Harry looked up at Remus as he finished his tea. It had taken the werewolf two full days to recover from the effects of the rather powerful Cruciatus curse cast by Malfoy. While he had spent the last two days resting, Harry had used that time to reflect and make decisions. He had decided to seek Remus’s help in searching and destroying the remaining Horcruxes. The insight of an experienced and powerful wizard like Remus would definitely strengthen their chances.
“Remus”, he said, ”There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Remus’s eyes were wide and his face was pale at the end of Harry’s revelations.
“Seven! Great Merlin’s ghost! He made seven Horcruxes! I don’t know how his body could withstand it. I will help you, Harry, in any way that I can. So how many are left to destroy?”
“The Locket, The Cup, Nagini, a last unknown object, and of course You-Know-Who himself. I have the Locket with me”, Harry said, taking it out of his trunk and passing it to Remus, who winced ever so slightly before examining it in a thorough and professional manner. ” As for the Cup, it is in the vault of the Lestranges in Gringotts. We have to destroy Nagini last, because You-Know-Who never lets her out of his sight. The unknown object could be anywhere, for all we know.”
“ There are a lot of powerful spells on this Locket, Harry. It can’t be destroyed by a simple Reducto or Confringo. However, if Dumbledore were here, he might have pulled it off, because the power behind the spell is a factor too. I think we might have to show this to Bill. He’s the curse breaker, after all.”
Harry frowned, not wanting to let more people know about the Horcruxes; but he had to admit that Remus was right. Maybe Bill could help, he thought.
“Alright”, he said, “ You can go back to Shell Cottage and get Bill along back here. Then he can examine the Locket and tell us which spell is likely to be effective.”
Remus took in a deep breath before replying,” That can wait for a little while, Harry. First you need to come back home with me. Your friends and especially Ginny are worried sick about you. They love you, Harry. Never push your loved ones away. They will stand by you till the end, and give you the strength of will required to defeat You-Know-Who.”
Anger showed on Harry’s face as he said,” I can’t go back! I’ve caused them enough hurt already. And now, even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. My occlumency barrier has failed, Remus. My connection to Voldemort has broken through it. I feel his emotions stronger than ever now. Just two days ago, I could sense his rage when we broke the spell.”
Harry’s outburst ended as he saw the panic on Lupin’s face. The sneakoscope on his table had begun to spin. Blurry images appeared in the Foe-Glass, getting sharper by the second. Harry realised his blunder, he had said Voldemort’s name and activated the jinx. Almost immediately, he felt the wards on the tent break under the attack of offensive spells outside. Deciding to fight till the end, he stepped out of the tent along with Remus, but not before disillusioning the two of them. Three Death Eaters stood outside, wands pointed at their approximate positions. One of them raised his wand, ”Homenum revelio!”
Oh crap, Harry thought as his and Lupin’s disillusionment charms were cancelled. They immediately came under offensive spellfire from the Death Eaters. Ducking a killing curse, Harry retaliated with a stunner and bone-breaking curses in quick succession, forcing his opponent to be on the defensive. The two Death Eaters engaging Harry and Remus were powerful wizards and Harry was using all of his resourcefulness to keep his opponent at bay. From the corner of his eye, Harry noticed the third Death Eater make a complicated wand movement. He was in no way prepared for what happened next. There was a flash of blinding white light and a boom of magical energy as all the duellists were thrown to the ground. Harry’s vision cleared and he thought he must be dreaming. Surely this was a nightmare; he hoped he would wake up soon. Towering over Harry and Remus and behind the Death Eaters were no less than three monstrous giants. They stood more than thirty feet tall. The biggest of them was in the middle; he let out a thunderous roar and threw a gigantic spear at Harry. It embedded itself in the earth, having missed its intended target. With a faint pop, Harry reappeared behind the giants. He threw a powerful stunner at one of them. It had as much effect as a pebble striking a mountain would have, but was enough to gather his attention. The giant turned, swinging a wooden club at Harry, who, having anticipated this attack, was able to leap out of the way. Landing back on his feet, Harry aimed carefully at the left eye of the giant and launched a powerful conjunctivitis curse. The enraged roar from above confirmed that he had hit the bullseye. The injured giant blundered around in rage. Unable to distinguish enemy from ally, he picked up two of the Death Eaters closest to him and slammed them back down onto the ground . Blood spurted like water from a fountain as the resulting mini earthquake threw Harry, Remus and the remaining Death Eater off their feet. Remus, who had been fighting a losing battle against the two Death Eaters, had no time to recover. The solitary Death Eater launched a killing curse at him and one of the giants swung a broadsword the size of a lamppost at him. Remus raised his wand. ”Expulso!” The powerful propulsion spell threw him upwards and backwards, away from both the lines of attack. The killing curse collided with the broadsword, instantly vaporising it as Remus landed gracefully back on his feet, a few yards behind where he was earlier. He started firing spells at the giant, intermittently keeping his protego shield up. On the other side of the battle, Harry was doing his utmost to keep the other giant at bay, firing bursts of wind from his wand, trying to drive him back, but to no avail. Suddenly he noticed a movement from the corner of his eye. The Death Eater had launched a spell at him. However, at the same time, the giant raised his leg and brought his huge foot above Harry, in order to crush him. Trying to avoid instant death, Harry took evasive action, but ended up moving directly into the path of the incoming spell. He was disarmed and thrown to the ground. How ironic, he thought, to be beaten by Expelliarmus. The only thought in his mind was of Ginny, Ron and Hermione, as he awaited death.
************************************************************************
He looked around at the forest. It was beautiful at dusk. The setting sun, the chirping of birds, twittering of insects. He had learned a few facts about himself in the last two days, forcing himself to remeber. His name was Clark, Clark Kent. He lived in a farm. His parents were Jonathan and Martha. He was special, he knew now. He could run really fast, but was that all? He didn’t think so. He wondered what other powers he had yet to discover. His reverie was disturbed as he picked up a sound. A muffled thump . He concentrated harder. It was like increasing the volume of a radio channel as the sounds intensified; a fight was going on. Then he heard a roar of rage. Something within him forced him to go there. There could be innocent people out there; he had to save them. He sped away towards the location; moving as fast as he could. In a second he was out of the forest; in a quarter of another, he was speeding along a street, which was empty and desolate; in another half second he was along a tattered bridge overlooking a river; and then he was in another forest, closing in on his destination. He reached a clearing-he saw a giant, enormous in proportion, raise a foot the size of a car and begin to bring it down on a man in black robes; who was on the ground. Without stopping to think, Clark superspeeded to directly beneath the giant’s foot. He prepared to be crushed as the foot made contact with his raised hands.
He was surprised by what happened next; the foot barely seemed to weigh much as he easily stopped it, preventing it from crushing both him and the man on the ground. As the giant gave a grunt of surprise, Clark was seized by a memory.
He was standing on the farm with his father. There was a large tractor in front of him. He picked it up with ease and threw it into the air. It flew high up, in a huge arc, as he speeded up just in time to catch it, and put it back down onto the grass.
Clark gave a big push upwards with his arms, and the giant was thrown high into the air before falling a good five hundred metres away, flattening atleast five trees, and creating a mini-earthquake. He was out of the fight. Almost immediately, however, Clark felt the wind knocked out of his lungs as the other giant delivered a powerful kick from behind, sending him upwards into the air; the momentum was enough to send him forty feet up into the air. As he waited for gravity to take hold of him, another of his powers was revealed to him; he remained in the air, hovering slightly, but not falling down. Another scene came to his mind’s eye:
He was running along the grass, faster then he believed possible; blood pumped hard in his veins as he reached the edge of a cliff. He took off into the air, going higher and higher upwards. He reached the clouds. The whole of Smallville was below him as he hovered. He could fly! This was wonderful! He felt so much at home here, in the air. This was his element. He flew back down gently, laughing at a passing eagle as it squawked at him. He had to do this more.
Clark dodged the lunging club of the giant as he flew straight into his midsection, landing a few punches before delivering the knockout blow, a lifting uppercut to the chin. The giant was knocked out. He looked around. The Death Eater in black robes vanished with a pop. There were two people still standing as he landed back on the ground. One was black-haired and wearing glasses, the one whom he had just saved. The other was just getting up from the floor, grey haired and dishevelled. He had just brought down the blinded giant. Both had identical looks of shock on their faces.
He walked up to them and stuck out his hand.
“Hi. I’m Clark.”
They continued to gape at him.
He smiled.
“Pleased to meet you too.”
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