It would have killed him. His shield was crackling under the assault of impossible heat, as did Severus and Remus'. Without Lily channelling her protective wards into them they would all be dead. The breath bounced right off the warding into the pile of corpses and along the gully, disintegrating the bodies with a sound of sputtering plasma, leaving a glassy gleaming surface on the rock. Harry tracked Abraxas above, but its speed made it almost a blur to even his seeker eyes.
It swooped far above. In the corner of his eye he could see Severus readying himself.
"Cover!" Remus shouted. Harry stepped in front of him, and saw the scrawny man turn into something – not quite a wolf – towering above him on four limbs with razor sharp teeth and gnarly dark claws. Excitement filled him as he kept tracking Abraxas. A bang resounded as the black shape flapped its wings came back down at thunderous speeds. Harry put up his shield, making it large enough to cover the four of them, Lily strengthening it, the runes in her arms glowing from blue to purple.
The fire came again, for an instant, and he felt the weight of it on his shield.
"Catena Coelum!" Severus shouted.
From nowhere and every direction, silver gargantuan chains materialized and hit Abraxas, redirecting its breath as its head spasm'd wildly. The chains kept unrolling from the skies and rock, tightening around the black scales. Silver eyes went wide with rage, and the beast now restricted in its movement plunged into the rocks below.
"Scatter now!" Harry shouted.
They ran, the ground rumbling beneath their feet. Stone, dust and heat sprung from the solid rock where they stood a moment before and molten earth sputtered from below as Abraxas emerged from the ground, fire bursting from between its teeth as it growled a soul-piercing scream. He looked around and found Remus missing. He once again raised his shield, frantically trying to find him, and remembered in time he would come from behind.
In a flash too fast for the eye to see, the monstrous canine form of Remus emerged from behind Abraxas, and sunk its massive jaw into its scaly prey, slashing at its right eye. A deathly wail came from Abraxas, and it swung its claw first at Remus, who dodged, then at the air.
The black beast disappeared, leaving white mist in its place, slowly gathering back in the hole. He quickly glanced at Lily, who swished her wand at Harry. He felt the power of the ward morph into what he needed. He slid forward, using his own wand to cast his spell. "Contramutatio!"
He sprung back and brought his shield up again as wide as he could to protect himself from the gout of flame spouting from the hole. Abraxas left the claw dug tunnel and with a motion of Severus' glove, the chains again coiled around her. It tore rabidly against the metal strands, randomly letting out its searing breath. Harry threw a flurry of curses at its underbelly, hoping to distract it. He smiled, seeing its closed eye marked by Remus' assault. The spells bounced back and the creature strained against its bindings, making unnatural metal creak as it forced its way through the lava it had created below it.
Harry spared a final thought to Lily as he knew the crucial moment was coming. Abraxas must have been unconcerned, or too enraged to notice Remus missing again. The wolf-thing bounded on its head in a storm of claws, trying to break open scales like a clam with its bite. A black tail swished like a whip, hitting Remus. He clambered between its legs, fur sizzling on the fiery ground and jumped on its back again.
"Now!" Harry shouted.
Lily pointed her wand straight ahead.
Harry placed the Nimbus below his feet.
"Illumen!"
A blinding light shot into Abraxas' face just as Harry swished his twisting green wand at the broom. The bristles splintered behind him as the whole thing disintegrated, propelling him forwards in an instant. He angled himself to barely miss flailing dark teeth and stopped his momentum with a wave of his hand. Feet firmly planted behind the beast's crest, he focused all his attention on his spell. "Draco Ocissio!"
He stopped his breath as the maw came lighting fast at him. But instead came a rattling of chains and he saw the teeth pulled towards Severus. He was sure Severus was dead. He thought Severus was dead even as he saw the golden flash bring the jaws off course and partially tear into his friend. He bounded off and landed a few feet from boiling lava, uncertain of what was happening. All he could see was a blinding light caught in battle with the dark titan.
Severus was bleeding. A pool of dark blood spread around where his arm was. Lily came next to him and cast a spell. The blood stopped, but the arm was still gone, and Severus wasn't waking up. A roar caught his attention back to Abraxas, and he finally saw what had prevented Severus from being gone completely.
He saw Keldran in his Golden form wrestling with Abraxas. Teeth cut deeply both ways, and a spurt of blood was coming from Abraxas' neck. Harry had succeeded, she was crippled. A black claw came between the two godlike beings and the foul looking scar on Keldran's chest split open. But not before he sunk his teeth into the vulnerability Harry had created, downing his sibling with a crunching of teeth on bone. Abraxas lay lifeless on the molten rock, silver eyes vacant and dead.
Remus was back with them and knelt over Severus, a large gash stretched over his shoulder to his back and his hands and feet were blistered. "His arm," he said weakly.
"I stopped it," Lily said out of breath, "but he won't make it if we don't get him help soon."
Harry looked over to Keldran, who's amber eyes felt far away. Painfully, the giant golden dragon crawled over to the four of them and lifted a claw to its scales. The gold faded from them and flowed like water towards Severus. Gold fluid formed to gold bone and gold muscle and sinew, draped over with gold skin. Harry was reminded of a silver arm he saw a long time ago. He ran his hand over the skin, and the gold which felt like skin.
Staring at the dying amber eyes, he wondered if he had misjudged Keldran, or if this was another one of his tricks. Regardless, he had saved them, saved him when Severus broke his foresight by saving Harry. And now he watched as the last of two magnificent and deadly beings breathed his last. The only thing he could think as he watched Keldran go, was that he looked peaceful.
Lily took dittany from Severus' pouch and applied it to Remus' limbs and back. They were all barely functioning on adrenaline in the aftermath. It finally started to sink in. They were alive.
He moved closer to Lily, put both hands over the runes on her arms, and looked into her eyes. She smiled at him with the same look that had made him lose all reason when he first saw her, and yet he felt even more strongly than before that he truly loved her. He found her lips and kissed her slowly, every sensation feeling like a first time and yet familiar. Grinning, he put an arm around Remus, who had a hand on Severus' shoulder. Even with a quarter of them unconscious, and another quarter badly bruised, it finally felt like the whole world was an ocean for them to explore.
Severus woke up a little over an hour later, still groggy from the blood he lost. He hugged the three of them in hazy ecstasy. A blood replenishing potion later he was feeling better. They looked onto the mayhem in the gully.
"I lost my glove," Severus sighed.
"You lost your arm," Remus pointed out.
"Still..."
"What was it? Dragon heartstring?"
Severus raised an eyebrow. "And dragon hide."
"Black or gold?" Remus asked.
"I'm not cutting up my saviour," Severus said, and moved to the corpse of Abraxas. "Harry, you know how to cut through that hide?"
"I think so."
It took another hour to cut off a patch large enough for a glove from their enemy, and to cut out a piece of heartstring. The hide was incredibly tough, and even with the most advanced cutting curse he knew, it was slow work.
"We can't leave them like this," Lily said.
"Yeah," Harry agreed.
Remus managed to transfigure Abraxas into a large tree trunk. When he got to Keldran, he performed a spell Harry wasn't familiar with, and somehow the golden beast turned back into its human form. The sight of the silver bearded wizard with closed dark eyes was a saddening sight. "We should bury him," Remus said. "Doesn't feel right not to."
They tossed Abraxas' transfigured corpse into a crevice and moved to the outskirts of the gully. Harry carved a hole eight feet deep into the rock, and silently they lowered Keldran down to it. They stayed looking above it for a moment, before he filled it back up with the excavated stone and smoothed the top. Lily added a final touch, carving runes into the stone floor with her wand.
"What does it say?" Harry asked.
"Here lies Keldran, last of his kind."
"It's going to get dark," Remus said. "I think I saw a place earlier."
They moved back into the desert as the sun lowered in the sky. Remus, through what was a stroke of luck, found what could only be described as an oasis, with the rubble of a stone construction nearby. With a few waves of his wand, the broken stone formed into walls and the debris into a thatched roof and even a chimney. They stepped into the decently sized hovel.
"I'm so tired," Remus said. The others gave a grunt of approval.
Lily laughed as she moved with Harry into the first room. "Thank you, Remus. Good night."
Left alone, they plopped down on the bed. Harry materialized two dim hovering lights near the ceiling and started to undress.
"Harry..."
He turned around, seeing the sad look on her face. He snuggled close to her, sharing warmth under the covers and kissed her cheek. "What?"
"I had to make a choice, back in that cave."
He looked at her with worry, thinking he had already gotten lucky to survive. "Whatever it is I'm here."
"Don't speak too quickly."
"What's the matter?"
"Using that dagger," she said, closing her eyes. "I had to give up something. It might sound sudden, but I wanted to start a family with you once this ended. I won't be able to do that for a while, if ever."
"I see."
"I just want you to know that I can't promise you that, if you stay with me."
"If?" he said, kissing her forehead. "Lily there's nothing that could keep me from staying with you. That's what I realized in that cave earlier."
"But if I don't –"
"I was certain I was going to die today," he said, kissing her. "I want to be happy, with you. Do you think we can do that?"
She nodded, her hands around his neck. "I love you," she said.
"I love you too, Lily Evans."
As Harry woke up he felt giddiness envelop him. The smell and warmth of the girl in his arms was making him love her, and love life, more than he ever had. He squeezed her and nuzzled her hair. Last night had been bitter and doubly sweet. This morning was all sweetness. She moaned and turned around, playfully kissing him. "Good morning," he said.
"So it is."
He knew she felt the same way when she glanced at the door. She wanted to start this new day as soon as possible. And it really did feel like a new day, a new life. They put on their clothes and slipped out of the room and hovel. Harry took out eggs, bacon and toast from the bag sitting in a box with a cooling charm, and an iron skillet. She stayed close to him, hungrily watching the food sizzle on the pan above the fire.
Remus came out inhaling deeply. "I could eat a horse."
"There's plenty," Harry said. "I figured we might be hungry after saving the world. Tea?"
Remus gratefully took a warm cup of tea and sipped it. "You think we should vacation here for a while? It's pretty nice now that it's not infested by a primordial dark creature."
Sharing a look, the couple nodded. "I think that's a brilliant idea," Lily said.
"I could improve our lodgings, it's a bit rustic right now."
Severus came out as the first batch of breakfast was served. "Oh, that looks lovely."
"We were just thinking of staying for a while," Lily said, moaning at the taste of freshly fried eggs.
"I think we deserve a vacation," Severus said.
"Not to kill the mood," Harry said, "but it also gives us time to decide what to do next."
"Bathing sounds good," Severus said, looking over to the crystal clear water of the oasis.
"We'll have to at least let Sirius and the others know we're all right," Remus said.
Severus dismissively waved his golden hand. "I'll make you a two-way portkey. I also have some letters to send. Also that reminds me, I need to replace my glove."
After breakfast they took a dip in the oasis. The cool water helped them relax, and thankfully Harry had packed a few butterbeers in the cooler from his bag.
"It'd be a shame if someone found this place," he said as Lily splashed up from a dive under the water. "Maybe we should ward it off, it's not like it would take much time."
"Our own private resort..." Severus said floating around in the middle.
"Yeah, let's do it," Remus said. "And we can come back every year or every few years, when we get too tired of… whatever we're doing."
"I think it's my birthday," Harry mused. "How does that work with time travel?"
"Who cares? Happy birthday." She kissed him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Looks like your scar is fading."
"Do you think you could ever be a teacher?" he asked, ignoring her comment.
They burst into laughter. "You'll find me manicuring trolls before I decide to deal with a bunch of unruly brats. I'm sure poor McGonagall aged two decades just teaching us."
"It's just a thought," he said, resting against a rock and enjoying the morning sun.