3rd Test - Survive

"The aim is simple; survive." Suddenly the levitation charm holding Harry in place cut out and with a cry, he plummeted to the ground into the canyon below. Croaker moving to the edge of the canyon and watching as Harry fell further and further into the darkness below.

As the sides of the canyon passed him in a blur, perhaps it was in his panicked mind, but the world around him seemed to slow and in many ways, that was worst. He could only watch, fruitlessly struggling against the ropes that bound him as the ground below slowly grew closer and closer.

It was terrifying, the knowledge that no matter how hard he tried free himself from his bindings that he couldn't escape. Harry had never been known for strength and perhaps even without falling and stood on firm ground he wouldn't be able to escape. But in free fall, with no way to build momentum to break free, Harry was stuck, unable to escape and facing certain death.

'Come on! Do something! Think! Think!' Harry cried internally, struggling as hard as he could against the ropes but to no avail and as he the ground within the dark cave came into view, Harry closed his eyes tightly. 'Break free!'

It was less a thought and more an idea of pure will.

Perhaps it was for this very reason that his magic responded in kind. Accidental magic was common amongst children for two reasons. The first was that as a child grew, their magical core also grew, the magic within side it would grow unstable and therefore, need to be released. These acts of releasing this magic, was known as accidental magic. This was in turn how Obscurials were formed, their will to suppress their powers resulted in this unstable magic never being released.

The second reason, was because magic was a force of pure will. Imagination and intent helped control magic, but at the end, it was the wizard or witch with great force of will that could do amazing and terrifying things.

In this moment, Harry's will to be free of his bonds triggered a burst of magic that took no shape or form other than wave that burst from his body. The ropes snapped, breaking free and Harry fumbled around his pockets to find his wand. He found it and with a quick, jerking motion thrust his wand down at the ground.

"Arresto Momentum!" He cried and his movements, stopped.

Breathing heavily, Harry slowly opened his eyes and blinked when he felt the tip of his nose almost brushing against the rocky surface. Suddenly the magic of the spell cut out and Harry dropped onto the floor with a grunt.

Pushing himself up, Harry looked up to the top of the canyon and could barely make out the sight of Croaker looking over the edge. "Bastard." He cursed, looking away and gripped his wand.

It's then he heard a clicking like sound from all around him and Harry whipped around. But no matter how hard he squinted in the darkness, Harry could find nothing. Raising his wand, Harry let light come to life on its tip. "Lumos." He intoned and it's then he came face to face with a bat-like creature, it's face inverted as if hanging upside down.

The sudden light caused it to screech and Harry cried out, stumbling and tripping to the floor.

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As Croaker released the magic holding Harry over the canyon, he watched the younger man plummet into the darkness. Moving forwards to the very edge, Croaker with both hands clasped behind his back, leaned forward to look down.

"Hoh, very good." Croaker noted, watching as Harry's bout of magic freed him from the ropes and as he did, he felt the aftereffects of the magic brushed over him. 'He has power, a great deal of power. But he lacks control, that will be something I'll have to sort out. But what will you do now, mister Potter, there's a great danger living in those shadows.'

This canyon was one that only the Unspeakables were aware of and that was for one very specific reason, it was home to a dangerous colony of blood-sucking bats. There was a reason it was called Vampire Bat Colony after all.

Their creation was one made purely by accident.

It had started off as a means to discover the origin of the Vampire Virus and to see if there was a way to cure it. They had tried a number of things, but had only succeeded in passing the vampiric virus into a colony of bats. That had been disastrous as the colony had gone wild, biting and turning near half a towns worth of people and turning them into Vampires. Luckily they managed to destroy the colony of bats and those turned before things became too dangerous.

However, despite this major setback, they continued to study and work on a cure.

Once again, another colony of bats had been experimented on, this time however, they were careful to never give them the Vampiric Virus. At the end of it all, they found nothing except that the Vampiric Virus did not originate from bats like first believed and they were instead left with a colony of man-sized bats who could drain a man dry leaving them nothing more than husks.

And they were extremely sensitive to light.

A fact Harry learned the hard way as the colony of bats screeched loudly and burst into a flurry of movement. Croaker could hear the flaps of their wings and while he couldn't make out anything, he knew they were swarming onto Harry.

Croaker quickly leaned back as a number of bats flew out from the canyon, their speeds great to the point they looked like a speeding train. They were nothing more than a blur of black and orange and red. The last two colours made Croaker pause before he gave a low chuckle.

"A smart choice, mister Potter, a very smart choice." Croaker said, once again leaning back over the edge once the bats flew off. They wouldn't get far, there was a number of powerful Wards that would ensure they'd never be able to escape, the moment they touched the barrier would go unconscious and stay so till a group of Researchers would arrive to move them back into the canyon.

But until that time, Croaker needed him to finish off the this third and final test.

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Crying out, Harry rolled along, covering his face with his hand as teeth dig into his body. Large bodies knocked him around and all the while bats clawed and bit at him from every angle. Despite his best efforts, all his actions to try and get away only failed and it was in a singular moment that Harry realised the only reason he wasn't dead yet was simple because the bats were fighting each other to get to him.

As his hand gripped his wand, a singular spell came to mind, one he remembered Dumbledore using to ward off the Inferi in the Crystal Cave. He didn't know the spell nor did he imagine he could conjure such a powerful spell, but he did know one spell of flames.

In moments of near death, the mind could do things that in most cases, it would never be able to recreate ever again. This was where the saying, 'Adversity breeds excellence' originated. In this moment, Harry's mind functioned in a similar fashion as it had when he fell, the world around him slowed while his mind whirled a mile a minute.

His mind recalled the first lesson he had on magic when he learned of of the three fundamental aspects of magic. Of intent, imagination and will. How these three aspects could dictate how a single spell could barely cut a piece of paper to cutting through solid stone.

In this moment as he was clawed and bitten at, Harry's mind focused on three things. He imagined in a constant loop, the memory of Dumbledore using the powerful flame spell that warded off the Inferi. He focused on the intent of burning the bats. And last but not least, the will to live.

There was no greater force of will in the world than a humans desire to live.

"Incendio!"

That was why a simple flame spell that was used only to burn pieces of paper and books, suddenly turned into a wave of flames that lit up the canyon like a burning tsunami. Bats screeched and cried out in both pain and fright, each flying away till Harry was left alone, laid there bleeding from various wounds all over his body.

He continued to lay there for sometime, unmoving as he looked at the flames that burned around him. Eventually however, he groaned out as he pushed himself to his feet.

He stumbled on his feet slightly at first, but managed to regain his equilibrium and moved towards the edge of the canyon wall. At first he considered trying to conjure or create a ladder out of the wall, but as he rested one hand on the side of the wall, he not only realised that would it be impossible considering how wet the wall was. It'd be more likely for him to slip off and die long before he made it halfway up the wall.

Instead, with his wand, Harry briefly considered having a sticking charm applied to his feet and hands. But he quickly put that out of his mind when he realised how he would have to constantly apply and then remove the charm repeatedly.

Instead he flicked his wand and a small slab of rock jutted out like a step. He stepped on it and while it was slippy, but by adjusting his footing slightly, Harry was able to get a secure foothold and then, a little further in front and above him, Harry had another appear. Once again, he climbed up further and repeated the process over and over again.

It was a slow and steady process, but one Harry was determined to complete.

He did not fancy being in this canyon any longer.