Hurtling towards them was not one or two or even three fireballs but over a dozen of the massive things.
"Fuck me sideways," Harry grumbled as he held on tight to his broom and got ready to dodge like his life depended on it. Which in this case it did.
Just then the first volley arrived with five fireballs at the lead; sidestepping the first one, Harry ducked under the second one, then did an upturn to dodge the third and fourth one, and finally completed his lop to avoid the last fireball.
Then getting back on course, Harry watched from the corner of his eyes as Sirius evaded his own shots of firey projectiles.
Not having even a single moment to even comment about the older wizard's excellent flying, the remaining fireballs arrived careen at them at deadly speed.
Grabbing on even tighter to his broom until his hands were deadly pale, Harry tried to make himself as small as possible as he got ready to face the second volley.
Dodging the first shot, Harry dipped lower to dodge another and followed it up with skirting around the third one. Then Harry bypassed two others from in between while feeling the simmering heat against his skin as he flew past. After that, he careened away from the sixth shot which came up on him in a surprise, and Harry had to get a handle on his broom which had him spinning in the air.
Luckily his mishap threw him far away from the final fireball that whizzed past into the distance harmlessly.
Tying to collect his breathing and calm his racing harm, Harry wiped away at the sweat that broke across from his forehead from the close call with the sixth fireball. Turning around, Harry saw that his godfather successfully dodged all the fireballs without a single singe or burn.
Sighing in relief once he saw that, Harry turned around to look ahead at the god damn fucking fortress with narrowed eyes. Who the hell was operating that place that they shot first and asked questions later, plus to make matters worse they were firing at their own liege lord who provides their training, equipment, mounts, spells, and everything else.
Dashing across the sky, there was only one thought on Harry's mind as he drew closer to the fort—when he gets there he will box whoever in charge ears until it's red and aching. At that moment, Harry heard a small ZIP ripe across the air and it was only thanks to his Danger Intuition that kicked in that instant that he was able to dodge to the right as a lightning bolt struck where he was.
Staring gapingly at the position he was at as small arcs of the lightning bolt danced in the sky, Harry slowed down until he came to a stop and swore again. However, Harry did not have time for that as he started to look around for his godfather, unlike him his godfather did not have the Danger Intuition of a basilisk so he did not know if he got stuck as well.
Finally, Harry spotted the Black family head and his worst fears became realized. Plummeting down to earth, Harry could see the smoke rising up from his godfather as he free fell to earth. To make matters worse he was separated from his broom which crashed and burned off to the distance leaving him without anything to maintain himself in the air.
Banking down Harry was about to go after him and catch him no matter what it took until he saw that the old man was able to stabilize himself. Then he slowly drifted down to earth safely.
Sighing in relief once he saw that the animagus was able to safely land thanks to a featherfall spell, Harry thanked whatever god was up there and shot back to the air. He knew that at this point there was not anything else he could do for his godfather, the damage was done and he was shot down from the sky.
Now all he could do was get to the fortress and deal with whoever firing at them with impunity.
Not daring to even think about what would have happened if his godfather was a regular man, Harry flew towards the fortress with a singular focus. Unlike muggles, wizards and witches have magical resistance. This grants them a limited negation to all sorts of magical damage and spells whether it be elemental in nature or physical, mental, spiritual, and everything else in between.
The same applies to magical beings and creatures, so instead of being burnt to a crisp, rip to shreds, or electrocuted to death when you take a fireball to the face, a Bombarda at near-death point, or a lighting bolt head on— you can walk way perfectly fine with only a small burn, a brief moment of disorientation, or a modicum of pain.
Of course, each person has a varying degree of magical resistance which is tied to how powerful they are. Plus magical resistance does not equate to magical immunity after a certain threshold you will be maimed or even out right killed.
If students at Hogwarts did not have this natural ability there would be countless body bags carried out of the school's door each day. Plus wizarding-kinds population which was on the small side already would have long been wiped out with magical accidents and dangerous experiments.
Racing across the sky Harry had to duck and weave as he dodged all the lighting bolts sticking down from the sky. In just a few moments the whole area that he had flown into had become a field of arcing lightning bolts. The whole sky was darkened with dark roiling clouds while he saw that a few miles back the atmosphere was still blue as yonder.
Even though his godfather was hurt thanks to this cursed field he still had to give compliments where it was do. Changing the atmosphere and creating a zone of lightning bolts was some very wickedly awesome magic.
While his mind drifted off and remained singularly focused on the fortress ahead, he did not notice it when all of a sudden the lighting pooled together at one single point. Not noticing a thing, Harry could see he was almost in the clear with just a few meters ahead until he was out of the lighting zone. Then all of a sudden all the collected lightning struck at once coming down for him like the judgment of God.
This lighting bolt was nothing like all the previous ones which were only as big his thighs put together. No this was like a giant pillar from heaven and it was also a different color from the previous blue that whipped across the sky.
Only in the last few seconds that Harry even became aware of it, giving him no time to dodge or weave at all. Before he could even process anything the lighting struck him head-on as the golden arcs danced across his body and in his vein.
For long moments Harry was frozen there as he closed his eyes shut and thought he was a goner. However, as the golden electricity beat against him, he felt nothing but a twinge of shocking charge.
Opening his eyes very slowly, Harry saw that he was perfectly alright except for the fuzzed up hair and lighting that was arcing across his skin. Then Harry recalled what Tobry said to him about Royal Gryphons, "The Royal Gryphons of your family Master Potters are not just giant bird/lion hybrids of destruction. No, they just like how the Phoenix is the master of fire, the Azure Dragon is the master of water, the Behemoth is the master of the earth, the Basilisk is the master of poison— so is the Royal Gryphon the master of the sky!
Everything that falls under the domain of the sky, the Royal Gryphon is lord of it all whether it be the lightning that bolts across the sky, the wind that blows in heaven, or the clouds that drift across. The Royal Gryphon is the master of it."
Then remembering the heart feather he ate, Harry realized that he too now was the master of the sky. This trifling amount of lightning is nothing compared to what a Royal Gryphon could handle.
With a wide grin splitting his face, laughter spilled out of his mouth as he felt a bit heady with all the power coursing through his veins. Now with all this juice inside of him, there is nothing that could stand in his way.
And with that though, Harry was off towards the fortress, like a bolt of arcing golden lighting head, not even heeding anything. Before long Harry reached the next kill zone.
This time it was howling wind that sliced and diced at the enemy. However, Harry totally ignored it as he somehow tapped into the lighting instinctively and used it as a shield. Laughing out loud as his voice cracked like lightning, Harry carried on as he built even more speed and was out of the danger zone.
From up close here, Harry's enhanced senses came into view namely his enhanced sight and he could see a few figures panicking on the battlements like headless chickens. Suddenly at the sight of them, forked lightning arced across his body as rage boiled up to the surface.
No longer was he thinking straight as he became one with the lighting and the lightning became one with him. All that was left in his mind was to bring the wrath of the sky upon them like the true master he was.
Not taking into account the danger he was in as ice started to collect in the sky, all of Harry's attention was on the battlement. Then suddenly hundreds of giant icicles rained down on him banging against his arcing shield and being dissolved into small crystals.
Somehow one of the giant icicles finally got through his shield of lighting and slashed against his cheek creating a small cut. Not knowing where the hubris and pride came from as Harry touched his cheek with a haughtily look, lighting run across his eyes and a sudden shout came from his mouth. A shout that sounded very much similar to that of a Royal Gryphon's.
Digging deep into all the extra juice he had, Harry collected all the golden lighting in his core and suddenly send it out in a sphere-like wave. All the giant ice crystals that were raining down at him were obliterated as the lightning wave destroyed everything in its path leaving behind only a small dusting of ice shards in the air.
Using the rest of the golden lighting, Harry gathered it in both of his hands until they were glowing like the golden ray of sunshine. Then locking his hands together, Harry blasted a beam of pure golden electricity at the battlements. [A/N: think Kamehameha from dragon ball z.]
The giant beam struck against the great walls but suddenly out of nowhere a blue shield appeared surrounding the area that his beam struck and took the damage.
As the dust cleared and all the power that was coursing through his veins left his body, Hary was finally able to come back to himself. Immediately Harry just realized what he did in his state of anger, pride, and headiness- he attacked his very own fortress and might have just killed his own men in the process.
Racing over to the area his attack struck, Harry now saw the pitfall of his powers. They were abilities that truly weren't his. No matter how much of these magical beasts blood, tears, or other parts he had inside of him this was not something that was his own or that he can handle yet.
For a moment there he thought he was becoming like a Royal Gryphons and that would not do. No matter how noble all magical beasts are, they are still beasts in the end. They are creatures of might and power while humans are beings of intellect and innovation.
Having power is good and all, but if you lose yourself and become nothing more than a creature that acts on instinct then what is there left of you.
It is thanks to human ingenuity that wizarding kind rules over the magical world and not magical beasts who are more magically in tune and gifted.
Landing on the battlements and hopping off his broom, abruptly a gruff voice called out, "What the hell is going on? Who activated our defenses?"
Turning around Harry saw a veteran looking man with greying hair and a metal arm walk up from the stairs that lead down. Behind him was a sharp looking man with a pair of glasses on and a saber at his hip.
"Commander, Sir," a coughing voice answered as Harry saw three soldiers coughing and wheezing on the ground. They must have been the people who were trying real hard to kill him, he noted as they tried their best to get up and look presentable.
The one that answered was a short man who would have been confused for a dwarf if not for the lack of beard that those magical beings were known for. The second was a lanky man, with bucktooth, and a medium height. The third and final man was the largest of the group in both height and weight.
[A/N: think Yao, Ling, and Chien Po from Mulan.]
"I asked a question," the man who Harry assumed was the commander growled. "What in god's name were you three idiots doing?"
"Commander," the lanky man said as he saluted the man. "We spotted two intruders and tried to take them down as you commanded."
"As I commanded," the gruff man repeated.
"Ah, did you say no one is allowed to trespass into the fortress?" the giant, chubby man asked in a soft voice.
Grabbing his forehead and doing his best not to lose his cool with the three men, the aide looking man in the glasses spoke up and remarked. "You could have simply trapped these so-called intruders in the spatial folding field and called for the commander to deal with it instead of activating our lightning field, fireballs, icicles, and howling wind."
"Oh," the soft-spoken giant said.
"But Lieutenant," the lanky man said as he tried to defend himself and his actions. "these intruders were very slippery and dangerous as well. We were able to take one day but the other was very powerful and attacked us. That is why the magical shielding went up."
Sighing the Commander let go of his head and simply ordered, "get back to your posts. You idiots will be the death of me one day. Alex," he then said as he turned to face his aid, "go see about these so called intruders and so help me god if they were just fucking birds. You three will be assigned to latrine duty for the rest of your lives!"
"Sir," the short stocky man said as he pointed at Harry who just stood there waiting for them to wrap everything up.
"Yes," the man growled as he clearly did not have enough patience for any more bullshit.
"The intruder is right there," the man simply said.
Spinning around to face him, the commander shouted, "what in tarnation?!" as he actually saw someone standing there.
Unlike everyone else who was either surprised or just standing still, the Lieutenant was able to quickly react as he placed his hand over his saber and stood in front of the Commander.
"Stand back, sir," the aide said as he got into a fighting position, "I will take care of this trespasser."
Before Harry could argue and state who he was, the man was right before him in the blink of an eye as he covered the 20 meters distance in a matter of heartbeats like it was nothing.
Unsheathing his sword the aide slashed at him and the only thing that saved him was that he step backed in his surprise. There was no time for anything whether it be taking out his wand, placing some defenses up, or even attacking back.
There wasn't even time to activate his many abilities or even use the single wandless spell he knew since he froze up. Never in his life did he face an opponent that overpowered him so.
It seems like all this time he was going an easy mood since this guy was a beast in human flesh.
He was like a flash of lightning bolt as even then the slash ripped into his shirt and lightly sliced into his skin. The man was going to following it up with a downward cut before the gruff man shouted, "WAIT!"
Immeadily coming to a stop as the blade rested only inched from his nose, Harry did not even dare to move a muscle. He knew, deep down that if he did that the man would cut him in half without a thought.
"At ease, Lieutenant," the crusty old man said as he walked up to Harry with narrowed eyes and his hands resting behind his back.
"Yes, Sir," the saber wielding man said as he sheath his blade and stepped back.
Regardless, the gruff man's eyes were only for Harry as he studied him close up and whispered loud enough for Harry to hear, "It can't be, but the resemblance is very close."
"Don't mean to be rude, gentlemen," Harry said as he slowly leaned back while holding his hands out to show that he was harmless. "But I am Lord Potter, master of this fortress and Chief of the Griffin Legion." With that announcement, Harry held out his Lordship ring and it flashed to the Potter family emblem of two griffins, a patch of red roses, and an elegant sword with wings reaching out from the back.