The River Styx

by Mal'Ra

Leo Potter-Black, Lord Peverell, is the chosen one, destined to strike down 'those who defy death.' What will he do when he finds himself in another world; one where no one knows 'The God Slayer,' and his half-brother is fates whipping boy? AU story which begins shortly after Sirus' death, sort of... May be some bashing, IDK yet. I wont be bashing Albus, but he won't be perfect.

2. Familiar Faces

Authors Note:

Firstly, I don't own the Harry Potter franchise or any of the content, characters, ect. I do however own nothing, any one else claiming to own 'not'ing be a lia' 'nd a t'eiff'

This chapeter is another short one, I'm in the middle of a move so it took a while to get even this done. I plan on updating on weekends from now on and the chapter will get longer as we get past the intro and into the flow of things.

Thanks to those who followed or reviewed,

Enjoy.

Chapter Two: Familiar Faces

Leos emergence from the veil was less then elegant, his foot caught on the uneven ground and he barely kept from falling flat on his face. His left knee impacted the ground hard as he fell into a kneel, causing Leo to issue a hiss of pain.

The sounds of combat jolted Leos mind back into battle readiness. His head whipped up and he raised his wand, a protective spell on the tip of his tongue before he froze in confusion. Where were the bodies, where was the swath of devastation from the monumental clash between four of the greatest magicals of his age?

Sure there were wizards and witches exchanging spell fire in the chamber around him, but the confrontation looked like a small skirmish; definitely not the titanic, fate deciding, clash he had left behind. Witches and wizards in black robes and skull like masks fired curses at their civilian clothed counterparts. The civilians returned fire with stunners, impediment jinxes, and other non-lethals. Only one side was playing for keeps but it appeared that side was quickly being over come.

"Albus, where are you going?" Leo snapped back at attention at the sound of his foes name.

"After Harry." The old man responded, swiftly departing through the door that minuets ago was clogged by Axis reinforcements. Something felt off about the whole situation, but Leo pushed the thought away, replacing it with thoughts of revenge.

Leo stood, noticing a clattering sound behind him that came from the action. He gazed back and noticed a gleaming silver blade caught in the torn back of his ruined invisibility cloak. His cloak was returning to sight, its invisibility fading in a slow wave radiating from the slash, its silvery fabric being revealed in the wake of this wave.

His first reaction was to be upset at the loss of a family heirloom, but not a moment later it struck him that deaths fucking scythe was an arms length away. Leo snatched up the blade, feeling a rush of warmth from it as he had from his first wand, before he again set his mind on the man who had instigated Lunas death.

Albus was already out of sight so Leo rushed towards the door, intent on catching him. His cloaks magics finished fading, becoming entirely visible a few feet before the archway, so Leo swept the ruined garment off to give him more mobility and stuffed it and the scythe into a pouch of his bottomless bag as he ran.

He reached the circular room just in time to see the door to the lift hallway slam shut. The room began to spin and when it stopped Leo was frustrated to note that the mark he had left on the correct door had been cleaned away.

It took three tries to find the right door. After running the length of the hallway to the lifts, Leo was at the end of his patience. Rather then waiting for the lift to come back down he turned to black mist once more and slipped up the shaft like a specter.

He exited the shaft back in the ministry atrium, where Leo was again struck still with confusion. The atrium was undamaged, its high ceiling complete and unblemished, its polished floors no longer littered with debris.

Whats more, Leo saw a black robed man raise his wand to launch a Killing curse at... 'me?'

That's certainly what it looked like at first. A longer inspection would show the other boy to be slightly shorter, but broader then Leo. Both would appear to have similar faces, but Leos cheek bones were higher and his chin was slightly more pointed. Both had their respective mothers eyes; Leos were violet where the others were emerald green.

A golden statue lept from the fountain of magical brethren to intercept the curse with its bulk. Leo took one step forward to back up... himself, but stopped when the snake faced man spoke in an oddly familiar cold voice, "Dumbledore."

Why did he feel he knew that voice?

Leo followed the mans gaze to a set of golden doors to Leos left. Albus stood there, his face stormy as he held his wand at the ready. Snake face, fired another killing curse at Albus, who apparated out of the way as if he wasn't under some of the strongest anti-apparition wards in England. He reappeared on the far side of his attacker, waving his wand at the fountain to animate a golden witch.

The witch lept from its plinth and gave Leo a second shock to his psyche when it rushed a phantom of his past, "Mum?"

She was more gaunt then he remembered, her hair was untamed and her clothing seemed to hang off her emaciated form, for a moment he thought she could be someone else. Then she cackled madly and he knew for certain it was her; she'd completely lost it, but it was her, Bellatrix Potter, the one he had to thank for his inherited creeping madness. Morgan his family was dysfunctional.

The how and why of the situation fled his mind when the statue made to grab his mother. Leo reacted without thought, resuming his mist form and sweeping across the atrium to plant himself protectively before the startled witch.

Gold was a major issue for most magicals. It was resistant to a wide range of magics, could not be conjured, nor could it be permanently duplicated. Gold was non-magnetic and thus could not be manipulated by a magical magnetic field, making it a popular ingredient in anti-mage ammunition. It also had a range of other annoying properties that left Leo with few options for dealing with such a statue. He was honestly surprised that Albus had animated them all so easily, but now that the magic was within it the golden figure would hold that magic even better then it repelled magics from outside. Thus rather then preforming some elegant feat of magic upon the golum, he fell back on the rather barbarous method of conjuring boulders to banish into it.

The fact of the matter was that no matter how resistant to magic gold was, it was incredibly soft. Three good sized boulders deformed the statue to the point that its still animate form couldn't properly move its arms or legs.

"Potter?"

Leo Transfigured the boulders into a wall for cover before spinning to face the woman he had watched die. For a moment he stared into violet eyes identical to his own, the face that held them twisted into a mask of shock. He was unaware of how closely it matched his own.

It was imposable; he had seen her killed. Osiris had stolen his parents from him ten years ago but yet... here she was.

A titanic crash from the far side of the wall reminded him of the two powerhouses clashing behind him. He had no time for this, he'd analyze later, "Go, I'll meet you at Ravens Croft."

She seemed to snap out of her state of confusion, "The dark lord..."

"I'll deal with Dumbledore." She looked confused, then as if she where about to object, but he cut her off, "I've trained for this mum, just go."

She looked utterly lost for a moment before her face became angry. Leo felt her push against his mind harshly but rather then deny access he pulled her in. He showed her the truth of his statement through memories of some of his training, flashes of his recent duels against wizards many times his age, and he pushed to impress on her his determination through flashes of emotion rather then memory. Then he cleared his mind save for one memory, "Run, he'll have to get trough me."

He had not realized that the woman could have grown more pale but somehow she did. She swayed slightly, looking as if she might faint, "You... I..." her gaze drifted past him as if trying to see through the wall he had erected for cover. Suddenly her eyes took on a sharp gleam "Ravens Croft?"

Leo nodded in response, "The obelisk."

"Hmm..." His mother nodded back to him with an uncharacteristically serious look on her face, before sprinting across the atrium to disappear through one of the many fireplaces. Leo watched to make sure she got to safety before peaking from his cover to face the two titans.

The wizards were engaged in a struggle of monumental magics, conjuring and destroying objects to attack and defend with deft flicks of their wands, firing off cruses and counter curses in a deadly parody of jugglers exchanging knives.

The Snake man sent forth conjured knives and serpents, amongst a hail of curses that were more then just dark; rather they were the apex of evil, the kind that did not just kill for utility, but for the caster to draw pleasure from the act.

Albus replied with transfigurations, counter-transfigurations and animations, that bought him extra time to prepare archaic spells and elemental furies. There was something odd about the way Leos old adversary fought, as if he was stalling for time, holding all his nastiest curses in reserve for a final push. Probably stalling for Grindewald to arrive and turn the tides.

Leo hesitated to throw himself directly into the fray. His burning desire for vengeance warred with his knowledge that he had exhausted his bag of quick tricks. Normally his cloak lent him an edge against the older, more powerful wizard, but it had been destroyed by the scythe. Albus seemed to have healed his right arm from Leos earlier surprise attack, and the use of Albus' dominant hand would lend even further to the older wizards advantage. Which would normally mean Leo would try to force an indirect battle; a cat an mouse game where the positions of hunter and hunted were fluid and changing as they avoided or fell victim to each others traps. At the moment however, Albus was locked in combat with snake face, and that complicated things.

The snake faced man was an unknown element. The wizard was easily within the skill and power level of one of the seven, yet he seemed to have come from nowhere. The dark horse was throwing around spells that made Leos skin crawl, the kind of spells that could have a soldier tried for war crimes. He was clearly an evil entity, but he stood against Albus, and Leos vengeful mind latched onto that idea. What was it the Lord Gaunt used to say, 'the enemy of my enemy' and all that.

Leo made a split decision, he ignored the creeping sensation of icy spiders crawling across his skin and decided to lend his power to the snakes assault. With Albus distracted Leo would have time for some battle field magics less suited to a direct duel. He withdrew from his bag a collection of vials, each filled with blood from different sources; dragon blood would do nicely for this.

"Corrogo calor, corrogo anima, ego do sanguine ob magus," Leo popped the cork from the vial and poured its contents on the ground while he chanted. Much more blood then the vial should have held flowed forth, the magic of the vial willing it into a perfect circle.

"Corrogo calor, corrogo anima, ego do sanguine ob magus," he could feel the magic building as the dragons blood evaporated into the air.

"Corrogo calor, corrogo anima, ego do sanguine ob magus," He stepped out from cover as the rituals magic reach it climax, only to have to avoid a vicious purple and black spell from the snake, so much for enemies and friends, "deuro mea hostis; Incaendium!"

The fire that left his wand was a living thing, the predecessor to the modern spell fiendfire, this wildfire was an avatar of destruction, Leos wrath made manifest. The fire erupted forth with an angry roar, it was powered by the heat and oxygen the ritual gathered, the dragons blood gave it form, and the magic he had gathered up would sustain it. Its draconic form sped toward the two battling wizards, growing in size as it consumed the excess magics of their battle. The issue with the spell was that Wildfire consumed everything and was utterly uncontrollable; unless you where a black.

"Faefire." The Second spell was one his ancestors had toiled generations to develop and his mother had completed in her last months, he had found it in the last pages of her personal Grimoire. The fae fire spell was intended to be a counter to the fiend fire spell, it would contact the fiend fire and wrestle control of the spell from its caster; Leo had found it would lend control to the ritualistic precursor to the famous hell fire.

Albus responded to the wildfire as one might fiendfire, by summoning to himself a torrent of water from the golden fountain, and charming it to resist evaporation. Unbeknownst to Albus, wildfire didn't just evaporate water, but rather separated it molecularly, feeding off the oxygen and hydrogen to grow hotter. The charm kept the water from vaporizing and slowed the process of decomposition by reducing the available surface area, but still only slowed the rate of the fires growing strength.

The Snake attempted to capitalize on Albus' distraction, but after his first curse broke the old mans concentration he recognized his colossal mistake. Leo had to give the man credit for his ability to prioritize, as the snake turned from his heated duel to put up an allied front against the ever growing flame.

Leo simply laughed. He might not have expected The Snake to know not to feed more magic to the spell, but he thought Albus would smother the spell after a few moments. Yet somehow what had been intended to provide a distraction was quickly growing to look like a killing blow as both his foes fed magic to the beast in an attempt to control it; as if they thought it fiend fire. Albus had stopped this spell countless times, his actions now were utterly bizarre.

It took a surprisingly short time for the magics to grow to powerful for Leo to stop himself. He felt control slipping as the magic of the blood sacrifice became insufficient to contain the power of the spell and it began to lose its shape. The heat from the fire melted the floor of the atrium and caused the wards that protected the ministry from fire to cry out and fail. It was by the smallest of margins that Leo held the fire under his command. He emptied his mind of all distraction and let only the fire exist, Leo felt his magic sing in concert with it, he let its flickering dance sweep him up in its rhythm. It was only with this absolute focus that the fire remained his to control.

The snake faced man tried to flee, but Leo flicked his wand in the direction of the mans flight to hold him at bay. Albus tried to circle the flames, but Leo gave his wand a twirl and the fire licked out to try and consume him. The two were utterly trapped, soon they would burn and Leo would have his revenge, soon the two would...

There came a beautiful song. One moment there was just the sound of fire singing of his coming vengeance, and the cackling of his laughter, then there was something more. A melodious and powerful sound the calmed his heart and that, just for a moment, lifted the wight of the world from his shoulders. The pain of the sorrow he held behind his mental shields was dimmed, as if old wounds were scaring and fresh one scabbing over. It was bliss, and in that bliss the vengeful thoughts that gave his flames form weakened.

Then he felt the wild fire ripped from his control as if he were a child playing with a thing for adults. The great inferno imploded, pulling upon his body and causing him to slid a foot forwards.

Where the blaze once burned floated a magnificent phoenix.

Leo blinked in surprise. He was no longer laughing.

The phoenix soared over to Albus and alighted upon his shoulder, as if he wasn't an affront to everything that was good and just.

"Avada Kedavra!" the snake man spat angrily.

Leo rolled on instinct, coming up to return fire with a "Terebero!"

His blue and white boring spell hit only air as his target twisted and seemed to become enveloped by his cloak. The cloak flew through the air to land before one of the fire places, taking the shape of the snake man once more.

"You will pay for challenging me boy!" The man practically hissed, before stepping into the green flames of the floo network.

The man had retreated from the battle field, leaving Leo to turn his full attentions on the old bastard. Albus regarded him with icy eyes and a puzzled frown. Leo had expected Albus to strike immediately but he just stood with his wand at the ready and a phoenix of all things on his shoulder.

"Halt, Aurours!" Leo noticed with a start that there were others in the atrium. How long had they been there? Since when did England have an Auror force again? It was unimportant now, all that mattered was that he escape before they closed the floo.

"I'll avenge her you bastard, I'll make you watch Gillert Burn!" Leo shouted to his most hated foe before assuming his mistform and sweeping in a high arc towards the nearest fireplace. He ignored the scarlet light of the stunning spells, which merely gave him a tingling sensation as they passed through him and swerved to avoid impact spell, which could divert his course. Leo was slightly surprised when he reached the fireplace without any truly harmful curses coming his way, but he filled it away as an oddity.

"Stop..."

"Diagon Alley!" Leo disappeared through the floo, as soon as he emerged at the leaky cauldron he apparated away to three random locations from his past, ending his trip with a final jump to a location before a pair of rusted iron gates.

The days events had left him exhausted, and now that the battles had ended he wanted nothing more then to collapse in a heap, but he knew he couldn't just yet. A few quickly cast spells distorted his latest apparation trail. In theory he should have lost any pursuers, but for the sake of safety Leo disillusioned himself before proceeding past the rusted gates towards the ruins of Ravens Croft beyond.

Ravens Croft had once been the Manor of the Black families primary line, before a duel for succession between twin Black sons ended in Fiend Fire devouring the building. The duel had ended in the elder twin and all his children burning to death, but he used his own life and those of his kin to curse his brothers line to madness and prevent anyone from raising another building on the land. It was now only used for the grave yard that held the bones of generations of Blacks.

That duel had happened more then three hundred years ago, and though the curse had weakened, its magics still tugged at his mind. Here at Ravens Croft that pull was stronger, and it effected any who so much as thought of using the land for more then laying the dead to rest. The Black family taught its children occlumency from a young age to combat the curses lingering effects, despite the developmental issues that such training caused to a young mind.

Leo heard whispered voices all around him, felt the scurrying of spiders upon his skin, saw shadows twist and sneak just at the edges of his vision, and he knew he was being watched. He cleared his mind and the sensations ebbed away slowly, but did not disappear. They never disappeared here.

He walked quietly up to what had once been the front doors. Beyond the scorched archway the ancient blood wards on the property still functioned at their peak efficiency. No one besides a Black could enter further then the doorway without invitation, and only a black could safely cast spells within its boundary. He dropped his illusion once he was safely inside.

It took Leo a short time to pass from the doors to the old ritual chamber, where a large obsidian obelisk loomed to the left side, radiating malevolent energy. This had been the room the Blacks had once used to preform all manner of ritual, from simple rituals to bring luck or health, to great rituals to power enchanted objects. Its final use had been to cast the Black curse, and the spot was now so steeped in dark energies that to call on magic here would result in the shredding of ones mind.

"Who are you?"

Leo spun to face his mother, a broad range of emotions passing through him all at once. He wanted to laugh, to cry, to scream at her and ask where she'd been, but mostly he just wanted to pull her into a hug and never let go; The ritualistic knife she pointed at him held him back from that last action.

"It's me, Leo," She eyed him suspiciously, without recognition on her face, "You don't recognize me?" His control was admirable but he couldn't keep the hurt from his voice, he was much too tired for that.

"I don't know any Leo." He flinched as if struck, could he have been wrong, could she be someone else, or an imposter, "Where did those memories come from, the ones I saw in your mind."

"I... I don't understand." Leo wasn't sure if he was answering her question or just vocalizing his confusion and hurt.

"The memories!" She screeched at him angrily with a note of fear creeping into her tone, "Who created those memories for you, who told you about Ravens Croft!"

"No one created the Memories, they were all real," Leo was too tired for this kind of emotional turmoil, his occlumency shields were threatening to fall as the events of the day attempted to crash down on him. "and it would be hard not to know about this place when half my family was buried here."

"Liar!" Leos excellent reflexes let him catch his mother backhanded slash before any damage could be done, he did not however expect what came next, "Legilimens!"

A mental assault so near the obelisk was sheer madness, it was so unexpected that Leos weakened protections buckled near instantly. Memories swam before his vision unbidden, pouring to the surface of his mind faster then he could follow before being swept aside by the torrent that followed.

The years of his life seemed to play in reverse before his eyes. He saw his confrontations today pass by in a blink. Two years of underground resistance and guerrilla warfare were compressed down to a couple of raged breaths. He saw friends and enemies alike die again on the day Lucius dropped the island wards to allow the Axis into the the heart of London.

He was once more he was training with the best Masters available to him, watching himself regress eight years from the talented and powerful young man he had become, to the vengeful and driven child that ducked assassination attempts and struggled to grow strong enough to fight back, and finally back to the angry and frightened child who cried himself to sleep and cursed Osiris for the deaths of his parents.

The memories slowed when they reached that horrible night of October 31st 1985. He had been so happy just to be able to tag along to a grown up party with his mum and da. Minister Riddle was always so nice to him and never spoke to him like he was a just a little kid, he was five years old and wasn't a baby any more. The manor looked spooky with jack-o-lanterns floating around the grounds and giant bats sweeping through the darkened air. Leo was so excited he could burst.

Leo had fallen asleep, he couldn't remember when, he just knew it was sometime after greeting the minister and before the Samhain chants started for the year. When he awoke it was to chaos. The manor was on fire and people were running and screaming trying to escape. The near trampling he received was a fragmented memory of heat and light, pain and noise.

He was entirely unsure about how he made it outside, but when he did Riddle and his Da were fighting a bad man he'd seen on the TV. The man was dressed like an old egyptian Pharaoh, with a wand like a shepherds crook and a flail that launched sickly cutting curses with each swing. Leo could only watch as Riddle fell to a nasty volley from the flail and his Da fell in a sickly flash of green light.

The man turned to look at him with golden eyes set in pitch black orbs, they made Leo tremble and want to cry. The man raised his wand to attack Leo, but suddenly his Mum was before him with his aunty Cissy holding the bad man back. His mother yelled something, the only words he remembered of the whole night, "Run, he'll have to get trough me."

His aunty Andi scooped him up from behind and tried to run but there were strange men with dog like masks on their heads that circled them and stopped them from getting far. Leo remembered with painful clarity the orange and violet spell that struck his aunty Andi and caused them both to fall to the ground. The feeling of utter terror when his aunty Cissy dropped the the ground bleeding from her neck and face, his own terror mirrored in her dying eyes. His mother shouted bad words at the man who was tearing Leos life apart and all he could do was scream when the green light took his mother too.

Then the man turned to Leo and for a moment everything was green, and the next he awoke being carried through a hospital by Minister Riddle, the man who would become his guardian, the man he would learn was not so nice, the man who would help him become a weapon.

Leo felt the connection to his mind snap as the forceful recollection caused his magic to flare angrily. This was a mistake, he shouldn't be here, not now, not when he was too weak to defend himself. "Into the Mist!" the portkey built into his signet ring activated and whisked him away.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Returns!

In a brief statement given Friday night the Minister of Magic Conelius Fudge confirmed that He-who-must-not-be-named has returned to the country and is active once more.

"It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself as lord... well you know, is indeed alive and walks among us once more," Fudge told reporters at a press conference held in the very atrium in which you-know-who was spotted, "It is with equal regret that I inform you that the dementors of Azkaban have left ministry employ and are believed to be under orders of he-who-must-not-be-named."

"We urge [the public] to remain vigilant. The ministry is currently publishing guides to elementary home and personal defense, that will be delivered free to all wizarding homes within the coming months."

The ministers statements were met with alarm and dismay from the wiazarding community, who until recently had been assured that by the ministry that "there [was] no truth whatsoever to the rumors of you-know-whos return."

While details of the incident within the ministry last Thursday are still under investigation, our sources within the Department of Magical Law Enforcement have revealed to us that rumors of an unknown teens involvement in the repelling of he-who-must-not-be-named do hold a grain of truth.

"While we have yet to identify the young man, we do know that he assulted both you-know-who and Albus Dumbledore with a class A restricted spell before fleeing the scene." Our source tells us, "we are searching for the individual in question but our primary focus at this point is apprehending he-who-must-not-be-named."

The mystery individual has been noted to share a striking visual similarity to Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived...

"There you are Harry, I knew they'd drag you into this somehow." Hermione peered over the paper to at him, trying and failing to hide a slight look of concern for how he was taking things.

They were gathered together in the hospital wing listening to Hermione read aloud the sunday edition of the prophet. Harry sat at the foot of Rons bed, across from Ginny who was curled up at the foot of Hermiones. Neville sat in the chair between the beds, occasionally sniffing through his now unbroken nose, while Luna sat on the ground apparently reading an inverted copy of The Quibbler.

Ron was grumbling again about the sudden turn around in public opinion about Harry but he was currently ignoring the other boy. It wasn't out of spite but simply because he had heard the same grumblings over the past three days and had already come to terms with how fickle public opinion could be during the Tri-Wizard fiasco.

"Harry?" he looked up to see Ginny gazing at him intently, "do you think what the prophets saying could be true, do you think he could really be..."

"My relative." Harry finished for her when she teetered off, "I don't know. I mean, he did look a lot like me, but..." He shrugged.

The boy from the Atrium was almost as hot a topic as the return of Voldemort at this point; Harry suspected it was because people just wanted anything else to talk about. A special evening edition had run on Friday with a picture taken of the confrontation. The other boy was seen cackling madly while a great conflagration poured from his wand towards Dumbledore and Voldemort, only for the flames to disappear and be replaced by Fawkes a moment later. Voldemort raised his wand to attack the boy before the image looped around to play again. The title had read "Boy-who-lived attacks you-know-who and Dumbledore!"

It was only in yesterdays printout that the statements from that article were retracted, and Harry found the front page to hold a picture of him from the Tri-Wizard tournament next to a picture of the other boy under the Title, "The Other Potter?"

Since it had been pointed out that it was not him, people let their imaginations run wild. This other boy had been called his brother, his twin, his time traveling father and his time traveling son, a muggle born seventh year even suggested he could be Harrys evil clone.

Rita Skeeter had even dug up that Harry lived with his Muggle aunt and claimed that the other boy was his cousin Dudley, going as far as insinuating that Dudley was really his half brother and was seeking to destroy Dumbledore for refusing to allow him into Hogwarts. Hermiones promise to send the DMLE everything she'd collected on the gossip monger did little to soothe Harrys anger, the damage to his father reputation had already been done.

At the moment though he was just as curious about this other boy as the rest of the world was, the only difference was that Harry had been there and he knew the details the public had not been told; he had seen the other boy protect Bellatrix, watched him cover her retreat. Whats more he had heard his parting words to Dumbledore clearly. Who did he seek to avenge, and who was Gillert?

Amelia Bones was going to kill whoever was leaking information to The Prophet. The media was in already in a frenzy without 'inside sources' throwing more fuel on the flames. The papers were printing two papers daily, one regular edition in the mourning and a special edition each afternoon, the second being dedicated to the return of You-Know-Who, and speculation about the identity and motives of this 'Other Potter'. Talk shows on the wizarding wireless network were not to be outdone and had near constant discussions and criticisms about both topics running twenty four seven; they too seemed to be finding 'inside sources' to provide them with information.

The result of this was countless requests for interviews from the Head of the DMLE, her, as well as a long line of witches and wizards at the front desk claiming to have information and eating up the man power she'd rather be using to chase after you-know-who. Of course she couldn't just ignore them all on the off chance that one of them actually might have some information, but so far they had come up with absolutely nothing.

A knock on her open door drew Amelias attention away from the request for emergency funds she was writing up to see Kingsely Shacklbolt looking at her with a serious expression, "We've got the kid from the atrium in interrogation room three, Williamsons taking a run at him but all the kids done is ask for 'the boss.'"

Amelia was on her feet and walking in an instant, anything to get away from the paperwork, "Got a Name?"

Shacklbolt stepped out of the doorway to allow her to pass before following a step behind her, "he hasn't done anything but ask to speak to you since we found him."

"Who caught him?"

"..." Amelia turned her gaze on the uncomfortable looking man, "We didn't catch him, we just found him in the room ma'am."

"You just, found him?"

"Dawalish went to place a suspect in there and the kid was waiting." he sounded as confused as she felt.

"We'll need to tighten up security, it seems some of us have forgotten we are at war."

"Yes, ma'am."

When they reached interrogation room three Amelia saw a team of four Hit-Wizards standing guard outside. To the left of the interrogation room was a chamber with one way glass to watch interrogations unseen. In this instance there were two senior Aurors watching a one sided questioning through the false mirror, one was Williamson whos face was a study in irritation. A Dicta-Quill in the observation room jotted down ever word said, the page was filled with sarcastic retorts and the occasional standup joke.

"... don't speak up soon your going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble kid." Dawalish was an intimidating man and an excellent interrogator, but it seemed that the lack of response from the younger wizard was wearing on his nerves.

"I'm sorry sir, did you suddenly become the boss when I wasn't paying attention?" The younger wizard seemed entirely unfazed, while the older one looked like he wanted to hit something.

"How long has this been going on?" Amelia asked the assembled Aurors.

"ten minutes," The answer came from the interrogation room, where a set of bright violet eyes were locked directly on her location, "You the boss?"

Amelia was surprised but the other three didn't even bat an eye, "He's been doing that since we got here, don't know how."

"Modified sonorus charm, you really should learn to do a proper bug sweep." he smiled cheekily at the Aurors, his eyes jumping from one of them to the next, clearly displaying knowledge of their locations, "Now, I heard you've been looking to question me. Well, strap your selves in and keep your arms and legs in the ride at all times because I, Leo James Potter-Black, do hereby swear upon my life and magic that I will only speak the truth from now until my departure from this room, by my magic so mote it be."

A small glow enveloped the teen who gave a disarming smile, "I'm am not now, nor have I ever been a follower or supporter of 'Lord Voldemort,'" He added air quotations and rolled his eyes at the name that made most of her senior Aurors flinch, "thought I'd get that one out of the way first. So whats up?"

Amelia had a number of questions run through her head, 'Potter-Black? Bug sweep, what did bugs have to do with anything?', but her professionalism kept her mind on the task at hand. As Dawalish began to rain questions down on the grinning boy, she made her way from the observation room and into the interrogation room itself. "Mr. Potter-Black..."

"Technically the formal address would be Lord Peverell, but you can call me Leo." He raised his left hand to display a gold Signet Ring and winked at her... he winked at her, the nerve of the kid.

She took a moment to bite back a scathing response before continuing, "Lord Peverell," he sighed dramatically, "how is it my Aurors came to find you here?"

"It was my assumption they walked," She wanted to smack the grin off his face, "but If you mean to ask how I got in here without them knowing, the answer is lax security measures." his demeanor became serious so quickly it was startling, "It takes five seconds for a team of two to run through a comprehensive chain of detection spells that would show if a person was under any kind of glamour, carrying concealed weapons or explosives on or within their bodies, carrying any enchanted clothing or items, and even if they were under the effects of any spells or potions. Five seconds would have shown the difference between a drunken wizard and a cleverly disguised infiltrator, but your aurors didn't take five seconds. They cast three spells, took the wand I wanted them to find, and tossed me in the drunk tank without a thought. What if I had been an assassin, what if I had been a suicide bomber, come on," He turned to face the one way mirror with a look of annoyance on his face and jabbed a finger against his temple, "Think people, your, at, war."

Amelia drew her wand under the desk and pointed it at him discreetly, her mind reeling from the lecture they'd just received from a child, and the implications of a few of his statements "Are you currently armed?"

"Yes, very much so." His grin was back, even as Dawalish drew his wand like a flash, "This ones a little slow on the uptake isn't he."

"Accio Wand, Accio Weapons!" Dawalish got no response to his spell, other then an infuriating shit eating grin.

"Surely you know that spell works on the premise of familiarity, you can hardly summon something if you don't have a clue what it is." He held up a hand to forestall any objections, "Yes that would have worked had they been conventional weapons, but these likely fall outside of your schema for 'weapon' and so your spell failed."

"Schema?"

Leo shook his head at the Aurors question, "I'm not here to lecture on the psychology of spellwork, lets try and keep the questions relevant."

"Dawalish, please search Mr. Peverell and remove any items he may have in his possession," To say Amelia was annoyed would be like saying a nundu was a cat, correct but severely understated. It wasn't just the boys cheeky attitude, but the fact that he was right; Her aurors should be checking people more thoroughly, and Dawalish had been slow on the uptake and sloppy in his response.

Dawalish proceeded to search Leo both physically and magically, as Leo directed the older man to hidden pockets he had missed, meaning all of them. From his person the Auror retrieved two sewing needles, "Goblin steel," a razor thin wire with handles on both ends, a set of black and gold fountain pens, "you don't want to nick yourself on those, they're very poisonous," a pocket watch that swung from its chain by itself, "Nice right," and a bottomless pouch with some form of living vine like purse strings.

"Do you have anything else on you Lord Peverell?"

"I have no more weapons on my person."

Amelia regarded him critically across the table for a moment, "If you are not a supporter of Voldemort, What were you doing in the Ministry atrium on the 18th of June, 1996."

Leos violet eyes literally paled to a near grey, like a thin cloud passing before the sun, "I was there to save someone very close to me... I failed." There was no more jovial attitude, just the serious expression he had displayed before.

"Why don't you explain that in more detail."

"I snuck into the department of mysteries to stop a very evil wizard from killing my... friend, and stealing one or mores orb from the hall of prophecies. During the battle I lost focus, and my friend was thrown through the veil." He paused with a far away look on his face for a second, then two, before his eyes became sharp once more, returning to a deep violet "I went up to the atrium to try and get the man responsible. When I got there he was already fighting someone else, so I let lose with everything I had left hoping to burn the evil bastard while he was distracted. The rest is page one."

"So you were trying to kill you-know-who, you weren't attacking Dumbledore?"

"I was trying to ash a dark lord, a man too dangerous and powerful not to go all out on, the other one just got in the way." Leo leaned back in his uncomfortable chair, lounging in it confidently, like it was his throne.

"Eye witness accounts have you yelling something at Dumbledore before fleeing the scene, what was it that you said to him." Dawalish put in.

"He got in the way, I thought if he hadn't stopped me the world would be down one evil entity, so I may have had words with him, but that's between me and him."

"Mr..."

"What about Bellatrix Lestrange?" Amelia overrode Dawalish, "My reports say you defended her, if your not one of the dark lords followers then why did you help her?"

Leo looked uncomfortable for a moment, as if he just realized the hard metal chair was not a padded recliner; for the first time since the interview started he looked like he really was just a kid. He answered in a quiet voice, "I thought she was someone else, I didn't want her to get killed in the cross fire."

"You didn't know who she was?" The incredulous tone Dawalish used made the boy flinch, and Amelia caught a hint of sorrow pass over his face. Something was off.

"Who did you think she was?" Amelia watched him squirm when she asked her question, looking down at the floor between his feet as he answered.

"My mother."

The wheels in her head started spinning. Potter-Black, thought she was his mother. "why would you think she was your mother, who was she?"

He sighed in frustration, before his tone became angry "Well who else would I think someone who looks identical to my mother would be, but it doesn't matter, my mother is dead and shes not coming back. Next question."

Amelia was taken off guard by the answer, her hypothesis flying out the window. Still as far as she knew there shouldn't be any Potter-Blacks running around, that would be a marriage every pure blood knew about. Something didn't add up, "You claim to be Leo James Potter-Black..."

"I am." He interrupted his tone still holding its anger from before.

"Would you submit yourself to veritserum to confirm that point?"

Leo looked at her with a level gaze, "veritas supero fides."

"What?"

"It's the password to the bag," he pointed to the pouch which was now laying open, the vines about its top slack, "Within you'll find a list of questions that I will consent to being asked under veritserum. Just hold your hand at the opening and ask it for 'the truth.' I won't consent to any questions not on that list, and if any are asked beyond that list I'll bring you up on charges of theft of the secrets of a most noble and most ancient house."

"Under the war powers act..." Dawalish began.

"You can question under veritserum anyone suspected of being a Death Eater or Death Eater sympathizer however you will find that you have no right to question anyone further if they prove not to be."

"Dawalish, go get the potion."

He left on her orders, grumbling a small amount, returning a short time later with the department potionier. Three drops of the serum were administered and when the suspects eyes took on a glassy look and his body relaxed entirely Amelia began the questioning.

"What is your name?"

"Leo James Potter-Black."

"Are you now or have you ever been a Death Eater?"

"No."

"Are you now or have you ever been a Death Eater sympathizer?"

"No."

They were at the end of the list they could ask under the war powers act, and the list they took from the bag was a short one, many of which had been covered by the questioning under oath already. Amelia proceeded with the list anyways; something had seemed off about his answers before.

"Why did you go to the department of on the 18th of June, 1996."

"To save Luna Lovegood."

She paused, he hadn't given the name before but it sounded familiar. She scanned the table and quickly found the incident report off to her left. She flipped through the file until she found the list of Harry Potters accomplices for the incident. Luna Lovegood was there on the list, reported to have sustained minor injures. She almost asked him about the difference in accounts but remembered it wasn't on the list. A short mental debate decided she could probably get away with asking a follow up question.

"My report says Luna Lovegood was unharmed, why did you tell us your friend was thrown through the veil."

"I saw her go through the veil, thatmust be the other Luna."

"What do you..." The list in her hand burst into flames, issuing forth a great purple smoke that smelled like citrus and stung her eyes. Within moments the room was filled with the smoke and Amelia found herself being dragged out coughing.

The hit wizards didn't wait a second, they quickly cast bubble head charms on themselves and entered the smoky room with their wands up. There were red flashes accompanied by shouts of "stupify!" and "incarerous!" before Kingsley had the presence of mind to blow the smoke out the vents with a , "Ventus."

The smoke cleared to reveal four hit wizards sprawled about the room and a stormy faced young man, "That wasn't on the list." his voice had a bit of a harsh growl to it, whether from the smoke or anger was hard to tell.

"Leo Potter-Black, you are under arrest for..."

"Enough!" the walls shook and a wave of magical energy slammed into them all like a tsunami,"You will be Silent. You have just illegally questioned a lord under the influence of mind altering potions and you have the audacity to try and blame me for taking measures to defend myself? Are you truly that stupid or is your air of incompetence a clever ruse?" He visibly pulled himself back together and the crushing weight of his magic receded, he continued in a much calmer voice "That vapour will cause coughing and blurry vision to anyone not under the effects of veritserum but is otherwise harmless. It was a vaporized veritserum antidote set to be triggered if you broke the law and tried to abuse your powers." he glared at them but otherwise sounded and appeared clam, "If you plan on leveling some charges against me that aren't a steaming pile of erumpent dung do so now, else I'm leaving."

"The casting of a class five restricted spell," Dawalish stated confidently, "You cast fiend fire, an illegal spell, durring your attack in the atrium."

"I did not cast fiendfire in the atrium, I did however use some familial magic." Familial was the magic word in this case, Amelia ignored her accidental pun, the moment the ministry tried to ban familial magics was the moment the ministry would collapse.

"You are free to go Lord Peverell," Amelia croaked out, aware they couldn't hold him, especially when she realized they had technically stepped out of bound, but not happy about.

"Take down those ridiculous 'wanted for questioning' posters, people keep trying to hex me in the streets." He wandlessly summoned his positions from the desk, "I'll give you three days to take them down, after that you'll be hearing from my lawyers. Good day."

Leo paused as he passed Dawalish, "Nice, right?" the Auror got a blank look on his face.

As Amelia watched him walk away she was struck by an odd epiphany. She moved quickly to check the account of the answers in the room, and as she read the page she came to the passage that sparked her interest, "A dark lord, not the."

She was distracted when Dawalish began to sing and dance.

Albus Dumbledore was at a loss. This was not an entirely new experience to him, but it had been a long time since he had been so utterly stumped that it was felling quite novel nonetheless. His current quandary came from contemplating what other C sounding words described what other people might consider his more pressing concern. He had tried for nearly an hour to make his alliteration fit, but in his advanced age his mind just wasn't as sharp as it used to be. Thus he settled for quietly contemplating the quandary of the confrontational character who came close to charring... Tom and himself... It just didn't work the way he would like. Nevertheless he would eventually have to stop putting off thinking about the boy and admit to himself he had no clue about that either.

Albus had learned the boys name, Leo James Potter-Black, from his contacts in the ministry, but he had not been able to trace the boys parentage from either the Potters or the Blacks. The fact that the boy was claiming the title of Lord Peverell was also disturbing, as the only living people close enough to stake claim to the Peverells lordship should have been Harry or Tom.

More then just his confusion over the boys heritage, he was also confused about the boys actions; casting a clearly dark incendiary curse and swearing vengeance against him while threatening Gillert, it was a mystery that he could not unravel. Then to complicate thing the boy turns himself into the Aurors to clear his name, sits his O. a week later and applies to attend Hogwarts. What was his angle, was he hoping for a chance at revenge within the walls of the school? His interrogation made it sound like he had attacked Tom but Albus knew he had been the true target of the boys rage, though why the boy would call him 'a dark lord' was beyond him.

He glanced back at the test scores on his desk, as if searching for answers on their pages. O. and N.E. in defense, charms, transfiguration, and runes, with top marks in Europe for each. O. in Potions and Arithmancy, with scores in the 90th percentile. Yet he didn't even attempt to get an O.W.L in history or astronomy, two classes the ministry required you to pass before you were allowed to leave school and retain a wand. It was clear that the boy was exceptionally bright, to score top marks in four N.E. at the age fifteen was nothing short of extraordinary, but that he didn't even try to take those two...

Dumbledore sighed. As matters stood he could not turn him away, not without some sort of criminal conviction on the boys record. Had he O. in History and Astronomy it would be different, but the charter was clear in stating that Hogwarts must accept students who required an education to keep their magic; they could hardly turn away a student if doing so would get the students wand snapped and their magic bound by the ministry. A failure to pay school fees would change matters, but the goblins had already confirmed the necessary fund were waiting for transfer in the Peverell vaults. Even had the boy been a pauper there he would have a free ride scholarship almost anywhere in the world with marks like his.

He pushed the papers aside and quickly penned an acceptance letter for the young lord, only the first year letters wrote themselves, and placed it in the outbound drawer of his desk. The letter would be sent to Minervas desk to be mailed with the rest of the acceptance letters later in the summer.

Albus stood from his desk and moved to stand by his window. In his youth he would have paced, but he lacked the need to move that compelled him in his youth. The restless energy of summer days was but a memory now; he was in the winter of his life. His bones were cold and the fire in his heart burned low. The fiery passions of young love had faded from him, and in his loneliness he had grown cold. A small amount of affection existed in him for his young charges, but it was a dull warmth that was tainted by some traces of jealousy when he saw what he would never again have.

It was the wars that had reduced his flames to embers. When his students had become his soldiers, and then his soldiers had become his pawns, that was when he had reached the winters heart. When Harry had returned to Hogwarts he had let himself grow close to the boy, against his better judgment he let himself care about him, but now he remembered the boy was just another piece, not a pawn but a piece all the same; he would still need to be sacrificed to take the king.

"For the greater good." The words sounded hollow to his heart but his mind knew them to be true.

Soon there would be a new piece on the board. The question now was black or white? That question though could wait another day, he had a ring to retrieve.

"Fawkes." The phoenix swooped from his perch to answer his call. He caught hold of one of its tail feathers as the flaming bird trilled loudly; for just a moment he felt a warmth he could no longer feel on his own, then he disappeared in a flash of flames.