Harry Potter – Hunter
By : Andor Swiftblade
Disclaimer : Harry Potter belongs to the beautiful blonde lady famously known as J K Rowling. No monetary gain is being made from this story. Any non-Canon characters belong to me. Certain creative terms which have been used probably belong to some of my brilliant fellow fan fiction authors. (I don't really know to whom, so please forgive me.)
Summary : After the DoM Mayhem, Harry decides that he is tired of the Dursleys and figures that he wants to take a unique summer job. Follow him as in his bid for freedom, he has the adventure of a lifetime. Post OotP. Probably AU. Might include crossovers.
Get advice of everybody whose advice is worth having – they are very few – and then do what you think best yourself.
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.
Never explain – your friends do not need it and your enemies will never believe you anyway.
Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies.
To succeed in any business, one has to believe that it is the best business in the world. One has to put their heart in the business and the business in their heart.
Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once.
* * * * * Chapter 10 * * * * *
*|* Knock Knock & Wheezes *|*
The cobbled streets of Knockturn Alley were not covered with dirt and grime, which was quite surprising. The place could not be considered clean at any rate, but it could also not be called dirty. The seedy streets were now busier than they had ever been before. This was all due to the return of the Dark Lord.
A person wearing a hooded cloak entered the alley and looked around for a moment. Not much could be discerned about the man, since he was not prominent, wearing plain black robes that every hardworking wizard wore.
Upon his entrance, the activity in the alleyway paused for a second, the shady dealers looking up from their work and gazing at the new arrival. The visibility was poor and the torches at random interval could not provide much light, and whatever light they provided just cast more shadows on the man. The dark individuals just shrugged it off and returned to their work.
Harry looked around the alley from within the confines of his hooded robe with curiosity. He had not seen much of the alley during his sudden and unintended visit during the beginning of his second year, and he had not entered the alley since then, even when he had the opportunity to visit it in his third year during the two weeks he had spent living at the Leaky Cauldron. But at that time he had been somewhat intimidated by the dark and dreary alley, and he also did not have any reason to visit it.
Looking around, Harry noticed that most of the walls in the alley had multiple cracks running all over them. Many of the roof tiles of shops were broken or missing, and they were covered with a lot of dust. Indeed, many of the surrounding shops were also not in good working conditions; most appeared as if a sudden gust of wind would topple them over. The only explanation of why the place was still standing, Harry concluded, was that it was held up with magic. And that could be very troublesome, because even the slightest disturbance in the magic supporting the structures would collapse the entire place.
As he walked around the twisting alleyway, Harry noticed that quite a few new shops had opened from what he remembered. The alley was crowded with many shops, and there were plenty of vendors displaying their goods on large trays.
From what he vaguely remembered of the alley, Harry suspected that Borgin and Burkes was nearby, though he was not much sure. Barely glancing at the disgusting things that the vendors were selling, Harry proceeded slowly into the alley. Harry knew that he could not peep through the windows, because unlike Diagon Alley, the windows in Knockturn Alley were covered with dirt and grime. Therefore, as he carefully treaded his path through the throng, his eyes swiftly drifted over the street signs above every shop.
'Shrunken Skull, what am I gonna do with that?' thought Harry as he read a sign, 'Though poisonous candles do have some merit. . . '
Not finding any interesting names, Harry decided that he should head to Borgin and Burkes. At the turning, he could see a sign indicating the way to the shop. Walking towards his new destination, Harry hoped that the shop would have something useful for him.
As the door of the shop open with a slight creak, Harry looked inside and noticed that Borgin was standing behind his counter polishing a golden plaque with a brush. On hearing the door being opened, Borgin looked up and noticed Harry standing outside, even though he did not know who the person wearing the black cloak was.
The man looked at him with jaundiced eyes, baleful eyes. Harry carefully surveyed the shop owner and the man measured the new arrival's threat. Neither said a word as both of them looked at each other, waiting for the other to begin the conversation. Finally, Borgin seemed to loose his patience. The shop owner put down the plaque he had been polishing and brushed off his robes, before putting on a fake smile on his face.
"Yes, what can I do for you?" asked Borgin in an oily voice. Harry was somewhat reminded of Snape when he heard Borgin.
"Well, Mr. Borgin, you could've started with introducing yourself," said Harry, and Borgin reddened somewhat at the insult. "But since you did not, neither will I. So without further ado, let's head to business."
Borgin straightened somewhat when he heard that, the prospect of finally getting his hands on some gold entering his mind. He looked at the stranger that had entered his shop, and wondered as to how much money he could swindle from the man.
"What are you looking for, Sir?" asked Borgin, his beady eyes shining with anticipation.
"I'm looking for an artifact that I've heard you're currently in possession of," said Harry.
"And what is that artifact," inquired Borgin, before quickly adding, "Sir."
"The artifact goes by the name of 'The Hand of Glory', and I'm certain that you know how it functions," said Harry as he smirked at Borgin.
The man seemed to smile as he looked at Harry, showing his yellow teeth. "Ah, yes, the Hand of Glory. It can hold a lamp or candle, and it gives light only to the user. Yes, yes, the best friend of thieves and plunderers, it is called. It was nearly sold some time ago, but as you might know, it is not a cheap item."
Harry nodded and simply asked, "How much?"
The man seemed to think for a bit, as he did not answer immediately. Inwardly, Borgin was wondering how much he should state the price as, because if the man knew the name of the rare item, then he would surely know its real price. And if the man perceived the high price as cheating, then he could leave without buying, which would be a loss for Borgin. So he decided to state a reasonable price that the stranger would agree with.
What Borgin did not – and would not - know was that Harry only knew the name of the thing and its properties, but not its price.
After a moment, Borgin finally replied, "I'm willing to sell the Hand at a very reasonable price of 50 Galleons."
Harry immediately countered, "No, that's too much. I will pay only 40 Galleons and not a Knut more."
Borgin thought for a few seconds before saying, "45 Galleons, and I'll also add in a No-melting Candle; those things are really rare."
Harry agreed to the bargain after a moments pause. Borgin happily went to the back of the shop to get the Hand and the candle, while Harry carefully counted 45 Galleons and placed them on the counter. Borgin quickly returned with the Hand of Glory in one hand and the No-melting Candle in the other. He placed both items on the counter and immediately started counting the pile of Galleons.
Harry picked up the candle and struck it into the Hand, and the Hand quickly gripped the candle tightly. Harry tested the Hand's grip and made sure the candle would not fall down. After that, he placed the artifact into his bag and headed towards the exit of the shop. As he was nearly outside, he heard Borgin call from inside.
"Please come again, Sir. It was pleasure doing business with you."
Harry did not turn back or reply as he left the shop.
As he made his way past the hags and dealers roaming the streets of Knockturn Alley, Harry was careful to avoid touching any of the disgusting things that they were carrying. Walking swiftly towards the exit of the Alley, he was glad to find the small gap between the streets, where the entrance/exit was located. Quickly getting out of the alley, Harry headed towards the post office, which was located somewhere near Gringotts.
The reason for this sudden visit to the post office was hidden inside his cloak pocket. It was a small sealed envelope which had a letter inside that was almost invaluable to Harry, because it could, in a sense, be considered his ticket to freedom.
The white marble walls of Gringotts could be seen, but Harry quickly walked past them and he immediately spotted his destination. The post office was larger than many of the shops in Diagon Alley, and the reason for that was clear – the entire premises of the PO was full of different types of owls. There were eagle owls, barn owls, hawk owls, and there were some other birds like pigeons and parrots. As Harry looked around and heard the cacophony of the birds, he just hoped that Hedwig never found out about this, because she would never forgive him.
As soon as Harry stepped into the PO, a shop assistant immediately came forward. "How can we help you, Sir?"
"I wish to send a mail," replied Harry.
"And where would you like to send it to?" inquired the assistant as he moved towards one of the tables of the PO, with Harry following him.
"Well, you see, I'd like the destination as well as the name of the receiver to remain a secret," said Harry as he glanced around.
"Ah, so you'd like to send a confidential courier, am I right, Sir?" asked the assistant, a smile on his face.
Harry was somewhat confused, and so decided to clarify his doubt. "Can you please differentiate between confidential courier and a normal mail? Because unfortunately, I do not know," he replied.
"No problem, Sir," said the assistant as he sat down, "Please have a seat and I'll explain."
"You see, a normal mail has the address of both the sender and the receiver, so it is easy for the owls to deliver. But in case of confidential courier, there are no addresses written on the envelope, so for that we have to use highly trained owls," the man said, then continued, "What you have to do is to whisper the destination to your mail owl thrice, and then if it nods, then you can give the letter to the owl and be safe in knowing that your letter will be delivered. Just so you know, these owls have never failed to deliver a letter."
"Well, I'm glad," Harry replied absentmindedly as he thought over what the assistant's words. As the assistant waited for his reply, Harry finally decided and said, "Well, I'd like to send a confidential courier. So what is the cost?"
"Well, Sir, as we do not know of the destination, we assume that it can be anywhere in the world, and so the cost is very high. And there is also the risk that the owl may not return, and since there are highly trained owls, we charge extra as insurance. And since. . . "
"Alright, now can you please tell me the cost?" Harry said loudly, and the assistant stopped his rant, looking sheepish.
"Uh, well, all confidential couriers have the same rate, even if your destination is your next door neighbor, or someone on the other side of the planet. We charge the standard rate of 7 Galleons for each delivery."
"Oh. . . " muttered Harry. The price was high, but so was the importance of the letter being delivered. So he had no other option but to go with this.
"Alright, I'd like to send my mail," said Harry as he got the envelope out.
"Wait a second and I'll get the owl, Sir," the assistant replied as he hurried to get hi work done. He returned in a minute with a brown eagle owl resting on his arm. He put the owl on the table and opened the drawer.
"Sir, we have a complimentary service for confidential couriers. You see, this bag," he held out what looked to be a thick paper bag, "is charmed to be waterproof, so your delivery will not be damaged in case of rain. And if the owl drops it by mistake – which has not happened till now - it will return to you. All you have to do is tap it with your wand."
Harry took the brown bag and placed his envelope into it. As soon as he removed his hand, the mouth of the bag sealed itself. Harry tapped the bag with his own wand, because in this case he was not really using magic.
The assistant took the bag from Harry and tied it to the harness on the owl's talons. He then tapped the harness and muttered a spell under his breath, which caused the owl to glow yellow for a moment. Then he said to Harry, "Sir, please take the owl near the exit and whisper the destination three times, clearly."
Harry did exactly that. The owl quickly took flight and soon disappeared over the roofs of Diagon Alley.
The assistant handed Harry a piece of parchment, and at Harry's inquiring look, he said, "When the letter is delivered, a green dot will appear on the parchment, and if the courier is lost, there will be a red dot on the parchment. To retrieve the courier, all you have to do is tap the red dot five times, and it will appear to you. Be sure to tap it with the same wand."
Harry simply nodded and took the parchment, tucking it inside his pocket. As he stood to leave, he remembered that he still had to pay. After giving the assistant 7 Galleons, he immediately left the PO.
As he walked down the cobbled streets of Diagon Alley, he thought to himself, 'I wonder when I'll get a reply from the Guild.'
93, Diagon Alley; that was where Harry was currently heading. His business for today was finished, so he could at least visit the shop he had secretly funded. He remembered the address for the shop and as he headed there, he noticed that few of the shops had been boarded up. It seemed that the announcement of Voldemort's return had scared many customers as well as the shop owners away. He wondered how the twins' business was going on in such dark times.
The bright colors of the shop momentarily blinded Harry. The shop was very different from the neighboring shops, and it seemed that the twins wanted the point to be noted. The shop was crowded and many customers were entering and leaving the shop every minute. As he looked at the shop from afar, he saw a sign that made him want to break out in hysterics. A sign above the shop read :
WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO?
WHEN YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO
The constipation sensation that's gripping the nation!
He nearly laughed out loud but controlled himself before he burst out laughing. He thought to himself as he looked at the sign again, 'I wonder what Tom would say when he sees that. . . '
As he entered the shop, Harry saw rows upon rows of products, some of which he knew about, and some of which he didn't. There were children at every shelf with their parents standing behind them, some of them looking at the joke items in stern disapproval while some joined their kids in the fun.
Harry walked to a nearby shelf and looked at the item on display. The name read : Decoy Detonator. He looked at the weird looking horn-like thing that sat on the shelf and thinking that they might be useful, he picked a few of them and placed them in the basket provided. As he continued to walk down the rows, he saw many items he had seen the twins demonstrate in the Common Room last year. Ton-Tongue Toffee, Canary Creams, Nosebleed Naughts, Skiving Snackboxes, and Puking Pastilles.
Harry picked up a box of each of them as he walked past. As he looked at some of the joke stuff, he heard the unmistakable voices of the Weasley twins coming from somewhere ahead of him. They were talking quietly and were mostly using hand signs to converse in the loud shop.
Harry quickly turned away before either of them saw him and recognized him. He knew that if either of them saw him now, he would be busted, even though he knew that the twins would never tell on him; but one can never be surer. So he turned around and headed towards the end of the row.
When he was sure that he had escaped the twins range, he took a note of his surrounding. The shelf before him had many boxes labeled 'Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder'.
'Man, this is awesome!' thought Harry excitedly as he looked at the many boxes. 'Combined with my Hand of Glory and Invisibility Cloak, this will certainly be very useful to me. Instant darkness, invisibility, and I will be the only one who can see! Amazing!'
Swiftly, Harry collected as many boxes as he could without being too noticeable. Deciding that he should get out of the place as quickly as possible, Harry hastened towards the counter.
As he took out the different items out of his basket, the cashier saw the amount of items and raised an eyebrow. "Why so many items?"
Harry just smiled his best smile and said in an excited voice, "I'm going to play a big prank."
'On everyone,' he added mentally with a smirk.
The cashier too smiled at this and began to make a list of the purchases. The final amount came to nearly 15 Galleons and 10 Sickles. Even though the price was quite a lot, Harry did not mind as this stuff could be very helpful in his future adventures. So without further ado, he removed the money pouch and paid the required amount. Quickly picking up the bag filled with his purchases, he made his way out of the shop, all the while stuffing the bag into his own expanded one.
As he walked, Harry noticed a familiar face entering the darkened gap between two shops that served as the entrance to Knockturn Alley. A familiar and much hated face that belonged to one Dolores Umbridge, the pink toad lady.
Harry frowned as he looked at the Under-Secretary to the Minister of Magic, the woman who had been his main tormentor last year. As he looked at Umbridge's toad-like face, he remembered all the things from last year. He remembered how she took delight in creating trouble for him and his friends, how she smiled that sick little smile when she made him write with the blood quill, how happy she looked at the idea of torturing him and killing him. And he remembered his bigotry, and how she had caused problems for most of the sentient magical creatures, labeling them as 'filthy half-breeds' as if they were not living creatures incapable of feeling emotions.
His temper began to quickly rise as the thoughts of such injustice being done to his and others festered in his mind. Knowing that losing his temper was not an option right now, Harry quickly calmed himself and thought as to what he should do. Should he return to Privet Drive, or should he follow Umbridge and see what she was up to?
He quickly made his mind up and headed towards Knockturn Alley, because this was not an opportunity to be lost. He had his chance of revenge and he was not going to let it get out of his hands. Pulling the hood of his cloak up, Harry entered the dark Knockturn Alley.
Dolores Umbridge was currently strutting through the dark alleyways of Knockturn Alley, heading to the place where she had asked her. . . associate to come and meet her. Walking as fast as her short, stocky legs could carry her, she reached her meeting point. Once reaching there, Umbridge noticed that her. . . associate had already arrived and was leaning against one of the nearby walls.
As she gazed upon the man, Dolores tried to hide the disgust she felt at the sight of the man. He was what she hated the most, and wanted to clear from the face of the earth. He and his kind were what she fought so vehemently against in the Ministry. Yet though she despised him, Dolores knew that the man would be essential in her mission. At the thought of her mission, Dolores smiled to herself. She would use the man to destroy his own kind. It was poetic.
Fenrir Greyback looked at the short, fat woman before him and bit back a snarl. She was one of his most hated enemies, and yet he was forced to work with her. But as soon as there was no further need of her services, he would tear her apart and feast on her flesh and blood with his brethren.
As the two enemies-turned-reluctant-allies faced each other, they never noticed the intruder that had crept up on them, invisible to their sight.
"Hem, hem," Umbridge cleared her throat, "Greetings, Greyback."
"Umbridge," Greyback replied, nodding and trying to be polite, even though a short growl escaped him.
"I have orders for you," said Umbridge in her shrill voice.
Greyback bit back a snarl and nodded. "Yes?"
"You are to attack a small village called Murex near Kent, which is where one of the agents of Dumbledore's Order lives," said Umbridge with a scowl, them continued with a smile, "Attack and kill everyone, from the brats to the old ones, leave none alive. Take the whole pack and make it as bloody as possible. And since it is near full moon, you will have some advantage. And make sure to kill the Order agent; that is the main reason behind the mission."
Greyback nodded before asking, "What house does this agent live in?"
Umbridge just smiled sweetly and said, "Some of My Lord's men will be marking the house. There will be a snake painted on the door. Make sure to attack that house first, before destroying others."
"Is this agent alone, or do they have a family?" asked Greyback, his eyes shining with anticipation at the thought of killing.
"Alone," replied Umbridge, "And remember, make it as bloody as possible. The entire point is to announce to the world the return of the Dark Lord."
» Next Chapter : A plot? Will it be successful, or will Harry save the day? How will he prevent this attack and save the entire village? Stay tuned to find out.
» It's been a month since I last updated, and I've got to say, it feels good to be back. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter.
» I don't know if a real village of Murex exists or not, I just made it up for the story.
» I'd like to thank all the reviewers for their comments, and I hope that you continue to review and give me ideas and advice.
May your sword stay sharp!