Harry Potter and the Child of Tourach

Directly after having apparated into Ron’s and Hermione’s flat, two minutes later, Harry and Ginny found themselves pulled into a bone crushing hug by their bushy haired friend.
“I am so glad that the two of you are alright.” she gushed, not realizing that she was nearly suffocating them. “I have heard about the destruction of Diagon Alley on the wireless and was completely shocked. Some rumours are spreading about you, Harry, saying that you helped to set things right and they are spreading like wildfire. I know that Ron is alright, but naturally I was worried about you, especially because I was unable to reach you or Ginny.”

“Everything is alright Hermione, we are fine.” Harry managed to gasp and gently broke free of the hug. He was very relieved to find his female best friend unharmed and the possibility of finally having found a solution was lifting his spirits even further. “I have been worrying about you; after all you were in the ministry as it was attacked.”
“I was nowhere near the area of effect as it happened.” she explained. “One moment I was sitting at my desk working and in the next second I heard a huge crash. Then we were ordered to evacuate the building and to go home. I complied and started working on the spell once again. Well and that is where I found the solution.”

“What did you find out?” asked Ginny eagerly, excitement ringing in her voice.
“Let’s wait for Ron.” replied Hermione. “I don’t want to explain everything twice and he should be returning from training in fifteen minutes.”
Harry had the distinct impression that Hermione was only stalling to further increase Ginny’s and his curiosity. Oh well as long as she had found a solution, he did not mind, after all every genius has a few flaws.
“Do you know anything about who’s in charge of the ministry right now?” asked Harry, hoping to learn something about Wright’s whereabouts.
“No, as far as I know there is no one in controlling anything at the moment.” echoed Hermione pensively. “It is strange though. I am very sure that the minister did not die during the attack so why is he laying low?”

“Well maybe he is trying to cover the botched up attack.” replied Ginny. “You know, waiting until everything has cooled down a bit. If the public learns that he has somehow caused these attacks, then he is in serious trouble. In each case I highly doubt that he will remain minister for a long time after this disaster.”
“Well I would not be a great loss.” said Harry, while sitting down on the couch. The two women joined him almost immediately. “I wonder what Wright is doing at the moment. Is he playing the good boy and protecting the minister or is he trying to organize some help on his own? Maybe he is already dead; he could have been the commander of the attack. I hope that he is alright, he may be a bit chaotic and sometimes a bit strange, but he is a very nice guy. He has always been on my side and it is very useful to have a high-ranked ally in the ministry – Oh crap! - It is Wednesday and this means that the rookies have been training in the ministry while it was attack!”

“Relay Harry.” said Hermione soothingly. “The training facilities are well protected and far away from the lobby. They will be alright.”
“Hermione’s right.” agree Ginny. “And even if something happened to them it is certainly not your fault and you could have done nothing to prevent it.”
Precisely in this moment the front door opened and Ron Weasley entered the flat, still wearing his Quidditch gear.

“Hey” he said, slightly breathlessly. “I got your owl Hermione, what is so urgent that I have to hurry home immediately even without changing? And what are Harry and Ginny doing here, shouldn’t they be at work?”
“You have not heard?” asked Ginny disbelievingly, wondering how focused on Quidditch you had to be not to notice that the world around you was coming down in flames.
“Would I ask if I knew?” replied Ron, irritated at their stalling. “Will someone please tell me what you are talking about?”
“Sit down Ron.” said Harry quietly and started to tell him the day’s events.

Ten minutes later Harry had finished his story and a subdued silence had taken over the room. Ron was still thinking about what he had been just told and how it was going to affect him and his friends, while Ginny and Harry did not want to disturb him and Hermione was finishing some calculating only she understood. After a while Ron cleared his throat and spoke up.

“So what’s the good news?” he said, looking at each of the three others.
“Good news?” asked Ginny wondering how he knew that there was a sliver lining in today’s events. “Why do you belief that there is good news?”
“Because Hermione would not have sent me an owl then, she would have told me personally.” he replied, rolling his eyes as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Honestly, do you think I am so insensitive that I do not know my girlfriend?

“Hermione is really rubbing off on you mate.” said Harry grinning, after he had gotten over the face that his best friend had just shown a thoroughly hermionish behaviour.
“Oh shut it Harry.” replied Hermione, but a smile was playing on her face. “You are right Ron, there is good news, I think I have completed the spell.”
Before she could continue her fiancé had already grabbed her and had started to twirl her around the room in joy, ignoring her forceful protests.
“I knew you could do it.” said Ron, beaming with relief and pride. “You are the smartest and most beautiful witch around! Now all we have to do is to work out how Harry can hit them without getting blasted and everything will be alright!”

“Ron, you might consider putting her down, I think she is trying to say something.” said Ginny dryly, as Hermione’s struggling was getting more and more desperate.
“Oh, right, sorry.” said Ron, gently letting her down, while grinning sheepishly.
“As I was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted.” started Hermione, while trying to be angry at Ron and failing completely. “We should not celebrate too early. I have changed the spell so it takes care of the Whiteman-Effect. Originally I wanted to modify it so that it entraps all of them at once, but I would have to rewrite the complete spell to achieve this. Unfortunately we do not have that much time, so I decided not to modify it. At least I managed to include a homing spell into it, so you won’t have such a hard time hitting them. However there is a problem.”

“What is it?” asked Harry impatiently, hoping that they would find a way to work around it.
“It requires way too much energy, about two thousand merlin if my calculations are correct.” replied Hermione.
“And where am I supposed to get that kind of energy?” asked Harry, frustrated with the situation. The solution was so close, if only he could get it! “I ran a test a few months ago and had about twenty merlin but that is not nearly enough.”
“Err, guys what are merlin?” asked Ron.
“They are a unit to measure magical power. A merlin is the average strength of one of Merlin’s not overcharged stunners at three o’clock in the afternoon.” echoed Hermione casually, sounding like an encyclopaedia.
“I have got an idea.” said Ginny, snapping her fingers. “We could use a powerstone, these are magical stones used to power potent healing spells and I am pretty sure that some of them would be strong enough to help us.”
“Where is the catch?” asked Harry, knowing always to expect a drawback.
“Well, we would have to liberate all power at once to gather enough energy.” she echoed. “This means that we can’t use the magical fields usually employed to channel the discharged power. You would have to do this and it is possible that you simply get incinerated. Also I do not know where to get one of these.”

“I will gladly take this risk.” replied Harry immediately. “And I think I know where to find them.”


* * * * *


Roland Dex was bored. He hated to have guard duties and he especially hated doing the afternoon shifts. He was going to miss his favourite TV-shows, which he had discovered one day in the apartment of his muggleborn girlfriend. Alright, so he was guarding the building holding the emergency reserve of many valuable goods, but they had not been used in decades. Not even in the two wars, the ministry had regarded it necessary to use any of the items in the magical depot, which was located on a small island on the Scottish coast. In fact no one had bothered to check what was in there for more than fifty years, which was probably the reason why the Dark Lord had not attacked it as soon as possible. Apparently no one thought that this depot was of any importance, but still it was a frequently used place to sent troubling aurors or members of the Squad of Magical Law Enforcement.

Roland, a small, slim man in his thirties with shoulder length blonde hair, a moustache and a boyish face, had been on the Squad for almost eight years, before getting transferred to guard duty. He had gotten drunk in a muggle bar after breaking up with his then-girlfriend and got into a fight with a gang of muggle rowdies. After having broken several of their bones with bludgeoning charms, he had been arrested by his former colleagues. Due to his flawless record he had not been sent to prison, but only got kicked from the squad and transferred here. Now he was a professional guard and he did not like it a bit. The boredom was killing him. However this night was going to be very eventful for him.

He rose from the small chair in his office, which was placed in the foyer of the depot and started doing his rounds. Just as he had stepped outside, he heard a rustling noise to his right. Dex drew his wand and shielded his eyes with one of his hands, trying to block out the afternoon sun. He did not see anything out of the ordinary. Frowning, he pocketed his wand again and started to continue his rounds. However he was hit squarely in the back before he had the chance of doing more than a few steps. Suddenly the air behind him was not empty anymore, but Harry Potter was standing there, his Invisibility Cloak clutched in his hands.

Harry whistled once and Ron, Hermione and Ginny walked out of the thick bushes surrounding the area.
“This has been easy.” remarked Ginny, as she was in speaking distance and gestured at the prone form of the guard lying on the floor.
“I told you, no one thinks that there actually is something valuable in this old bunker, thank God!” replied Harry cheerfully. “This is as easy as flying, even though your rustling may have made it more complicated.”
“Come off it mate.” snorted Ron. “You could have blasted this guy easily.”
“Yes, but I do not want to draw attention to the face that Harry Potter stole something from a reserve depot of the ministry of magic.”
“Anyway, how are we getting inside?” asked Hermione, who had just finished searching the guard. “He does not have a key or anything similar useful to get inside.”
“I am not surprised.” replied Harry. “I am wondering if anyone still has any keys to this forsaken place. Well anyway I am going to open the door myself. However finding the powerstones might take a while. If my information is correct then it has at lease ten floors holding tons of unsorted items. It is enchanted with antimagical aura, to prevent anyone unauthorized from apparating or portkeying inside so we can not use Summoning Charms. If we are lucky we will be finished within three hours.”

“Great.” sighed Ron, Hermione and Ginny at same time, mentally preparing themselves for a long afternoon, while Harry channelled his power to blast down the door.


* * * * *


Three hours later Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were once again sitting on the kitchen table in Ron’s and Hermione’s flat. A gold brown, jagged stone, roughly the size of a fist, was lying in the middle of the table, emanating a soft, golden glow. They had returned with it nearly half an hour ago, after searching through most of the depot. It had been hard to find an intact powerstone, which was big and flawless enough to serve their purpose. When they had finally located it, they quickly left the crime scene, casting a time delayed Enervation Charm on the stunned guard before apparating away. Now the only thing left to do was to develop a plan.

“Can anyone tell me again how this thing is going to help us deal with three thousands of years old and nearly invincible lunatics?” asked Ron, gesturing at the harmless looking stone placed on the table. “The thing looks as though it had trouble handling a child with a toy wand!”
“Honestly Ron!” replied Hermione irritably. “Do not judge a book by its cover! The stone is filled with gigantic amounts of raw magical energy and we will use it to power the spell we are going to use on the leviathans.”
“Are you sure that it will contain enough energy to entrap all three of them?” asked Harry, trying to steer the conversation into safer waters to prevent another argument between his two best friends.

“Well, we don’t really know.” answered Ginny. “No one has ever tried to use a powerstone the way we are going to, so we can only guess. But judging by the amount of energy they normally contain, the odds are good that it will work.”
“So we are gambling again.” sighed Harry, running a hand through his hair. “I have had enough risks for a lifetime, but I guess we do not really have another choice. I really don’t want to see anymore people dieing, because these three maniacs have a score the settle. We have to put an end to this!”

“Right you are Harry.” echoed Hermione, brightly. “That’s why we are here. You know that powerstones normally get grounded. Then their energy may be tapped by inserting them in special magical fields. However this method is not very effective, only a small part of a stone’s power can be accessed this way. Unfortunately there are no other stable ways of doing it, because they always liberate a large amount of raw and unfocused energy, which destroys everything if not getting controlled immediately. And this is where you step in.”

“Thanks to Zerthimon’s Focus I am able to channel and to form all kind of energies.” continued Harry, grasping what she had planned. “I even can absorb energies that are not my own and add them to my own. It certainly is not easy but I can do it. So basically your plan is to gamble that there is enough energy in the stone, hoping that I will be able to absorb it and to use it to cast a patchwork spell never tested before, on three of the most powerful beings, which have ever walked the earth?”

“Well technically it was Ginny’s idea, but yes, that is the plan.” replied Hermione calmly.
“Great, and after we have done this, we are going to invent a broomstick, which can reach the moon, no problem at all.” said Harry, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Look, I may have defeated Voldemort, but I am not invincible. Fighting him was really, really close and I am no match for the leviathans. They can rip me apart without even getting out of breath.”

“And that is why we are going to think of a really good strategy.” echoed Ginny, her eyes sparkling with what might be anger. “We don’t have another choice than to use the powerstone, we simply would not be able to gather the energy. However you do not have to fight the three titans. The spell has to be used thrice, once on each of them. However it is auto aiming, all you have to do is to concentrate on their magical energies while you are launching the spell and they will find their targets. So you can play hit and run with them and I am very sure that you will be able to do this without getting a scratch.”

Harry though about this for a while. She had a point, it actually could work. They would place anti-apparating wards on the area so Crosis, Shai and Anhur could not simply vanish. He would still be able to teleport, thanks to the Blinking Charm. If he kept moving they would be unable to hit him and he would win! But he should use every advantage he could get. The three were not stupid, well Anhur was but that was beside the point, so they would probably recognize his strategy soon. So he made a mental note to hit the smartest of them, Crosis, at first. With him out of the picture he might stand a chance.

“Alright.” he found himself saying. “What exactly do you have in mind?”


* * * * *


Two hours later Harry found himself standing once again in the canyon, where he had first met the leviathans. He was wearing his auror robes, feeling that he would need every extra protection he could get. Fingering the cool powerstone in his right pocket he allowed his mind to wander.
“This place is becoming a very macabre running gag” he thought, not at all happy having to return here. Someone had cleaned the whole thing up; no traces of the slaughter could be found even though it had only happened this morning. Apparently the ministry was not as disorganized as he had thought. Deciding to worry about Scrimgeour and his goons later, he focused again on the plan he was going to execute soon.

Despite any improvements he, Ron, Hermione and Ginny had made to their original strategy, it sill was very, very risky. Harry hated gambling and he especially hated gambling with high stakes. If everything went smoothly, he would be celebrating with Ginny in an hour; if not… well he would not have to worry about that anymore. The plan had two very risky spots were the whole thing could come down. The first one was to actually convince the three titans that a new round of the contest would start today, even though it was thee days too early. Also he would have to motivate them so much that they would not pay too much attention to him; he needed the time to prepare the spell. If he had done that the rest would be peachy and easy. Well, except for entombing them for good of course.

Praying that it would go well, Harry created the beacon.


* * * * *


They arrived faster then he had anticipated. Barely a minute had passed after he had created the beacon and already all three of them were floating in the sky above him. He scanned them carefully, looking for any signs that they had become distrustful after the ministry’s attack on them. He found none. As usual, Crosis looked aloof and self confident, as far as one could tell, his face was skeletal after all. Anhur had his trademark scowl plastered on his face and seemed constantly ready to kill the unfortunate being, which stood closest to him. While this state of mind would be normally considered alarming, it was perfectly ordinary for the brute. Harry wondered not for the first time, when and how Anhur had lost his marbles so completely. Shai looked as inscrutable as ever, her incredible beauty cool and foreboding. It was hard to tell if she was suspecting anything, but so far he had no reason to assume it.

“Well arbiter.” said Crosis in his icy voice. “You have called us and here we are. What is the reason for this unusual gathering?”
Harry cleared his throat and carefully weighted his words before answering the skeletal mage.
“I was thinking about the contest yesterday and came to the conclusion that it has been going on for too long.” he started, forcing his voice to stay cool and void of any emotions. “Your little…err… “Run-in” with the ministry today proved that we are not operating under optimal conditions. Your retaliation has been hard but one would be foolish to assume that this matter had been put to rest. It is very likely that you will be attacked again in the near future and they won’t underestimate you again.”

“HAH.” cried Anhur. “As if these weaklings could damage us! We are immortal, we are GODS! They should worship us and pray for their little lives!”
“I agree. It is very unlikely that they will prove a threat for us.” added Crosis.
“You are right, they won’t be able to actually hurt you.” replied Harry, hoping that they would buy his next bluff. “However I have received information that the ministry has been able to retrieve the spell Tourach used on you so many years ago. They are currently planning how to entrap you again and I am afraid that they have the resources need to successfully execute this plan.”

Stunned silence followed his explanation. Crosis’ and Anhur’s face had darkened into frowns, while Shai’s remained as expressionless as ever. They seemed to be buying it.
“If we consider your information correct arbiter, then we should act quickly.” said Shai after a minute, her voice ringing like a glass bell. “Is there any chance of preventing them from entrapping us again?”
“I am afraid not.” replied Harry, shaking his had and lowering his head as though he were really worried about this problem. “My information is very sketchy and I doubt that I will be able to collect any more in the near future, thanks to your little stunt in the ministry. By the time I will be able to contact my source again it may be too late. Also we have no idea where the spell currently is, so a preventive strike is out of question. With the contest going on you three are easy targets; all they have to do to find you is to follow me. Of course we could still pause until the whole thing has cooled down a bit, but I have no idea how long this is going to be.”

“That is not an option!” said Shai, a small trace of anger in her voice. “We have been waiting for more than three thousand years and we are not going to wait any longer. Voice your suggestion arbiter, maybe it will be useful.”
“Alright, this is what I have in mind.” replied Harry, after Anhur and Crosis had given their approval. “We are going to end the contest tonight. This means what only one of us is going to survive this. I am going to create an arena, which will serve as a battleground today. If anyone of you gets pushed out of it, he or she has lost and will be unable to rejoin combat. The same is true for someone, who is lying on the ground for more than ten seconds. You will have fifteen minutes to fight and either only one of you remains standing or we will let the points decide. I will create a magical counter, which will measure the number of blows delivered and endured. Then it will calculate points and the one with the most wins. He or she will absorb all of the other’s energy, including mine and the losers will most likely die during the process, so give your best. Oh and one more thing: summoning creatures is prohibited.”

It took a while for all this information to sink, but finally all three leviathans agreed. Apparently no one of them had realized that Harry was actually trying to end the contest, because they had been much too self centred. Harry has never been more grateful for absolute ignorance than on this day. Now all he needed was a bit of luck and he would have one of them trapped!

“Alright then, I am going to cast the spells necessary to start this round.” he said, whipping out his wand and clutching the powerstone in his pocket with the other hand. He flicked his wand once and a large battle ring appeared in the middle of the canyon. It was roughly twenty feet in diameter and made of white marble, but completely unadorned. “Please be so kind and step into the arena already, while I do this. Please be patient, this may take a while.”

The three leviathans complied immediately and Harry released a breath he did not know he had been holding. Mentally preparing himself for the worst he tightened his grip around the smooth powerstone in his pocket and placed the anti-apparation wards. Taking a deep breath, he started to channel his power and crushed it.


* * * * *


The pain was excruciating. Liquid fire was flowing through his veins, while icy winds chilled him to the bone and every inch of his body was getting doused in acid. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before and was at the same time worse and gentler than the Cruciatus. At least it nearly allowed him to think. He had crushed the stone a few seconds ago or had it been a few hours ago? He was screaming or wasn’t he? Was he dead or was he alive? He had forgotten. All he knew was that he was in agony and that he would not be able to bear it much longer. And then suddenly it stopped.

Harry opened his eyes and found himself still standing in the canyon. Apparently the leviathans had not perceived anything or they simply had not given a damn. It did not matter anyway. What mattered was, that he felt great. Not the kind of great you would feel after really doing well in an exam or getting an amazing shag. No, it was this I-am-God-watch-me kicking-your-ass great! He had never felt this powerful in his life! His whole being was throbbing with energy and every ounce of it answered his call immediately. He could do this!

Beaming, he started to mumble the incantation of the trapping spell, waving both of his arms in the complicate movements Hermione had shown him. He could here the titans getting impatient but he only needed a few more seconds. Already tracking Crosis’ aura, he started to pour energy into the spell. A large powder white orb appeared between his hands and he knew that it was ready. Harry still felt great and he knew that he had more than enough energy left to entomb all three leviathans.

Suddenly a startled cry erupted in the arena. Damn. Crosis had recognized the spell, it was now or never. Harry flung the sphere and barely was able to blink away, before a magma jet, a Death Ball and a flying crystal hit the ground where he had been standing. He appeared on the other end of the arena and saw Crosis getting hit by the spell. The skeleton tried to block it with a black shield, but it simply breezed through it and hit him dead centre. A blinding flash occurred and Crosis was gone. Harry whooped in triumph; the spell had actually worked! However he did not have the time to enjoy his victory. Anhur and Shai had spotted him and started shooting a barrage of spells at him, cursing him for being a traitor. He needed time to cast the spell and he could not do it, while having to dodge all the time.

Suddenly he had an idea; if they wanted to shoot spells at him, let them! He teleported away again, back to his original position and cast a single spell. Suddenly the whole canyon was filled with Harries, which started to recast the trapping spell. Now all he could was hoping that the two remaining leviathans needed a while to find the real him. Anhur and Shai looked confused for a while, before starting to fire spells at the nearest Harries. The illusions flickered and died, but they were far away for the real Harry. “This is looking good.” he thought, having finished nearly half of the spell. Then, however, Shai launched a gigantic white shockwave, which spread throughout the whole canyon, causing everything it touched to be blown to a million pieces.

Harry watched the wave running towards him, it was so close! He needed only five more seconds! It was twenty feet away. Three seconds to go. It was ten feet away. One second to go. It was one feet away. Ready! Harry had Shai’s aura locked in an instant and fired the spell immediately. Then he blinked away to an area the wave had already passed, a split second before he would have been ripped to pieces. He watched the spell track Shai, like it had done with Crosis and was relieved to see her disappearing like he had. Just as he breathed a sigh of relieve, he was hit in the back by something fluid and incredibly hot! He vanished it immediately, but it had already burned through his robe and deeply burned his back. Blood was starting to pour down his spine, and the pain flooded his mind. Harry pushed it away just in time, to prevent getting hit by one more of Anhur’s magma jets.

“So it’s all between us, huh?” called the brute, a maniacal glow in his black eyes. “I am really looking forward on killing you!”
Anhur started to barrage him with fire spells and Harry knew that he would not be fooled by another illusion. His power was quickly running out, he needed to cast the spell quickly. However he needed every ounce of concentration to dodge his opponent’s attacks. He needed to occupy him for a moment. He jumped over one of Anhur’s fireballs and watched it harmlessly hit into a canyon wall, where it did almost no damage. Then it hit him. Tapping into his powers, he summoned a block of stones around his opponent, enchanting it to be completely fireproof. The brute tried to apparate out, but Harry’s wards held him in place. Not knowing how long his makeshift confinement, would last, Harry started to cast the spell again and managed to hit Anhur just as he broke free out of his stony prison. He vanished in a flash of light and it was over.

Falling down to his knees, Harry dispelled the anti-apparating wards to return to Ginny. His back was feeling worse by the second and he was feeling as weak as a newborn child. Apparently casting the spell thrice had completely drained his magical reserves, even though he had used the powerstone. Suddenly he heard a soft pop behind himself and was hit by a full body bind, before being able to react.

“Harry Potter, you are placed under arrest.” said an unknown voice behind him, before knocking him out cold with a stunner.