Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 68: Aftermath
The sphere of light took several minutes to dissipate completely, and when it did, it left behind a massive gaping hole in the landscape.
It had eaten away everything in its range.
"Urgg…" Harry felt the exhaustion finally starting to hit him. His vision was becoming blurry, and he was having trouble breathing.
He tried to find any signs of Bellatrix Lestrange, who had been standing next to Voldemort before the attack. But she was gone.
"V?… can you hear me?" Harry tapped on the hat.
No response, but he could still feel a sliver of magic on him.
"Oh no…" Harry was still hovering high in the air, but with so little strength remaining, he was now losing control and falling down.
"Come on, just a little bit!" He had to make use of what he had left in him to land away from the gaping hole and without breaking his neck.
Harry's body hit the ground with force and went rolling on the grassy field, tumbling a few times before finally stopping.
He ended up lying on his back. "Uff… how long has it been since I exhausted myself so much?"
"Right… you can't answer." Harry had grown accustomed to having V respond to his questions.
"Don't worry, buddy. You'll be as good as new in no time. I just need a moment to rest…" It was becoming very difficult to breathe or even think properly.
He thought he was about to pass out at any moment. But then, just as Harry thought he was about to reach his limit… something unexpected happened.
"Mmm? What is that?" Harry looked up at the sky. There was something up there that called for his attention.
The moon and stars seemed brighter than usual, and as he looked at them, his exhaustion started to dissipate.
"That's weird…"
His vision became clearer than ever, and he could even see the details on the Moon's surface as if he were using a telescope.
Harry felt his strength returning at an alarming speed, and his senses were expanding.
Suddenly, he detected several people approaching. But he did not get alarmed, as he knew who they were.
"Harry? Oh Merlin, he is over there!" The voice of Ginny was still distant.
He then began to hear the others. Mostly Miss Weasley, who was telling everyone to stay back as she rushed towards Harry.
Harry lifted his hand and made a quick test by clenching his fist a few times.
"No apparent issues." He stood up with surprising ease.
"How is this possible? I just used one of my major sorceries and exhausted all my magic, along with all of V's reserves. I should be near dead after that." That's how all of his previous tests had ended up.
But even in those, V never went this far, and always kept a healthy reserve of magic to help him recover.
The Weasley family had almost reached him. They were all calling his name and asking about what had happened.
'I guess they haven't seen the dead bodies on their property.' Harry was relieved to learn that.
He raised his hand. "I'm fine."
"Harry, what happened to you? And where are the…" Ginny looked around but couldn't find any of the Death Eaters who had been attacking her house before.
"I told you to stay inside the house. Why did you come here?" Harry glanced at Ginny.
She looked troubled, at least. "But… my parents insisted that…"
"Mate!" Ron came running. "What was that big light thingy? We saw something exploding around here."
"Ginny told us that Death Eaters came to attack us." Arthur asked while his eyes darted from side to side and he held his wand firmly in his hand. "W-where are they?"
"Those are gone, but more of them could be coming here. This place is not safe. We need t—"
"Gone? Gone where?" Miss Weasley asked. "Harry, why did you go out by yourself? You should have told us immediately!"
Harry sighed. This was why he wanted to do things by himself, so he wouldn't have to deal with this exact situation.
"Let's leave the explanations for later, now we m—"
"Whoa! Did you see this?!"
"There is a huge hole over here!" The Weasley twins found the hole left behind by his spell.
To be fair, it was around the size of a football field, so it was not hard to find, even at night.
"Lumos!" Fred used a light charm so they could see better.
"Merlin! How big is this thing?!" George exclaimed.
"You are not listening to me. You are all still in danger. We need to go t—"
"Arthur, we need to call Dumbledore. He will know what to do." Molly told her husband.
"Yes, but in the meantime, we should go back home. We'll be safer there. And you two, stay away from that hole." Arthur pointed at the twins. "And you too, Ron!"
"I just wanted to check it out!" Ron complained.
"Harry." Ginny was the only one listening to him. "Are there more of those guys coming?"
"It is a possibility. And the wards had already run out of energy, so your house is completely unprotected at the moment." Harry didn't think it was very likely, but it would still be reckless to remain here.
Besides that, he wanted to properly check on V's condition and make sure he was fine.
"I'm sorry for this, Ginny," Harry said. He had no time to waste in arguing with this family.
"Hmm?" Ginny looked up at him, sounding a bit confused.
Harry then channeled a large amount of power through his runic brands, and then… he snapped his fingers.
"Imperium Somni (The Command of Sleep)"
A pink-colored shockwave was produced from the snap of his right-hand fingers and covered the area where all the Weasleys were.
A moment later, they all collapsed on the ground, having been placed under the effects of a powerful sleeping charm.
"I'll apologize again later," said Harry while looking at the members of the family. But it didn't seem like they were willing to take his words seriously.
He was sure that if V could still talk, he would have complained about his methods.
Harry formed a circle with his hand.
"Gate."
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