Title: The Innocence Of Guilt
Author: ENSIGN
Chapter 09 – Oh God She Is A Mary Sue
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries - Infirmary
"Now that must be a rather nasty wound." Mary looked up at the sound of her partner's distinctive scrambled voice.
"You know I never did realize that we had an infirmary." Mary pointed out as she looked towards a shelf stocked full of various colored potions.
"With the amount of dueling that goes on down here and the fact that we do get injuries while on missions, a small infirmary is need for minor wounds. The rest get sent to St Mungo's." He tilted his head.
Mary was seated on a stool beside a bed. Her injured right forearm was currently soaking in a galvanized basin of blue liquid. "Too many cuts for magic so a potion instead. The Healer says I'll be done in an hour."
"Where's the healer." Harry questioned as he moved towards the potions shelf.
"He went out, got summoned."
"Hmm…" Harry selected a small ampoule filled with an orange substance. He tilted it and was satisfied with its gel like viscosity.
"Here." He motioned for her arm which after some shaking she presented to him. He hummed as he examined the injuries sustained.
"Well I do have a way to make this faster." He commented while wiggling the orange filled phial.
"Please do." Mary grumbled. "I'm going nuts sitting here and staring at nothing but white walls.
"Very well." In a fluid motion he drew his wand. "Inardesco."
Mary's eyes widened in horror as the wounded portion of her forearm caught fire.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!!!" She howled after using the bed covers for the standard stop drop and roll.
"Calm down." Harry snapped as he disarmed her.
"Use the burn salve." He once again disarmed her. The girl had gone for her reserve wand.
"Ass." She grimaced in pain and sheathed the dagger she had drawn.
"Waddiwasi, Ferula." He transferred the orange cream onto her burns and bound them in bandages.
Mary moaned in satisfaction at the cool feeling. "You're still an ass."
Harry smirked. "Cauterizing wounds and using burn salve to heal the burns leave no scars as well as gets the job done in ten minutes."
Mary ignored him and made for the door.
"I do have to wonder your fascination with asses. Especially mine though." Harry commented as she reached the door.
Mary froze. "What…" She squeaked.
"I'm a rather accomplished Legilimens, and you're broadcasting your emotional thoughts as strongly as the Eiffel Tower."
She turned around in horror. "You mean all this time I was broadcasting? You didn't tell me?" She was doing an excellent impersonation of a blood blister.
Harry shrugged. "No harm done. I do have a nice ass after all." He smirked moving around her and through the door.
"He really is an ass." Mary growled her eyes lowering.
"Broadcasting." Harry called out through the door.
"Shut up." Mary blushed as she reinforced her shields.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Headmaster's Office
Hermione Granger could easily say that since she enrolled at Hogwart's School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry she had seen the inside of the Headmaster's office more than she was comfortable with.
The number of rules and laws she had broken during her friendship with one Harry James Potter was almost staggering. Apparently when questioned, Professor Flitwick had mentioned that they had surpassed the Marauders in sheer number of broken rules by the end of their third year.
Of course despite all this there was still the little voice inside of her whispering that getting called to the Headmaster's office was a bad thing.
She looked to her left and rolled her eyes. Ronald Weasley was the same as always, like her he had seen the Headmaster's office more then any student save their friend Harry, however to him this was just another trip.
Therefore Hermione was thoroughly shocked into silence when she passed the threshold into the Headmaster's domain.
The once immaculately cluttered yet neat office was now a complete mess. The bookshelves once packed full of ancient valuable tomes of magic were now bare. Their contents spread throughout the room on the floors opened. Parchment was thrown haphazardly and crumpled among the books.
"Woah! What happened, Sir?" Ron posed the question that was on both their minds.
"Ah, Mr. Weasley, you do have to forgive my mess. It seems that at my age I have gotten a bit messy." Dumbledore who was seated behind his desk called out in greeting.
"A bit?" Ron waved around him and winced as Hermione elbowed him.
"Did we come at a bad time Professor Dumbledore?" The bookworm tried to approach the wizened Wizard without treading on anything too valuable.
Ron simple moved on stumbling whenever he tripped and eliciting a wince from his friend every time he stepped on something resembling literature.
Dumbledore seeing the ginger haired student's expression chuckled. "No harm done to the books Miss Granger. All books at Hogwarts have been charmed against wear and tear."
"Now a bit of tidying up is in order." He stood up waving his wand across the room.
To both the amazement of the students every book and parchment returned to the shelves and the notes stacked themselves nicely in a pile atop a small console table.
"Useful spell that. Don't suppose you could teach us it." Ron wondered ducking as a large tome flew above him.
Eyes twinkling Dumbledore stared at the redhead. "It's a rather unique spell that simply requires ones will and power. I believe that you will be learning about it next year."
"Intent spell casting." Ron rolled his eyes as the Headmaster chuckled. No doubt the smartest girl of the year had already read up and attempted it.
"Now I believe I requested the two of you here for a reason." Dumbledore waved his wand conjuring up two arm chairs for his guests. "Tea? Lemon drop?" He offered.
"We're fine Sir." Hermione looked across the office to Fawkes's empty perch.
Dumbledore hummed. "I wish to ask a favor of you two but first…" He got their attention.
"I was wondering when the two of you knew that Mr. Potter was still alive." The raised eyebrow looked out of place on the man's face.
"What!" Hermione stood up in surprised.
Dumbledore had to give the girl credit. She really did know how to act.
"No need to act surprised Miss Granger. Mr. Weasley let the cat out of the bag the minute I posed the question." Dumbledore waved towards Ron who was looking slightly uneasy.
Hermione groaned. "Ron I told you to practice your Occlumency."
"Indeed." Dumbledore commented in humor. "Despite not using Legilimency, shocking revelations will cause people unprepared to unintentionally broadcast."
"We found out after his funeral Sir. We received a letter." Ron confessed. Hermione sat back and nodded to his answer.
"How did you know, Sir?"
"The prophecy." Hermione deduced almost immediately.
Dumbledore had to admit, the girl was sharp and fast. "Yes, I suspected that Mr. Potter had faked his death. The prophecy states that only Voldemort or Harry may kill one another. Azkaban wouldn't have caused Mr. Potter's death, driven him to madness maybe but not death. As such I am rather curious how he did it."
Both students shrugged. "Well he is Harry Potter." Ron pointed out as if that explained everything.
Dumbledore chuckled as funnily enough it did. Weird situations just didn't seem enough to describe their currently mission student.
"Now as to that favor." Dumbledore brought them back. "I would have taken Harry on this mission, however seeing as he is currently unavailable I would ask the two of you instead."
"What mission?"
"Nothing much." The Headmaster smiled. "Just a small trip to the sea."
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – The Chamber
"So where to?" Mary had recovered from her earlier embarrassment.
Harry pondered as he watched the blue trailing lights left by the torches as the main chamber spun around them.
"Back to the safe house I suppose. I do have a few things to do and you need to train." Harry moved towards the exit.
"Didn't you mention a mission?" Mary pressed.
"We have one, there just isn't a definite deadline at the moment. Plenty of time to plan or in your case train." He pointed at her now uninjured arm.
Mary sighed.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Two: Auror Headquarters – Head Auror Office
Amelia Bones stared at the piece of parchment in disbelief.
She was definitely going to have a word with the personnel at processing because of this. That and a word with all the Departments if she could get that old bugger from Unspeakables to attend.
The parchment in her hand listed both a series of requests for search warrants as well as a list of approvals. A piece of parchment that was one week old. While normally documents and communications within a department were passed on quickly, those between departments usually took between two days to a week. This is the main reason why most important Ministry Officials had personal assistants and aides.
Their purposes were to hand deliver messages and documents directly to the department and cut down the lag between communications.
This was of course a whole different thing.
Starting off the Minister had vanished plunging the entire Ministry into chaos. While she had managed to get her department on its head the others were still running like headless chickens. It took the better part of the day till someone managed to spread the word that in such a situation, she was to be the Interim Minister.
Voldemort attacking did not help matters at the Ministry immediately underwent chaos again.
Funnily enough the Unspeakables had hand delivered a request for several raids to the Minister's office pending approval. Due to the confusion and lack of said Minister the requests weren't vetoed and stopped and thus approved when forwarded to her department.
As such the Unspeakables had carried out what was so far the largest number of raids within the last hundred years simultaneously. Mass amounts of Death Eater funds had been captured as well as a fair number of the terrorists themselves. Among them were six out of seven inner circle members who were either dead or in Unspeakable custody.
Amelia sniffed. Pity the most powerful and dangerous, Bellatrix was still at large. Amelia sighed. Despite the loss of his inner circle, Voldemort still had a fair number of veteran Death Eaters.
She made a note to see the Head Unspeakable as soon as she was done sorting out the mess Fudge had made and his replacement had ignored.
"Madam Minister." The assistant that burst into the room was immediately stunned, bound and gagged.
Amelia holstered her wand in annoyance, her heart still beating hard. Her Aurors had learned to never burst into her office. The Minister's Office would learn soon enough.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Dueling Room
"Tell me Mary, what do you know about intent based spell casting?" Harry enquired as he conjured up an armchair for himself.
She had to hand it to her partner. He definitely was efficient, barely out of the infirmary and straight into the dueling room. Mary sometimes wondered if the man actually did anything else. She had yet to see any signs of him even remotely having a hobby.
It was almost at the point where she suspected that being sarcastic and annoying was his hobby.
Instead of voicing her thoughts however she drew her wand and simply pointed away from herself. She frowned for a few seconds in concentration and conjured up a similar armchair without the wand movements or incantation.
"Hn…" Harry grunted in acceptance. "How many times can you pull that off?"
Mary seated herself into the cushy leather. "Around thirty times."
Harry nodded filling away that her power levels were mostly above average. "Excellent, but I did remember saying to tell me, not show me."
Mary rolled her eyes. "Spell casting without the use of wand movements coupled with silent casting. Theoretically any spell is possible provided the power requirements can be attained. Spell theory helps but isn't required as you are so fond of saying that magic isn't logical."
Harry nodded. "Well then off to the next topic. Dark magic." He said the last part with a mock eerie voice.
Mary snorted. "Spells that maim, hurt or cause general suffering to others. They contain a specific spell signature or taint."
Harry scoffed. "Now that my dear is a standard Ministry sanctioned answer."
"What is the correct one then?"
Harry shrugged. "I didn't say it was wrong, just sanctioned. Dark magic is basically spells laced with the intent to hurt, maim and generally cause not very nice things to happen. As you no doubt know that spells become much more powerful when fueled by one's emotions. Spells like the torture curses are fueled by the intent to cause pain. As such you will find that most dark curses are intent based and rather visual in nature."
"Therefore not many counter curses exist to them as intent based curses can only be removed by something intent based as well." Mary continued.
Harry nodded. "There are exceptions. Most healing spells that exist may be able to counter the effects of an intent based curse."
"I take it your bringing this topic us as it involves our next mission." Mary pointed out.
Harry smiled and stood up. "The opponents we might run into are much better skilled in dark magic than Death Eaters. As such we are taking some time off."
Mary raised an eyebrow.
"Oh pardon me. I'm taking some time off. You," He indicated. "Are training. Now if you will excuse me I will be in my office." With that Harry promptly vanished.
Mary rolled her eyes.
That man really needed a hobby.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Harry's Office
"James, if you don't mind. There are some people that I'd like you to meet." If he wasn't mistaken, Mary sounded almost nervous.
It was later in that day and Mary slightly exhausted had decided to seek her partner on a subject that had been bugging her.
Harry looked up from the report he was filling out.
"Yes?" He pressed his identification card against the parchment and it folded on itself turning into an envelope. He then tossed it into his "Out" pile.
"They have the same views as you regarding Voldemort." Harry noted she no longer had a problem with that silly name.
Harry grunted and took a document from the "In" tray. "And?"
"I'm a member of their group, not an active one per say." She definitely sounded nervous now at what his actions might be.
Harry paused and replaced his quill in the inkwell. Twisting his neck, he was rewarded with a satisfying crack.
"Let me guess? They share my views as in, Voldemort must be stopped but the killing of Death Eaters is against the rules?"
"Something like that, they have been meaning to contact you but haven't been able to yet locate you."
"I should hope not." He stared blankly at her
She knew that stare even when his face wasn't visible. Mary just had the feeling he was reading her mind.
"I haven't told them that I have been in contact with you yet."
"Good." Was his reply and he returned to the form filling.
He knew she was still waiting for further words. He finished another document and threw it on the "Out" tray.
"This wouldn't be the Order Of The Phoenix by any chance would it?" He continued to fill out the forms.
"Er… Yes." She said, not sure if it was the right answer. At least James liked a truthful person.
"Send off a message to Dumbledore. We'll go meet the Order Of The Fried Turkey as soon as this mission is done."
"But…"
"I'll wait outside Grimmauld Place." His reply was followed by a gasp.
"Surprised?" He looked up. "It doesn't take a genius to notice a number is missing from a lane where many Apparation pings are detected. Not to mention that a ping is registered there when ever Arthur Weasley makes a departure from the Ministry Of Magic. Despite how good you Order members think your hiding places are. They aren't."
"Our Unspeakables in the Phoenix Division have been scouting that location for the last few months now. Good day Miss Sue." He went back to work ignoring the shocked look on his partner's face.
"I'm sorry Sir but there is something else." She said uneasily.
"What." Harry looked up annoyed. He needed those reports filled before he could set out on another mission. He briefly cursed the old man that had gotten him into this. No one ever told him that the job included more paperwork than action.
"It's the Order Sir."
"What about them?"
"They don't know that I'm an Unspeakable."
Harry put two and two together immediately.
"You have to go as what you normally go as and by doing so I'll have to know who you are." He paused. "It doesn't really matter, I already know what you look like, and you know that."
"Actually no, Sir. Well… I'm a Metamorphmagus." She removed her hood and showed him her true form.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Well isn't that handy." He commented on the rare talent.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Headmaster's Office
Dumbledore was currently resting against his chair's backrest, suckling a lemon drop and enjoying the soft classical music coming for the wireless.
He was brought out of his relaxation by a tapping on his window.
Sighing he waved his wand allowing the bird entrance. Good things weren't meant to last.
He reached into a drawer and fed the bird a treat before untying the letter and opening it.
He recognized the wobbly handwriting.
Professor Dumbledore,
I have made contact with James Pathertrory and have told him about the Order's offer. He is interested and wishes a meeting be held. Please advise further instructions.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brightly. He would have to call the Order. This was indeed a positive development.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Harry's Office
He had suspected that she was a Metamorphmagus for a while now. While it did narrow down her identity a fair bit, there were quite a few of them running around Europe.
The world after all was not as small as some say. Her face of course had not turned up in the records, but then again she is a Metamorphmagus.
He took in her true form. Other than the face, she was still the same. He took a slight bit of satisfaction in knowing that he was still taller than her. Mary's features while different were still Asian looking and he had no idea why she would go about hiding her true looks. She wasn't that bad looking after all.
"So what's your name then? It obviously isn't Mary Sue." Harry showed his distaste at the old Unspeakable's joke.
"Er…" The girl scratched the back of her neck. Harry noted that her voice had changed as well, it now had a slight Chinese accent to it.
"It would be better if I showed you." She waved her wand leaving a trail of glowing lines in the air.
Harry raised an eyebrow as he recognized the Chinese characters. "Do I look like I read Chinese squiggles?" He motioned with his hand for her to go on.
Mary waved her wand once more as the characters converted to their English pronunciations and was translated.
Harry stared at her name dumbfounded for a moment before smacking his head on the desk.
Mary giggled at the reaction her name caused.
Beautiful Tree
Su Mei Li
Harry could only really say one thing. "Fuck, you really are a Mary Sue."
Mary simply smiled in amusement.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Tactical Operations
"What do you mean you sent him after the Vampires?" The man hissed.
Despite the man's harsh glare from beneath his hood, Nicholas merely shrugged. "Exactly what I meant Lawrence old pal."
"Don't call me that name." The man hissed as he looked around his office.
"You really need to calm down Raven 01, your paranoia will be the death of you one of these days." Nicholas waved his concerns away.
"It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you." The Division Head snapped as he pointed to a massive foe glass by the door.
The Department head merely rolled his eyes at the annoyed expression on his subordinate's face. A rather interesting charm allowed those who already knew who you were to see past the shroud the cloaks had. There were of course other ways but the spells were a rather closely guarded secret.
"The figures are rather vague." The immortal man pointed out. "Besides I believe you have already applied sufficient wards and privacy enchantments to this office. Why I believe yours are of better quality than mine." He noted in amusement.
"Unlike you Nicholas, my office is not a meeting room. This is Raven Division and secrets are our job. As such secrets are meant to stay secret. Now, the Vampires." The man questioned.
"I merely told Mr. Pathertrory to dissuade them from participating in the coming conflict that we are having with our current Dark Lord."
"And a hornet's nest the man will stir up in doing so. I know his style Dragon. Mass collateral damage has always been his specialty, that and constantly reminding the public that we exist."
"Now now, Lawrence." Nicholas ignored the hiss the man made at his name being spoken. "Mr. Pathertrory might just be the person we need. He does after all attain the desired results."
"That man has no subtlety as an Unspeakable, let alone as an Operative, I just thank the powers that be you didn't stick him in my division. Whatever reason you made him an Unspeakable had better be a good one. Besides you know the reaction most Vampires have towards our kind."
Nicholas grinned. "I believe that if the Vampires do indeed wish to engage in a little dispute with Mr. Pathertrory, it will not end in their favor."
"None the less, I shall have agents covering all known Vampire locations."
Nicholas snorted. "The ones we know of you mean. They are quite a rather hard to track bunch."
"All the more reason to watch and interfere if your man decides to let on to every single one of those blood suckers that we are aware of their hiding places."
"Somehow I believe with him on the job, those hiding places wouldn't matter very soon." Nicholas chuckled. "By all means do so. I would certainly like to know how he goes about accomplishing this."
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Harry's Office
Mary stared at her now silent partner. Judging from his posture he was most definitely contemplating something.
She herself was of course still grinning from the earlier reaction he had to her name. It was of course the Dragon's idea to simply use her real name as it was just so ridiculous it would never have been suspected.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the man looked up.
"Are you an Occlumens?" Harry watched the owl flying off into the distance. He really was starting to miss Hedwig and his friends lately.
"Good enough to stop minor probing and I can throw a person out after a short while in an open assault."
Harry growled in slight annoyance. Of course she didn't have strong shields if her constant broadcasting was anything to go by. At least she had the basics down.
"That is not acceptable. By having the first contact with me it would put you in the spotlight of the Order. I wouldn't put it past Dumbledore to pay more attention to your mind. As such your status of an Unspeakable is a subject I rather keep secret."
She suddenly looked panicked as she had already sent off the letter.
"Worry not." He assured her. "I can teach you."
She looked at him in disbelief. No one could train a fully accomplished Occlumens in a day, let alone become one.
Harry raised his hand to prevent her speaking. "Truthfully, I myself am a rather shoddy Occlumens. Actually you're probably better than I am. My furthest achievement is the ability to block out minor readings. I do however have a thump card. It's a memory from my childhood that I place among my surface thoughts allowing the attacker direct access to. No matter how powerful they are, the memory will prevent them from going any further than that."
She looked interested. "So you're going to give me this memory then?"
"Yes, I'll give it to you from a first person's view. You'll view the memory from my point of view and only this time would you experience the magical backlash. I only request that you not share this memory with anyone else."
"Is it that bad Sir?"
"No, just magically traumatic."
Mary thought for a while and accepted.
Harry nodded and brought forth the memory and placed his wand to his temple. It was a short piece of history.
Mary grew slightly apprehensive as her mentor started breathing heavily and was turning rather pale.
Harry's eyes snapped open and withdrew his wand. It now held the silvery threads of the memory. It wasn't the regular silver sheen like the normal ones though, Mary noted that they were slightly blackened.
"You might want to sit down." She took the seat opposite his desk and Harry pressed the tip of his wand to her temple.
Her eyes rolled back as the viewing begun.
It was dark. There wasn't much light and everything was blurred.
"Please not Harry. Spare him. Take me instead." A women's voice pleaded.
"Move aside you foolish girl" A harsher voice, hissing and nasal in nature interrupted.
"Please take me instead"
"Avada Kedavra" The voice sounded annoyed.
The sound of a body falling echoed in the darkness
Crackling laughter echoed as twin red orbs of malice appeared through the haze of the memory.
Two words were hissed in a voice full of malice.
"Avada Kedavra."
She gave a sudden jerk and collapsed forwards extremely pale and clammy. She was weakened and barely had the strength to raise herself up.
"That… That was the killing curse. Voldemort's killing curse. It's impossible. Only one person…" She trailed off.
Harry grinned in response and threw back his hood thus breaking the concealment charms. "Surprised?"
It was too much for the girl, already weakened, the Metamorphmagus fainted.
Harry smirked. "Yeah, surprise me once and paybacks a bitch."
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Harry's Office
"Enervate." Harry woke up the sleeping Metamorphmagus.
"I seriously hope I was dreaming." Mary stated with her eyes shut.
"I sometimes wish the same thing as well." Harry said in mock resignation.
"James?"
"Yes."
"Please tell me you aren't Harry Potter."
"Sorry love, no can do. I am the good ole Boy-Who-Just-Won't-Fucking-Die."
"Oh crap." The girl groaned when she heard his voice. "I hate you Harry Potter."
"Funny." Harry commented. "I half expected you asking me how I'm alive."
"You obviously faked your death, else you would be in a pine box six feet deep and not screwing up my life anymore than it already is." She said still refusing to open her eyes.
"You can open your eyes now. The light isn't going to burn out your retinas anytime soon."
"I'm still under the delusion that if I don't see you, you are technically a figment of my imagination."
"Now that doesn't make sense. If you're imagining me it wouldn't really matter if you opened your eyes or not." Harry analyzed.
"Harry?" She voiced sweetly.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
Harry promptly held his tongue.
"James?" She called after a minute of silence.
"Yes?" Harry smiled.
"You're not Harry Potter are you? Please say no." She pleaded.
"There in lies two conflicting answers my dear. You demand an answer to which the answer is 'yes' but yet you insist on me answering 'no'." Harry stated.
"Arrrghhh… Nrnghhgiddygiddy…" Harry was truly enjoying her display of irritation and refusal to belief. "God damn it, just stun me."
"O.K. Stupefy." Harry did just that and decided to let her cool off.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Dueling Room
"Tell me again how you're better at this than I am." Mary questioned in frustration as she was once again sent flying and disarmed.
"What, dueling?"
"You're younger." The lady snapped in annoyance. "When I thought you were some barmy old coot it was fine. Now I just feel somewhat pathetic."
Harry snorted. "Believe me when I say you're far from pathetic in a duel. I merely improvise better, play dirty, don't follow pure blooded traditions for dueling they teach you at in Auror school and I simply overpower and barrel through most shields."
"Exactly my point, you're younger." Mary pointed out.
"Being target number one for a madman hell bent on global non magical genocide would make anyone improve." Harry pointed out as he threw back his partner's wand. "On that note, how's the Occlumency?"
"No difference, my shields remain the same. I don't see a difference in whether I use the memory or not." The woman prodded her temple with the tip of her wand.
"Take my word. Just overlay the memory of the bright green bolt 'o' death with your shields and any idiot who tries to go beyond brushing your shields will be in for a big surprise. Of course don't overlay the entire memory, Voldemort's downfall version 1 is sort of a rather unique memory that will bring up questions on how you obtained it from a currently living impaired person."
"That reminds me. How ever did you pull off the all dead act? I'm pretty sure I remember seeing your decapitated head on the front page of the Daily Prophet. Not to mention I was the one that stunned the Death Eater that lobbed it off."
"Really?" Harry sounded surprised. Some wanker had actually managed to desecrate his remains. Once again he thanked the powers that were out there that Nicholas had gone the whole dead person and Polyjuice route, rather than simply stuffing him with Potion Of Living Death.
"I'd like to know how you survived getting your head removed. The Aurors examined the body afterwards and it was you."
Harry simply smiled at the woman. "They don't call me the Boy-Who-Lived for nothing you know."
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Unspeakable Safe House – Mary's Room
It had been a couple of days before Harry had been satisfied that she was able to use intent spell casting on the fly. She was currently relaxing on her bed attempting to read a light novel. Attempting was the word, as her mind was constantly on the up coming mission. The fact that her mentor and partner was the Harry Potter was also on her mind.
Not that she really cared of course. She had long gotten over the fact that he was better yet younger than her. One's world views on anything Harry Potter got so much easier when one simply answered with 'It's Harry Bloody Potter that's why.'
But damn he had a nice ass.
Mary mentally slapped herself. She really needed to get out more. Her only male contact being an underage boy was doing weird things to her.
'I'm not a pervert. I must not admire his ass.' She mentally reinforced.
"Mary you there?" The voice beyond the door started her.
She caught herself before she could ask who it was. There was only one person who it could be and he would no doubt give a sarcastic answer in return.
"Come in Harry." She called out adopting to remain sprawled across her bed.
The door clicked open and she heard the telltale sound of glass clinking.
"Here." Something landed by her on the bed.
"Polyjuice." She stated as she peered at the disgusting liquid.
"Same as always, you're Mary the younger sister and I'm Harriet. We really need to get out more. Staying cooped up is definitely affecting you if you're fantasizing about me." Ha pointed out.
Mary blushed. She really did wonder why he never did respond to the fact that she constantly checked him out.
She mentally slapped herself. Got he was right. She really was going barmy if she was considering someone yet to reach their age of majority.
'Then again he is only four years younger and one year off from adulthood.' She thought before slapping herself.
A chuckle from his partner caught her attention causing her to blush once more.
Damn it, she had been broadcasting again.
"Let's go on a date." His words seemed to confound her. The word 'date' kept on repeating.
"What?" She didn't think she heard him right.
"Not what your thinking." He shook his ampoule of Polyjuice. "we both need to get out so what say we waste some time in Muggle London before heading to a pub for a good ole ladies night out."
Mary frowned at his choice of words. 'Maybe he's gay' she thought.
Harry frowned and Mary immediately knew he knew.
"I assure you Mary that I do indeed find your behind rather attractive as well." He rolled his eyes. "Now if you would please." He indicated the phial in her hands and tossed her a small flask. "Get changed. Staying cooped up is impairing your better judgment."
Mary rolled her eyes as he exited the room.
"A date huh?" she mumbled. Somehow she didn't think date and Harry Potter worked in the same sentence, especially when disguised as a girl.
XXXXX
Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry – Headmaster's Office
"Just remember that I'm highly opposed to this plan Headmaster." The Potions Master snarled in irritation as he made for the exit.
"At this point Severus, no more alterations can be made. Your role as a spy must not be disclosed." The old Wizard sighed as he leaned back into his seat.
Snape paused at the exit. "Just remember this Headmaster, the plan, it's not for the best. As much as I loath to admit it, the Wizarding World needs its icons. With Potter now gone you're all that's left." With that parting comment he left the room.
"It is said, that to sacrifice one, you can save a thousand, however it is also said that by sacrificing a thousand you save an empire." Dumbledore mumbled as he rolled the locket of Salazar Slytherin in his palm.
He chuckled to himself as he examined the locket in finer detail, he hadn't been wrong to include Harry's friends on the expedition after all.
Despite them not being at the level of a fully qualified curse breaker to tomb raider the two had shown a talent for it, Hermione with her outside the box way of tackling a problem and Ronald his sheer dumb luck.
Then again the Headmaster wondered if being clumsy and triggering the trap of Inferi was being lucky or not. While tenacious and deadly with their swarm tactics, Inferi lost their shock value when only attacking from a single front.
This was the case as Ronald had slipped upon entering the cave and caused a small amount of rocks to disturb the waters within. The Zombies had immediately 'awakened' and attacked. With his command and knowledge of fire spells the Inferi easily purged with the two students picking off the odd one that escaped the flaming inferno he had summoned.
Dumbledore shuddered to think at how it would have turned out had the trap been sprung if they were on the middle island instead.
Another thing that he noted might have turned out differently had he gone alone was as he had ordered the two to continue feeding him the potion no matter what.
Hermione Granger had frowned before transfiguring a rock into a rabbit before proceeding to force feed it the potion instead.
All in all Dumbledore was surprised the expedition had been completed so easily.
He was brought out of his musings as a low trill sounded from the corner of his office.
"Ah, Fawkes." The man smiled at his familiar.
Perched upon its stand the bright red Phoenix gave a low moaning trill.
Severus had notified him that the Death Eaters were infiltrating the castle on this night.
"Yes, my friend, our guest will be heading for the Astronomy Tower where I'm supposed to be."
The bird made a low moaning sound and tilted its head.
"Come now, it not like we wouldn't meet again." The wizened man held out his hand.
The Phoenix displayed its annoyance at the comment with a squawk before flying to the awaiting limb. Instantly upon contact both vanished in a vibrant display of flames.
XXXXX
London
"Have you ever had the nagging feeling that you're being watched?" Harry blurted to Mary who was trailing him.
"If you are referring to your current situation, it would be because I am behind you."
"Ha ha, very funny." Harry said bluntly. "Now do away with the wit. Have you?"
"Of course. Everyone probably felt that feeling at least once in their lives." The girl shrugged. "This doesn't have anything to do with our upcoming mission, does it?"
Harry turned and gave her a look that clearly said, "You Think?".
"Er… Right then. What's it got to do with Vampires?"
Both were in currently walking around Muggle London simply buying time. As two individuals with hoods up didn't really stand out in Wizarding community, they most certainly would in the Muggle world. As such both were once again using Polyjuice Potion and Harry was in his Harriet disguise.
Being the older sister of the two she was currently looking through store front windows in an aim to waste time.
"The ability to sense if someone is watching you is both a gift and a curse. Everyone possesses some level of the skill, be they Muggle or Magical. Think of it as sixth sense if you will." Harry opened the door leading to the main rotating chamber and waved Mary to go in first.
"From the way you talk, you sound like you have it."
"Nah." Harry closed the door and the wall began to spin. "Just a bit every now and then, it helps. Although I do know someone who does."
"Really? Who?" Mary sounded curious.
"Ever heard of Alastor Moody?"
"He was an ex-Auror, considered one of the best in his field of work. The man's a legend. Too bad, he's as snappy as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs."
"He has the gift, which is probably why he is still alive."
"I'd rather not have it if it means being as twitchy as he is."
"Mad Eye Moody had survived the reign of two Dark Lords and is still surviving this one because of that skill, a skill that would prove rather useful tonight." Harry lectured.
"Oh yeah. Vampires are stealth creatures and they aren't easily detected." Mary snapped her fingers.
"Correct." Harry called out the exit and moved towards the door. "So if you feel like you're being watched, get ready to begin cursing." Harry waved a finger at her.
"Yes, yes. Flame spells and anything that can cut off their heads. What about holy water?"
Harry stopped and gave her a look.
"What about it?"
"Using it on them."
"Where were you in Defense classes when Vampires were being covered?"
"Look our Defense classes were severely lacking." Mary grumbled.
"Tell me about it." Harry thought about Hogwarts's bad string of Defense teachers.
"Tell me, do you think that holy water will kill a Vampire like the Muggles believe?"
Mary took a second to think the situation through logically. "No."
"Good answer."
"So why do stakes and decapitation work like the Muggles say?"
Harry raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Mary do you honestly think any creature could survive decapitation or a piece of wood to the heart?"
Realizing how stupid she sounded a few seconds ago. Mary harrumphed and decided to sulk.
"As immortal as they seem to be, Vampires are very much mortal, the only difference being that their bodies and much stronger than ours. Think about it, anyone would become stronger if they were to consume magical blood on a daily basis."
"So, why don't mortals do it? Drink magical blood I mean?"
"Because, firstly, it is unethical. Secondly, it's not a balanced diet and last of all, the curse does play a part. Vampirism grants the victim an immortal life as long as they don't get killed and have a constant fresh blood source. In return you can't stomach anything but blood and become extremely pale from lack of a proper diet and sunshine. Did I forget to mention the sunlight kills you?"
Harry stopped to look into a store that sold charms for different uses. He seriously doubted that they were anything like the magical version. He internally rolled his eyes, placebos the lot of them.
Mary chose to ignore the last sarcastic comment. "So a Vampire would die from a liver exploding curse like you and I?"
"Just not as quick. They would be able to seek medical aid before dying. The killing curse works on them just fine. Despite popular belief, they aren't undead, just blood sucking fiends.
Seeing Mary's look he quickly added. "Don't get me wrong, there's a nice Vampire here and there. I just haven't had the pleasure of meeting one yet. Most of the kind that I run into always tries to take my head off the first thing they get to do."
"So basically while magical blood has power in it, Vampirism is the only way that magic can be extracted." Mary pondered. "Hey, aren't there any that simply works for us?"
Harry moved on towards a café. "Hmm… well there are certain magical creatures that do have blood potent enough. However the side effects kind of make it a moot point to drink them." He took a look at their tea menu.
"Such as?" Mary moved up and peered around his shoulder.
"Unicorns for one have extremely potent blood, powerful enough to prevent death despite being mortally wounded. Too bad the side effect is that it causes you to rot away slowly."
Mary frowned in distaste. "It would be an excellent medical breakthrough if someone figures out how to stop the rotting part."
Harry hummed in acknowledgement as he gestured towards a table and moved to take a seat outside the café. It was after all a rather rare sunny day in London.
"What about Dragon's blood." Mary sat opposite her currently female partner looked about for a waiter. "That's pretty powerful isn't it?"
"You're probably thinking of refined Dragon's blood. Once refined it looses its potency. It would be rather inadvisable to drink the raw stuff as not only is it poisonous as hell you would probably die from magic overload. Did I mention that raw Dragon's blood occasionally sprouts out magical flames of four hundred degrees?" Harry waved down the attention of a waiter from inside the café.
"So there aren't any?" Mary thanked the man who passed her a copy of the menu.
Harry waved the man off stating she was still unsure of what to get. "If you remember a while back I did toss some Re'em's blood out. The stuff gives a small magical boost, with the nifty side effect of superhuman strength. Excellent points till you find out it can't be stored for long and its effects are temporary."
Mary frowned still looking at her menu and deciding.
"Look at it this way girl. If getting a power boost was as easy as drinking blood, just about every Riddle, Richard, and Potter would have done it." Harry waved back the man who was staring at her.
His partner raised an eye at the way the neo female acted. "Shouldn't it be Tom, Dick and Harry?"
"Congratulations you know a Muggle phrase. Tom Riddle, Dick Richard and Harry Potter, aka me." The disguised boy explained as the waiter arrived.
Both ordered a tea set and salads to tide them till later.
Mary stared at her partner in silence for a while before bringing up the question that was always plaguing her. "Why do you act so well as a girl?"
"Didn't you say I needed a hobby?" Harry smirked.
Mary's eyes widened. She couldn't really remember saying it. "Hey!" She realized he had read her mind again a while ago.
"Dressing and acting as a girl is not a hobby, it's just weird." Mary hissed.
Harry snorted. "I meant that I observe the way people act for fun. It's rather amusing. An example would be that waiter there who's probably contemplating whether to ask me out later." She gestured off to the side.
Mary's eyebrows rose. The man was staring rather blatantly at the disguised girls.
"You Harry Potter, are a very disturbed young man."
"A killing curse to the head does that." Harry smirked.
XXXXX
Location Unknown – Death Eater Safe House
"Will he be trustworthy, my Lord?"
"It matters not Bella, at worst, I will require the services of a new Potions Master."
"You believe my nephew incapable of carrying out your will?"
Voldemort gave a dark chuckle at the idea of the Malfoy brat killing Albus Dumbledore and the question itself. Had any other Death eater questioned him in any way, they would be on the floor, screaming from a bout of Cruciatus. Bella had always been his favorite and that allowed her some degree of leeway.
"Had I thought young Draco capable of carrying out the deed, I wouldn't have had you sister and you force Severus into an Unbreakable Vow." The man pointed out.
"You wish to test his allegiance." The former Azkaban inmate realized.
"If he fails to do so he will die and you, Bella, shall finish the deed. Whether Severus is loyal to our cause will not matter after he murders the old fool. The Wizarding World shall know he played a part in Dumbledore's downfall and curse his existence. He'll never be able to return to them.
XXXXX
London – The Hip Hugger Lounge
"I assure you Mr. Pathertrory, if this is your idea of an ideal date location, you are sorely in need of 'Dating For Dummies'" Mary commented as she looked about the latest establishment James had dragged her off to.
"What's wrong with a strip club?" Mary wasn't sure if the man was just being sarcastic or was truly confused as he sounded.
"It's just isn't the right place to bring a lady to."
"Don't see what's wrong." He currently a she pointed in the direction of two ladies who were avidly making out in a corner of the large room.
Blushing to the roots of her hair Mary tried to stammer out a response.
"Besides we're here on assignment and it was the only way to get you to come along." Harry added as he stared at a particular dancer swaying erotically to the music. "Interesting choice of clothes."
His partner stared dumbly at him for a moment. She was about to comment on his method but gave a sigh instead. She should have known he'd pull something like this.
Rolling her eyes she took note that the girl in question was actually quite nude and didn't have a shred of cloth on her. "What clothes?"
"Exactly my point." She could just see his smirk beneath that shroud of darkness his cloak had.
"Pervert." She muttered.
"I heard that." She jumped in surprised. How he managed to catch a whisper above the loud din of the club, she didn't know.
At this point she noticed something weird, Harry for all she knew was a man despite his current appearance, and no man was likely to enter a strip club without showing some kind of interest in the female anatomy. Despite the fact he was indeed staring at a particular seductive stripper. His posture was one of contemplation and not lust.
"You're not gay are you?" The question came from no where.
"It's called Occlumency, Miss Sue." Harry wondered what made her keep asking that particular question. "Engage your mage sight by the way."
"Don't have any." Her partner reached into one of his dress pockets and pulled something out.
"Here." Harry offered her his heavily charmed glasses.
She looked at him in askance. "Glasses? Didn't know you were of the visually challenged sort.
"Just put them on." She could have swore she heard him sighing in annoyance.
Complying she wore the bifocals.
"Hey! This thing has a zoom feature." This of course led to the thought as to why it was engaged in the first place.
Mary stared at her partner. Mary stared at the stripper. Now it made perfect sense. Zoom feature and Occlumency.
Her conclusions were cut off however when Harry prodded her. "Engage the zoom and mage sight feature by concentrating. Look at that stripper and tell me what you see."
Shrugging her shoulders she looked. He always had a definite reason for things. "I don't see anything different except for a better view of the female reproductive system up close."
"Focus on her ring and concentrate using the mage sight."
"What, the ones on her nipples?" The girl seemed annoyed.
Harry rolled his eyes and muttered about perverted partners. "The ring on her hand." He stressed the last part.
Following his words she did, suddenly the naked woman wasn't so naked anymore. In fact she was modestly dressed in what would pass as a frilly laced gothic dress.
"What the?" She voiced her confusion. "This is a Muggle establishment right?"
"Indeed, a magical bracelet that enables the use of a Veela like compulsion charm as well as one that makes the wearer appear in any type of attire they so wish."
Mary cocked her head and tried looking at the other girls.
"Don't bother, only this one has the effect. The rest are normal nude girls." Mary wondered how one managed to make such a comment without as much as a twitch.
"You don't think magical folk's got their fingers in this do you?"
"No. From what I can see there isn't any other hint of magic in this area except for that dancer. No wards or anything remotely magic. Also look closer at the girl."
"I am already looking close enough for comfort. Her rather large breasts are noticeable even without the zoom feature." Mary commented.
"At her mouth." Harry deadpanned as he ignored her reply.
"Dark red lipstick, nothing wrong with a lady wearing some."
"I meant more specifically her teeth."
"Oh." Mary understood. Sure enough, zooming in more she saw the tell tale signs of elongated canines. Moving up she confirmed it as twin red orbs briefly passed over her.
"Busted." Harry muttered as Mary's target's eyes widened slightly.
The stripper spun one last time before waving at the crowd and leaving the stage. Another fully clothed woman soon took her place but neither Unspeakable stuck around much longer.
XXXXX
London – Alleyways
"Why must they always run?" Harry called out to the retreating figure that had been discretely making her way out from the backdoor towards the more populated streets.
Ignoring him the female vampire instead hastened her pace.
"Going somewhere Miss?" Mary appeared at the exit effectively trapping her between the two of them.
"Non magical from the looks of it, otherwise she would have Apparated out, but just in case." He waved his wand and a satisfying heaviness in the air implied a ward had been set.
The Vampire being a natural hunter had simply backed up, placing equal distance between her two would be ambushers. "Hunters." She snarled.
Harry snorted. "Not likely. Unspeakables." He indicated his blue robes that were hard to distinguish in the badly lit alleyway. Somehow he doubted the Vampire would be having a problem despite the darkness.
The blood sucker's eyes widened. "The treaty…"
"Only applies to Ancients and you my lady, aren't one of them. Sure as hell dress like one though." Harry interrupted as he admired the Gothic dress sense most ancient Vampires favored. The lady was wearing a rather lacy black and white dress with corset combination. This was all finished off with a dark red lace choker.
Mary willing to let her partner do the talking drew out a small dagger in her right and wand in her left. This garnered a hiss from their query.
"Don't mind my associate. Miss Sue is just being precautious. I myself merely wish to talk."
"Talk?" The Vampire scoffed. "Why would a wand waving flesh bag wish to talk? Last I heard the Ministry wished nothing to do with our kind."
"It's more of a personal matter and if you aren't aware I don't represent the Ministry per se. Mary." He displayed his empty hands.
Somewhat reluctantly his partner holstered her weapons. This of course didn't in anyway put the Vampire at ease.
"Now, manners first, I'm James Pathertrory, and my partner over there is a Mary Sue." He introduced.
The widening of the woman's eyes definitely showed that the name was recognized. Harry took some amusement at the snort she gave at Mary's name. "Aleicia." She bit out.
"Ah! Excellent." Harry clapped his hands. "Down to business then. Seeing as you aren't an Ancient and we really do have a need for one I don't suppose you would be willing to lead us to him?"
Apparently it wasn't the best way he could have said it. If anything, Vampires were fiercely loyal to their masters. Harry raised his hands in a peaceful gesture at the woman bearing her fangs and hissing at him.
"Don't be hasty. I probably should have said it in a nicer way. We wish an audience with your ruler, master of all Vampires in Europe."
Of all things Harry did not expect the woman to start laughing.
Was it something he said? He replayed his previous words and couldn't see anything amusing in them. Certainly not enough to send the woman before him into bellyaching laughs. He had to admit though, she did have a beautiful laugh.
When the Vampire had gotten control of herself she spoke in a haughty voice. "You're a fool of you wish an audience with our Lord."
"None the less a fool then I may be. Will you take us to your master? It seems that only an Ancient is aware of the location of the lair."
"No need for that." A richly accented voice cut through the air.
Harry turned his eyes upwards where the voice had come from. He had felt the slight underlying of power within those few words.
"Interesting, I wasn't aware Childes were capable of communicating with their Sires." He pointed out as he moved into a slightly defensive position with his back closer to the wall.
"Indeed." The voice despite being way above them carried directly to their ears. A silhouette was sighted in the darkness above them before vanishing and appearing beside the Vampire woman.
Harry raised an eyebrow at the display of power. The Elder Vampire had either torn through his wards or had just attempted something most Wizards were incapable of. Seeing as the heavy feeling in the air was still there he chose the later.
"Line Of Sight Apparating." Harry identified the ability out loud.
"The Japanese name. We Europeans call it the Flash Step or Shunpo by the Asians." The man was dressed in a dark blood red suit, with a bow lacing up his white ruffled shirt rather than a tie. Like the stereotypical Vampire Elder he had his dark hair down long.
"The ability to Apparate based on line of sight. Wards matter not as you simply require power." Harry stated as he thought back to the infamous duel between the Headmaster and Voldemort at the Ministry Atrium. He had then thought it was normal Apparation the two were performing but later realized that the Ministry's anti Apparation wards were still up.
"Yes. Now, Aleicia here has informed me that you wish to talk. I'm the Vampire Elder, Remington." He gave a bow, his eyes still focus on the Unspeakable before him.
Harry could see that his partner was getting a bit anxious now with the powerful Vampire's presence.
"My partner behind there is Miss Mary Sue. I…" Harry gave a grin and took a step forwards, when he promptly vanished. "Am Pathertrory James." He finished standing beside a wide eyed Mary.
Both Vampires spun around in surprise, no doubt mirroring his partner's same thoughts.
Harry grinned realizing that they were now blocking the exit. Not that it was anything of strategic importance seeing as the Elder's ability to Flash Step sort of negated a positional advantage. It did however allow him to buy time, should he need to, for Mary to escape.
"It seems Mr. Pathertrory that we have something in common." The Vampire grinned, a hint of respect in its eyes. "May I also enquire why you smell and sound female?"
Here, Mary gave off a chuckle.
Harry rolled his eyes and dropped his hood. "I've gone incognito for tonight."
"As a female?" Aleicia spoke up.
"You, dear Sir, have a very strange hobby." The Elder smirked.
Harry simply rolled his eyes at his partner's increased volume of chuckles.
"Well Vampire Remington, I seek an audience with your Lord and Master." Harry went down to business.
"I regret that I wouldn't be able to arrange one. Our lord values his privacy above all else." The man stated.
"I insist." Harry pressed as he withdrew a sword from within his cloak.
"A sword, child? You think to threaten and convince me with a mere sword." The Vampire condescendingly stared at the weapon in question.
"Hey when negotiations break down, always resort to violence. That's what I say." Harry shrugged.
"Indeed." The man vanished and Harry instinctively ducked.
He was thankful he did as a claw swipe narrowly missed taking off his noggin. He hissed in pain as it did however snare some of his currently long hair, ripping it out.
Harry vanished and appeared further down the alley beside the other Vampire. "You ladies might want to have a chat or two. The Elder and I have a few things to discuss." Harry only hoped that Mary would not interfere as the Vampire was no doubt testing him.
He again vanished as the Elder appeared and tore through the now empty spot. "You're fast and powerful for someone so young." Remington's voice hitched at the end as Harry reappeared only to slam his knee into the man's groin.
He was just about to follow up with a decapitating blow when despite the effectiveness of his patented squirrel move, the Vampire lashed out with a clawed hand. Harry released his hold in the sword lest his arm got taken off. He avoided the second swipe by vanishing.
The Unspeakable reappeared a distance away as the Vampire bent over in pain. "You'll pay for that." The Elder glared at the spot Harry had reappeared.
"I say bring it." A slightly savage grin that looked out of place on the female face he currently wore appeared. He drew both Basilisk fangs wands from within his robes and held them downwards in a stabbing position.
XXXXX
London – Alleyways
Mary had long ago suspected her partner was constantly holding back in his duels with both her and his opponents, never showing more than he needed to and always responding with the same amount of force thrown at him. He had of course sometimes gone for overkill when she started dishing out the really nasty curses on him.
This however, was new to her, never during their duels had he used or even hinted at Line Of Sight Apparation. She herself had heard about it.
Flash Stepping was a skill so highly beneficial to duelers that the ability to do so usually meant an easy win. All one needed to do was drop an anti Apparation ward and immediately gained an unfair advantage over their opponent.
Duels like those ended extremely fast.
What she was seeing now, was simply amazing. It was rare thing to witness a duel between two with the ability she had heard. Both men had initially prodded each other's skills by attacking from a distance with spell fire before popping to a new location to dodge.
The constraints of the alleyway and presence of their partners did of course limit the two to non mass damage spells.
That was three minutes ago. Now both had forgone magic and were simply dashing at one another executing melee attacks. Hitting an enemy that could pop around was pretty hard when all you had were non area of effect spells.
It was almost like a complex martial arts spar except instead of dodging and blocking they simply popped a slight distance back to avoid the hit and pop back in.
Despite Mary knowing this was some sort of screwed up test, she couldn't help but wonder if the Vampire was aiming to kill. He wouldn't be breaking any laws, Vampire or Wizarding if he did. Harry had threatened him after all.
She winced as once again the Vampire's claws snagged her partner's hair. He certainly looked like he was playing for keeps.
Harry growled in pain and viciously aimed a stab with his pale wand at the man's arm that was currently entangled.
"I don't think so." The Vampire's free hand caught the incoming blow.
Harry grunted at the pressure the vice like grip had upon his forearm.
Mary's eyes widened in fear as her partner failed to pop away due to being in direct contact with a foreign body preventing him. Remington, in a show of brutality, ripped the entangling hairs from their roots and stabbed his now free hand at the Unspeakable.
"James!" Her voice left her mouth before she even realized it.
"EXPELLIARMUS!!!" The-Boy-Who-Lived roared in pain as the resulting blast of force interrupted the attack and blew the Vampire Elder straight into the nearby brick wall.
Both ladies winced at the crunch of both bone and bricks as the Vampire impacted.
"Yeah, who's your daddy?" Harry hissed out as he was bent over catching his breath and massaging his scalp.
Mary moved in and supported him. It was no doubt extremely taxing on the user's physical, magical and mental state to constantly pull off multiple Flash Steps.
"Master!" The Aleicia called out in panic as she tended to her fallen Sire.
"You won?" Mary questioned.
"Yeah." Harry said, catching his breath. "Should have seen the way his eyes widened when he realized my pair of Basilisk fang daggers were actually wands, caught my most powerful Disarming Hex to the chest at point blank range too.
"A thing that will most likely never happen again." Came the growl from before them.
Mary's eyes widened in shock, she definitely heard multiple cracks from broken bones. Even the wall he had hit had multiple spider lines radiating from the point of impact.
"Fucking resilient bastards." Harry snarled in annoyance.
"You win this round Pathertrory." The Vampire rose brushing the dirt off his suit. His Childe stood by his side giving Harry a look that promised pain.
"Let me handle him Master." The woman snarled barring her fangs. She was dissuaded in with a hand to her shoulder.
"Settle down Aleicia. The mortal has proven himself. He wishes to visit the lair of our Lord. I say let him." Remington grinned flashing his fangs.
Mary saw his eyes narrow in suspicion. "Just like that?" He asked.
"Just like that." The Vampire confirmed. "You won. I'll show you the way. What our Master does to you upon arrival is not my concern."
Harry nodded. "She comes with me." He tilted his head at Mary and holstered his two wands.
"Acceptable." The Elder withdrew a wand from his suit. "Accio, Portus." He summoned a nearby rock and enchanted it. "This is a one way Portkey. Catch."
Mary's eyes widened as the rock sailed towards her.
Harry immediately gripped her arm and snagged the flying stone, both immediately vanished.
"Master? Do you think they will survive?"
"That man had better have been holding back or he wouldn't survive." He inspected a small tear on his suit.
"You held back as well." She accused puffing out her cheeks.
Remington laughed softly and patted the girl on her head. "That was the infamous James Pathertrory, I only wish to see if he could survive our Lord."
"And if he doesn't?"
He stared pointedly at a spot above them. "Show over Unspeakable, return to your leader."
The disillusioned Unspeakable surveying them broke cover and Disapparated.
"The Vampire Nation will have a new ally either way, undead or alive." He laid an arm across her shoulders and Dissaparated, Harry's ward having fallen as he left.
XXXXX
Ministry Of Magic – Level Nine: Department Of Mysteries – Head Unspeakable Office
"Nicholas." The man growled as he was allowed entry into the office. "That man will be the death of us all."
"What's he gone and done now?" The old alchemist sat up straight in his chair.
"Done? Oh nothing much just decided to march straight into the lair of the ruler of all Vampires in Europe after threatening and attacking an Ancient." The Intelligence Division Head snapped sarcastically.
"Really?" Instead of worried, the old man's tone sounded amused. "I stand by my case. Haven't your department been trying for ages to locate the Vampire Ruler's lair?"
"That's not the point Nicholas! We have a treaty with them, a non aggression treaty with them."
Nicholas snorted. "Doesn't stop the occasional hunter from going after them."
"They understand we aren't responsible for idiots who decide to try and eliminate them, just like they can't stop the occasional attacks on the random unlucky Witch or Wizard. Besides when was the last time a hunter took down an Ancient? The occasional hunter dusts weaklings, newborn Vampires spawned from the bite of a rogue Ancient. The Ancients police their own kind and are not to be taken lightly."
Nicholas almost pitied the man. He was obviously freaking out over the political mess this was going to cause.
"That man is invading a vampire's lair dressed fully in Ministry colors. He practically informed the Elder he was an Unspeakable."
"Quietus." The spell reduced the volume of the man's rants. "Lawrence, shut up." The simple command stilled the man's tongue. "Believe me when I say that I have full confidence in Mr. Pathertrory ability to reach an agreement with the Vampire nation."
"You know as well as I do the Vampires respect power, and the only way he's going to meet that man is if he battles his way through his servants."
Nicholas's rather savage grin causes the other Unspeakable to take a step back. "Believe me when I say that the title of Dragon rightfully belongs to Mr. Pathertrory." He worded cryptically.
"Whatever do you mean?" The man frowned.
"Nothing much, just the son of the dragon will be mightily impressed before dawn tomorrow."
Author's Note:
Firstly I would like to say. Bloody hell, Masters Of Business Administration is so freaking hard when you come from a total Science and Medical stream. At least the hours are pathetically short so I get time to study my ass off.
Now on to less ranting topics, I would like to express tons of gratitude and thanks to my current Beta, 'Stalker Of Stories' for all the hard work she's done correcting my horrendous punctuation and grammar mistakes for all current online chapters.
All previous chapters have been corrected and uploaded again. Also, thanks goes to EriKaBalDel who pointed out some plot mistakes that I made after having forgotten what I wrote in earlier chapters.
Stalker Of Stories, aka Kia Lewis, once again thanks for taking all the time to meticulously sift through my massively long chapters and finding all those tiny errors.
On another note, for those of you who read, thinking of reading or just plain curious, check out my new Evangelion Fanfic, 'Reality'.
Since we are on the topic, the new Evangelion, 'You Can (Not) Advance' movie is simply sweet as hell. An induced berserker Unit 02 and Unit 01 going all Godmode in the final battle had me drooling in the Cinema.
Anyway hope you enjoyed this latest chapter as I practically had to write it twice. I was making a backup after finishing half of it when I stupidly overwrote the original with the previous backup copy. Result was me smacking my head on the table multiple times and screaming in annoyance. Knowing the length of one of my chapters, it kind of explains the pain I was feeling. Three weeks wait this time instead of a two year one lol.
ENSIGN
Nunquam
Lamiae Morde "Me Ictus"