The Spell Of The Rising

TROY: 23rd September 1999……23:30 HOURS

It was half an hour before midnight. The Dark Lord felt elation as he stood at the most powerful magical location on the Earth. Snape stood to his right, and Bella to his left. They were standing in front of a circle of roughly shaped rocks which looked as if they had been randomly placed near the seashore. The vast expanse of the Mediterranian stretched out in front of them.

Voldemort waved his wand, and the rocks morphed into six symmetrical, miniature prisms. Bolts of magical energy seemed to crackle between the prism pillars.

At the same time, around the world, similar preparations had been made at Stonehenge, Atlantis, the Taj Mahal, and The Pyramids.

Voldemort summoned Mc Nair, Amycus Carrow, Malfoy and Nott. They confirmed that things were in place. Voldemort sent them back to their positions.

Then, with rising anticipation, he raised his wand.

“Scissum intermundia”

There was a flash of light as the Spell of The Rising was initiated. Voldemort scornfully looked apon the body of Albus Dumbledore, which was placed in the centre of the circle, and was now acting as a conduit and source for the vast magical power needed for this spell.

There was a sudden shockwave of magical energy as the pure dark magic was initiated and started to power the spell. A hemisphere of raw, crackling magic was formed over the prisms;suddenly, it arced outwards in four directions; over the Mediterannian, and to the North, East and West.

Lucius Malfoy looked at the pillars of Stonehenge in awe; as they pulsed with magical energy-the pure dark magic seemed to circle around the pillars and then disappear outwards in three different directions. Never had a ritual of such power been performed in magical history. After this, his Lord would be the most powerful being in all the worlds. Nothing should disturb this ritual;it was aptly called The Ritual Of Eternal Damnation. There was now just over a minute left before midnight, and then the portal would open in Troy; giving his Master access to unlimited power. Avery was, at the moment, along with his son Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and a few new recruits, guarding the place but not really expecting any resistance. After all, the last battle all of them had fought was a year ago when they were victorious over the remnants of the Order and Aurors.

Ten Minutes Ago

With a barely discernable pop, Harry and Remus apparated in the woods surrounding Stonehenge. They immediately felt the power of the magic in the place, which was bolstered by the Spell of The Rising. For a moment, they were awed by the sheer sight of the pulsing black magical energy, which seemed to stretch from Stonehenge in three different directions, into infinity. They also saw the Death Eaters guarding each pillar-there were four pillars, so eight Death Eaters. Harry could also see Lucius Malfoy, whom he recognised from his long blond hair, who seemed to be in command of the process here. At that exact moment, Malfoy called attention to his Death Eaters, giving them the last minute briefings. There was just a minute left before the portal would open. Remus gave the signal; Harry disillusioned himself before seeing that Remus had done the same. He then raised his wand and, pointing at the nearest of the stone pillers, thought,“Confringo!”

The powerful exploding spell made contact with the centre of the pillar, crushing it to bits. Instantaneously the Spell Of The Rising was broken, and the pure dark magic, which was earlier controlled in a circular pattern, was now unleashed. Remus had similarly exploded the other pillar as well, and the pulsing black magical energy was now gone. There was a cry of rage from Lucius Malfoy, and he and the other Death Eaters immediately started firing spells at Remus and Harry’s approximate locations. Harry was grateful for the disillusionment charm-it had prevented him from getting hit by atleast ten killing curses, and the count had only just begun. His job done, he tried to apparate but found that he was moving through solid air; an anti-apparition ward had been placed around Stonehenge. Harry retaliated with bone-breaking curses and stunners, which were bang on target and took out four of the Death Eaters. However there was a sudden scream of pain and Harry turned around to see Remus, his disillusionment charm removed, writhing in the ground in pain as Malfoy held him under the Cruciatus Curse. Around them were Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and Avery.

“Potter!”, Malfoy cried,”Show yourself at once or suffer the death of the werewolf!”

Harry looked at the surroundings. There was a large rock near Draco and Avery. Pointing his wand at it, he thought,“Reducto!”

There was a flash of red light and the rock exploded outwards, instantaneously taking Draco and Avery down . Malfoy sent a killing curse in Harry’s direction, but he ducked and rolled out of the way and sent a stunning spell, which was blocked by Malfoy’s protego. Crabbe and Goyle started sending an array of bone-breaking and killing curses in Harry’s general direction. Harry lay face down on the grass, rapidly running out of options as he stayed out of the path of death. He was suddenly struck by an idea as he grabbed a pebble near him and whispered,“Portus”.

The pebble glowed blue for a second and then he felt the jerk behind his navel as he left the ground and reappeared, back on his feet, behind Malfoy and the other three. He took out Crabbe and Goyle with two quick stunners; but in that time, his disillusionment charm was cancelled by Malfoy. There was rapid spellfire between the two, as Malfoy punctuated his spells with taunts.

“So, Potter, come to be the hero again? You weren’t so hot when the two blood traitor brats died last year-we snuffed them out with ease. I really enjoyed torturing them.”

Harry’s entire being was filled with rage; unbearable, looking for an outlet;he blocked Malfoy’s bone-breaking curse and cried,“Crucio!”.

There was a flash of light and Malfoy was on the ground, screaming uncontrollably in pain as he writhed under the full power of Harry’s anger.

“I’m not underage any more, Malfoy. I now know the true meaning of hatred.”

Harry knocked out Lucius with a powerful stunner. He then went to Remus’s side. The werewolf was unconscious but had a pulse going. Waving his wand, Harry removed the anti-apparition ward and was just going to leave with Remus, when he was knocked to the ground. Harry looked around to see that the whole place was vibrating with dark magic. There were four incoming streams of pure dark energy,which stated swirling around the two remaining pillars of Stonehenge. Harry was chilled to the bone as there was an unearthly howl and a rip opened in the centre of Stonehenge. With a jolt, Harry realised that the spell had been rerouted back to Stonehenge and the portal had, instead of opening at Troy, come into existence at Stonehenge. He had to leave. His scar burned as Voldemort’s anger raged. Harry couldn’t fight Voldemort now, he was no match for the Dark Lord. He grabbed hold of Remus’s unconscious form and apparated away.

INTERLUDE:

It was midnight in another world, a world in which Harry Potter and Hogwarts did not exist. However , Stonehenge did, and it was at that precise moment that a rip opened in the centre of it, pulsing with magical energy-raw and uncontrollable.

Many hundred miles above the Earth’s atmosphere, The Watchtower-the Justice League’s centre of operations, was orbiting the Earth. Superman was currently on Monitor duty. My turn to play watchdog, he thought others were all having a day off. His reverie was disturbed as there was a sudden crisis call. It was Dr. Fate. “Superman!”, Dr. Fate exclaimed,”I need you to go to Stonehenge immediately. There has been a spike in the magical levels there which could prove to be unstoppable if not shut down now.”

“I’ll be there at once, Doctor.”

The huge bay doors of the space station opened, and then shut as Superman flew out toward the Earth. As he entered the atmosphere he began to increase his speed, breaking the sound barrier as he flew towards Stonehenge. He landed a few minutes later at Stonehenge. He looked quizzically at the rip. He had never seen something like this before. He could feel the power of the magical energy as it swirled around him. What magic is this? He wondered. Suddenly, there was an unearthy howl which came from the rip. Superman found himself getting pulled into it, along with the pillars of Stonehenge and the trees surrounding the place. He tried to get away but he couldn’t move an inch. Soon he was dragging at the ground with his fingers as his body was sucked in. The power of the rip reached its peak, as the howling reached a crescendo and soon he found himself flying backwards through the air. There was a blinding flash of light and the feeling of being crushed from all sides;and then he knew nothing more.

After a few moments, the howling ceased, and when the last wisps of the magical energy had vanished, Stonehenge looked like a bombed-out place. Every tree within the radius of a mile was flattened. The rip was gone, but so was Superman.

Voldemort knew that his spell had failed; his anger knew no bounds. Reaching out with his magical senses, he located the break in the link at Stonehenge. In a few seconds, he, along with Snape, Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters were there. What he saw made his blood boil even more. Lucius, Avery and a few other Death Eaters were on the ground,looking like broken rag dolls. The rip had vanished, but in it’s place, Voldemort saw a very peculiar sight. There were four humongous pillars;but among them there was a body. He went closer; and was surprised at what he saw. It was a man-however, this man wore the most peculiar clothes;almost like the costume of one of those muggle comic superheroes. It was a blue suit with a red cape, with a large yellow symbol on his chest which looked like an S inscribed in a pentagonal shape. Voldemort was bewildered and angered by the appearance of this new individual. He was either an accomplice of Potter, who no doubt had a hand in the failure of his spell; or he was from another world, another reality. The man was unconscious. Thinking quickly,Voldemort made his decision.

He ordered his Death Eaters to take the man to Malfoy Manor, where his thorough interrogation would take place. Voldemort would then decide whether the man was useful to him. If not, he would kill him and then focus on finding and destroying Harry Potter once and for all.