Prologue: Invasion

It happened on a sunny Tuesday.

Suddenly, shimmering circles appeared all around the world, in major population centers. They weren't translucent, but instead, an alien landscape could be seen on the other side, one filled with a sea of green fog that kept undulating and flowing.

Harry was working on the overhead from the previous incidents when his door burst open and his assistant arrived once again, this time deathly pale – something that hadn't happened even when a herd of carnivorous Erumpent-sized beasts had invaded.

"Sir, it's the end! It's all over!", the man shouted.

Harry put his quill away and took out a phial of Calming Draught. He extended his hand towards the man and said: "Drink this first."

After a few moments, the spoke frantically: "They're everywhere, all over the world!"

"What do you mean 'they'? Did you see one yourself?"

"Yes, I was investigating a strange magical reading when a big circle appeared out of nowhere. Then one of them came through. After that, people started dropping like flies. There are requests for assistance from across the globe piled up in the reception."

Harry took out a Pensieve from a drawer and said: "Place the memory in here, I'll see if I can find out more."

The man placed the tip of his wand against his temple and when he removed it, a silvery strand was attached to it. He then placed the strand into the Pensieve.

Harry submerged his face in the fog that had formed.

He saw a gigantic creature, at least thirty feet tall, emerging from an unassuming circle of alien landscape. The creature was a bipedal humanoid, with cyan skin. It lacked any facial features, save for three palm-sized glowing red spots arranged in a downward-pointing equilateral triangular formation. There was a faint green aura surrounding the creature's body.

People on the street stopped and took out their smartphones, no doubt to get some likes and comments for what they were seeing. However, as the creature fully exited the circle, its shadow landed on some of the people.

Those people began rapidly aging until they fell onto the ground, hands with smartphones still outstretched – everything had happened so fast they didn't even have time to react.

The rest of the crowd started backing away and some even started running in panic, yet, shadowy tendrils extended from the gigantic being and every time they touched someone, that someone had a fate similar to what had awaited those that were directly hit by its shadow, it just happened much more slowly. As the people were dying, Harry noticed that the green aura that had been barely noticeable before had become fog-like, making it somewhat more difficult to see the background behind the creature.

Soon, a group of Aurors entered the scene and cast all sorts of spells, a barrage of killing curses among them. However, all the spells were caught in that green layer of aura and then the creature opened a maw that was so wide that it would've gone from one ear to another, if it had them. Suddenly, the spells looked as if they were sucked into its maw and the aura around it thickened a bit more.

Soon, the Aurors were touched by the shadowy tendrils as well. A light breeze suddenly blew in the area and the first victims scattered in the air as dust.

Harry had seen enough, and he left the memory at that point.

Harry was dumbfounded by what he had seen and asked: "What in the name of Merlin is that thing?"

His assistant only had one reply to that, however: "You ask me, who should I ask?"

After a bit of thought, Harry said: "Evacuate the citizens, don't let anyone get near it. Tell them to especially avoid its shadow. I'll be going to Hogwarts for a bit. There's something I need to fetch."

A few words to the right officials later, Harry was able to Floo straight to the Headmaster's office.

"Harry, my boy! I'm glad to see you come for a visit. Has something happened?", Dumbledore asked while glancing up from some paperwork, eyes glimmering. His appearance was almost the same as the first time Harry had seen him, with his long white beard still tucked into his belt, wearing purple robes with crescent moons and possibly hiding a pair of high-heeled boots under the desk. There was one major difference, however.

His left sleeve was almost completely empty – after he had contracted the withering curse, he had the limb amputated to save his own life.

Harry's gaze stopped at the missing limb longer than it was proper and after a moment, he said: "Good afternoon to you, too, Albus. I never understood why you haven't gotten yourself a prosthetic arm."

The Headmaster looked at Harry for a moment and replied: "Ah, yes, good afternoon.

Would you like some lemon drops?

Those things make the stump itch, and they aren't much help at all. Any wizard worthy of their wand should be able to do anything with their magic alone.

You didn't come here just to ask that, did you?"

Harry looked at the floor for a moment and said: "No, thank you.

I wish it was a social call, but things aren't looking good. It seems that I'll be needing the wand."

Dumbledore shifted his right arm beside his back, concealing the sleeve that contained his wand holster from view.

"Didn't you say you liked your own wand better when you returned it to me?", he asked.

Harry caught the tip of his wand between his fingers and twirled it around in its holster before saying: "I don't think my wand will be enough. Even the Elder Wand might not be enough for this one."

He looked at Harry more carefully, and Harry avoided his gaze before saying: "Albus, you have the Pensieve, you know. I find it quite rude when people try to invade my mind without asking first."

He looked past Harry and replied: "Harry, I would never!"

Harry gave him a sharp glare and said: "Really, Professor Dumbledore? The least you can do is be honest with me after all we've been through."

"Yes, yes. Quite right.", the Headmaster mumbled, mostly to himself.

Dumbledore waved his hand and the Pensieve Cabinet opened up, then the Pensieve itself flew out.

Before the Pensieve had even arrived in front of him, Harry had already extracted the memory and placed it inside the moment the washbasin-like magical tool reached him.

With a flick of Dumbledore's wrist, the Pensieve was in front of him and he had dipped a finger in it. His eyes became foggy, as if he'd gone blind in an instant.

After a while, Dumbledore's eyes regained their clarity and he spoke: "It has begun, then. I suppose I'll be relying on Bethanie for a while."

Albus flicked the Elder wand into his hand, it already somehow reversed in his grip. He handed it to Harry, but when he wanted to retrieve it, Dumbledore still hadn't let go.

"I would advise you to not do anything reckless, but you wouldn't listen, would you? Just bring the wand back in one piece when you're done with it."

'He definitely knows something about those things.', Harry thought.

Harry yanked the wand out of Dumbledore's hand a bit forcefully and said: "You'll get it back, if I live."

Next, Harry returned to the Ministry and took the elevator up to level one. He quickly found the Minister's office and gave a short knock, and after a familiar voice gave him the go ahead, he walked in.

Harry couldn't help but grin mischievously at Hermione who was looking very neat and proper in a black-and white suit with padded shoulders and a black tie. She flashed Harry a bright smile for an instant, before her face returned to the strict official look. One of these days, Harry would make her drop that stony mask she always wore in office for more than a blink of an eye.

Harry flicked his wand, causing a vase to appear and after another flick, a bouquet of flowers appeared in it, spreading a mixed but pleasant aroma in the room. He said: "Hey, Hermione. How's the paperwork been treating you?"

Hermione shook her head a little at Harry's actions, her expression not changing at all. She replied: "Hi, Harry. With what's been happening today, I'm surprised you still had time to pay me a visit."

Harry's grin disappeared as if it'd been a lie and he flicked his wrist twice, producing the Elder Wand in his hand as he said: "I take it you've heard the news then."

Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth gaped open slightly, then she said: "I take it you've finally showed your true colors and are staging a coup in the middle of a crisis?"

Harry's serious expression broke instantly and was replaced by a smile full of mirth as he replied: "Hey, that's humor. Hermione, you're making progress!", his smile only lasted about as long as a special snowflake in hell, however. He continued: "I'll be needing your permission to use the spell you designed."

Hermione looked at Harry with her eyebrows furrowed, then asked: "Harry, you don't need to ask permission to use the Anti-papercut-", her eyes widened once more, this time in genuine shock and horror and she continued: "You can't mean… Please tell me you're joking!"

Harry looked at Hermione with an expression so serious that Death would be proud and said: "There's no other choice. You haven't seen it in action. It was hit by more than twenty killing curses and acted as if it was being tickled."

Hermione didn't look like she was about to relent, however. Her expression became even more grave as she said: "Harry, absolutely not! I only made it out of curiosity, to see if the power of Muggle nuclear weapons can be imitated with magic. Don't even think about using it!"

Harry's expression still hadn't changed, however. "Even if you don't give your permission, I'll still use it. You can throw me in Azkaban later if I survive."

Hermione's eyes glistened with wetness as she said: "Oh Harry, you know I won't do that. Just make sure to protect yourself properly before you use it."

Harry had a smirk on his face. Things had gone about how he had expected. "Sure thing, I'll come by later to give you my after-action report."

Harry put on the cloak of Death to make sure he wouldn't be noticed by his target. He checked his right hand. There was a ring with a black rhombical stone socketed into it.

As soon as Harry made it out of the wards, he apparated to the area where the invader had been last seen. It was quite easy to spot it afterwards, as it still hadn't left the street it had been on, instead electing to draw some strange symbols onto the pavement.

Harry observed the happenings for a while, then took out both his wands, the Elder Wand within his right and his own wand in his left. Although Harry had been practicing some wandless magic, the precision and control were never the same, and at this point, he needed all the precision and control he could get and then some.

Harry chanted 'Protego Maxima' and a mostly transparent light blue dome with the diameter of half a mile appeared.

The being on the street looked up towards the dome covering it for a moment but then, apparently seeing it as non-threatening, continued whatever it had been doing.

Next, he chanted 'Fianto Duri', and crystalline like hexagons formed on the surface of the transparent dome.

'That looks different from the Hogwarts defenses. Maybe it's because Dumbledore wasn't the one to re-cast the Hogwarts wards during the war?', Harry thought.

Finally, he chanted 'Repello Inimicum' and red outlines appeared around each of the hexagons.

The being in the dome looked a bit antsy and accelerated the process of drawing strange symbols and what Harry could only imagine to be the runes of its kind.

All the while, Harry was using his Phoenix feather and Holly wand to keep a gap open in the dome.

After the third protective enchantment, beads of sweat started rolling down his forehead. Harry clenched his teeth and started with the main course.

Harry begun quietly chanting word after word. At first, a fist-sized sphere of deep blue light appeared atop the Elder wand, then runes and patterns started appearing around it. Harry's brows furrowed and his jaw was clenched harder and harder, the muscles in his entire body straining just to keep the Elder Wand steady.

With each incantation, it started pulling harder in seemingly random directions. However, Harry quickly noticed that the direction of the pull corresponded with the movement of the added runes and patterns that were revolving in layers and various directions.

Harry's robes were sticking to his body, he was completely soaked in sweat. As the incantation ended, Harry thrust the Elder wand forward and the complicated-looking construct of light sailed forward at a seemingly leisurely pace.

Harry released the control over the protective enchantments with his wand, allowing the gap to close right after the spell had entered.

Harry immediately apparated into his own office – no matter how confident he was in the protective spells he had cast; he wasn't sure what kind of a secondary effect such a spell would have once it hit.

Meanwhile, the spell cast by Harry finally hit the being that had been staring at it for a while and finally opened its mouth. It attempted to suck the spell in like a tasty treat, yet somehow, the spell resisted. A moment later, there was a blinding flash of light and then the protective barriers set up by Harry shook violently, the vibrations causing shockwaves to spread out. All the windows in a five-mile radius shattered and the people that were within the same radius were deafened to various degrees.

For the unfortunate few that had been curious about why exactly they were forced to evacuate the area and had wandered back, the flash had been the last thing they saw. After that, only shadows were left of them on the walls of buildings and the pavement.

Those that were further away but still got hit by the light directly developed burns of various degrees or just very red skin. One thing was common for many of them, however – they slumped to the ground, convulsing and frothing at the mouth, many of them throwing up.

Once Harry felt his office shaking, he figured that the spell had done its job and apparated to a vantage point he had spotted earlier to confirm the kill.