Chapter 239: Chapter 239: Enemies in Blood
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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11 August 1994, Quidditch Trillenium Stadium, England
He looked around and noticed an entire hoard of Vampire thralls ready to attack at any time. Their Lord spoke in a cultured voice, "Harry Potter. If you give yourself up, I will spare your friends' lives."
Why did this stuff keep happening to him?
He suppressed the urge to sigh, as he examined the situation further. It wouldn't do to attack the vampires without any planning. He noticed the small shadows that engulfed his friends' feet, a binding spell of some sort. The Vampire must have specialized in shadow magics and got the shadows to travel underground, below the protection charms that Harry had cast in a hurry to protect them. He needed to be careful with this, "May I ask the name of my attacker?"
"No, you may not," the vampire lord responded dryly, "Either submit or watch your friends die. Maybe I'll even turn them into thralls, they do look rather delicious."
"Well, this is a conundrum, isn't it? I'm sure that staying under your guidance would not end well for me, and yet I do like my friends. I can see you're observing me, ready for me to use any kind of magic just to hurt me. That's very smart. However, you made a slight mistake that's threatening to blow this entire plan. It's a shame you don't see it."
"And what is that?" the vampire lord asked.
"Did you seriously think that I wouldn't have made sure that my friends could take care of themselves?"
Before the bloodsucker could process, Blaise used his crest to create a light sword and cut through the shadow binds, Daphne raised plants from the ground that bound the thralls, and Tracy used an overpowered sunlight charm that turned them into ash.
It didn't take long for the vampire to realize his position and he ran forward with superhuman speed, with a blade of shadows ready to impale Harry's friends, only for Harry to open a portal in front of him, whose exit was behind him. The vampire lord froze, incomprehensibly as he stared at his own shadow blade emerging from his chest, before falling to the ground, dead.
Daphne walked forward and spoke up, "That's a new trick. I assume the issues with your magic are over?"
Harry smirked, "All I needed was a little field trip," his face suddenly turned serious as he heard screaming from the rest of the camp, "I don't think we're the only ones that were attacked."
Daphne stiffened, "I need to get to my parents and Astoria…"
"We'll come with you," Tracy agreed with Blaise nodding along.
Harry was tempted to go see Arcturus, but the man knew how to take care of himself, and he should be able to apparate away without any problems. Still, he wanted to make sure if the man was alright. He raised his hand and a ball of light appeared. He created a magic circle with his memory of Arcturus' magical signature and enchanted it to follow the man and give him a message. Harry would be able to track its magic easily enough with his Arcane Hearing and it would be able to monitor his movement easily enough.
It was odd. Ever since he had retrieved the resurrection stone, creating new spells became a lot easier. No, it was better to say that shaping his magic was easier, allowing him to fine-tune spells with a lot more flexibility and speed. This particular spell was one he had created to replace the Patronus message charm, which he modified to send information through his Arcane Hearing about the target.
He had changed the band on the stone. In its place, was a silver ring of Orichalcum, and he had covered the black stone with a layer of enchanted, green-stained crystal, that made it look like an emerald. All in all, the ring wasn't out of place on the hands of rich pureblood scion, even if it looked a little gaudy. It wasn't really as eye-catching as it used to be. No one was going to recognize the resurrection stone anytime soon and with Dumbledore, and now Grindelwald, running about, he wasn't going to risk that.
Still, he threw away his thoughts of the Deathly Hallow and walked forward towards the campsite with his friends, their wands raised. As he came closer, somehow, what he could hear with his Arcane Hearing became less pronounced, like a large shadow snuffling the magic around. Instead of the magic, screams and shouts filled the air, a discordant symphony of terror and confusion as wizards and witches scrambled to defend themselves. Children clung to their parents, their cries mingling with the sounds of destruction. Tents were ripped apart, messing with the space expansion charms that they held…
The older mages tried to apparate away. It was the most viable strategy when people were in danger, the magic-dampening field seemed to somehow mess with apparition as well. They were all running out of the campsite, hoping that they would be able to get away there. Even then, a lot of people remained, looking for loved ones in the chaos. A rare few fought the attackers with flashes of lights, that incapacitated them.
Daphne didn't seem to care about them, focusing solely on her family's wellbeing. When they arrived at her tent, she saw her father fighting alongside his wife against hordes of vampire thralls. Normally, he would have looked quite dashing, with blue eyes and light brown hair, but his scowling sweaty face ruined any illusion of nobility. The man was surrounded by what looked like a miniature forest, that strangled everything in sight. His wife whose hair was very similar to Daphne's, had frozen the entire outer layer of her husband's forest and attacked the thralls with shards of ice.
They were both protecting Astoria, who was huddled between them. When they approached, the ice melted around them, and the forest parted away, letting them enter. Daphne's mother ran towards her daughter and hugged her fiercely, making sure she was alright.
The man gave Harry a once over, "You must be Harry Potter."
"I am. I'm assuming you're Daphne's father."
Before he could say anything, his wife hit him in the shoulder, "This is not the time, dear. We have more pressing matters at hand."
The man deflated and nodded. He took out a small rope from his robes and told them all to grab on. Harry recognized what it was, an emergency Portkey. That must have cost the Greengrass Patriarch a pretty penny, but it was paying its worth since it was more robust than apparition and had a better chance at not being stopped by the magic-dampening field.
Harry walked away and Daphne's mother stopped him, "What are you doing?"
"I need to find Arcturus. I was just here to make sure you're all safe."
"There's a Vampire attack here, Harry, and Merlin knows what else."
Harry simply shrugged, "I can take care of myself. Goodbye."
Before they could register his words, Harry sneakily broke the enchantments on the Emergency Portkey and activated it himself while making sure to pierce the veil of darkness enough so that the Portkey wouldn't be affected in any way. Just as he expected, the Greengrasses, Tracy, and Blaise disappeared in a flash of light, leaving him alone in the ruins of their tent.
Well, that wasn't exactly true; a soft voice spoke up behind him, "That was a brave thing you just did. Or foolish, it depends on how you look at it."
"We both know that you wouldn't have let me use the Portkey. I noticed you the moment we went past the border. I'm assuming that this is a trap for me."
He turned to watch his attacker, "Of course it was. It is a shame you killed poor Rupert on your way here. He never was the brightest one of my children, but he was one anyway. His brothers and sister are eager to avenge him."
Harry looked around, unconcerned with the dozens of Vampire Lords surrounding him and an army of thralls following them, "They do look rather eager. So, you're a vampire elder, then. I never thought I'd ever meet one of you," Harry dryly responded.
"Old things are waking up, Harry Potter. It's only right that we do the same."
"I have to admit, attacking an international event is an easy way to get your people hunted down."
The Elder Vampire burst into laughter and Harry took the time to see his face. He looked younger than a being his age and had a right to be. The youngest of them was at least a thousand years old, yet the being in front of Harry wouldn't have looked all that different from a pale man. The other vampires had felt empty like buckets with holes trying in vain to put it back together, however, the elder was more whole, for the lack of a better word.
The elder's laughter rang out, unsettling in its warmth. "Old powers stir, Harry Potter. We rise with them. Your international spectacle? A mere catalyst."
"With whom? Grindelwald?" Harry asked.
The elder vampire grinned, "Now, now, it would be a breach of honour to tell you… Not that you'll have much use for the information; you have other things to worry about."
Harry felt something try to borrow into his head and responded by clearing it as much as possible. His crest burned to aid him, and so did his stone, "You're using Soul and Mind Magics…"
"Child, I predate the formation of the guilds. But I have to say, whatever is protecting you is quite good. I think I'll learn much from your corpse."
And just like that, Harry heard a small ping with his Arcane Hearing, Arcturus had apparated away. He had been monitoring the man ever since he fought alongside his friends. The man was fighting his way out of the magically dampening zone, hoping to get out so that he could apparate safely. Unfortunately, the field made using magic slightly straining and the Black Patriarch wasn't a young man anymore; he was slowly getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of thralls.
Still, the man had made it out safely, and that was all that mattered. Harry had been worried about the control the Elder Vampire had over the thralls attacking him. It seemed like the bloodsucker had no plans regarding Arcturus, a foolish move since it would have been an easy way to pressure Harry.
The last Potter grinned and released a pulse of space, throwing everything away from him. He felt a warning from his Arcane Hearing and dodged a slash of blood. He changed its path towards the other side of the forest, beheading a vampire lord. He created a giant magic circle with his legs, that suddenly glowed white and created a massive pillar of sunlight that grew outwards, disintegrating the thralls, and injuring a few of the weaker Vampire Lords.
He ducked, towards a beam of darkness, cast by the vampire elder himself. Its diameter was almost as large as he was and Harry could tell was too dangerous to shield against. With a smirk, he twisted the beam using his space magic and made changed its trajectory around him, creating a giant circle of darkness that killed any approaching Vampire Lords.
It took a moment for the Elder Vampire to realize what had happened. He looked rather excited by the realization, "Space magic, how nostalgic."
The vampire stopped the spell with just a wave of his hand. Harry had expected this and conjured thousands of small shards of ice so pure that they almost looked invisible. He banished the ice into his warped space. The Vampire Lords that attempted to attack him with the shadow circle gone were shredded to pieces by them, and he used them to attack the elder. Harry motioned for the icicles to attack the Elder Vampire.
However, his enemy, no longer giving Harry a patronizing look, scowled and yelled out, "ENOUGH!"
It was like he commanded the very magic around him. To his arcane hearing, it was like the songs simply stopped being played, and every player held his breath. The ice that Harry conjured just disappeared, as if it had never existed, "You have fought valiantly, Son of Peverell, but I've humoured you enough. I will not allow you to kill more of my children, no matter how fascinating you may be."
The surviving Vampire Lords slowly stopped hiding from the trees and stepped out of the forest that the Greengrass Patriarch had conjured, eager to see their Elder start fighting himself.
As for Harry, he knew that the fight was just escalating, and he prepared himself to open a portal to stop whatever attack the Elder Vampire was preparing and redirect it towards his children even further. He did have a few ideas on how to deal with his opponent, so it wasn't a lost cause yet.
Harry's Portals were his hidden ace, his trump card. He was very flexible with them, and even then, in the worst case, he could just get away.
As he expected, the Elder Vampire was powering some sort of attack. He could hear its song getting louder with every moment. He kept trying to analyse the attack, maybe to nullify it without revealing too much.
Of course, just as the attack's song grew to its apex, the vampire Elder was consumed by giant flames that took the form of an immense Basilisk.
The creature continued, burning the entire forest to cinders, and with them, the remaining Vampire Lords. Harry could still hear their screams as they were burned into crisps by the Fiendfyre. Who the fuck was mad enough to try casting that spell of all things? There were so many better ways of killing the Vampire Lords, by animating the trees, which happened to be Harry's backup plan. Sure, the Elder Vampire was an unknown, but it would have turned the fight and distracted the man so that Harry could deal with him.
Harry's question was answered moments later as the perpetrator walked forward towards Harry. He looked like a middle-aged man, with brown hair and black eyes. It was only when he used his Arcane Hearing that Harry recognized him and raised his wand in defence. After all, he had seen him before, and his existence was simply wrong in many ways, "Voldemort. Last I heard you were in Albania."
The man's eyes turned red in confirmation, and a smile grew on his face, "Harry Potter. The news of your survival caught my interest. You've certainly grown into a powerful young wizard."
Before the younger wizard could respond, the flames of Fiendfyre seemed to warp and slowly get absorbed into a sphere made out of shadows. From it, emerged a monstrous figure. It was akin to a living nightmare, its body was a tapestry of darkness, muscles coiled like serpents beneath skin as pale as moonlight, marred by veins that pulsed with a black ichor. It looked like a man, and yet Harry knew that it was simply not the case.
No mortal eyes were devoid of any white, more akin to deep pools of crimson blood, glowing with malevolence and insatiable hunger.
And yet Harry instinctively knew what it was, the elder vampire, in his true form. He looked at Voldemort and nodded to him. They had a common enemy. They would pause their confrontation until the Elder Vampire was dealt with.
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
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