Chapter 296: Express Delivery

If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

I would like to thank my beta, Awdyr, for his help in this chapter.

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29 November 1994, Rome, Italy

Harry spread his Arcane Hearing and heard multiple songs around the dragon with malicious intent, "Our ride is getting attacked. Wake up the other students, we need to defend ourselves."

Daphne gave him a questioning look, "Who would attack us?"

"I don't know… We need to get the others, and fast…"

They ran out of the compartment, doing their best not to fall due to the constant shaking. He felt a wave of magic coming towards the wall on their left and immediately conjured a shield to protect him and Daphne.

A fraction of a second later, a giant blast destroyed the wall near them and three masked men flying on brooms landed inside. Harry immediately retaliated with a telekinetic push that threw the three men back into the sky.

He looked around and hummed; McGonagall must have charmed the air pressure to remain constant to avoid someone flying off if someone had damaged the dragon. That was very thoughtful of her. Right as he thought that the walls started to melt themselves back into shape, "What's that?"

"McGonagall is keeping the dragon together."

"That's good news, right? We won't be sucked away easily."

Harry nodded, "Yes, but she also won't be able to fight and she's the only professor currently in the dragon. The rest went back to Hogwarts for their normal classes, remember?"

He ignored as she cursed their luck, and they walked around with their wands raised. His Arcane Hearing warned him of a spell going this way. He waved his wand and the spell faded away; its structure being unmade using his Arcane Hearing.

He prepared to retaliate but he noticed something very familiar, something that was wrong attached to that of a young man, "Longbottom, Granger, It's me, Potter. Don't attack."

"Proof it!" a voice retorted.

"I lied to you about what happened in the Chamber, and you haven't spoken to me since!"

The young man came forward with a visible look of relief. Hermione Granger followed him with a neutral look on her face, "You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Harry."

The last Potter nodded at him, "Me too. Did you see anyone else? We need to keep everyone's headcount and organize a defence."

"A few tried to attack us, but we stunned them. How did they even get onboard."

"They're breaking into the walls. McGonagall is too busy repairing the damage to avoid straining the air pressure regulator charms so that we won't all be sucked up outside."

The muggleborn seemed to agree with his statement, "Yes, we need to have a headcount of everyone. There's Susan Bones in our year. I think the fifth years are all in one compartment with Chang… The sixth years should be with the twins, and the seventh years should handle themselves without too much trouble."

It was a good analysis of the situation. To make a better plan, he used his Arcane Hearing to modify a quick spell, specifically Homenum Revelio. It wasn't anything really fancy; it was just a range extension to analyse the entire dragon for anyone and get a bit more information from the scan.

He quickly recognized Susan Bones, who was huddled under a shield while being attacked by a group of wizards. Harry turned without saying a single word. The others ran behind him, asking questions, but he ignored them. To be perfectly honest, he had pretty much forgotten about Susan Bones being in the delegation and he couldn't help but feel slightly bad about it. The redhead had been a friendly acquaintance for a better part of the previous year.

Susan Bones wasn't considered in any of the tasks and for good reason. She wasn't the best representative for Hogwarts' skills. She would probably just enter the duelling tournament and lose in the early rounds… Anyway, now that he thought back, he remembered Susan in the background, mostly talking to foreign students… She was probably the only Hogwarts student who actually tried to network during the tournament.

And now, she was being attacked… Harry was getting angry.

He passed by one of the corridors and saw another wizard trying to cast a spell at him. He simply used an overpowered stunner to knock him out without even looking. With a wave of his wand, the doors vanished as he walked forward. He arrived to the young Hufflepuff being overwhelmed, and quickly took four of the attacked by surprise.

The last one sent a cutting hex at him, which he destabilized with barely a thought before telekinetically disarming the man and pushing him towards the wall.

Harry turned, still pushing the man to the wall, and looked at Susan worriedly, "Are you alright?"

She groaned and nodded, "Yes. Almost wasn't though."

He looked at her shield and grinned when he saw the runes, "Nice shield. I haven't seen this matrix before. Your own work?"

She returned his smile, "You're a very good teacher."

"We'll chat later. We're all gathering to plan out a defence," he turned towards the levitated man, "Did they say anything to you?"

"No, just started attacking. It's weird. They didn't even try to use any serious curses…"

Harry walked towards the wizard and took off his hood, "Hmm… Who are you?"

"I'm not talking!" he yelled out.

The last Potter nodded, "That's very understandable. Being loyal is important and you're a very loyal man, aren't you?"

The man didn't say anything, but he visibly preened. Harry continued, "It's a shame you're not really being trusted with anything… I don't think you can tell me anything important because you don't know anything important…"

The attacker got weirdly angry at this, and Harry decided to use his Arcane Hearing to put more pressure. When he did, the song felt more like a shell, a mask that was being presented to the world while the core was asleep. He stiffened, "Oh, you poor man. Damn it!"

"What is it, Harry?" Daphne asked from behind him.

"The reason why they're not casting any powerful spells or curses is because they can't. They're under the Imperius…"

Harry stiffened at the three wizards he had sent flying into the sky when they attacked but he suppressed the feeling. Now, it's not time to think back. He needed to make sure that everyone survived this mess.

Hermione seemed to agree with his proclamation, "Even if they were forced to do so, they wouldn't be capable of using magic that they haven't already mastered… It would make sense why they're all so mediocre. That doesn't mean that they're not dangerous."

"We need to get to the others. I think there's a big group of them near the front of the dragon," the last Potter proclaimed before making his way there, not leaving time for his companions to protest. It didn't take long to see most of the other students being huddled around in the main compartment, surrounded by wizards from all sides. They had conjured a large magical shield whose power was shared between them. He turned towards his classmates and spoke up, "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

He also didn't give them time to protest and ran towards the main compartment. He immediately activated his invisibility cloak, phased through the wall and quickly stunned one of the attackers. Before the others could even react, he warped space around them and cast around a dozen stunners successfully, each one knocking out one of the attackers.

Harry deactivated the cloak and walked back to his friends, ignoring the gaping looks of the other students, "I knocked them all out…"

He immediately turned towards Diggory, "Is there anyone missing?"

"No, just a few stunned people."

The last Potter nodded, "They're under the Imperius Curse. Conjure some bindings and make sure they're not too hurt."

Harry heard a spike of Malicious Intent thanks to his Arcane Hearing, "There are still a lot of them outside. Where's McGonagall?"

"At the front. We were the last layer of defence. We think that they were trying to bring down the dragon from the inside," One of the Weasley Twins answered.

Harry nodded, "Alright, Diggory, make a headcount of everyone… Try to see if anyone is missing. I'm going to try something so give me a few seconds."

He never expected to use this particular piece of magic when he read about it. It was mostly out of curiosity more than anything. Harry quickly raised his wands and glowing runes appeared in mid-air. It took a bit of concentration to make the necessary alteration, but not too much. Harry then condensed the runes into a ball which he pressed to the ground. Immediately, some kind of magical mist appeared around the room, and he nodded to himself.

Angelina Johnson looked at him with a flabbergasted expression on her face, "What the fuck is that?"

"An Age Line. No one over the age of nineteen will be able to enter this room without me removing the curse. I put some basic wards and shields to protect you from most spells. It should buy you some time if they get here again. Diggory, you finished the headcount?"

"Yes, we're missing two…"

Harry nodded, "Alright, Diggory and Johnson, go look for them and be very careful. The rest of you stay here and try to keep down the vault. Granger, you're with me."

The Weasley Twins gave him an incredulous look, "Where are you going?"

"Outside. As long as they're still flying, then they'll have an advantage. There have to be a few people maintaining the Imperius Curse on so many people. I'll bring the fight to them."

With that said, Harry quickly waved his wand and a part of the ceiling disappeared. Harry sent a telekinetic push upward to send Hermione flying out and following up by jumping while warping space. Less than a second later, the hole had disappeared, and they landed on the surface of the metallic dragon. The muggleborn gave him a sour look which he ignored, "Cover me. We need to figure out who's responsible for this."

She nodded and they walked forward, each at the other's back. They kept walking until they noticed a few wizards landing, only this time, they sent a killing curse at them. Harry quickly conjured an ice wall to intercept the spell and created small blades of ice that he banished at him.

The wizard shielded himself and Harry barely had time to follow up since he felt another killing curse coming at him from the left. He dodged this one and sent a wind cutter in the direction of the spell. Slowly, over a dozen of wizards landed around them.

They felt different. The malice in their songs was more pronounced and more natural, and Harry knew immediately that these were the instigators of the attack. The main attacker spoke up in an English accent, "Harry Potter… I was told that you would be a problem. Tales of your talent were not overstated as I believed. You're exactly as impressive as I imagined."

"It's nice to have a fan and all, but why would anyone attack a school delegation of all things?"

"My lord's plans are a mystery. I have learned a long time ago to never question his brilliance."

Harry snorted, "So, your Lord, whoever that is, told you to put dozens maybe even hundreds of wizards under the Imperius, and then tell them to attack a bunch of students who happen to be backed up by a single teacher, who is too busy to stop this whole thing from collapsing. The fact that you're failing is a very bad idea."

"Am I failing? You're here, after all. McGonagall will soon be overwhelmed, and without any other obstacle, our objective will be complete. Perhaps should I present my Lord with your head, I would be suitably rewarded…"

Harry snorted, "Yeah, whatever… You know, you kept saying that you liked my skills and everything. Do you seriously think that you'll be able to beat me?"

"Oh, I have no illusion that you'll probably find some trick that would knock us all out with our own spells or something, but what made you think that we're the only ones you're going to fight?"

Before Harry could process this, he heard hundreds of cracks arriving at once and hundreds of wizards atop brooms appeared… As bad as it was, that was when the roaring started. He turned around and five fucking flying dragons of all things, screeching at him in challenge.

Well, fuck.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.