Tyrant Rising

Chapter 1: The Approaching Swarm (Part 2)

Harry was moving toward power, his new instincts were driving him toward the power, seeking to find and consume its source, he needed biomass. Needed to begin reproducing, creating soldiers and breeders and carriers for his mission, to continue perfecting his genetics, to evolve. His instincts drove him onwards, pausing only to consume the valuable biomass of his most recent kills, heading toward a red phone booth that stank of the power he craved. Upon reaching it, Harry somehow managed to cram his enormous bulk into the small box, which seemed to expand around his massive body as a female voice inquired as to his business in the Ministry of Magic that day. In response to the question, Harry roared, a bloodcurdling sound that woke the slumbering primaeval fears of all creatures, memories of hours spent huddling in the dark, hiding from certain death at the hands of an apex predator.

"Thank you, please take your badge and be prepared to surrender your wand for inspection." The voice answered pleasantly, as a badge emblazoned with the words "Being of Unspeakable Horror, RARGH" clattered down into the small receptacle beneath the phone. Moments later, the box began juddering downwards into the depths of the Ministry of Magic.

Same Time,

Ministry of Magic,

London

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody nodded goodbye to the bored official sitting behind the desk in the Ministry atrium as he walked toward the apparition point, on his way to his heavily warded home. The clattering sound of the lift descending from the streets above rang through the almost empty room, shattering the sleep-laden silence. The official didn't bother raising his head, it was probably some worker arriving for a late shift. Moody, however, felt a prickling on the back of his neck.

Why would a Ministry worker be using the lift? And if it wasn't a worker, who would be coming to the Ministry at this time of the night? Something didn't feel right. Perhaps it was merely his ever-growing paranoia, as some of the new recruits had been muttering when they thought he couldn't hear them, but, as Moody had growled into their faces, his paranoia was the reason he was still alive when so many other aurors weren't. Moody flicked his wrist, and his wand dropped into his waiting hand. Simultaneously, he ran across the room and vaulted over the official's desk, catching the startled man in the chest with his wooden leg and bowling the man over, chair and all, to land flat on his back.

"Stay down," Moody growled at the official, ignoring the stream of wheezing obscenities the man choked out at him. Crouching, so that the heavy marble of the desk was between him and the slowly descending lift, Moody trained his wand at the place where the lift doors would eventually open and waited. The lift finally lowered into sight, and a lesser man than Moody would've screamed at the horror visible through the glass panels.

Beside him, the official did.

"Sweet Merlin's saggy left testicle!" Moody swore under his breath, the creature in the lift was clearly an apex predator, and the fact that it had gained entrance to the Ministry proved that it must also be intelligent and magically powerful. Ducking back down beneath the desk, Moody grabbed the official's robes and yanked him down too, silencing him with a spell before sending a silvery patronus toward the auror department, calling for reinforcements. Turning to the shaking man next to him, Moody growled "Listen to me, I'm going to lift the spell. When I do, DO NOT scream. Under ANY circumstances. If that Thing doesn't already know we're here, the last thing we need is for you to ring the dinner bell before reinforcements have a chance to arrive. Wait for my signal and then start blasting every damn spell you know that might hurt it. Understand?"

The official was shaking so much Moody couldn't tell if he nodded or not, but he chose to assume he had. Moody removed the spell, and together they waited, listening to the lift's slow descent, and, finally, the clattering of the opening doors.