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 253: Resolution
"Ahh!" Bella screamed when she realized how high in the sky they were.
She held with all her might onto James's back while he hovered in the air.
"James, why are we in the air?!"
"I know, sorry about that," James responded in a calm tone while his amber eyes scanned the landscape below them.
"I couldn't risk apparating too close to the castle." He did this to avoid clashing against the barrier that he expected Nyxaris to use.
But now that he was here, he couldn't detect any sign of it. At least not until he spotted some fragmented pillars on the sides.
"Mmm…it doesn't look like she deactivated it, more like it was destroyed," James muttered.
"Can we go down now?..." Bella had her arms wrapped around his neck and closed her eyes. "You know I hate heights!"
"Yes, urgg…I can tell…" James tried to pry her arms a bit so he could breathe properly again and began to descend.
The smell of blood filled his nostrils as soon as he got close to the ground.
He couldn't see any Death Eaters, trolls, giants, or any of Voldemort's creatures, but he did see a big golden dragon standing in the middle of the yard, next to a blonde girl holding a sword.
They were very hard to miss.
"Master, you are back." Ultima delivered her lines with no emotion whatsoever.
James was not too concerned about that. Nyxaris was the same way after her creation, but after some time, she began to develop her own personality. Ultima would need the same.
"How did every—"
"Are we on the ground already?!" Bella interrupted him.
"We are." James felt her relax and open her eyes.
"Oh, thank Merl—ahh!" She got startled when the first thing she saw was the massive head of Primum staring back at her.
"Kyu?..." the chimera looked confused at her reaction, as it was not too aware of its own physical changes.
"Primum?" Bella now realized who this was.
"Kyu!" Primum looked kinda offended.
"I'm sorry, it's just…wow, you have grown a lot. And even changed colors!" She got off James's back and moved closer to the creature, who now looked much happier.
Meanwhile, James returned his attention to Ultima. "Tell me, how did everything go?"
Ultima nodded. "The Mission Master left me has been completed with no issues. The wizard known as Lord Voldemort has been eliminated. Along with every other living being, he brought into the Master's property."
"Mmmm…" James was trying to find where Voldemort's corpse was.
"Ehm…Master?" Nyxaris called for him. "He is over there, but…" She pointed into the distance.
"But?"
"If Master is trying to locate his body..." Ultima intervened. "It has been dissected into many pieces. I can locate them for Master if that is what you wish—"
"No, that won't be necessary." James hurried to say. Looking at the sword in her hands, he got a better idea of the fate Voldemort had suffered.
"Hold on." Bella turned to them. "Did you say that the Dark Lord is dead?...already?" She looked around.
"Did he bring a large army with him? Did anyone get away?" Harry asked, although he could already tell what the answer was.
"No one got away," Nyxaris said firmly.
Ultima began to recount the number of werewolves, giants, and Death Eaters that were accompanying the Dark Lord in as much detail as she could recall. After all, it had been Primum who handled the bulk of the army.
"I understand…" He glanced at the pile of smoking bodies near the entrance of the property. This was no doubt the work of Primum's potent poison.
Unfortunately, this would make it impossible for James to discover the identities of everyone who came in here, and he could only hope that things would be easier at the other location.
He wanted to make sure that no other Death Eaters were still around.
'That is going to take some time.' It wasn't like he knew the names of every single one of Voldemort's followers. But he did know most of the family names.
James noticed that Ultima was staring at him with expectant eyes.
"You all did a great job. Well done."
"Kyu!" Primum exclaimed loudly, but it was evident that Nyxaris and Ultima were also happy at hearing those words.
"By the way…who is the blonde girl?" Bella finally decided to ask.
"I am Ultima." The homunculus responded.
"Ulti…wait, is that the girl who was inside the glass container?" Bella asked James. "Didn't she have black hair?"
Ultima reacted by looking at her own hair, not having been able to pay attention to her changes either.
"Yes, that's her." James glanced at the golden armor that Ultima was wearing. "I believe the changes have been caused by her connection with Aura. And…" His eyes moved to Primum, Tertivor, and Nyxaris. "The same could be said about the others."
"Oh! You are blonde too." Bella pointed at the fairy.
"This is very interesting." Said James while observing his creation. He had, of course, planned for all of them to work together, but this level of synchronization exceeded his expectations. "I will need to perform a few tests."
"Shall I remove the armor for Master's tests?" Ultima asked.
"Whoa, hold on!" Bella exclaimed. "Don't remove anything."
"Master…" Ultima pointed at Bella. "Who is the human female?"
"That is Bella. Master's fiancée." Nyxaris was pleased to know the answer.
"Fiancée…" Ultima seemed to be searching for its significance in her memories. "I see…this is Master's copulation mate."
"What?!" Bella shouted.
"No, I don't think they have gone that far yet." Nyxaris corrected her.
"Fiancée just means they will get married in the future."
"Mmm…I still have much to learn." Ultima realized.
"Yes, well…let's leave this conversation for later." James felt Bella's eyes on him. "Or never."
"Excuse me, Master," Nyxaris called for him.
"Hmm?"
"Lady Rose was here." The fairy informed him.
"So she came, huh?. I wasn't too sure when I asked her...was she of any use?"
"Who is Lady Rose?" Bella asked while glaring at James.
"She prevented me from falling after I exhausted my magic using the Seven Pillars' formation."
"Seven?. You didn't need to go that far. The fifth one would have been-"
"Who is Lady Rose?" Bella interrupted him.
"Master..." Ultima called. "That female is very dangerous...I could not measure her strength. But she destroyed Nyxaris' barrier by using some form of plants."
"So that's what happened to the barrier..." James had been wondering about that. There was no chance that Voldemort had been capable of doing, even with his recent enhancement.
"Master, what is she?" Nyxaris asked. As it became clear that the woman was not human.
"Well..." James looked pensive for a moment.
"Who is Lady Rose!" Bella shook him violently.
"Calm down. She is just a shoopkeeper from the alley. I asked her to come here and give a hand if necessary." James tried to explain to Bella before turning his attention back to Nyx. "As for what she is...I have no idea."
"Master doesn't know?" Nyxaris appeared to be shocked.
James shrugged. "Hey, I don't have all the answers. I do know that she is some ancient magical creature. I didn't know she had an affinity for plants, so...maybe a driad?"
"You know a driad?" Bella asked. "I thought they went extinct."
"Master is just guessing." Ultima pointed out.
He cleared his throat. "In any case... don't worry about Lady Rose. She is not your enemy."
"Lady Rose said that she was going to charge you, even if she didn't do much," Nyxaris informed him.
James chuckled. "Yeah, I imagine that was going to be the case."
"What did you promise her?. You gave that other man a piece of paper." Bella was curious about it.
"I just told her that I would help her in a future project, that's all." Said James, not wanting to get into details.
"Any way....I should go pick up my parents and bring them back. Gotta make sure that they don't come into the garden until the house-elves have had a chance to…clean."