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Wreaking Havoc!

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Chapter Eleven – August 2

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Summer Cottage, Scotland

When Harry came to much later he found Hermione asleep in the armchair beside his bed, papers and books scattered around her on the floor and bed. Pushing himself up onto all fours Harry swung around to find Hermione's cinnamon eyes looking at him accusingly.

"I'm not staying in bed," Harry began before a glare worthy of Madame Pomfrey changed his mind.

"Okay," the teen said lying back down. "If you could get me two ice packs, cool them off and put them on my back where my wings connect that would be great."

Hermione moved efficiently around the room and quickly did as asked.

"Oh!" Harry groaned as the cold touched the fevered warmth of his back.

"Worse?" she asked sleepily.

"Better. Much better," Harry replied.

As he lay still, Harry could feel, Hermione's cool fingers reach out and touch his emerald green wings.

"They're beautiful," she whispered smiling. "Absolutely beautiful. And you don't look too bad yourself."

"They are so different to Sirius'," Harry said slowly moving one of his appendages so he could see it. "I have had different conflicts though. I read something my mother left me," he continued appealing to his friend's inquisitive nature. "It said the more intricate the patterns the more battles the demon has seen and the closer to my eye colour the more powerful the demon."

"Your wings are the exact colour of your eyes," Hermione said. "Aren't Sirius?"

"Yes, and my aunt's are as well."

"How can you all be so powerful?" Hermione asked.

"Mum translated what I read from Latin after it had been translated from Egyptian hieroglyphs more than two thousand years ago. I'm guessing then there were more demons of a wider power range," Harry guessed.

Hermione returned to looking at her pages while Harry gazed at the intricate spiralling patterns feeling the soft leather and the hard spines.

"I wonder if I can fly?" Harry mused aloud.

"Not for a little while, Harry," Hermione said. "You grew wings thirty nine hours ago. I'm not letting you fly anywhere."

Harry spun around and looked at his companion in shock.

"A day and a half?" he asked and Hermione smirked as she nodded. "Loa looked after you?"

The brunette frowned. "Perfectly."

Harry looked at Hermione. "You need to come to terms with this S.P.E.W. stuff now. I'm going to have a shower. I'll get Loa to come and answer all your questions honestly."

Hermione nodded and allowed Harry to wander into the bathroom.

Stopping in front of the mirror Harry spoke to his reflection. "I look more like Mum now," he said softly, touching his face. "And I'm tall!"

Harry turned to turn on the taps to fill the bath tub before turning back to the mirror.

Leaning in closer Harry gazed at his face. He still looked his age, but he was sure that he had grown at least four or five inches to reach over six foot. He had filled out significantly, gaining a fair amount of muscle loosing the skinny look and looking more like an athlete or a dancer.

"Lord Potter," Loa said from the hall doorway.

"It's Harry, Loa."

"Yes, Master Harry," the house elf replied a cheeky smile on her face. "Loa be here to see if you need anything."

"I don't think so," Harry replied touching his face which, while still his, looked slightly different.

"Master Harry must be very powerful," the elf said. "Powerful wizards and witches are affected by their magic and you be very affected. You have wings!"

"I noticed," Harry told the little elf, laughing.

Focusing on his wings, Harry retracted his wings so the green tattoos down his shoulder blades returned.

"Oh!" Loa gasped. "Oh. Oh!"

"What's wrong?" Harry asked the little elf.

"You be one of the long dead warriors," the creature whispered. "You be here to right the world."

Looking at his tattoos over his shoulder Harry sighed. "I'll do my best."

"Loa be going back to the kitchen now."

"Loa," Harry called before the elf disappeared. "Could I have a glass of lemonade and some crackers, please? And could you go and sit with Hermione and answer every question she has."

"Yes, Master," the elf said curtseying as she left.

Harry pulled off his boxers and lowered himself in to the bath, sighing in satisfaction as the warm water soothed his aches and pains.

III

Lakeside, Wales

"This is a darling town, isn't it?" Narcissa Black gushed to Alec Greengrass.

"It certainly is Cissa," Alec agreed as the two strolled along the new boardwalk. "My wife is insisting I buy one of the large estates just out of town to be a weekend home for us. With three children yet to start school I have been assured it will be a suitable change."

"Abbie has always loved the country though," Narcissa pointed out. "Ever since we were girls. She loved her father's home."

"That she did," Alec agreed. "And I will admit having everyone in that townhouse can make one quite claustrophobic. It's not small by any means, there's just nowhere for the little ones to run."

"I understand," Narcissa said as she casually flicked her wand to help a small child retrieve her ball from where it had fallen into the waters of Lake Arthur. "My Draco was out on a broom from the moment he could toddle outside."

"Cissa!" Isla called from where she was running down the boardwalk towards the duo. "Mr Greengrass."

"Lady Black," the man greeted.

"I'm here to let you know that Mrs Greengrass and the older girls have returned with her sisters and some members of the vampire community. They are interested in joining our town," Isla explained excitedly.

"Are they in the town square, Isla?" Narcissa asked.

"Yes. Apparate there, please."

Isla reappeared between Remus and Narcissa in the town square. The blonde witch launched herself forward kissing a number of the people before her and laughing as they recognised each other and quickly caught up. Daphne moved to take her place beside Isla with another tall, slim young woman.

"This is my cousin, Reid, Isla," Daphne said introducing the two girls. "She'll be at Hogwarts with me this year."

"You can call me, Ruby," the young woman replied, her blue eyes sparkling. "How do you do?"

"Isla Black," she said by way of introduction.

"It was your idea to repopulate the town?" Ruby asked looking around. "It's beautiful, with all the street lamps connected by the flowering vines. How did you get them to do that?"

"Neville Longbottom, who is here somewhere, coaxed them to do it," Isla told the dark brown haired girl.

"Longbottom is a herbology whizz," Daphne added. "He picked every plant that has we've planted over the last few days. And he gave us the spells to help them along."

"It's all so homey," Reid said looking around. "I could live here. I could really live here!"

"Good," Daphne said smiling. "You father is the prime target of one of the real estate agents, on my suggestion."

"Do you girls want to go borrow one of the boats and row out on the lake?" Isla asked happy smile on her face. "You can chat all you like out there and no-one can hear."

"Come on!" Reid shrieked running off down the boardwalk in the direction of the lake her long legs emphasised by the short tailored navy shorts she was wearing and juxtaposed next to Daphne's flowing skirt.

"What are you up to, Isla?" a disembodied voice asked.

"Letting girls have their fun, Sirius," she replied. "Daphne got a new boyfriend while she was in France and she's told me the whole story. Now she can tell someone her age the whole story too."

Sirius made a disgruntled sound.

"How is everything going?" Isla asked ignoring her father's disappointment.

"We bought some beautiful old circular tables with matching chairs for the restaurant. Honey finish, cannot remember which wood but it was a nice one. Seven tables and four dozen chairs at a bargain price," Sirius said. "We also bought square ones of a similar style and one long oval dining table."

"What about outside tables and chairs for Harry's outdoor jazz area?" Isla asked waving to a vampiric family across the street.

"Remus and I were going to go looking for iron and glass tables later this afternoon. We were then going to commission table cloths from a wizarding fabric company Neville has shares in. Then Mrs Greengrass was going to show us where she gets her glassware and crockery from," Sirius explained. "And I made a list of everything else Harry would need for the restaurant with Dobby. It's a long list. I hope Harry's resting not thinking of all this stuff."

"How is this being paid for?" Isla asked stopping to smell the yellow flowers planted in pots on either side of a bench on the main street.

"My personal account for now," Sirius said. "It's not like I will ever need all the money."

"And the painting is finished inside?" Isla asked as she heard and felt Sirius move away.

"Yes, but I just realised we need curtains," the man said as one of the new blond haired Blacks' arrived at her side.

Isla snickered and kissed Draco on each cheek. "How goes it?" she asked.

"My dragon themed store is coming together nicely. I even looked into stocking some Muggle items, books, pictures and stick on tattoos," Draco said as Isla began walking again. "Muggles have the most amazing imaginations."

"That they do," Isla agreed nodding. "And have you painted the shop, gotten everything you need?"

"Remus gave me some glass shelves from a Muggle store that had closed down and sold their stock," Draco said. "I installed them with help from an elf yesterday and they are simply amazing. You can see up through them to the stock sitting on them. So clever! I'm surprised we didn't think of it first."

"The wizarding world hasn't invented anything but spells in over one hundred years," Isla pointed out.

"That is going to have to change," Draco replied before looking over the dusty field before them. "What's going on here?"

"They are the Muggles Harry and Miss Wood have called upon to build the new quidditch stadium. It will be build with Muggle materials in a Muggle style that is perfect for quidditch as well," Isla told Draco, smiling as she waved to Sophia Wood who was in among all the engineers and architects in the middle of the barren landscape. "The wood from the old stadium was used to build the boardwalk."

"Harry is creating a Quidditch stadium?" Draco asked.

"And team," a voice announced from behind.

Draco turned to look at the dark skinned girl standing behind in robes embroidered with the Hub Corp logo.

"I recognise you..." he murmured.

"Ingrid Stocker," she told the duo. "My father's grandmother was a Malfoy."

"Ah, yes," Draco said. "You work for Harry now?"

"I'm on the point team for the Quidditch Complex and the Knights themselves," the young woman replied nodding. "I'm guessing that because you're here with Lady Isla Black that you are no longer hiding behind Daddy."

"No," Draco replied smiling. "I'm still the Slytherin Prince though. I just have changed my surname to be the same as my mother's maiden name as she is from an older more prominent family."

"Draco Black?"

The blond teen held out his hand. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Tell me, who are you looking at recruiting?"

"Oliver Wood will be our starting keeper and Frances Towler will be our lead chaser," Ingrid told Draco knowing Sophia had already told Isla that information. "Both have agreed and will be signing contracts on Monday."

"Frances Towler," Draco said thoughtfully. "As in: 'Frantic', the Slytherin quidditch player who was a sixth year when I started Hogwarts?"

"The very same," Ingrid affirmed. "I played against her. She's good on a broom."

The trio watched the workmen mark the ground with paint from cans for a few minutes before Draco asked a question.

"How are you going to get the grass on the pitch to grow in time for this season? And what about outside the stadium? You'll need grass and plants outside too."

"Bollocks!" the young woman hissed before stalking off. "Thanks,Black," she called back over her shoulder. "Didn't even think of grass. Too busy trying to get as stadium and a team."

A group of people behind them caught Sophia's attention causing her to wave and the two Blacks to turn around and see.

"How about you go out to the pitch and ask Sophie and Ingrid questions," Isla suggested to her cousin before walking towards the group.

"Mr Wood," she greeted.

"Lady Black. You look well," Xavier Wood noted.

"I feel great now that this town is coming to life," Isla remarked. "And who have we here?"

"This," Xavier said pausing for effect. "Is the Helmsgate Family. Grandma, Rose and Peter and all six kiddies."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Isla said greeting, doing her best to not show her surprise when the middle aged couple smiled showing long fangs. "How do you like Lakeside?"

"It's beautiful," Rose declared, happily. "We've been speaking to Mr Wood and we would like to purchase two properties. The farm just out of town and a butcher store in town."

"That sounds great!" Isla said with genuine warmth. "We'd love to have you here!"

"Actually, Mr and Mrs Helmsgate would like to meet the person who is allowing their children to go to Hogwarts," Mr Wood explained.

"I went for a few years before I was bitten," Peter announced. "It would be great if my children could go. They can't do any harm at their age, and I'd like to think they wouldn't do harm anyway.'

"Well," Isla said looking over the family and noticing there were only five children. "It seems only these three will be going to Hogwarts," the black haired woman said pointing to the three youngest children she could seem.

"We have our first grandchild on the way too," Rose said proudly. "Our eldest, Matthew will be a father by Christmas. There's a little cottage on the farm we want to give to him and his wife."

Peter gently touched his wife. "We expect our grandchild to be magical also."

"I see," Isla said. "I am sorry but you won't be able to meet the instigator of this little village and the Hogwarts scheme for a few days. We, his friends and family are acting on his behalf, getting everything ready. Though I do welcome you, whole heartedly, to Lakeside."

"Thank you," Rose said smiling. "We hope to move in next week sometime, and to bring our current flocks and herds over as soon as everything is finalised."

"You're more than welcome to," Isla told them smiling.

"Excused me but have you seen George Weasley?" the eldest child present asked.

"Alana, don't be so inquisitive!" her mother admonished.

"Of course. I was about to return to town and look for the twins and others. Would you care to walk with me? You're welcome to if you wish."

"Yes, please," Alana said smiling looking to her parents.

Isla noticed you could see her fangs were just beginning to lengthen, as she'd learnt the eye teeth of born vampires do after their twentieth birthday.

The two young women walked back toward the path that led into town chatting happily, Isla talking about their plans for the town and Alana sharing her own ideas.

III

Summer Cottage, Scotland

"Loa is this really all the mail?" Harry asked looking at the dozens of letters sitting on his desk.

"No," the elf replied and Harry tensed preparing for more bad news. "This is only the urgent and private letters."

"How much more is there?" Harry asked incredulously.

"The fan mail," Hermione told him using a voice belonging to a Muggle horror film narrator.

Harry frowned before turning to his friend. "Help!"

Hermione laughed and quickly sorted through the pile. "Ron, Ginny, Mrs Weasley," she said making piles. "Professor McGongall, Professor Flitwick, someone from the vampire community, another someone from the vampire community, Professor Dumbledore..."

"Give that to me!" Harry yelled in alarm snatching the letter out of Hermione's hands. "Jeeves!"

Hermione sighed angrily as Jeeves appeared in front of Harry.

"Sir?"

"Take this letter to Aunty Andy immediately and tell her if it is what I think is to submit it for evidence," Harry instructed handing the envelope with orange writing scrawled across it to the house elf.

"Your Aunt Tia found a number of letters that missed your purge. Shall I give those to Andromeda also?"

"Yes!" Harry declared.

Taking up the three letters from the Weasleys Harry smiled to himself and set about reading them and writing the replies.

"Daphne Greengrass. Draco Black. Adrianna Lines – who's that Harry?" Hermione said continuing to sort mail.

"Blaise Zabini's mother," the black haired teen replied without looking up from the letter he was writing.

"Neville Longbottom. Sophia Wood. Gringotts. Dudley Dursley," Hermione said sceptically.

"Can you open them for me, please?" Harry asked. "Most of the ones from Big D and the heirs should be birthday wishes with questions attached on the bottom. Could you please just check for me?"

The duo quickly tackled their tasks, Harry replying to letters as Hermione handed them to him with a summary and list of questions asked. It took the better part of an hour before Harry was left with only letters that intrigued him. The letters from the vampire community were succinct and to the point. Most said thank you for his acceptance of them as a group within the wizarding community. Some asked why. None told him to keep his nose in his own business. Harry addressed as many of the concerns and answered as many questions as he could in a single letter he posted to the Count Vampire – the leader of those people and asked that he read it to his followers.

After reading the letter from his Charms teacher Harry snatched up the letter from his head of house and ripped it open.

"Read the one from Flitwick," he urged Hermione as he began to read the one from McGonagall.

Out of the corner of his eye Harry noticed his friends eyes widen as she read and as the felt her press up against his side as she read the second letter over his shoulder.

"What should I do?" Harry asked.

Hermione took McGonagall's letter from his hands and continued to read until she finished it.

"You need to write back and tell them that you are alright and give some kind of explanation as to why your letter no longer has an address," Hermione began. "You need to reassure Professor McGonagall you are alright and it seems that Professor Flitwick may need assurances also."

"I need to talk to them, and Professor Sprout," Harry said taking up his datebook and making a point on the current day's page before half closing the book. Re-opening it, he wrote another point before closing it and putting it back on the desk.

"What are you thinking?" Hermione asked as Harry said nothing.

"Lots of things," the teen admitted. "How can I deal with fan mail? How to get Lakeside up and happening? How to smooth things over with Minerva and Filius without alerting Dumbledore? How do I keep Dumbledore in the dark about everything?"

"Maybe Sirius or your aunt will have some ideas," Hermione suggested unsurely.

"Tia!" Harry said looking at Hermione with realisation etched on his face. Grabbing the girl he kissed her forehead. "Tia can help!"

"Yes, she can," Hermione agreed in confusion as Harry sat back down at his desk and began writing a hasty letter. "How? With whom?"

"The fans and Dumbledore," Harry replied grinning as he wrote. "Do you have anything you need to do?" he asked.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"I was going to ask you to check the bookcase in the sitting room for any interesting or valuable books, that all. You'll have a better idea than I," Harry said.

"I'll check for you!" Hermione replied happily.

III

Dining Room, Potter House

Petunia Dursley sat at the head of the dining table in Potter House as it lay covered in documents.

"Lakeside..." Petunia began as the group continued to speak. "LAKESIDE is looking absolutely fabulous thanks to a couple of days hard work," she continued before applause broke out making her smile at the camaraderie of her nephew's friends. "Special congratulations to Neville for all the plants. Sirius showed me earlier and the town looks lovely. Also, thanks to the house elves who have all been working hard."

Another round of applause filled the room.

"Alright," Petunia said. "Loa, the house elf where Harry is staying brought me a letter just after lunch. Harry received letters from Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick," the green eyes woman said reading the names directly from the letter to ensure correctness. "They were concerned for his wellbeing since Harry's Hogwarts letter for this coming year didn't have an address on it."

"What!" Sirius gasped. "What did Minnie do? Does Dumbledore know?"

"We don't think so," Andromeda said speaking up. "Harry forwarded the letter he received from Dumbledore to me directly and unopened. It was spelled which gives us another piece of evidence for Harry's case against the old man but from my spell there was nothing within the letter indicating Dumbledore knows of the move."

"But," Petunia continued. "Harry had another idea. He wants me to send a letter to Dumbledore saying that we have gone abroad for three weeks and have Jeeves send it from Spain or something. The purpose Harry tells me would be two fold. Dumbledore will most likely focus his attentions overseas in an attempt to locate Harry, allowing a number of things to happen under his nose back here that he won't be able to do anything about, ever. The second thing is, it assures him and the other professors that nothing is wrong with Harry, due to the missing address on his letter."

"He's his father's son!" Sirius declared loudly.

"Or rather, his mother's," Remus countered.

"True!" Sirius agreed.

Petunia held up a letter on Muggle stationary.

"It has been checked and affirmed by Andromeda, I will ask Jeeves to now send it."

"From Greece," Isla suggested. "Or Italy. Not Spain. There aren't enough places to hide in Spain."

"Jeeves, please go and send this letter, by Muggle means from Greece or Italy, it is your choice," Petunia asked the grinning house elf at her side.

"With pleasure," the creature declared before vanishing with a loud pop.

"I now yield to Finn Gyles, Harry's personal assistant," Petunia said sitting down.

The tall sandy blond man stood and smiled. "Hi everyone. I too received a message from Harry this afternoon and his idea was quite brilliant. To stop fan mail he suggested writing weekly during the summer and then monthly during the term for the Daily Prophet. A 'From the desk of Harry Potter', as a guest journalist. He'd tell the public things about his life, suggest things for them to learn and in turn request that people don't write fan letters, explaining that their hero worship of his only reminds him of everything he lost that night."

Adrianna Lines red mouth twitched before stretching into a beautiful smile. "The boy is a natural leader and public figure," she said her eyes darting across the room as she thought. "This stunt would cause paper sales to soar – to his own profit. It may encourage people to learn something knew – to everyone's benefit during a time of war. A stunt like this also makes him seem young, hip and far more giving to the general public than Albus Dumbledore or Voldemort."

"He sent me a photo and Petunia has also supplied me with some from his childhood at Harry's request," Finn said. "Would you like me to read what he wrote for his first article?"

"Yes!" Isla cried enthusiastically.

"From Harry Potter himself," Finn began smiling to the table around him. "So, you believe me now, don't you? Voldemort, I won't allow any of this You-Know-Who nonsense, is back with a vengeance. It's official, straight from the mouth of Minister Fudge who saw it with his own two eyes along with half the staff from our very own Ministry. Like you, I received a pamphlet in the mail this summer and found it rather unhelpful to prepare for times ahead. And, my friends, we do need to prepare. Stunning spells and impediment jinxes are all well and good but there are other things, simple spells everyone can do that can help us against attackers. A lumos spell aimed in the eyes will blind anyone momentarily, if they are prepared or not. A summoning spell can let something else take the brunt of almost all spells since if a spell cannot reach you, it cannot hurt you. The same goes for the familiar Wingardium Leviosa, taught by Professor Flitwick in the first charms lesson many of us ever received. A banishing charm can also be used to distract would be attackers. A simple kitchen chopping spell could too, come to think of it, or lighting their robes on fire. You see, many very simple everyday spells we all know and all know well could be the difference between life and injury or death. Yes, we need to learn the five basic shielding spells but the younger, less experienced of us cannot use them to protect us. And this is where the wizarding world has gone wrong. We rely solely on our wands which can be taken and broken leaving us defenceless. I have learnt in the last five years that many wizards don't exercise; they couldn't run from danger if they wanted to. We don't teach our children marksmanship by throwing stones at a tree or play hide and seek so they look more carefully at their surroundings. Teaching children to fly is also as skill that could save their lives but also teaching them how to bandage a wound properly could save yours. Teaching a child the basics of how to occlude their mind could help to protect your family secrets and possibly make them less susceptible to the imperious curse."

Neville laughed openly. "Harry knows Snape and Dumbledore can read minds and he's encouraging parents to help their children defend against it!"

People around the table snickered as Finn paused to take a drink.

"Let's move on to more interesting subjects though, like me. My name is Harry James Potter. I'm sixteen years old and I'm about to leave the country on holiday with my family, which I will admit I'm pretty excited about. I can see thestrals and find them to be engaging and highly interesting creatures. I have green eyes, from my mother, and black hair from my father. I am very, very pleased to announce that I have recently grown. While I will never be as tall as one best friend, Ron, I will, thankfully, be taller than the other best friend, Hermione. For my birthday, I also treated myself to Muggle contact lenses so I won't have to wear glasses, which are a hazard when flying or playing quidditch anyway. I can speak to snakes and have learnt that people other than the descendants of Salazar Slytherin can speak to snakes. I learnt recently Merlin could speak to snakes. Maybe I'm his descendant through a secret love child kept hidden... Maybe. I hate it when people ask to see my scar. I hate it when people ask if I remember the demise of Voldemort. News flash! That night was also the end of my father and my mother, who died only a few feet away from me. Therefore, I hate to be reminded of that and as a result don't like Halloween, and on average find the date to be exceptionally dangerous to my physical wellbeing. I do remember screaming, yelling and green lights from that night and it becomes vividly real when a dementor or boggart is close by. Which is why I learnt age 13 how to perform a patronus charm, another spell many of us should learn, just in case. I'm a Gryffindor at Hogwarts for the sole reason I convinced the Sorting Hat not to put me in Slytherin at the beginning of first year. I love the way my aunt makes macaroni cheese bakes and have always been a fast runner. However, another thing I hate is fan mail and I beg to those who write it, not to. I've never seen many of the letters, do not have plans to marry anyone who has offered them self, their mother, sister, cousin, grandmother, or daughter to be my wife. To the three people who offered their sons if I were that way inclined, thank you, but I do prefer the females of our species. I am a Leo, with the temper of a red head, who likes to watch the sunrise and, until next week my dear friends, will bid you adieu. Harry Potter."

The room was silent for a moment until Augusta Longbottom got to her feet and slowly began to clap. Neville copied his grandmother's action as did Fred and George. The Tonks', Sirius Remus and Isla also leapt the their feet with an intense amount of clapping and cheering to be followed by Sophia Wood and Petunia herself who was smiling to herself. Remaining in her chair was Adrianna.

"Adrianna, are you alright?" Andromeda Tonks asked.

"Fine," the other witch replied distractedly. "Just trying to figure out if we can get the new print layout up and ready by Monday to start this overhall and have that in Tuesday's paper."

"I bet you five galleons that you'll make it happen," Isla challenged laughing happily. "And that you'll be printing that Harry Potter makes half a dozen special portkey trips back to Britain during the next few weeks."

Adrianna threw her head back and laughed. After she calmed down, she turned to the now seated Isla and replied. "I don't take sucker bets."

III

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