INNOVATOR; Ch 40: And so it begins...

Author's Note: Hello there, this is chapter 40 of INNOVATOR. I really hope you will like it.

Also, many thanks and congratulations to our seven holders of the Guildmaster tier: Camo, I am Lord Dems, StormFox, RyanMK666, Lyrical, Tyler and PenguGoesVroom! 😇🥰

Now, without any further ado....Let's begin!

Author Out!

“I am Talking.” 

‘I am Thinking’

Spells

"The Damned talking."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.

~Sun Tzu (The Art of War)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

INNOVATOR

-Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 40: And so it begins…~~

.

‘The moon looks beautiful tonight…’ He thought, looking at the softly glowing red moon that was encompassed by the dark clouds forming a halo around it. Charcoal black eyes with dark veins around them glinted under its pale light as the man admired the planetary body revolving around mother earth. He smiled, a grotesque stretching of thin parched lips with rotting black teeth peeking from inside his mouth.

The Dark Lord was happy—happier and more joyful than he could ever remember being—he felt the lingering sense of murder and death in the air around him, a taste of viciousness and the forbidden touch of victory…it was almost… refreshing, compared to the gloom of the throne room in which he had spent his last few months planning for this one night.

Sometimes, the boy inside of him—the simple young boy who had once dreamt of ruling the world—couldn’t believe that he had indeed come this far with the sole power of his magic and mind. There had been so many points in his journey when he had almost lost the battle, had to run away, fly to hide himself till the conditions were suitable once more. 

‘And yet, here we are.’ Tom Riddle looked at the masterpiece that he had drawn on the ground before him. The rune trap that he had found near his maternal grandfather’s shack when he had gone to check for his horcrux after the little snake’s report. It was quite surprising when he, a learned mage of almost seventy years, couldn’t even identify the purpose of the entire circuit at that time.

He had saved the image of the circuit, and then pursued the books, slowly unraveling the entire construct piece-by-piece until he realized the sheer genius behind such a thing. He didn’t know who it was that had made it, but he suspected that it was Potter's work considering that the little snake had reported the older one to be sitting at one point while the younger one fought around with skeletons. 

The circuit was an absolute trap, there was no way that anyone with magic would ever be able to escape the thing unless it was deactivated by someone from the outside. It even used the trapped person’s magic to empower itself which meant that the person would be completely drained before he could even think of crawling out of the runic construct. 

The Dark Lord had drawn two such constructs on the ground and had already marked the two portkeys to land exactly at their centers. He couldn’t help but smirk at the irony of trapping the person from whom he indirectly learned such a precious type of magical trap which had actually been used when said young man had destroyed a piece of himself.

The irony of it was almost….poetic, and even if he never himself indulged in the miseries of mortal men who had to indulge themselves in their frivolous pursuit of world beauty, he could, at specific times, take pleasure in it. 

“Stop smiling like a loon, you fool,” A voice interrupted him, growling in his mind as he clearly felt its displeasure. “We are not dealing with a normal human, the boy you have to kill is the apprentice of Death itself, and has defeated you more times than you could count, or have you, perhaps, already forgotten that part?”

‘May I remind you that it was actually you who had to run to me so that your lot could be saved?’ The Dark Lord angrily replied. ‘And do not forget that the eldest Potter is both of our jobs. I will kill the youngest as soon as possible, but Harry Potter… for him, I shall need you to help me.’ 

“And that is why I am here,” the soul piece chittered, “If not for me, then you would be killed tonight and the crevice would seal for eternity, and we would both be denied of the pleasure that we have been waiting for the past year.” 

‘Then, we both have an accord, Herpo.’ The Dark Lord thought. ‘Now, stay silent, and rest as much as you can, you will need it more than anyone tonight.’ He felt the link close, and the soul piece went back to being a specter through his eyes. 

The little critter who had possessed him back then had introduced itself as the half soul piece of the infamous Dark Lord Herpo-the-Foul, who was actually trapped in a realm of sorts where all the evil beings were punished for eternity. 

Voldemort had asked how he got free from that realm, and had been told that when he got reincarnated on earth once more, a crevice of sorts opened between the realms of Life and Death, and the souls of the damned have been waiting since one year for the crevice to open completely so that they could come to the realm of Living. 

Although Voldemort’s actions did not seem like they were going to see that happen, fortunately enough Herpo’s half soul piece was still lingering on the planet’s surface and when the crevice was wide enough, a link of sorts was formed between the piece on earth and the one in the Realm through which the former Dark Lord could control this piece and manipulate it to work for their mutual benefit.

Once the crevice opens completely, the army of Damnation shall pour through it and bring doom upon the entire world. They would attack everything in sight, cities shall burn, states devastated, countries shall be ruined under their attack and even continents shall be destroyed. The entire map of the world would change and nothing of the old one shall remain intact. 

The humans, their customs, their petty mortal lives of negligence and pleasures including their gods and goddesses. Everything that was in the planet as a whole shall be ripped to shreds and then burned to crisps before the world would be rebuilt and shaped exactly how they—the army, and Voldemort—would want it, and a new history shall be written for a new era that would dawn upon humanity. 

And the Dark Lord Voldemort, the one person who had made this dream into a reality shall be given full reign over his own lands, waters and skies. His people shall be spared and he would get complete control of his realm to do as he so wished. 

It was beautiful, powerful and an addictive thought. It had always been the thing that had enticed him to the extremes so much that even now he could feel his magic thrum in response to his thoughts, and since all he needed to achieve this dream was to kill the Potter brothers, there was no way he was going to hesitate now. Especially with another Dark Lord inside of him, one who would guide and supply him with power to kill the eldest of the brothers. 

‘The entire world shall be mine… no more Council of Paragons, no more Albus Dumbledore or ICW or the pesky Guilds… only the supreme leader Voldemort, and his realm of new reality…’ The Dark Lord grinned maniacally once more, the thoughts intimately pleasing his mind as he began to correct the rune traps so that the brothers could be caught and killed as painfully as possible.  

⁂

Alan looked back at the dead acromantula, it had been upturned on the ground; its abdomen blasted out and parts of its flesh, blood and bones spewed around it in a mess. The last champion didn’t know whether he should be happy that someone had killed such a ferocious beast, or if he should be worried that there was someone in the maze who could kill such a thing in the first place. 

He decided that it would be better if he didn't think much about it and instead went on with his business, he didn't want to stay a moment longer in the haunted and scary maze than necessary. He didn’t know what was happening, or where the rest of the champions were, all he knew was that he had heard a female scream at some point which faintly resembled a human. 

Unfortunately, that was the last human presence he had felt in the last one hour that he had been in the maze, and now he was both tired and irritated of the puzzles, the moving hedges, the traps placed by the professors and the damn atmosphere which was giving him creeps. It was as if there was someone near him all the time, he could feel someone’s gaze on him and not in a good way. 

He felt as if someone had been there with him all the time, watching him, playing with him as if he was nothing more than a simple toy for their amusement that would be thrown away the moment they got bored of it. It was quite eerie; time and again, he had looked behind and around him just to catch a glimpse of the gaze, but each time he felt as if he was nearing his pursuer, the presence would disappear. 

Only to reappear after a few minutes. 

“Well… fuck it!” Alan growled as he summoned his inner Gryffindor courage and walked forward, he took a swift right turn, finally coming face-to-face with the wooden pedestal that had the three school’s logos engraved on it and the ethereally glowing glass trophy that sat atop it. 

The Triwizard trophy. The one thing for which he—and three others—had been fighting in the bloody mess of a competition, putting their damn lives on the line for one whole year. And the fact that his name had been placed in the tournament without his knowledge didn’t matter because apparently the goblet wasn’t going to consider his choice in it. 

Alan looked around once more, waiting for someone to drop out from the hedges — possibly his shadows even — but when no one did, he sprinted towards the softly glowing trophy.  He didn’t think of anything else, the only thing that was on his mind in that very moment was to grab the trophy and end the fucking tournament with Hogwarts as its victor. 

He looked back to take another glance, uncertainty etched on his face as he expected one last trap or a creature who would have been placed to prevent the final competitor from reaching for the cup. He shivered a bit when he felt the same gaze again, it was as if the person was glaring daggers at his back, and he most certainly didn’t like the feeling at all. 

The gaze, no matter where or from who, definitely wanted him dead.

His legs moved on their own as the boy-who-lived stood just a feet away from the Triwizard cup, he tightened the grip on his wand and checked around himself for the last time before his fingers wrapped around the glass handle of the Triwizard cup and he lifted it above his head, grinning happily at his, and Hogwarts’, victory.  

Unfortunately, at that moment he felt a really familiar tug at his navel, his brown eyes widened in shock because no one had told him that the trophy was a Merlin be damned portkey! The last thing on his mind as he vanished with a loud ‘POP’ was just one word, ‘SHIIIIITTTT….!!’ 

⁂

Harry rushed towards the center of the maze which was a large circular ring of thick green hedges that were around the pedestal of the trophy which was actually a portkey. He had just felt the magic inside the cup churn as the transportation had been initiated, he knew that his brother was the only one inside the maze and was also near the center so it was quite possible that the boy was the one who had activated it. 

It had been expected after all Dumbledore had charmed the cup to act as a portkey for the final task and had even turned the entire area that the maze covered as a portkey zone so that champions could immediately be taken to help when needed. 

They had expected the winner to touch the trophy and vanish from the center only to appear outside the maze in front of the crowd. Unfortunately, instead of that, Alan had completely disappeared from Hogwarts, which meant that the boy was somewhere else around the world and that didn’t make Harry feel any better. 

Before the Innovator could reach the center, he stopped mid-flight when he felt it first. 

It was unmistakable. 

The small buzz was exactly the same that he used to feel at the end of every year when Alan and his friends somehow got themselves in some sort of huge mess and he had to go there to protect them repeatedly. 

He looked at his right hand and ordered his family magic to reveal the heir’s ring that was present on his index finger. The Ruby Red Potter heir ring materialized as it had a million times before, though this time his eyes widened in shock when he felt another buzz from the ring and a series of mental pings which revealed to him that his brother was in fact several miles away from him.  

“What the…” Harry whispered in shock, he could feel his heart thump loudly in his chest as he thought about the consequences of what had just happened. Images starting from most of the council members to Voldemort flashed in his mind, his mind raced to conclusions as he tried to think which adversary would be harder to handle when something caught his eyes. 

There! Almost near the center of the hedges the air had shifted as if it just crashed against an invisible figure! 

Without losing his concentration, Harry flicked his wand out and pointed it towards where he had witnessed the displacement. “Homenum Revelio.” 

Thankfully this time the results didn't disappoint him, he glared at the human presence that he could see glowing through his magic and immediately descended in the center, his wand pointed at the invisible specter that had been alluding him since the beginning of the task. 

There were more than a few questions that he wanted the person to answer, but first and foremost he wanted to know their identity. 

“You know too much about how the maze works, and this is clearly not the first time you are inside it, which means that you are someone who has been here before and you were with us this whole time.” Harry walked forwards and saw the presence shift a bit. “Don’t even think of it, you know you can’t escape anymore. Now, I will only ask this once.” His emerald eyes glared daggers at the specter. “Who are you? And why did you kill her?” 

There was a small pause, both of them deliberately desisting from doing anything that might throw the situation into chaos and bloodshed. Harry tightened the grip on his wand, his eyes following every movement that the person was making in trepidation before finally the person raised their hand in a universal gesture of surrender and removed the cloak that had been keeping them invisible. 

Cold blue eyes greeted him in appraisal, a small goatee curling around his weak jaw and a tall, thin physique clad in black robes worn by the Death Eaters. The man held his wand in left hand while his right dropped the cheap looking invisibility cloak on the ground beside him. It seemed that the man had brought it from some shady shop in the Knockturn or somewhere similar to it. 

“I never expected you of all people to be here, Karkaroff,” Harry remarked as he watched the man touch the chain that he always wore around his neck. “To think you faked your own death for all this, I don’t know why you would even go to such lengths.”

“Because not everyone is as famous and as blessed with magic as you, Potter.” The man sneered. “Some need help to find their footing in our ‘dear’ world, and, if the man who offers this help is vile and vicious and evil, according to the society, then it doesn’t matter because there are no ‘noble’ ones… the good men had already left the ones in need long ago.”

“Getting help from such a person, and becoming like him are two different things, you daft troglodyte,” Harry fiercely retorted. “Don’t blame society for your choices when you are the one who corrupts it to ignore the weak. There are others who had it much worse than you and yet always had a smile on their faces and a good heart beating in their chests till they died of old age.” 

“Everyone wanted the same things I did, that I do: Power. Potter, the difference is I was brave enough to stand with my choices and they were cowards who were afraid of the dark,” the elder mage replied, “A lowly boy from a no-name family and dreams of greatness. There was no one who believed in me. No one that happened to be on the ‘good' side, at least, and I don’t think there is any problem in returning what you have been served, especially since I have more power now.” 

“Do you hear the irony? To think that a coward like you is talking about being brave.” Harry chuckled mockingly, infuriating the Highmaster. “Words like bravery and loyalty aren’t made for you to use, Karkaroff. You, who turned on your so-called comrades once you had been captured, and even today, you had to use a fucking invisibility cloak to take care of Merlin-damned teenagers. Brave, my ass.” 

“I did get the job done, didn’t I?” A proud smirk crawled on his face. “It doesn’t matter how one does it, all that the world will see is the result, and the result will be in my favor. Your brother will be dead, the world will be under my lord’s control and you… people like you with a silver spoon shoved up your fucking arse, would be left with nothing but your pitiful lives.” 

Harry’s eyes narrowed at the mention of his brother, “Where is he?” He asked the man, “Where is Alan? What have you done to him?” 

Harry expected many things in that moment, he expected the fool to laugh, probably mock him a bit too, or maybe tell him to fuck off because Alan was already dead — which he was not — the heir ring helped with that knowledge. What the innovator didn’t expect to happen was for the idiot Highmaster of Durmstrang to point his wand up in the sky and shout, “Morsmordre.”

The two men silently watched in trepidation as the bright green spell was launched into the dark sky making the infamous Dark Mark which showed a glowing serpent moving out from the mouth of a skull. 

“What was that—”

“FOR THE DARK LORD!” Igor screamed and almost immediately launched the killing curse at the younger mage. 

The boy was astonished as he dodged the incoming spell and immediately erected a shield that was smashed by a few others. “Really? You are going to fight against me?” Harry asked, side-stepping an orange organ expeller. “You know you can never win against me,” he added, “Or have you gotten so deluded by your own beliefs about bravery and loyalty, you coward?!”

“Think of it as whatever you want to, Potter,” Karkaroff shouted, “But fucking die! Avada Kedavra!” 

Harry shot up in the sky, easily avoiding the killing curse by a few meters as he hovered over the grassy ground. “Maybe you will be more compliant after losing a few parts of yourself, Karkaroff.” He pointed his wand at the Bulgarian headmaster and initiated one of his most popular spell-chains, “Calcitare-Ignis flagellum-Avis-Mutare Mortus!!” 

The man’s blue eyes widened in fear as he hastily erected a translucent blue shield to take the first two spells and then jumped to his far right, falling on the ground as the vicious birds with modified metal beaks and claws flew past the place where he stood a few moments ago.

“Terrified now, are we?” Harry growled. “Coming to senses again? Or did you fucking forget who in seven hells you are up against?” 

Karkaroff gritted his teeth, Potter was playing with him. The boy had the balls to underestimate him, a man who had fought in a war when the brat wasn’t even born in the first place! He swore that tonight he would make the boy regret those words, shove them all down his throat as his blood and life seeped out of him.

“Do your worst, Potter,” Karkaroff managed to mutter before he had to immediately dodge another volley of curses that came his way from his opponent’s wand. He shielded himself from most of them, conjuring a large piece of rough granite to take most of the heavy ones and a Protego shield for the strays. 

Unfortunately for the man, Harry had managed to sneak in a bombarda which blasted the slab and then he got hit by three different hexes on his left including an overpowered diffindo which cost him his hand. 

Pain flared from his elbow as blood splattered on the ground and half of his left hand fell on the grass with a soft thump. The Highmaster screamed in agony, his blue eyes tearing up as he looked at the fallen limb with nothing but excruciating amounts of throbbing pain that had started to dull his sense of self. 

Again the man raised his wand in Harry’s direction, his aim wasn't good anymore as his arm was trembling and tears had already robbed him of his clear sense of sight. He wiped his eyes by the sleeve of his robes and tried to focus on his battle only to find that the Potter heir had already vanished. 

It was to be expected of the young man, after all they weren’t dueling like kids or those show-offs who did it for money and fame and a prize. This was a fight, a bloodthirsty one with no delusions of grandeur or honor involved in it, and Potter understood the fight — the importance of hitting the iron while it's hot. 

But did Karkaroff like it? Not at all. 

He raised his wand and summoned his magic once more. “Homenum—” 

A bright flash of red came from behind his back at point blank range, and that was all he had been able to perceive before his wand was forcibly ripped out of his hand as someone—Potter, obviously—kicked him hard to the ground. 

“I don’t know what made you think you could ever have a chance against me, you daft fool, but I assume that I have dissuaded you from such foolish notions, right? And within three minutes no less!” Harry japed as he slowly materialized from thin air while the third Hallow completely vanished back to nothingness.

Karkaroff grunted in pain as he turned around and watched Potter summon his wand before easily snapping it into two and throwing the broken pieces into the maze once more. Then, the boy came close to him, leaned down and grabbed him by his robes. The Durmstrang Highmaster could feel chills down his spine when he looked into Potter’s green eyes that were glowing ethereally in the darkness around them.

He could feel the boy’s feral nature, and the ginormous amounts of power that he held inside him on a tight leash. The feeling wasn’t good, but it didn’t make him falter, not at all. In fact, if Karkaroff had to be truthful with himself then Potter’s casual display of power and words only fuelled his desire of vengeance against the pompous brat. 

“Now, I will only ask this once,” Potter growled, “And you better not fuck it up, or I swear that I will make sure that you feel what your former comrades did when they tried to defy me.” He tightened his hold on the man’s black robes and asked, “Where is Alan, and why did you kill Petrovia?” 

Harry had expected the man to try and spite him, maybe spit on his face or speak nonsense. After all, it was what they all did during the first few minutes of interrogation. He had even expected the coward to beg for mercy and forgiveness so that he could rush back to his dear master, or maybe even offer some sort of deal to get out of the mess like he had done when he was captured by the ministry. 

What he hadn’t expected was the man to actually laugh. 

Karkaroff couldn’t help himself anymore, he hadn’t expected the plan to fail so miserably and yet, end up being successful. ‘And to think that Potter himself fell in the trap… this is why you must never get drunk on your power…’ His hand slowly crept inside his robe while his eyes stayed affixed on the boy’s ‘...for you never know when the tides may turn.’ 

“What’s so funny?”

The Death Eater’s simply gave a grotesque smile, his yellow teeth peeking from behind his bloodied and dirty lips that were covered by his goatee. “The most intelligent man on earth, the finest brain in wizarding Britain in almost half-a-millennia.” The man laughed more. “To think that I had to go through so many plans, and yet, the one that would finally trap you would be none of them but your own ego.” 

“What plans? You cheap fucker, what do you—”

Karkaroff tightly clenched the portkey that was inside his robe tied to the chain around his neck in the form of a locket, he took one last look at Harry’s angry visage before he whispered, “Activate!” 

The Innovator looked on in shock when he heard the word and felt the magic of a portkey encase him, he saw the smile on his prey’s face and then, he felt the harsh tug of transportation magic at the back of his navel. 

“What the—”

With a flair of bright colors, both Karkaroff and Harry vanished from the center of the maze with nothing but a loud ‘POP’. 

Unfortunately, all this time neither Dumbledore nor anyone else could have interrupted the two mages inside the maze because all of them were busy with trying to prevent a destruction that was so powerful and devastating enough to be called a catastrophe in magical Britain.

⁂

{Five minutes earlier}

Almost a mile away from the ancient castle, atop the west mountains stood Bellatrix with the entire army of dark creatures, her violet eyes gleaming with joy and excitement that the night was going to bring to her impatient heart and mind. She looked down at the assembled mob of eight-hundred, and couldn’t help the giddy smile that sprouted on her beautiful visage. 

“You think that Karkaroff would be able to actually send both the Potters?” Dolohov asked as he approached her. “That turncoat was only taken back after much groveling in front of our master, he was never the bravest tool in the shed, one battle with Potter and the idiot might end up switching sides again, instead of succeeding.” 

“He might not be the bravest, but he is one of the sharpest ones we have, and we know that to send the eldest Potter, we need someone with more brains than brawn.” Bellatrix shrugged. “Not to mention the fool knows that if he cannot do what is needed, then he better die at Potter’s hand or he would have to suffer torture from both mine and the Dark Lord’s.”

“My plan was still better than this mess,” Dolohov grunted. “Just one sip of the Polyjuice potion and I could have easily sent both of them. Who knows what would happen if that bastard fails tonight.” 

“Dolohov…” She smirked. “Do you really think that throughout the year, there is only one person in the entire Hogwarts who would be connected with us?” The witch started to cackle at the man’s confused frown. “We have, at least, ten more who would do the needful if Igor Karkaroff died tonight. Now, don’t question our master’s orders, focus on what you have to do and do it perfectly.” 

Antonin nodded and moved back towards the werewolves to talk about the attack plan with Greyback. Merlin knew what went within that fool’s mind, that fucking beast would fuck up the entire thing the moment his maw wrapped around warm flesh and the ‘addictive’ taste of human blood seeped through his gullet. 

In the end, a beast was a beast, no matter how well trained or sophisticated they tried to become, they just couldn’t be human.

Bella, on the other hand, frowned a bit. Her petite fists clenched tightly as her heartbeat rose in trepidation of what was taking the idiot Highmaster so long. They had been waiting for the signal for over one hour, she had heard the loud cannon blasts and — thanks to Karkaroff’s letter — she knew that they signaled the champions who entered the maze. 

‘What are you doing, you wretched filth!’ She thought, her purple eyes affixed on the dark skies above the huge castle. ‘If you fail tonight then you better be dead, or else I would fucking make your life worse than living in a—’ The thought didn’t need to be finished because, at that very moment, she saw a brightly glowing green ray traverse upwards from the center of the maze. 

The ray splattered in the dark sky like a drop of paint being dissolved in water, bright green color mixed around and then took the form of a large skull with a snake slithering out of its open mouth. The most beautiful mark she had ever seen was glowing in the night sky just a mile away from her. 

In the end, Karkaroff had finally done it. He had succeeded in sending both the Potters to the Dark Lord and now, all they had to do was attack the enormous castle with all of their might, enough to shake the very people who were being sheltered under its broken walls. 

Bellatrix flew above them all and placed her wand at her throat to cast the amplifying charm, “The time has come for us to shine, and shine we shall for our rights, for our freedom and for all the things that we have always been denied!” She screamed, her eyes taking in the appearance of all the creatures who started to growl around her. “Tonight we will fight with all of our might, and we will destroy our enemies in the name of the Dark Lord!”

“For the Dark Lord!” Dolohov shouted from his place among the dogs and the werewolves. 

“For the Dark Lord!” Rookwood, Yaxley and their group followed the infamous duelist, and were immediately followed by others like Jugson, the Carrows and Macnair. The werewolves started to howl followed by the dogs, the crittering acromantulas and the trolls and giants who were banging their clubs. 

It was pure havoc, pure chaos around them. High on energy, they wanted nothing more than the blood of their enemies splattered around them. The air was charged with bloodthirst, and darkness of the creatures and men which screamed for death and destruction. 

Finally, Bellatrix turned around to look at the castle, she raised her hand and took a deep breath before she screamed loudly, “FOR THE DARK LORD!!!! BEGIN THE MARCH TO VICTORY!!!”

As one, the entire army of eight-hundred creatures began to move towards the ancient castle of Hogwarts to fight for what they presumed was a right thing. Their morale and their energy was at an all time high as images of conquest kept assaulting their minds, making them believe that no matter what happened they would be the victors, and history shall be written in their name.  

⁂

There was a resounding crack that broke the bleak silence of the night as two men magically appeared about ten feet in the air before they fell on the ground with a loud thump. Within moments — before they had even landed — a bright red stunner was launched that hit the younger man squarely in the face as he dropped on the older one whose robes he had been holding. 

“HARR… HARRY!”

“ACTIVATE!” A raspy voice screamed as the man pushed his magic into the first rune which activated the cluster in the hexagonal runic trap that he had built for the two Potters.

“NOOO!!!” Alan screamed in pain, blood seeping out of the various cuts as he watched the ground beneath them shake violently just like it had when he had arrived here, he saw the same six runes flare up in a hexagon around his brother and, shockingly enough, the Durmstrang Highmaster who he had been told was dead.

“Harry! Wake up!” Alan screamed, “Beat the stunner, brother! Get away from the trap!” The boy-who-lived shouted to no avail as his brother lay stunned over Karkaroff’s body. The elder mage was already in pain, with his hand chopped off and bleeding, not to mention he had just fallen from about ten feet on rock hard ground with Harry Potter’s muscular and heavy body over him.

Suffice to say, neither of the new arrivals were able to leave the elaborate runic trap before the circuit was completed with the merging of the glowing golden thread around them. 

The tired self of Karkaroff even gave a light grunt when he felt the trap activate around him and connect with his magic that was slowly being sucked by the glowing runes to keep themselves active. He knew that this trap was only made for Potter, because only the boy was supposed to arrive here. Unfortunately, due to the mess of his plans, he had arrived alongside his target and was now trapped beneath the boy. 

Alan just looked on in disbelief as his brother, the most powerful human that he knew of, was trapped like an animal in the same circuit that had got him. He turned to look at Voldemort, who stood a few meters away from them, his beady black eyes taking in its preys as his lips stretched into a grotesque form of smile and his fingers rubbed the wand in his hand.

“You were not supposed to come here, Igor…” The raspy voice of Lord Voldemort echoed around them. “Or did you decide to change the plans for yourself?” 

Karkaroff rapidly shook his head, trying to push the elder Potter off of him, so that he could properly converse with his master regarding the unfortunate circumstances he had found himself in. In the end, he decided to simply talk because, for some reason, Potter’s weight was too much for him to be able to remove.

“It- it was Potter, my Lord, the elder one,” He nervously explained. “The boy had noticed me inside the maze, and was keeping a really close eye on everything that was going in it. My movement was restricted, and I had to change plans repeatedly so that I could succeed in the task given by you.” 

“And you did succeed!” Voldemort smirked as he pointed at the Potter brothers, one who was unconscious and another who was glaring at him. “You have proven yourself to be more valuable than most of my inner circle, Igor.”

The man tried to smile a bit, but all he managed was a grimace, “I– I live to serve you, my Lord.” He panted a bit, trying his best to live a bit longer. 

“That you do…” The Dark Lord smiled once more. “Now, stay silent while I converse with the one person whom I have wanted to talk with for a really long time.” He pointed his wand at Harry and was about to use the counter spell when he was forced to stop. 

“No need for that, Tom.” Harry said and turned his head to look at Voldemort who was watching the scene unfold with a small hint of surprise. “I don’t think you should give yourself any credit since the trap you are using is one of my own — which I presume you came upon near that old Gaunt shack — and that pesky stunner was not able to keep me unconscious for even a single second.” 

“I did not think that a simple spell like that would have managed to keep a person like you at bay for so long anyways, which begs me to ask you as to why did you wait for so long before you spoke.” Voldemort gave a feral grin as he pointed his wand at the elder Potter who was clearly bound by the circuit. “And why did you purposefully get trapped knowing full well that this circuit of yours cannot be broken by anyone who is unfortunate enough to be inside it.”

To the Dark Lord's and everyone else’s surprise, the Innovator only did one thing in response…

He smiled. 

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Ending note: There you have it fellas, chapter Forty of Innovator, hope you liked it.

I am really sorry for the late update but you can see the amount of work I am putting in the chapters to make the ending as deserving of the story as possible. 

Liked it? Loved it? Needs some changes? Please, do tell.

I am waiting for all your comments. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Thank you for reading and your comments,

With regards,
Dev Black