel."
"His magic infected the equipment or something," Logan snarled, banging his fist on the unbreakable glass.
"Hank, contact Forge," Xavier instructed, "See if he can get over here as soon as he can so he can repair the equipment."
"I'm on it," Hank responded, bounding out.
Ororo was transfixed on Harry's new nemesis. "What's it turning into /now/?"
The black puddle of goop was now changing into something else...
Quirrell arose, dressed in black robes and that ridiculous purple turban he used to disguise Voldemort on the back of his head. He raised his hands to perform a deadly curse -
Harry dodged pseudo-Quirrell's attack in time, and the sickly red lightning hit the floor. Moving in fast, Harry utilized his magic through his gloves and slammed the phony Quirrell in the gut.
Pseudo-Quirrell's body started letting off steam, and after an agonized scream, Voldemort's former minion crumbled into smoking dust.
The ooze recollected itself faster than before, and turned itself into...
...a book?
Looking closer, he could see it was a replica of Riddle's diary!
Harry threw a Silver Dart Curse at the book before it could do anything, but the book was quicker. It flew up in the air at eye level with Harry, and its pages flipped through until it was halfway through the book. Around it, the sixteen-year-old form of Tom Riddle appeared, that smirk plastered on his face.
The imposter shot some sickly green curse at Harry, which the latter deftly avoided. From the side, Harry set the pseudo-Riddle on fire. With an agonizing scream, the enemy disintegrated back into black ooze.
"When they say 'you burn books, you burn people,' they aren't kidding," Harry muttered.
The ooze was taking shape yet again, even quicker than before, and now took on the form of...
An acromantula, spitting and ready to devour Harry.
As the colossal spider rushed forth in a blur of hair and legs, screeching at its prey, Harry used his speed again to run off to the side. From there, he threw fire and sharp objects at the monstrosity, and only after a minute was enough damage done to halt the rampaging insect.
The fake acromantula regressed back into black ooze only for a moment before it turned into something even bigger - /a basilisk/.
Harry deliberately avoided eye contact, just in case, but paid the price for his blind escape when the King Serpent's tail threw him across the room. After skidding across the floor, Harry tried to get up but stopped when he heard the phony basilisk coming right at him.
Without even looking up, Harry threw Conjunctivitis, Reductor and Silver Dart Curses at its face. A couple of moments later, screeches of pain told him it worked.
Now back on his feet, Harry used his magic to leap high into the air, causing the blinded basilisk to ram straight into the wall, which in turn caused the room to shudder. After raining down countless curses on the basilisk (and ignoring the headaches now spiking in his head from the extended use of his powers), it finally stopped moving.
The ooze recollected itself, and a moment later...
Harry found himself at the same eye level as a great black ugly dragon.
"Oh no, not this thing /again/..."
Harry began to fly aside, but the Hungarian Horntail's tail swung in an arc, which hit Harry in the back (fortunately, his enchanted cloak negated most of the force and damage), which then in turn sent Harry flying head over heels...
...straight into the unbreakable glass window to the control room.
Everyone present in the control room flinched as Harry crashed spread-eagle against the window, his back facing them. The panel didn't break, but it now had an obscure Harry-shaped dent in it.
"That's gonna hurt," Logan muttered.
With a groan of pain, Harry got himself out of it.
The dragon screeched, and shot fire from its mouth; Harry ducked aside just in time, sending a blast of fire against the window which made a few people nervous.
"Well, this enough to put Dungeons & Dragons to shame," Jamie commented, trying to lighten up the situation with some humor.
Most of the others looked at him and made no comment.
Harry flew around the room, avoiding the horned tail (and occasionally the fire, since Horntails tended to use their tails as primary weapons). After a few moments of scurrying for his life, he finally came up with something.
Finding some lint in a pocket, he took it out and transfigured it into lead. Next, he enlarged it until it was about four feet in diameter.
Flying up with it, he took careful aim and threw it into the dragon's mouth.
The dragon foolishly swallowed it, and the next time it tried breathing fire, it screeched horribly and fell over, dead; the molten lead scorched its insides.
He had only a moment to return back to the ground on the opposite side of the room and rest himself before the black ooze changed into something else.
The dragon was now replaced by a mad-as-hell centaur with wild black hair and a black horse's body. Bane.
Pseudo-Bane charged at Harry full-speed, and fired an arrow from his bow. Harry shielded himself with his cloak, and the arrow glanced off.
Bane galloped nearer to Harry and shot a couple of more arrows, which also glanced off his magically strong cloak.
When the imposter Bane was ten feet away and closing, Harry fired a bola at the centaur; as it tangled up the fake Bane's legs, Harry jumped aside. As it fell forward, the centaur whacked his head against the hard steel wall and did not get up again.
The centaur regressed into ooze for only a moment, then reappeared as someone whom Harry loathed terribly, especially after Sirius' death.
Wormtail.
The short, balding man wore a scowl on his face, and his silver hand flexed as though itching to strangle Harry while the other held his wand.
After a moment, Wormtail shot a Stunner at Harry, then lunged with his silver hand.
Harry dodged the Stunner by inches, and used electricity to electrocute Wormtail (made much easier by the silver hand as a conductor); Wormtail screamed in pain as smoke began to come off of him.
Ready to finish the job, Harry conjured transformed debris into small animals and grew them to their proper sizes. Three animals now stood ready to attack: A brown stag, a black dog and a gray wolf. The small pack charged at a staggering Wormtail; the traitor Marauder did his best to stop the wolf with his silver hand, but was powerless he was trampled by the stag and mauled by the dog.
A moment later, a deranged-looking Bellatrix Lestrange stood on the spot, cackling madly as she took out her wand.
Anger rising, Harry threw a Reductor Curse at her, but she blocked it and sent a Killing Curse his way. Harry dodged that and continued to run as she threw out other Dark and deadly curses with cat-like reflexes, not stopping for even a moment. While in the process, she also spat threats and insults at him, some of them pertaining to Sirius.
Harry continued to run, dodging most of them while throwing others back at her. After a minute so of hectic running and not being able to squeeze in a few good offensive spells, Harry resorted to using a spell that was labeled by the British Ministry of Magic as Dark, only because of its intent: the Wand-Destroying Curse. "Occidiarmus!"
A sickly red beam of light shot out at Bellatrix's wand, destroying it in a small explosion. As she was now powerless, Harry moved in and landed a few punches on her using moves he had learned from Logan. She staggered, but in a last-ditch attempt, lunged at him with a poison dagger she concealed. Harry dodged Bellatrix's intended strike by jumping aside, and while in the air, landed a brutal kick that connected with the side of her head. Bruised, battered and beaten, she collapsed and did not move again.
The ooze recollected, a moment later forming...
...the arch and veil which Sirius fell through.
Harry paused, unsure of what to do. How could he attack a structure like that, and it him? He could hear the whispering from beyond the veil...
The veil blew outward, and the ground started rumbling ominously... But before Harry could destroy it, some force threw him back...
And as Harry got up, his heart clenched as he realized four gray figures coming out beyond the veil.
The dreary gray yet solid figures of James and Lily Potter came out from beyond the veil, scowling as they approached Harry. Cedric Diggory came out behind them, and a few seconds later, Sirius joined them.
Harry scrambled to get to his feet, but staggered as he looked at them approaching him. As they all got close enough to do something to him, he could sense this would not go well...
"No, wait, please," Harry muttered as they approached.
"You're a disgrace!" his father's doppelganger yelled in an unearthly voice as he lifted Harry by the scruff of his outfit. "You're no better than Wormtail, not with how everyone dies around you!"
"No, that's not true," Harry began to protest.
"You're certainly not worth dying for, either!" his mother's form yelled. "You deserved everything my wretched sister and her family gave to you!"
Harry was dropped roughly and tried to get away, but he was weak from all the fighting and his splitting headache was reaching terrible levels of pain...
"You're nothing more than a fool with an obscene amount of luck!" Cedric yelled. "You got me killed, and now my parents are dead as well! And you had the audacity to date Cho after what happened to me? When they catch you, I hope the dementors suck your soul out like you deserve!"
"No, you've got it all wrong," Harry argued weakly, scurrying to escape.
"You're an idiot with a hero complex!" Sirius roared, looking so frightening that even the pictures of him after his escape from Azkaban didn't do it justice. "You get the prophecy of destroyed and get me killed by that bitch Lestrange in that so-called 'rescue' of yours! I never even lived to see my name cleared! You're no godson of mine! I should have never accepted the role as your godfather to begin with!"
"No!" Harry yelled, getting up and trying to run. "That's not true at all!"
Harry was about to get away when Sirius' doppelganger grabbed him and held him back. They continued to accuse him and advance on him, and now his headache was near-unbearable.
"Murderer!"
"Freak!"
"Traitor!"
"Abomination!"
"STOP!" Harry protested as he magically wrenched himself free, desperate for this to just end.
Damian had had enough of this. He was not about to stand by and watch as Harry was verbally tormented by imposters of people that meant something to him while Logan and the others tried to regain control of the Danger Room.
Taking out his wand, Damian blasted holes through the otherwise unbreakable glass. Stowing it away, he transformed into a dragon and burst through in a shower of glass shards.
As he flew into the Danger Room, he enlarged himself and landed on the ground between Harry and his attackers after there was enough space between them.
The four shades could only look at this strange dragon for a moment as it flared up.
The next moment, the imposters and that damned arch vanished in an inferno unleashed by a very angry dragon.
After all the fire and smoke cleared, that black ooze was moving yet again, but Damian finally put a stop to that. "Finite Incantatem!"
The ooze stopped moving and evaporated into ugly black steam. The rest of the magic on the Danger Room that Harry unintentionally released all disappeared with more spells.
After all that was done, Damian turned his attention back to Harry, who was lying on his side and shuddering as though it was cold, shaking slightly.
"Harry?"
Turning him over, Damian saw beads of sweat running down the younger wizard's face, and his eyes half-open but unfocused. The very sight unnerved him; exactly how much hell had Harry gone through before.
Kurt teleported by their side. "How is he?"
"He needs to get to the infirmary," Damian said heavily.
Collecting both of them, Kurt took them both to the infirmary.
Working together, Damian and Kurt got him onto a hospital bed. Kurt teleported back to the others while Damian removed the cowl, gloves and boots.
Just looking at Harry's mournful face for a moment was enough to make Damian remember this for a very long time.
"That's one mistake a lot of people made," Damian said quietly to no one in particular. "They push past their own limits in their efforts just to get to the limit."
A/N: I needed this, I think. Besides, I slaved away on this for much longer than I feel I should have, so hopefully this will be sufficient!
Regarding the fate of pseudo-Quirrell: Think of Quirrell's fate from the first HP movie.
Regarding the Wand-Destroying Curse: This spell I created was inspired by the disarming spell ("Expelliarmus"), and was first used in my fic "Reap What You Sow."
Next chapter is Harry's first Christmas without his wizarding friends... -Quillian
/QUICK POLL!/ You think I should bring Sirius back to life somehow?
/CHALLENGE!/ How Harry killed the pseudo-dragon is a reflection of a Greek hero myth. Kudos to anyone who can guess it!
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