Is Saving Harry Potter Enough?

"Is saving Harry Potter all that matters to you?"

I swiped the notification away. From far off came the shout that the Members of Parliament were on their way.

"Ha. Crazy bastard. I thought you were one of the decent ones, but that was just stalling talk…"

In that instant the air twisted.

Something invisible made a sound like the world itself being flipped inside out—from a direction that did not exist.

Colors shattered. Sound bent. My own shadow turned its back on me for a heartbeat.

When I drew breath, something alien writhed deep inside my lungs.

"…It's getting cold. For real."

The world swayed as if it had briefly forgotten all of us.

My heart hammered like mad and every hair on my body stood on end.

A vast pressure of magic rolled in from the distance, slow and inexorable. It felt like my optic nerves were being ripped out by the roots.

I remembered the stories Karina's father, Mr. Seongheon Yoo, used to tell about the battles of his youth against the great magic spirits.

Eugene, sometimes you know rationally that you have to stand and fight, yet every cell in your body refuses combat. Your instincts as a living creature simply know the fight will never even begin. Of course you kids should never have to feel that. That's why we work so hard—so you never will.

Only now, years later, did I understand those words completely.

Every single cell in my body was physiologically rejecting the ones approaching.

Silver threads stretched down from the sky, plunging into the collapsing buildings. The cracks began to seal with a soft, liquid sound—like stitches closing a wound. No. They were literally sewing the buildings back together.

What the hell is that?

"Lucius Malfoy, that goddamn son of a bitch…"

Sirius Black ground his teeth and glared up at the sky with murder in his eyes.

Malfoy? Lucius Malfoy was this strong? Wasn't he just some upper-house MP? Wait—House of Lords?

A chill ran down my spine.

Then the sky tore open.

With a cry that scraped the inside of my ears, a blue dragon surged upward and filled the heavens.

Not a real dragon—something woven purely of magic, a color of terror so profound it defied description.

It wasn't merely blue. It was a hue colder than ice, colder than winter, colder than death itself. Just looking at it felt like my breath was freezing solid.

The blue dragon in Charlie's notes… it was a real blue dragon?

Snowflakes poured from the dragon's maw.

Each one glittered like a star. They drifted down slowly, languidly, with an eerie silence.

They looked soft. Tiny, fragile things you could crush in your palm.

The first snowflake touched the ground.

The world froze.

The air turned solid. Drawing breath felt like my lungs were being shredded. Moving a single finger was agony. I couldn't tell whether I was cold or whether my body was simply shutting down.

So this was what Percy and Penny had meant. This cold. This was how people froze to death. It hadn't been bullshit. You could've given me a few more details, you assholes.

Sirius clenched a snowflake in his fist and stared at the sky.

"Damn it… both of those lazy-ass Dragon Slayer lords decided to show up."

His voice was thick with rage. Killing intent dripped from every word.

"You really brought out the whole circus just to catch me. Confringo!"

Boom—

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Chunks of ruined buildings rose into the air.

Dozens. Hundreds. Sirius swept his wand and the debris shot skyward as one, streaking toward the distant Prime Minister's Guard Battalion.

Then—

Snap—

A single finger-snap.

Immediately after, air rushed away as if being sucked into a void.

A blade of pure magic sliced through empty space. One massive fragment of rubble disintegrated into powder in an instant.

Shwaaak— Shwaak— Shwaaak—

Blades rained down in succession. The floating debris was carved apart one after another.

And then a voice rang through the air—smooth, aristocratic, almost kindly, belonging to a middle-aged man.

"All members of the Prime Minister's Guard Battalion. You have served well. On our honor, your families will live in wealth and glory. Therefore… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠farewell."

Sirius blocked the collapsing fragments with a rapid-fire barrage of spells, teeth clenched.

"Theodore, you insane bastard… you're killing your own men too? What the hell am I worth that you'd go this far? Trying to protect Wormtail?"

Gravity warped. A rougher, more aggressive voice answered, a shade more hostile than before.

"Wormtail? I don't give a damn about that insect, Sirius Black. Everyone who dies here today dies because you still draw breath. Know that. We won't kill you—you'll be our perfect alibi."

Then came another voice, arrogant yet impeccably polite.

"Leo, stop explaining everything. We have places to be."

My knees buckled. My whole body was crushed under the weight. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even open my eyes.

The entire space around Sirius was being pulverized.

"You shame of Gryffindor! You betrayed the Order of the Phoenix and crawled to Lucius Malfoy—and now this? Is money that good? Is power that sweet?!"

Sirius kept deflecting the blades in a frenzy.

"You… you sold me out so you could live? I'm not the traitor! You are!!! I'm innocent!!!"

Gravity pressed harder and harder. One by one the members of the Prime Minister's Guard Battalion froze solid in the sky and plummeted.

Thick black blood spilled from Sirius's mouth as the darkness crept higher again.

"Aurors—you're calling in every noble MP just to catch me? Do you even know those bastards used to play under Voldemort? Those sons of bitches are the real traitors who sold out justice and joined him! I'm no murderer and no traitor!!!"

Sirius's voice shook.

Even without analyzing the magic, the raw emotion in it was unmistakable.

It wasn't rage.

It wasn't fear either.

It was pure, bitter injustice.

Whether they heard him or not, the cold suddenly deepened and far larger blades came screaming in by the dozen.

The blue dragon and the magic blades reeked of anger.

From a great distance, through the gravity that crushed the air itself, a voice of fury slammed into my ears as clearly as if it had been shouted right beside me.

But unlike Sirius, I had no strength left to resist the gravity.

To me the voice was nothing but a distant, buzzing roar.

For a long time I could only watch as Sirius and someone else screamed and raged at each other.

The blackness on Sirius's body climbed past his heart and up his throat. He began hurling far more destructive, direct attack spells.

I tried to fight the cold pouring from the blue dragon. I gathered magic. I tried to form a spell.

It was useless.

My breath came short. My vision blurred.

Sirius Black was still fighting fiercely, spraying spells at the approaching figures.

Fragments of those spells ricocheted and struck the remaining local ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Aurors who were still alive; screams rose from every direction.

At some point the entire Prime Minister's Guard Battalion must have fallen, because only the blue dragon and the silver threads remained in the sky.

Crazy bastards. They really froze every last one of them to death?

In the end I collapsed to my knees in front of Sirius.

Thud.

The freezing ground pressed against my cheek.

Ptoo—

Fuck…

I spat out the blood boiling up from inside me.

I almost let the words I'd been chewing on for so long spill out, but I forced them back down with a hard swallow.

Again… again I swallowed it all and switched back to persuasion. Forget the MPs for now—I had to deal with the man right in front of me first.

If I could turn this deranged bomb of a man back into the kind, cheerful godfather from the original story… maybe then I'd understand something.

What this was. Where everything had gone wrong. Why he kept turning black. And why Marcus Weybridge… no. That could wait.

The man before me—far more rugged and younger than Gary Oldman, a handsome man with strong features.

One of the characters I'd pitied most in the original.

And at the same time… one of the most frustrating.

"Is the Order of the Phoenix allowed to kill Aurors like this? Sirius—you're Order, aren't you? The side of justice?"

I mumbled the words through cracked lips.

"That's right. I'm a member of Albus Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix. It's true. I'm not mocking you. I don't want to kill any of you either. You have to believe me."

Sirius's eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠locked onto mine. They weren't the eyes of a madman. They were the eyes of someone desperately hoping for something.

Even as black and white swallowed the rest of him, the color in those eyes remained.

Should I try one more time? Every time I said the word "believe," hunger and longing flickered across his face.

"I know."

"What……?"

"I believe you. You're not the traitor. You're Harry's godfather."

Sirius's eyes flew wide as if he couldn't trust his ears. His wand hand trembled violently as he lowered it.

Got him. It worked. The way to beat this man was never magic—it was guilt from the start. That black color that spiked like a stock chart shifted every time I mentioned Harry. That's the key.

Then—

Space crumpled and gravity settled. Somewhere, the sound of a projectile tearing through the air rushed closer.

From far away a silver thread shot like an arrow and punched straight through Sirius's right side.

"Aaaagh—!"

Betrayal flooded Sirius's eyes.

"I knew it. You Department of Magical Law Enforcement bastards are all bought by Malfoy just like the Department of Magical Justice, aren't you? Spouting that crap just to buy time? You worthless Auror insects! Completely useless! Pathetic, worthless trash!!!"

The moment those words hit me, something snapped.

Tobias, who had smiled and asked if I'd escorted my mother home before dying right in front of me. The Kings Cross local Aurors who had turned to ash protecting Muggle houses from Sirius's lightning. The corpses of local Aurors from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement scattered everywhere like garbage. They had known they would die and still given everything for other people. They had done ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their jobs.

They didn't deserve to be treated like that. Even if Sirius Black really was on the side of justice, even if he was meant to become Harry's strength, even if he had to survive for the future after Book Five when I wouldn't be around… this was not okay.

"Fuck! Who's useless?! Then what about you?! Is saving Harry Potter all that matters to you?! Do you have any idea how many dozens—how many hundreds—of people are dying right now?! Those people have families waiting for them!! They all have homes to go back to!!!"

Sirius didn't even pretend to listen. He simply charged toward the direction Malfoy was coming from.

Then he glanced back at me for a second, eyes full of hatred, and cast.

"Stupefy! Incarcerous!"

With those words the world collapsed into white. I barely managed to look down at the sharp pain in my chest.

The silver thread that had been attacking Sirius had been deflected by his spell—and it had punched straight through my chest.