Harry Potter and the Child of Tourach

a/n: My,my, that was a long downtime. But don't worry, I have used the time, updates will be quick in the future. Please take the time to review.

To say that Sara Carter was exhausted would be the understatement of the century. She had come home a few minutes ago and was currently kicking herself for deciding to become an auror. It had been two weeks since she had started her training under Harry’s guidance and he was pushing them mercilessly to their limits. Today was Wednesday and she was glad that the next two days would be spent with theoretical lessons, which were boring, but at least relaxing.

After eating what was left over from dinner and chatting a bit with her parents, she decided to take a long, hot bath to sooth her aching body. Honestly, she didn’t even know that there were so many muscles in the human body! It felt as though every one of them was complaining on every movement she made. Damn Harry Potter!

She entered the bathroom and filled the huge tub with almost scalding water and added a few oils to the mix. She quickly undressed and stepped into the water, enjoying the sensation of her cramped muscles relaxing. She closed her eyes and though about the last two weeks.

Truth be told, no one could claim that auror training was boring. Harry was extremely motivated and an incredibly good teacher, but he also was very pushy. He had arranged a very tight, some would call it sadistic, training schedule for them. Every morning, at eight o’clock, they would meet in the arena to practice duelling. When Harry had first told them that they would spent a lot of their training sweating in the pits, most of the students thought he was exaggerating.

However this had changed after two weeks. Now every one of them had realized how serious their trainer had been. Each day they would spend two hours in the pits under Harry’s guidance. Either he would divide them into pairs and supervise their duels, offering advice how to improve their fighting style or he would personally spar with them, which usually led to extremely short duels.

After these two hours most of the students were already exhausted and grumbled about how tiring the training was. Harry however would either give them a lecture about the importance stamina in their profession or would simply ignore their complaints.

Directly after their duelling practice, they would start to learn and practice the spells, which they would need as an auror. For example they had learned how to cast the Disillusionment Charm or a highly useful tracking charm, which allowed the cast to know where the charmed person currently was and where it was heading.

At the moment they were practice a spell which caused a flame to erupted form the casters wand, incinerating everyone foolish enough to touch it. The flame itself wasn’t very hot, but it was incredibly helpful against inferi and other heat-sensitive creatures. While not being tricky to cast, the spell was very dangerous, due to the high risk of injuring an ally or oneself by using it. Therefore Harry was teaching them how to control the heat and the length of the flame and made them practice the spell until they had really mastered it.

Also they would revise spells they had already learned at Hogwarts, especially Stunners and Shield Charms, to decrease the time it took them to cast them.

At twelve o’clock they would head to the auror canteen for lunch, which usually was a very quiet affair, due to the enormous hunger of most of the students. While Harry spent most of the lunch hour chatting with other aurors, especially with Tonks, they used it to quench their desire for food and/or to rest a bit, knowing that the afternoon wouldn’t be any more relaxing then the morning.

After lunch they would spent two hours in the ministry’s potion lab, a vast, rectangular room, which was filled with thousands of cauldrons and tons of potion ingredients, neatly stacked in shelves on the walls. Harry would teach them how to brew the potions they would constantly need as an auror, for example the Draught of Speed, which accelerated their movements for a few minutes. Many aurors swallowed this potion during combat, using the extra speed they need to overwhelm their enemies. Unfortunately the potion was very draining and when it wears off after a few minutes, you were a lot slower then before. Also the main ingredient, Snapper Haulm, was toxic in high concentration, effectively limiting the potion’s duration to three minutes at best.

This part of their day wasn’t very interesting and many students relaxed at bit too much during the potion lessons and got careless with their potion. This usually led to results somewhere between hilarious and downright lethal, causing the professional potion masters, who also used the room, to express their disapproval in a storm of curse words directed to the apprentices.

Next step was what Harry called the ‘interesting part’. He would lead them down many flights of stairs, which seemed to be completely different every time they used it, until they had reached a certain room deep under the ministry. It was known as the “Training Room” and was a more powerful version of the Room of Requirements in Hogwarts. Like the room in Hogwarts it adapted itself according to your wishes, but this room was even able to generate illusions of animals and/or people, which followed your command.

The illusion looked exactly like the things they were mimicking and even smelt or felt the same way. Naturally this would enable anyone entering the room to fulfil his or her private fantasies with the illusions and therefore the room was constantly monitored and access to it restricted. Also it would only follow the instructions of high ranked ministry workers, at least being a high-auror was required to control the room.

Harry would use the room to confront them with situations they would probably have to face while being an auror in the most realistic way possible. For example he would show them how to pursue a fleeing suspect, who was trying to escape by using an enchantment which allowed him to jump very high or how to get a grumpy barkeeper to give one the information one desired. Naturally he had made the room transform to fit his scenarios. Therefore the students were really chasing a suspect over the roofs of nightly London or were standing in shady bars arguing with fat and always ill-humoured informants.

While all of the students considered this a very good method to learn it usually was very exhausting, partly due to the scenarios Harry created (defending oneself against illusionary Death Eaters isn’t more relaxing than really battling them) and partly due to the learning-by-doing method he sported during these lessons. He would simply tell them to do it their way and then watch how they are doing. After they were done he would give them advice how to do it properly, but nevertheless some students got frustrated after getting chucked out of the illusionary bar three times in a row.

Usually this part of their training lasted three hours and at about six o’clock they were ready to start the final lesson for the day. To be more precise Harry was ready, while the students just wanted to go home and to crawl in their beds. This last part was the most loathed by all auror apprentices: the physical exercises. They would begin by running a few laps around the Arena, where they usually took these lessons, and a bit of stretching before coming to the really tiring parts. Harry would make them do some exercises to strengthen their muscles, including arms, legs and abdominal muscles. Most of the magical population totally resented carnal exercises except for Quidditch and therefore most of the students were aching all over after their little workout was finished. Harry kept telling them that it would get easier over the time, but this didn’t really boost their moral.

Next step were the martial arts. Harry had decided to start with Akido, a defensive martial art which used the enemy’s strength against him, before rounding up their education with Taek Won’Do or Karate during their training. He would show them the moves and split them into pairs to practice them, offering his advice throughout the lesson. While most of the students were deeply impressed by the show fights, in which Harry would sometimes engage with other aurors, many of them felt awkward and clumsy during their lessons and longed for the next magical lesson.

The icing on the cake was the final two miles run, they had to complete before being allowed to leave. They didn’t have to finish it within a time limit, but simply to endure the strain the run put on their body. Harry told them that there would be no sense in training their speed if they didn’t have the endurance to even run five miles in a row. Knowing the magical community too well, Harry had decided to start with two miles, unwilling to overstrain his apprentices. He also made a point of always running with them and not leaving until he had completed his run as well. Nevertheless all the students were dead on their feet after their usual day.

All in all Sarah was glad having enrolled for auror training. If actually working as one, was only half as exciting as the training, then it really was a great job. Of course, it had drawbacks, as every profession in the world. First of all it was very stressful, exhausting and probably dangerous, but that’s what spices up life, right? Unfortunately one also had to deal with the bureaucrats in the ministry. Harry had told them about the huge amount of paperwork, which usually followed an assignment and sometimes required even more time than the job itself.

Sarah believed every word of this, getting confronted with the embodiment of ministry bureaucracy three times a week. The first time she had seen Percy Weasley supervising their training, she had believed it to be a joke, but after nearly two weeks she had realized that the ministry was dead serious. Most of the time he wasn’t doing anything than taking notes on his clipboard, which was very distracting if you were currently pursuing a suspect in the Training Room, but sometimes he would question Harry if he considered this or that appropriate for them to learn.

Harry wouldn’t take the bait, but simply claim that as the auror in charge it was his right to teach us everything he thought appropriate, as long as he wasn’t infringing any laws. This usually shut Percy up and any further of his comments would be ignored. Even though Harry had never uttered a word about being irritated and angered by the supervisors presence, Sarah knew that in reality he was. His muscles would tense slightly every time Percy would say a word, something most people wouldn’t recognize, but Sarah had always been very observant. Additionally Harry Potter was intriguing her.

He was one of the most emotionally guarded people she had ever encountered. It was nearly completely impossible to detect what he was feeling by simply looking at him. His emerald eyes were mirrors, but they were not mirroring his soul, but the one of the observer. Nevertheless he himself was very observing and incredibly good at detecting other person’s emotions and intentions. Sometimes she felt as though Harry could indeed read minds. Apparently his past had required him to use every advantage which he could find. This fact had ingrained itself so deeply in his mind that he was constantly deeply analyzing his surroundings, searching for any possible edge he could have over any opponents.

Few was really known about Harry Potter’s adolescence and even less about his final crusade against You-Know-Who, even though they were heaps of speculations about both topics. Sarah could only guess which string of events had caused him to become such an alert, some would even call it paranoid, person. Of course he wasn’t helping to dispel all the silly rumours about himself, he rarely talked about anything concerning himself, despite the experiences he had made during his work as an auror. During their training sessions he was very nice and it sometimes was hard to imagine him killing on a battlefield, he simply appeared to be too much a good guy.

All in all Harry Potter was an enigma to her. She knew that there was more to him than met the eyes and she wouldn’t mind uncovering some of his secrets. Of course she knew that it was really unlikely that he would reveal himself to her of all people, a woman he hardly knew and who was much younger than him, but still considering it couldn’t hurt, right?

Sighing Sarah stepped out of the now cold water, dried her body and her hair. She brushed her teeth and headed right to bed, where she fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.


* * * * *


Two days later, a meeting room in the ministry, around three pm:

The conference room was packed with people. Sitting around a big, longish, rectangular table were the most important members of the ministerial executive: Minister Scrimgeour, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement John Wright, senior-high-auror Mad-Eye Moody and several other high-aurors, including Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks and Harry Potter.

“Now that we are all gathered, we can start discussing the issue of this emergency meeting.” started Scrimgeour. “Auror Tonks, please share with us the information you’ve gained during your last scouting mission.”
“If my observations are correct, then we have no time to lose.” said Tonks very solemnly. Harry furrowed his brows, knowing that something really bad must have happened, if it caused Nymphadore Tonks to get serious.
“My job was to investigate some cases of zombie-sightings by Muggles near Oxford. At first everything seemed alright, I didn’t come face to face with any undeads and was nearly ready to cast a few memory charms and to depart, when I felt an unusual concentration of magical energy outside the city. I followed the energy until I reached a valley about thirty miles east. Obviously it was the source of the power. At first it appeared to be completely empty and harmless, but when I approached I realized that this was a mirage. I had to use several scrying spells to break through the image and when I finally was successful I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

“The whole valley was black with zombies. They seemed to be an unusual type of undeads, because they were nearly completely covered in ice crystals, as though they were wearing a kind of armour. Also we weren’t wandering around aimlessly, like these mindless things usually do, but were waiting in neat lines for something. It is also strange that they didn’t attack me immediately after recognizing my presence. They must have realized that someone is there after I broke through their illusion and still they didn’t even react. I’ve got no idea what this might mean.”

“Well, it doesn’t really matter, does it?” said Scrimgeour. “We’ll simply form a small army and wipe them out. Should be such a big problem, they are just zombies.”
Harry’s brows furrowed even deeper in response to the minister’s boasting. He didn’t like the idea of fighting a completely unknown type of enemy and would personally take his time to prepare before rushing into action.

“Okay here’s what we do.” the minister continued, creating a map of the valley with a flick of his wand, which floated directly over the conference table. “The valley only has one entrance, so we won’t have to worry about any of them escaping. We will simply block the entrance and slowly advance, blasting everything in our way. I would suggest a big taskforce, due to the great mass of undeads present. Any additions?”

Harry felt a scowl forming on his face, as a result to the minister’s risky combat strategy. Since the war was over, Scrimgeour, who had been a good auror before, felt much to secure for Harry’s taste and tended to be reckless. Deciding to minimise the possible loss of lives, he spoke up, introducing his preferred strategy.

“Currently they are no danger to anyone. There’s only one way to leave the valley; let’s just place a few guards there and prepare portkeys to reinforce them within minutes. It’ll be much easier to prevent them from leaving their sanctuary then to invade it. Also we would be fighting downhill, which would give us an additional upper edge against them. This strategy will minimise the bloodshed, I think we should consider using it.”

Scrimgeour’s face darkened at being contradicted by Harry, while several of the other aurors nodded approvingly. However the minister wasn’t a person to take advice very kindly and usually stuck to his own ideas.
“Your plan auror would require a great amount of ministry employees to be occupied for an unknown amount of time.” said Scrimgeour angrily, a deep scowl etched in his face. “I want this issue to be dealt with quickly and with as few resources used as possible. Only a fool would waste precious manpower and money.”

“And only a fool would rush into a battle he know nothing about.” replied Harry, his temper getting the better of him and rising from his chair.
“SILENCE”, roared Scrimgeour. “I will not be spoken to in this….”
“Gentlemen, gentlemen.” interrupted Wright, anxious to ease the situation. “No reason to get angry. Harry sit down! The minister is the head of the executive and has every right to develop strategies, which we have to carry out, no matter if we like them or not. You have voiced your concerns and many here agree with you; however we have to follow the minister’s judgement.”

Harry sat down obediently, unwilling embarrass his friend by openly contradicting him and having realised that arguing was pointless in this situation.
“Outstanding.” continued Scrimgeour. “This is settled then. We will strike this evening and I want every auror available to take part in the raid. This includes retired ones and the trainees. We’ll meet at the valley at precisely seven o’clock.”

“The trainees aren’t ready to be part of such an operation.” said Harry, being completely shocked by this suggestion. “They are merely kids with a toy wand at the moment and unable to do a fully-trained auror’s job. Besides we don’t know anything about our enemies and it may lead to a massacre if they are more powerful than we thought.”

“Then you should make sure that they are prepared until tonight.” replies the minister, a satisfied smirk on his face. “The apprentices will be fighting as well, Potter, or your days being an auror are over. I won’t tolerate any contradiction from you, have I made myself clear?”

White hot anger cursed through Harry. He found his suspicions that Scrimgeour was regarding him as rival for power confirmed by this order and was sure that the minister was putting his students in danger only to damage him. It truly was a cheap shot, but Harry was in no position to do anything against it. The day was getting worse, then he ever though it would be.

“As glass, sir.” said Harry, having caught a warning glance from Wright, before responding.


* * * * *


Sarah was more than startled to find a livid Harry Potter banging into the auditorium, in which they were currently lectured about the rules they had to follow while being an auror. It was extremely dull, but gave them the much needed time to relax from the strain the regular training put on them. It was more than unusual for a fully-trained auror to enter this room, normally they tried to get as far away from it and the bureaucracy it symbolized, especially if he was literally knocking down the doors in the process.

“Auror Potter.” said their lector, Professor Hector, irritated about getting his lesson interrupted. “Is there a problem?”
“A problem?” replied Harry angrily. “Yes there’s a problem, indeed! I want everyone apprentice in my office in precisely five minutes. This lesson is over, it’s pointless anyway.”

With these words he stomped out of the lecture hall, leaving behind a mass of surprised student and a scandalized professor Hector, who couldn’t believe that his enormously important lesson had been interrupted and cancelled.


* * * * *


Precisely five minutes later all of the students had gathered in Harry’s office, only to find their mentor rummaging through some big, wooden crates in one corner of the room, muttering under his breath throughout the process. He didn’t realize that they had entered the room and due to his obvious foul mood neither of the students was eager to introduce them. After a few, very long minutes, Booker broke the silence.

“Er, Sir, why exactly are we meeting here?”
Harry turned slowly, obviously having only just realized that there were other people in the room as well. He was holding a silver amulet in one of his hands.
“You’re here because our minister of magic, is a bloody, stubborn idiot.” he replied, his eyes burning with anger, and started to explain them there current situation.

Five minutes later he was finished and the information had begun to sink in.
“Well, I’m ready to finish off a few undeads.” said Sean, as usual completely convinced of his own abilities.
“No, you are NOT.” replied Harry, slamming his fist on his desk. “All of you are mere kids, no aurors. You really think that you are ready after two weeks of training to do the work of a fully trained auror, who has spent years training? It’s like sending first-year Hogwart’s pupils against a group of Death Eaters. Bloody hell, you may DIE this evening do you realize this?”

Complete silence followed Harry’s outburst and he was the first to break the silence afterwards, snapping back to business mode.
“Okay, obviously you’re not afraid, but don’t get reckless. There is no point in getting oneself killed. We’ve barely got four hours to get you prepared and we should use the time. Our enemies are zombies, so I would advise to use fire charms, to burn them away. The fact that they are covered in ice shouldn’t help them against this. We’ll practice the charm again today.”

“Also you’ll be wearing this.” he continued, holding up the silver amulet. “It’ll help me to know your current position and situation, so I can help you if you’re in trouble. No one of my students will die today.”

Four hours of training later, the students put on their charmed amulets and apparated to their final destination, feeling somewhere between excited and scared out of their wits.


* * * * *


Harry surveyed the group of aurors gathering around the canyon. The crevice was only about 100 feet wide and would never allow the nearly one thousand aurors to enter it at the same time, while still granting them enough space to fight efficiently. Therefore the number of aurors entering the canyon was limited to two hundred. The rest would take position at the edge of it, supporting them by shooting long range spells in the withering mass of undeads. Harry wanted his students to be part of the support team, but Scrimgeour himself had assigned them to the attack squad, which fuelled Harry’s temper even more.

Currently a group of illusionists were dispelling the mirage cloaking the valley and as soon as they had finished the assault would start. Harry gaze travelled over the faces of his auror colleagues, noticing looks of nervous anticipation, determination and fear on most of them. He smiled at them encouragingly, partly because he wanted to raise the morals and partly because he himself wasn’t afraid. Truth be told, he wasn’t keen to fight against an unknown enemy and a part of him was currently screaming at him to get the hell back home and to leave Scrimgeour stewing in this mess. Nevertheless he had no intentions of leaving the battleground.

It had happened as soon as he had arrived at the canyon. An old feeling had resurfaced. Not just any old feeling. The feeling. That strange familiar feeling of everything being suddenly clear and simple. Not having to worry about politics, ethics, intrigues, feelings or loyalties but simply having to fight your way through a mass of ruthless enemies, which was a close as one could get to absolute freedom. Battle was beaconing him and he had no choice than to answer.

The last time he had had the feeling in this intensity was during the night he killed Voldemort and he wasn’t sure if this was a good or a bad sign. As soon as he had taken one breath after arriving, he knew that this would be a glorious fight. The air carrying the rotten stench of decaying flesh, carried for Harry a promise. The promise of the adrenaline rush while smashing ones way through a multitude of foes. The satisfying crash of an enemy skull bursting, the soft thud of a dead enemy hitting the ground, the incredible feeling of triumph after having finished a worthy opponent. Every feeling a warrior could experience during a battle was promised to him by the evening breeze and it was reigniting his old lust for battle.

Harry knew that he tended to stop thinking during combat and to rely on his instinct, which marked him as an excellent fighter. Instinct is faster than thought and only a great warrior could completely rely on his instinct and still leave the battleground alive. Ironically many mediocre soldiers, who relied on their minds only, lived longer than more skilled ones, who made the mistake of getting reckless during battle or relied on their insufficient trained instinct.

Even though his battle hunger was awakened a small voice in his head reminded him of all the reasons he shouldn’t be here. In the past he had fought not only for his life, but also for the promise of a better life, a fulfilled life, waiting for him in the future if only he could stay alive to experience it. This possibility kept him going through every hardship he had to endure during his crusade against Voldemort and whenever he was growing tired of fighting he would think about everything he would do after his quest was over.

He had achieved this goal and why should he put his better life into jeopardy by fighting a battle for a minister he never liked on terms dictate to him, instead on his own? Shouldn’t he rather be at home, spending the evening with Ginny? Wasn’t it his duty as a husband to stay out of danger? Shouldn’t he throw his old life out the window and concentrate on his new one?

Well, he should, but not today. The promise of a heated battle was too strong and sometimes Harry thought that you had to face death to truly feel alive, because only then you would fully appreciate the wonders of live. So Harry pushed all thoughts about why he shouldn’t participate in the battle and about the scolding Ginny would give him as soon as he got home (he had only wrote he a note saying that he would have to work late today, but spared the details) away and eagerly awaited the start of the fray.

After about fifteen minutes, Scrimgeour finally ordered the aurors to advance, while taking his place in the ranks of the support team. Harry entered the valley with a smiled etched into his face, hoping that he could prevent any life loss on his side.


* * * * *


Tonks ducked barely in time to dodge the wicked zombie claw, which had been aimed at her head. “Damn, these things are fast”, she thought as turned the undead in a macabre torch with a flick of her wand. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air and the zombie fell to ground, getting dissolved quickly by the magical flames. Yet Tonks didn’t have the time to enjoy the victory, due to the three other bothersome undeads which attacked her as soon as they had seen their comrade falling.

Showing an unusual amount of intelligence, her three new foes launched a coordinated assault on her, one attack from left, one from right and one head-on. She took a step back to avoid on pair of claws and kicked at the legs of her next attacker, shattering it and tripping the zombie. However she couldn’t block the last aggressor and was in unable to dodge, have just attacked herself. She watched a three fingered, ice covered and very sharp looking claw flying towards her, aimed directly at her heart. Desperately she brought her hands up, trying to deflect the strike, but she knew that she would be no match for the sheer physical strength these creatures harboured.

Just as she had embraced the thought of dieing today, being completely petrified by the wicked creature in front of her a blinding flash solved her problem. Her attacker vanished into nothingness, its claw only an inch from her torso. His two cronies, who wanted to use the advantage they had over Tonks, burned to ashes in the same moment, granting her a few moments to recover.

“Hey Tonks”, said Harry as he appeared next to her, “Don’t even think about dieing before our job here is finished. We need your help here. And cover your flanks; you tend to leave them unprotected.”

With these words he jumped into the melee again, not hearing her mumble: “I’m too busy to die anyway.”


* * * * *


“It’s just a jump to the left and a step to the right.”, thought Harry, smiling, as he simultaneously incinerated one zombie, ripped on into tiniest bits with an over charged Reductor Course and used the Starfire Charm to vaporize an another group of five foes. It was almost too easy to best these enemies although they were very intelligent and cunning for being the low developed undeads they were.

“Come on, is this really all you can do?” he taunted, shattering a zombies ribcage with a well-aimed snap kick before torching the wretched thing. Blimey, he had missed this! More and more adrenaline entered his bloodstream as he moved through the thick ranks of undeads, twirling his wand in a dance of death, which left only charred flesh heaps behind. He was started to feel slightly dizzy, but this didn’t tarnish the feeling of euphoria, which had taken hold of him as soon as the first spell was fired. For a brief moment a single thought blazed through his head: “I’m right back where I belong!”, but he quickly pushed it aside and focused again on the battle at hand. He trusted in his abilities and knew that no zombie would be a real threat to him. Congratulating himself for every minute he had spent training during the last years, he summoned an aura of white-hot flames, which surrounded him, but was harmless to him and ran directly into the largest concentration of undeads he saw, grinning like a madman.


* * * * *


Tonks was mesmerized by Harry’s way of fighting. Even though he seemed to be completely intoxicated by the battle, he was always in complete control of the situation. She had seen him fighting off six zombies at once, without hesitating and without even taking a scratch. He was displaying a usual natural ability to cast elemental magic, his fire spells were wreaking havoc in the enemy’s ranks and Tonks knew how hard to control these spells were. Heck, he had run into a group of at least twenty zombies, protect by only an inch of magical fire and his enemies had been vaporised as soon as they even brushed it!

Watching Harry was somewhere between fascinating, awe-inspiring and downright scary. Tonks was sure that he was only using a small part of his energy in this battle and judging by the untiring way he moved he still had lots of power kept in reserve. He was the only one that prevented the zombies from simply crushing them with their superior numbers. The other aurors were tiring quickly and had by no means the powers to annihilate such large numbers of foes in such a short time. Truth be told, the battle was going badly. More and more they had to retreat and more and more aurors were savagely injured and had to be removed from combat by the battle-healers they had brought. So far no one had been killed, but sooner or later their time would run out and for every foe they slay, two seemed to appear.

Yet Tonks currently wasn’t worrying about the battle, but about what would happen if Harry got killed. The moral of the other fighters would crumble and the battle would be lost immediately. It was highly unlikely that this would happen, but Tonks vowed to keep an eye on the overeager fighter, to be able to help him if he needed her. After all she owed her life to him!

Suddenly a very troubling thought flashed through her brain: What would happen if Harry got too carried away by the combat? Judging by the grin etched into his face he was rather enjoying himself. Knowing the bloodlust caused by a heated battle herself, Tonks knew that this could lead to a very dangerous situation. She had read about fighters suddenly attacking their allies because they had lost the ability to distinguish between friend and foe during the combat or were to eager to fight to care.

Shuddering she vowed to also keep a stunner ready and re-entered combat, making a mental note to be ill the next time Scrimgeour started a stupid battle.


* * * * *


No one of the combatants clashing below realized that they were watched. A small and narrow cave was located at one of the canyon walls, being cloaked in complete darkness. However an even darker creature lurked in the gloom, a creature so dark that the velvety blackness around it seemed merely dark grey. The shadowy version of a tall, lean man with only white slits as eyes, was standing solemnly in the small alcove and watched the spectacle below.

This was Sandro, Sandro the shade assassin, now nearing his three hundred fortieth year in business and one of the most successful in his profession. And he was enjoying himself greatly.
“Absolutely superb show Harry”, though the assassin. “I never knew you were such a pyromaniac. Today you are an even more formidable fighter than five years ago and I’m really glad that I don’t have to fight you. Even an assassin values life very highly, perhaps even more than other people do, because he knows how fleeting it can be. Nevertheless I really should have brought some popcorn, bless those muggles for this invention. This battle is highly entertaining and the odds are high that it will get even bloodier and more entertaining. Nothing can make your day as a vicious and savage battle.”

Smiling in anticipation, the assassin broke out of his reverie and refocused his attention on the grand melee below.


* * * * *


Booker knew that this fight would end in disaster as soon as he had stepped onto the battleground. At first they had encountered little resistance and had been able to advance quickly, but suddenly a vast amount of foes had apparently out of thin air, overwhelming them like a raging torrent of rotten flesh and wicked claws. This wasn’t the glorious victory Scrimgeour had promised, this was suicide.

He had been fighting non-stop since they had started the assault and he was growing more and more tired every minute. Using the magical torch spell Harry had taught them he had been able to keep the undeads at bay, and to incinerate his fair share of them. However the spell wasn’t to be cast continuously for a long time and was currently was draining Bookers energy rapidly. He was breathing heavily as he torched yet another foe. The air was burning in his lungs, his vision was getting more and more blurred and his sides were burning from exhaustion. He didn’t know how long he could keep fighting before passing out.

In his dazed state he didn’t realize that the wizard protecting his right flank had been cut down by two zombies, who were just closing in on him.


* * * * *


Harry’s silver amulet was growing hot, just as he cast a Reductor Curse at one of his foes, turning the undead in a heap of shattered ice and broken bones. The shock kicked him out of his euphoria and sobered him quickly. One of his apprentices was in danger; he had to rescue him or her quickly. One of his hands grabbed the amulet and he muttered an incantation, which transformed it into a portkey. Suddenly he felt the familiar sensation of getting pulled into the air by a hook behind his navel and almost instantly hit the ground next to Booker Kane, who was currently lying on the floor, clutching his right arm which was sporting a series of deep, heavily bleeding cuts. Two zombies were standing around him and one of them was just raising his claw to finish Booker off, who seemed to have lost his wand at some time during the struggle. However the undead never got the chance to strike.

With a lazy flick of his wand Harry turned his two foes into living torches and summoned a wall of fire to close the leaks in the defence which had been created due to Booker’s inability to fight. Sighing he bent down to examine the apprentice wounds, who didn’t give an indication that he had recognized or even seen Harry. His eyes were glassy and he was shivering violently.

“He’s probably in shock”, muttered Harry to himself, taking another look at the wounds. They already seemed to be inflamed; apparently the cut of a zombie claw was poisoness as well. Booker wouldn’t be able to continue fighting. Silently cursing Scrimgeour, Harry flicked his wand, causing a white fist to appear in the sky. This would alert one of the healers, who were part of the support team. He or she would arrive quickly and take care of Booker. Even though the apprentice didn’t seem to be in grave danger, Harry hoped that the healer would hurry, so he could continue fighting without having to worry about his injured comrade.

While waiting for the healer, Harry examined the battle field. He hadn’t realized before that their situation was that bad, due to the adrenalin flush he had been in. All around him the zombies were pressing on, while the exhausted aurors had to retreat. The ground was stained with blood, which wasn’t a good sign because the zombies lacked all body fluids. Harry realized that this battle would be lost, if they continued fighting this way. One undead wasn’t a match for an auror, but an auror wasn’t a match for twenty undeads. Somehow he had to balance these odds, killing them the normal way would take too long.

Racking his brain for a way to prevent the upcoming doom, Harry was startled by a sudden crack behind him. He turned round to see a female healer taking care of Booker’s wounds and placing him on a stretcher. In this instant a golden glimmer caught his eye. The healer was wearing the Order of The Healing Flame, a golden amulet engraved with a white and red fireball, often given to very gifted healers. The fireball is a symbol of the healers, who burn away death and disease just as fire burns away wood. However it was the symbolism which got Harry’s attention, but the fireball on the amulet. Suddenly he knew what he must do, even though it would leave him drained. He apparated next to Tonks to set his plan into motion.


* * * * *


“Tonks”, shouted Harry as soon as he appeared next to her. “I can end this battle, but I need time to gather the power. Protect me for a few minutes and we can get out of here alive.”
“At least someone has got an emergency plan.” she replied, blasting a zombie during the process. “Get going then, I’ll organize your protection. ALL PROTECT HARRY HE’S OUR LAST HOPE TO GET OUT OF HERE ALIVE!”
The fighters in close proximity started to form a protective ring around Harry, but he was already starting to gather his energy. His plan was simple, but effective. He wanted to use an old elemental spell, which created a guidable fireball and would channel as much of his power as possible into it. With a bit of luck this would be enough to kill most of the enemies. Of course there was the danger of losing control over the spell, which would result in the immediate explosion of the fireball, but Harry couldn’t think of any other way to save his auror colleagues.

Raising his hand to the sky, he mumbled the ancient incantation. Immediately a small flame appeared between his hands and he started to pour energy into it. The ball started to grow, but unfortunately the undeads realized that he was drawing power to harm them and started a furious charge at him. The crashed hard into the auror’s ranks, their wicked claws seeding injury and death. For a moment Harry thought that they would break through, but their advance stopped only three feet away from him. He doubled his efforts to charge the spell, knowing that no matter how fiercely they fought Tonks and her fellow aurors would lose this fight. The zombies were simply too numerous.

The next few minutes were one of the longest in Harry’s life. He tuned out everything in his surroundings, having to concentrate on keeping control of the spell. Still he knew that every second people were dieing around him and that he was completely vulnerable at the moment. It would really be ironic, having defeated Voldemort only to be cut down by a stinking zombie. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he had channelled all energy he could spare into the spell, keeping enough to continue fighting afterwards.

“Here we go!”, he shouted, as he launched the now white-hot and thirty feet wide ball.


* * * * *


The fireball wrecked havoc in the ranks of undead, never actually hitting the ground, but only coming close enough to incinerate everything near it. Harry kept it well away from any allies, but instead concentrated on the zombies, which were still waiting to join combat. The acrid spell of burning flesh was getting overwhelming as large numbers of foes disintegrated to the intense heat. Harry let the fireball dance through the enemies as long as possible, but it was losing energy very quickly. After only half a minute, Harry directed it into a large group of foes, the resulting explosion, blinding everyone on the battleground and shaking the earth. Most of the zombies were terminated, but the remaining would still provide a tough fight. But instead of charging immediately after the attack, as Harry had expected, the zombies retreated.

They seemed to form a certain formation, as they took place at the canyon walls, completely ignoring the humans around them. Just as Harry wondered whether he should take advance of this strange behaviour, black smoke appeared in the middle of the canyon only ten feet away form him. Every second it thickened, slowly forming a humanoid form. Suddenly it disappeared, revealing the creature it had hidden. It was an ice-covered skeleton!

The new undead advanced slowly on Harry, an aura of power surrounding it. A layer of ice with varying thickness covered its whole body. The ice crystals on his head looked like spiky hair and a black cloak was the only clothing it wore. The eyes of the creature, which seemed to be male judging by the broad shoulders, were two almond shaped ice crystals, which reflected its intelligence.

Within seconds it had reached Harry, the other aurors back off, cowed by the creature’s power. It locked eyes with Harry and studied him for a long time, searching for something. Harry kept his face impassive and his mind blank, knowing that he could not win this encounter in his weakened state and unwilling to give this away. Suddenly the creature made a complicated sign with his right hand and Harry found himself repeating the sign on instinct. The creature’s face drew into the parody of a frown and it spoke a single sentence in a cold and clam voice:

“You’re not Tourach.”