Hello my minions!
Er… I mean readers!
Hello my readers!
Here I am with yet another chapter of the best story in the world. (Yeah I like to brag so sue me). Now, consummate readers will find influence here from many stories that happen to be my favourite works. So, once again, remember that anything you recognize, I don't own.
And this chapter has loads and loads of dialogues and character interaction, just to make up for so many fillers that have preceded it. So, here we go.
1 September 1994
Slytherin Manor
Unplottable Location
"Selene, give me a final estimate on the projected timeframe before I can expect required levels of efficiency from the vassals."
"Calculating … calculation completed ... Since all the wands and lozenges have been distributed, and the scheduling for the rotations that they will take through the time chambers has been decided, you can expect total competency from the population in… Four months of normal time, Harry. For the first batch, you can expect it in three weeks at the most."
Damn. Damn and blast. This was what he'd been afraid of. Four months, while an extraordinarily short amount of time for training up a population the size he controlled, was still too long for his liking. Well, if he couldn't change it, it'd have to do, unless….
Harry's brows furrowed, as a possibility suggested itself.
Well, might as well test it.
"Selene. Access the arcane magic section from the database. Specifically, the file name 'highest training'."
"Done, Harry," The AI's voice had a questioning tone in it.
"Now assimilate the package properly with the current package that had been given to them, and give me a projection of how long it may take."
"Calculating … Calculation complete … Time estimate; ten months,"
Harry shrugged. He'd expected as much. It wasn't what he had in mind, though.
"Ok, now bring the file up on the screen."
As soon as he saw it, Harry started changing the hologram. Adding pieces here, discarding others there, till he had a final result that he separated into two parts.
"Alright, now assimilate Pack 1, and give me an estimate."
"Memory enhancer blood rituals added, redundant spells removed, new time estimate is ... two and a half months."
"Excellent. Download this straight into the lozenges. Use the rootcode."
"Completed," Came Selene's voice.
"Good. This should help things along quite nicely." Harry said, satisfied for now.
"Now, anything that's coming up urgently?"
"Malfoy responded to the letter. You're invited to the Samhain ball at Wiltshire. Apart from that, the production of crystals is online, and full data analysis of the Sharr family records completed just five minutes ago."
"Good, that was the last, yes?" Harry asked.
"Yes. And furthermore, I have analysed the ranged data scanners you designed for me. Fabrication is currently on hold due to lack of materials, but I can start it as soon as I get some adequate storage options."
"Just start it once the first batch of crystals is done. And that reminds me, transport one of the single scanners here. Once I'm at Hogwarts I want to connect you to the Chamber allbook."
"Understood and acknowledged"
Harry smiled. Things really had become easier with Selene. He would have to be careful that he didn't overdo it, as any fall in his own abilities could not be tolerated under any circumstances, but it was nice nonetheless.
That reminded him. He pulled out his new magical phone, dialling a particular number.
"Hello, Charles. Can you talk right now?" Harry asked the Chief Registrar for Proscribed Charmable objects.
He'd issued every one of his allies with a phone right away, although the official release was still a week away. It was just common sense, as it gave him a secure mode of communication as well as easy advertising.
"Yes, Harry. I'm at home right now, actually. Did you need something?" the man asked.
"Yeah, how goes the carpet legalization? I really do need them lifted from the list soon, Charles. Bashir isn't going to wait forever."
"I know, but the resistance is tough. Nimbus owns five members of the registry, and that makes it incredibly difficult to do things in a registry of eighteen, even though you did get Aries Black to support us with the Comet faction. I'm trying, but it's going to take time."
"Right, I understand. Hurry, though." Harry said, before disconnecting.
That was how the rest of the day went, calling up people, visiting others, just tying up the loose ends so he could focus on Hogwarts in the coming days.
Before Harry knew it, the time came when the Hogwarts Express would be rolling into Hogsmeade station.
Sure enough, there it was, he thought, as he Apparated into the village with nary a sound, trunk shrunken safely in pocket.
He paused for a second, before conjuring an umbrella with a thought. With another, he made it float, vanishing the stick. The rain really was rather awful, pouring by the bucket loads.
Spotting the carriages, Harry walked over to one, setting himself comfortably. As his attention went to what was pulling it, Harry decided to test something.
Channelling to the power of death as a genuine Peverell necromancer, he focused on the Thestral tethered to his carriage, willing it to understand him.
As soon as he was sure it would, he whispered one word.
'Run'.
Witnesses would later all concur that the speed of the carriage had been the fastest in Hogwarts history, going well over , when asked, would say that it ended too soon.
Still, in a few minutes, Harry entered the Castle that was akin to home for him. Moving at a quick pace, within moments he was sitting at the Gryffindor table.
Looking around, Harry saw that the hall was just beginning to fill. His eyes caught Neville at the door, coming in with the usual nervous look on his face. Catching his eyes, Harry gestured to him to come to him.
As Neville walked closer, Harry tried sensing his aura. It had a nice, soil-like feel, denoting Earth magic, rather potent at that. Getting a hunch, Harry focused on the boy, whispering one of the scanning spells he had learned from that ancestor of his who'd been a diviner. The results came up in his mind, and it was confirmed. Neville Longbottom possessed potent Earth-magic, quite possibly Druid-level.
This…. was bad. It was very, very bad. Had this appeared five years from today, Neville could have been a useful subordinate. Right now, he had the potential to be a rival, a bad one at that.
That was unacceptable.
Harry was wondering about the new threat, when his attention focused better on the exact nature of the boy's affinity. It was completely untrained. How could that be, when he came from the Longbottoms, a family every bit as old and great as the Potters or the Blacks?
Unless… the scans Harry used were different from usual ones. They predated most binding techniques, and measured out the exact strengths of a person's gifts bypassing any blocks or shackles. Usually that was a good thing, but Harry believed he had found one of the disadvantages.
With a small gesture of his finger, Harry cast another spell at the boy, now barely a few meters from him. It was a detection spell specially used to check for bindings on magical cores or abilities.
Sure enough, they showed up. In addition to a block on his Earth magic abilities, Neville had several on his core, reducing it to about forty percent to what it should be.
Yet another spell to show the full range of anomalies showed a small but deep amount of damage to the core that was available to the boy, along with a small leftover remnant of an extremely old Cruciatus and an Obliviate gone wrong.
Had Harry been capable of emotion, he might have pitied Neville. The boy's handicaps were almost as bad as what Harry himself had suffered under; only Neville had succumbed to them. It was obvious, really, and went back to magical cores. A magical core was basically a collection of raw magic, albeit more refined than what was found naturally in the ley lines and the air around them.
In the cores, the magic was oriented in the particular direction that the person's talents bent it into. Harry, for all his talent in every single branch of magic, was a Warrior born and bred (even if the breeding part was done very inadvertently). This was one of the reasons for his power, as it meant that all his life his core had fought against the bindings that were upon it. It had fought, and the magic, unable to grow in size, had grown instead in potency.
Currently, in terms of size, Harry had a core the size that by all accounts, he should have possessed at sixty years of age. In terms of potency, however, he possessed magic that was dense enough that he could do with a few iotas of magic what others would require thousands to do.
How this connected to Neville was that his magic, being oriented towards Earth, was highly passive in nature. It had never fought against its bindings, instead bent with them. The problem was that there was a certain point to which Earth could be bent. After that, something would have to give. Harry, now that he was aware, would have to decide what he wanted that 'something' to be.
Anyway, all this had passed through his mind in the span of barely a few seconds. Now Neville was standing in front of him, and Harry had to ensure that he developed no suspicions.
"Hello, Neville. How was your summer?" Harry asked, sticking sincere smile #37 on his face.
"It was nice, Harry. Gran didn't let me go to the world cup, said it was a waste of money. I had loads of fun in my greenhouses, though." The boy replied.
"Oh, nice for you, then. Anything else you did, mate?" Harry asked. They continued in the vein for a few minutes, before breaking off. He needed to get Neville to open up to him, and it was a process that would have to be moved along slowly. Rushing things would not do at all.
A sudden increase in the noise turned Harry's attention to the gaggle of students moving in now. Spotting some undesirable faces, he wove an enchantment around himself, a notice me not charm, keyed to act only on the Weasleys and Granger.
His peace of mind guaranteed, Harry focused on the students filling up the great hall. He spotted several children of his vassals, along with others, whose parents he knew from the ministry and the businesses. There was Urquhart, the Slytherin whose uncle was in the ministry. Boot, the son of one of Talbot's partners in his firm, James Warrington, of the Slytherin Quidditch team, who was Harry's vassal through the Blacks, Finch-Fletchley, one of the better Muggleborns, even though he was rather gullible, it went on.
Harry kept an eye on the students, attaching names to faces. Soon, even the last stragglers had come into the hall, so Harry guessed there were about a few minutes or so before the Sorting began.
As he started to feel the first pangs of hunger, Harry's eyes fell back on the Ravenclaw table. There was something strange there, and it took him a few minutes to work out what. Luna Lovegood, the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood and his vassal through the Sharrs.
Harry remembered that had been a major catch that Aurelius Sharr had managed, as the Lovegoods were one of the last remaining lines that came directly from Ravenclaw herself.
Harry narrowed his eyes, as he focused on the girl. What was strange was that she was sitting far from her year mates, among a sea of second years, when he knew she should be in third year. Not that there was any rule against sitting with younger years, it was just something very few liked to do.
Now it was a matter of working out why. It could be that she liked it, but if she didn't, then something serious could be afoot.
He didn't try to go into her head, as it would be a rather stupid thing to do. The Lovegoods had always been a bit strange, what with the seer blood in their veins, and the high level chaos magic studies that they'd been doing since becoming Sharr vassals hadn't helped.
No, a far better target was Su Li, sitting thirteen places to her right. A tiny exertion of magic, and Harry was in her mind. Rifling gently through, Harry looked for memories related to Lovegood.
What he found incensed him. Harry had far too good control on his nerves to be really angry, but that didn't mean he liked what had been going on in Ravenclaw house for the last two years. Calling a girl 'Loony', stealing from her, leaving her locked out of the tower, all of this smacked of the same brand of bullying that worms like Dudley Dursley and Ronald Weasley were fond of. And Harry would be damned before he allowed it to continue.
He was a completely amoral person. He wouldn't hesitate in the slightest from inducing a systematic psychological destruction of a person if it turned out that he stood to gain anything from it. But bullying a twelve year old girl just for the hell of it? It couldn't be allowed to continue.
Harry had two choices: He could inform the staff, or he could deal with it himself. That was what he thought, before scratching the first option away as he remembered just where he was. Of course he was going to have to take care of it himself!
This was Hogwarts after all, the biggest collection of incompetents in the whole of magical Britain.
As his mind spiralled away on yet another lengthy tangent, Harry categorized the people who ran the place.
The headmaster was a man who had time for anything and everything except the wellbeing of his students. McGonagall amounted to what Granger would be fifty years from today; enough said.
Out of the three other administrators, one was a terrorist, whose greatest dream in life was to mentally torture children less than half his age.
Thankfully the junior staffers were much better, albeit with a couple exceptions. One of the major reasons why Harry was here at Hogwarts, apart from making useful connections and tie-ups, was to take care of the disastrous levels that standards were at currently. Hogwarts currently taught less than it had ever taught in history, and it was a state of affairs that would have to change, whether or not those currently entrenched in it liked it or not.
Harry suspected that Dumbledore would have to die before he could reinstate some of the older classes, but there was even then a considerable amount that could be done to improve the school.
This reminded him…
Raising a hand, Harry snapped his fingers.
Immediately, an elf appeared, bowing deep.
"How can Buttey serve master?" it said, head bobbing.
"Notify the headmaster that The Duke of Gryphonsworth and Parsellsia shall be visiting his office an hour from now to discuss a wide range of changes that are to take place in the school." Harry said.
"Buttey will. Anything else, master?"
"Yes. How long till dinner?"
"Till headmaster gives signal, master."
"Understood. You may go"
Harry watched the elf disappear and appear near Dumbledore. He saw as the man leaned down to hear what the elf had to say, his lips shaping into a smile as he saw a frown take shape on the fool's face. Harry knew that forcing changes at this time, with Dumbledore around to undermine them, was more than a little pointless, but he still had things that he could get done.
Harry's smile disappeared when he saw the vacant seats at the table. He knew for a fact that Alastor Moody was supposed to be starting today as the new DADA professor. So where the hell was he?
Harry was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of Colin Creevey's voice "Hiya Harry!"
"Hi, Colin. How are you?" Harry said.
He could see that the whelp was pretty excited, practically jumping in his seat.
"I'm fine Harry. Hey, guess what? My brother's starting Hogwarts! My brother Dennis!" he said excitedly.
"Really, that's nice. Do introduce him to me someday, will you mate? Oh and that reminds me, meet me in the common room today, I need to talk to you about something."
"OK, Harry, I will. You can count on me."
Harry chuckled. He didn't particularly like Creevey all that much, but the boy practically worshipped him. A little encouragement would go a long way with people like Creevey, to make sure that the fan-worship he had towards Harry turned into actual respect.
Harry turned his attention to the doors of the hall, as he heard them open.
And there they were; the students. Harry saw that there were quite a few of them here today, all nervous and excited just as he'd been all those years ago.
He allowed his conscious mind to wander as the sorting commenced after the hat's song, even as his eyes noticed the faces of the students, his subconscious seamlessly attaching them to the names that his ears heard.
His lips twitched as he heard Dennis Creevey's account of his fall and subsequent return. He knew that the giant squid was intelligent. He should, as it had been a Sharr who had raised the lesser Kraken from the oceans.
Soon, they were done, and the plates and goblets filled themselves with food and drink.
Looking at what was on offer, Harry wished, not for the first time, that the masses had been correct in what they believed. He still remembered when he'd had his illusions shattered about house elves.
It had been all the way back in his first stay in the chamber of secrets. He'd been thinking out loud about the possibilities of setting up a house-elf spying force.
"I mean, they can Apparate through all the wards, and they can take people with them…"
It was then that Slytherin had said "Excuse me? What did you just say, child?"
"I said that house elves can Apparate right through wards, can't they?" Harry said.
"And what made you think that? I know that I certainly didn't." Slytherin said, apparently annoyed.
"Well, I don't quite know. It just seemed that way, y'know."
"Honestly, boy. You are the most brilliant student I have ever taught, but the things you say sometimes… not to mention the way you say them"
"But they can Apparate within Hogwarts! I know that no human can do that! And I know that anti-apparition wards are useless at them!" Harry said defensively.
"First of all, the only elves that can Apparate within Hogwarts' wards are the ones that have the permission of the controller of the wards, that is to say, the Headmaster. The same applies to any other set of wards. Secondly, anti-apparition wards crafted for humans don't work for elves. There is a perfectly serviceable anti apparition ward meant for house elves that is applied for protection from them." The founder continued "But one thing I will say. This doesn't mean that your idea doesn't have merit. After all, the ward to keep house-elves out is known only to the older families. I believe that there has to be a copy in whatever library the ministry has, for use in their houses and the ministry itself, but anywhere else is unlikely in the extreme."
"So, that means that apart from the older families, and maybe the ministry employees, others should be vulnerable?"Harry asked.
"It seems so. Inquiries will, of course, have to be made."
What it meant for Harry right now was that he had to eat the food that was here, instead of the food that his own elves could prepare, and which he'd grown rather partial to.
It was a pity, but the matter was a small one.
Just then Harry's thoughts were interrupted by what seemed like nails being dragged across a sheet of glass. A moment later he realized it was Granger's voice. "You mean there are house elves here? Here at Hogwarts?"
And there it was, the mile long nose sticking itself into things that were no concern of its owner yet again. Harry shook his head slightly as he heard the girl start harping about sick days and payments for elves. He knew what was coming, of course. The girl would visit the library, memorize one or two books without understanding a word of what she read, and then start going on about them to everyone around her. It was fairly standard as things like her went, after all.
Only this time Harry had far better things to do. He hoped for her sake that she didn't pester him, as he didn't think he could be held accountable for his actions if she did.
Still, it was none of his business right now.
Turning his attention back to his dinner, Harry consumed his dessert, till he was full. Soon, it vanished, and he heard Dumbledore make the announcements.
Harry saw the students' moods change and shift, as they heard, first about the hiatus on Quidditch and then of the Triwizard Tournament.
Harry was just as surprised as the others when he saw Mad-Eye Moody make his appearance. To be honest, Harry had almost forgotten about the man.
Anyway, soon the whole thing was over, and Harry was on his way to Dumbledore's office, for a much needed talk.
The gargoyle jumped out of his way as soon as it saw him coming, and Harry entered Dumbledore's office.
"Hello, Harry. Or should I call you Duke Gryphonsworth?" Dumbledore's voice carried just that tinge of mockery that Harry was so familiar with, aimed at making Harry either nervous or angry.
It managed neither. Harry was by now far too matured to fall for such childish games.
"Either will do, Headmaster. I don't really care. Now, none of us has time for meaningless pleasantries, so can we get to business?
"Of course, of course, but may I ask how your summer was?"
"Eventful. Very eventful. Now I need to talk to you about quite a few things, and if we maintain the usual cloak and daggers rubbish then I can assure you that it will take forever to get to any sort of point. So, I suggest that we both take a couple of unbreakable vows, and get the usual rubbish out of the way."
Harry said, pushing a piece of paper with a few lines of writing on the man's desk.
Picking it up, Dumbledore read through it in a few quick seconds, and nodded. "Most satisfactory, Harry, if a bit excessive. No more than what the situation calls for, no doubt. Very well. I am prepared to swear."
"Good. Let's begin then." Harry said, standing up.
Dumbledore followed him. They clasped each other's hands, and both placed the tips of their wands on the others' wrists.
"Do you, Albus Dumbledore, swear that you will not, under any circumstances whatsoever, act on the information you gain in this meeting unless you have my express permission?" Harry asked.
"I do." Dumbledore replied.
A tongue of flame bound their hands together.
"Do you, Harry Potter, swear that you will not, under any circumstances whatsoever, act on the information you gain in this meeting unless you have my express permission?" Dumbledore asked in his turn.
"I do." Harry said.
He was being honest (not that there was any way for him not to be, what with this being the unbreakable vow and all).
He wouldn't be acting on any of the information. Salazar, who was watching through the eyes of the snakes painted in the corners of the portraits, was a different story.
"Do you, Albus Dumbledore, swear that you have, and will continue to do the best you can to prevent another person becoming aware of this meeting, or the facts discussed in it?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I do." Dumbledore responded.
"Do you, HarryPotter, swear that you have, and will continue to do the best you can to prevent another person becoming aware of this meeting, or the facts discussed in it?" Dumbledore asked.
"I do."
Again, no person was aware. Paintings counted as objects, at least in his mind.
The moment the vows were complete, all traces of mirth vanished from Dumbledore's mind. The expression on his face reminded Harry of the exact reasons why Dumbledore currently was the most powerful wizard in Britain, and among the most powerful even on the world stage.
Still, he wasn't going to be intimidated.
"Now that I can honestly cut the rubbish, let me tell you where we currently stand. Correct me if I say anything wrong. You destroyed my childhood by making me live with people who hated and abused me. This was because you consider me evil due to the magical gifts that I possess, and so you think that I shouldn't live. Yes?" Harry asked.
"Well, I wouldn't put it like that, but-"
"Yes. Or. No?"
"Yes"
"In return, I loathe you because of what you did. I think that you are not fit to lead our country, and that you should never have ascended to the positions that you did. I am not quite sure whether I consider you worthy of living or not."
The last was a complete lie, Harry knew Dumbledore didn't deserve life and he had no intention of letting the old fool survive for too long. Still, Dumbledore didn't need to know that, did he?
"So, now that we're clear on these things, let's talk about something else. Something like this school, or our country, both of which you're doing a brilliant job of ruining."
"I hardly think so, my boy."
"I am not you boy. And you don't think so? Really?"
"Really. I know that I may have been a bit less attentive than I should have been, but-"
"I thought the whole point of the oaths was to cut the rubbish. Tell me, Dumbledore, has there been anything new done in the country or the school? Any new inventions, any new discoveries? Face it, Dumbledore, we have become outdated.
"Hogwarts used to be the best school of magic in the world for centuries after it was founded by my ancestors."
Harry gave the headmaster a challenging look. "And now?" he snorted.
"Now you have Trelawney, a complete and utter fake, teaching fortune telling instead of any sort of divination. You have Snape ruining generations' worth of potential healers and Aurors. Your other three heads of houses know their stuff, I'll give you that, but tell me, do you really think that other than Sprout, any of the two are worth being called heads of houses? And I haven't even started on Filch and Binns.
"The only thing that's keeping us in the place we're in, the place we deserve to be, are the accords, and every year of such wanton use makes them more hated and thus us more hated."
"Well, I know that the mainland nations have been muttering a bit," Dumbledore replied dismissively, "But it's hardly anything worrying. Hogwarts remains the best school in the world, after all."
"Yes it does, and the reason for that is that the other nations are forbidden to teach anything not taught in Britain! They have brilliant teachers, just waiting for the accords to fail, and cursebreakers working day and night to make them fail!"
Harry took a deep breath.
"Listen. I am not here to scream at you. Magical Britain will keep for now. Hogwarts is my dominion as the Lord of Gryffindor and Slytherin, and I am going to be making some changes. There are teachers who are completely unacceptable, courses that need to be scrapped, and others that need to be brought back. I am willing to take care of all that, but I just need you to not undermine my decisions.I know that asking you to get rid of teachers like McGonagall and Snape is too much to ask for now. I accept that. Hell, I don't even want to remove McGonagall, just limit the responsibilities that you've been crushing her under.
"So, all I'm asking that you let me make the changes that'll benefit Hogwarts in the long run. Hogwarts has more than enough money. Let me hire new teachers, to share the workload. Let me promote new teachers to senior staff, and divide up the responsibilities they have. I'm willing to work with you, why won't you?"
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "Why keep me on, then, if you dislike my work that much? You have more than enough power to remove me, should you choose to."
"Don't be stupid, professor. Hogwarts needs you, and I'm going to tell you why. Voldemort is coming back. I know that you know about that ministry employee that went missing, and you are intelligent enough to connect the dots. Voldemort is coming, and you need to be here to protect the students.
"Apart from that, Hogwarts raising her standards will allow the other schools to raise theirs, and that should help at least somewhat in lessening the hatred against us."
Dumbledore released a sigh "Very well. I will consider what you ask. Now is there anything else you want to talk to me about?"
"Yes. As you know, I have completed the courses of Hogwarts. Therefore, I'm just telling you that I'll not be attending any classes other than the ones I wish to attend. Apart from that, I'll be leaving Hogwarts time to time on business. I'll appreciate if you or your attack dogs didn't give any trouble."
"Well, you have it, obviously. Now I need to ask you a few things, and I would appreciate it if you answered me honestly."
"Well, ask away. I make no promises, though." Harry replied.
"First of all, tell me how you came to meet your new allies? If you can, of course."
"That's fine. And actually, I didn't meet them, they found me. You remember the dementor incident?"
"Of course I do. What of it?"
"It turns out that when I broke through the blocks you placed on me, I attracted the attention of several of my relatives who had been looking for me for a long time. I can't go in too much detail, not with the vows I've sworn, but Uncle Erebus located me, and brought me there. I was trained under conditions I refuse to disclose, and you have the result."
"I suspected as much. Now I need to hold a staff meeting, so if you would excuse me…"
Harry turned to leave.
"Oh and Harry, please don't hesitate in meeting me if any need arises. Same terms as today."
"Will do, Dumbledore."
When Harry left, Dumbledore sat contemplating for a few minutes. As things went, it was actually a fairly amicable meeting. They got some real issues resolved and a bit of air was cleared between them. All in all, a good meeting.
The fact of the matter was that Dumbledore was a hard realist at heart, who had grown up to become an idealist. He had been born and raised in poverty, and his adolescence had been clouded in scandal at a time period when scandals usually meant being completely destroyed.
He had heard the stories from his mother, of things that had happened to her cousins when they made even the slightest divergence from what was considered 'normal' and 'gentlemanly' in the Muggle world.
No, many words could be said about the Victorian age, but tolerant wasn't one of them. The Muggles had had the worst of it under that delusional prude, but the wizards had had their share. The fact that he'd been lucky enough to be born in a world where his power alone was enough to balance out his vast array of eccentricities had never been lost on him. He loved Hogwarts, and he loved magical Britain with all his heart. In his youth, he'd committed what he now believed to be great mistakes, but now this whelp had made him rethink all that.
It wasn't a matter of changing viewpoints. He was far too set in his ways for that. No, the point that Dumbledore was trying to simplify to himself was that good or bad, he was now old: Far, far too old to be actively participating in anything. His only possible successor was Harry Potter, who Albus had believed for a long time to be completely, unbelievably evil, to the point that he'd been making it his last good deed to get rid of the boy.
But seeing that young man here, now, speaking with such passion of the betterment of Hogwarts and accepting Albus' needs to protect his dignity, he couldn't help but think that he had been making a huge mistake.
Albus still remembered the day, when he'd taken the baby from the burning wreckage of his home, when he'd discovered his talents, and had bound them, along with a huge part of the lad's power. But didn't he remember reading that talents like that, whether good or bad, were all signs of rulers. Just like being born with a full set of teeth (which Harry was, he remembered), extraordinary magical abilities denoted a child's aptitude to be a ruler, to be a king.
Could it be that his mind had been clouded by the nature of the gifts to the significance of their very presence?
He wasn't quite convinced yet, but maybe, just maybe, some more observation was needed. Maybe there still was hope.
There had to be, as he was tired. He was in no state to do this, in no state to fight any more.
Had Albus Dumbledore been capable of it, he might even have noticed the mixtureof airborne potions that was now completely inside his bloodstream.
Reaching the common room, Harry met the Creevey brothers. He didn't have anything in particular to tell them although he did buy out every single picture Colin had ever taken of him. Finally, going to bed after promising him to sign his collection someday, Harry knew that whatever happened, the coming days would be fun.
He was right. They were. Harryspent the week busy, as wherever he went, there were always people willing to have a moments' talk with him. Well, that had always been so, but the difference was that he was willing to talk to them too.
Throughout Hogwarts, the topics of conversation always ranged from the Triwizard tournament, to the new Althric phones that they all had bought. Harry had been a bit peeved to find out that they had been banned at Hogwarts, but he understood the reasons. The students learned little enough as things were, introducing something like that would make any hope of improvement futile.
Still, that still left a lot of things. Whether it was the Tournament or Althric or whatever; Harry was always talking, laughing, and generally having a good time with his peers. It helped that he had plenty of time to do whatever he liked, having already sat for all his papers.
One student that Harry took care to spend time with was Neville. He talked to the boy, helped him with his work, and generally tried to be a friend to the friendless boy, as a smallbeginning to the alliance he intended to form.
On the other end, however, were the students of Ravenclaw house. Harry knew that whatever happened, they wouldn't be entering into any alliance with him anytime soon. He still remembered what he had done to them.
Flashback
Harry had just found Luna one night, locked inside a small cupboard on the third floor. She had been beaten, likely as a direct result of the warning he had given to Chang, Edgecombe and her other tormentors. He knew that he wasn't capable of feeling anger, but what currently coursed through him came damn close.
The first priority had been to take her to the Hospital wing, which he had done. After that, he had decided that this couldn't be allowed to continue anymore.
That was why he was currently climbing the stairs to the Ravenclaw tower.
"What came fir-" was about as far as the knocker got with its riddle, before a flick of Harry's wand silenced it. A second flick opened the door behind with nary a noise, and yet another one wove a notice-me-not spell on it.
Moving in, he looked the common room over. Good, every single person he wanted was here, laughing as they mimed hitting and mentally torturing a thirteen year old girl. With a lazy wave of his wand, Harry spread an area wide compulsion on everyone (other than the students he wanted) to leave and go to their dormitories.
As the common room emptied, the bullies found themselves unable to move, scream, or in fact do anything at all.
Soon, the only people there were the ones he wanted to see, and Harry could act freely.
As he took off the disillusionment charm along with the spells on them, Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw seventh year and current Head Boy stared at him, before saying "What are you doing here, Potter?"
Ignoring him, Harry said. "I just escorted one of my best new friends, Luna Lovegood, to the Hospital wing. It seems like several students of Ravenclaw thought it would be a good idea to beat her black and blue, and then stuff her in a small cupboard" Harry said, ignoring Davies.
"So, she's just a loony little whore. What are you going to do about it?" Harry didn't see who said that, but it sounded like Chang.
"I am here to give you a lesson in pureblood etiquette. You see, the Lovegoods are vassals of the house of Sharr, and the current Lord Sharr is my ally. That makes it my responsibility to take care of her. You understand?"
In response, their hands dove into pockets, emerging with wands. One of the seventh years hit the door with a combination of four separate locking charms.
"You're all alone with fifteen of us now, Potter." He said, jeering.
"No, the fifteen of you are all alone with me now." Harry responded, before moving his hand in a casual gesture.
The room filled with noise, as fifteen separate wands shattered, their pieces embedded deep in the palms of the hands that had been holding them. Immediately, the expressions in the room went from cocky and malicious to terrified and painful, but Harry was just starting.
Another flick of a finger later every one of them were levitated in the air, before coming down to the ground, hard. He knew that all of them now had at least two broken bones. He gave a satisfied smile. As far as physical damage went, this should suffice.
Next, he exerted his magic again, and several of the bullies screamed as they rose in the air yet again.
With a thought, Harry opened the windows around the room. Another thought vanished the grills, before a third one had them floating outside, nine floors in the air.
Pausing for a few seconds, Harry let them go. The screams that they released while they plummeted were annoying, but a necessary evil, he conceded. He maintained the magical link with them, even as they reached terminal velocity. Then, as soon as the distance between the lowest member of the group and the ground was a meter, the levitation went back into effect.
They climbed back to the level of the Ravenclaw common room, before he let them loose again. Again, he stopped their fall and brought them back up as soon as they reached close to the ground.
After he'd done this half a dozen times Harry spoke "So, can you now promise me that you'll not be so horrible to the girl? Pretty please?" he affixed an innocent smile on his face.
"Ye-yes, Potter. Whatever. Just get us out of here." Davies said,
"Good, very good. And you of course realize that breathing one word of this to anyone will be a very bad idea, don't you?"
"O-Of course. We know that but get us out of herepleasePotter" it was Chang this time.
"Certainly, in a minute," Harry said affably, "Now, one more thing. About the things that you have, till date, stolen from Luna Lovegood. You will return everything you still have, and will pay the going price for everything you don't, unless you want to be making your next thefts from six feet under. You understand that?"
"Yes."
"Excellent! Now just so you remember this…" Harry left them to make the nine-floor trip again, before bringing them back up.
"I'm glad we had this talk. See you later."
End Flashback
Yeah. He didn't think they'd be too fond of him after that.
Terrified? Yes. But hardly fond of
Still, it was worth it. Luna Lovegood had been confirmed as a seer, from the blood sample Harry had sneaked from the infirmary. In addition to her Pureblood ancestry and direct descent from the founder, that made her the sole heiress of the house of Ravenclaw, as Harry had confirmed (at considerable expense) that Julia Morrigan didn't have so much of a hint of the gift.
Actually, the two things, her ancestry and the bullying, may even have been interrelated, if Harry was reading the signs right. Still, it was too early to make projections on incomplete information.
Harry mused that that hadn't even been the only founder-related surprise he'd had. Neville, it turned out, was an actual potential druid. That, seen with respect to his descent from Helga, made him a potential Lord Hufflepuff. Both pieces of news had Harry worrying about what to do for hours. He had plans that included him having absolute control of Hogwarts and the country, and Luna and Neville were a threat as things were.
It wasn't an immediate danger, as Harry had already started to increase his friendship with Neville, and thus his dependence on him, while also exposing Neville to a course of compulsions and potions that would eventually allow him to take total control of the boy.
It was a tricky thing, as the magic of House Longbottom was protecting the boy's mind, but it was getting done.
To be honest, Harry didn't like doing it to Neville. But, as it was said, needs must, and to do anything less than all he could do was always a recipe for disaster.
While on the other hand, Luna was far too grateful to him as things were for such measures to even be necessary. That wouldn't have stopped him, but using mind-control techniques on seers, even those whose gifts hadn't manifested, was iffy at best.
And even if he did gain control of both people, there was the matter that what would he do with them? Magic didn't allow for one Eldritch House to be bound in vassalage to another, not unless the House that was becoming the Liege was acknowledged as a ruling Royal house (by having full control of at least one primary ley line).
Well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.
Speaking of gaining control of families, he was reminded of another meeting he'd attended.
It was a dark room. All occupants were wearing golden masks with aquiline faces carved on them.
The occupants were all from wealthy, powerful pureblood families, although not even half of them knew each other's identities. They were here after hours upon hours of long, (and in some cases painful) negotiations, that had involved everything from honour to debts to blackmail.
But they were all here, and that was what mattered in the end.
"Let the seventh meeting of the Ouroboros Alliance be called to order." A voice spoke, from one of the figures standing on the raised dais.
"The first order of the meeting is the induction of five new members in the order. Their credentials and contribution have already been approved by the founding council. They are fully prepared and willing to swear the oaths and bindings required of a member of the Alliance." A different voice, also on the dais, said.
"Very well. Let them be called forth and sworn in."
At this, a figure with a mask that had a star carved on the forehead strode forward, pulling gently by the arm another figure whose mask depicted a dragon.
"The first is Lord Wiltshire. He shall now swear the oaths.
"Do you, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy, swear to never, under any circumstances whatsoever, reveal any information pertaining to the Ouroboros Alliance to someone not already aware of it?"
"I do." Lucius swore.
"Do you swear to obey the directives of the Alliance in all matters business and political, whether issued by the founding council or by a full majority, insofar as they remain within reason, and do not violate the rights that are granted upon you, by virtue of your membership?"
"I do."
"Do you, Lucius Malfoy, acknowledge that the membership of the Alliance, once accepted, can never be given up, except in the case of a direct violation of your rights and privileges upon which a member of the founding circle has duly adjudicated?"
"I do."
"Then it is my great pleasure to announce that you are hereby acknowledged as Brother Viper, full member of the Ouroboros Alliance. Welcome, brother."
"I accept the acknowledgement with honour."
"The next is Mr Ali Bashir. He shall now swear the oaths."
And so it went, till all five of the new members were sworn in with the same oaths.
Upon the acknowledgement of Lysander Yaxley as the newest Brother, the members of the alliance all moved as one, removing their masks and tossing them to the floor.
"We are now all Brothers hence there is no need for secrecy." The voice of the man the occupants of the room now recognized as Erebus Sharr spoke.
"And with that, I declare the seventh meeting truly open. Let's retire to a more comfortable setting for discussions"
As one, the group moved into a comfortable room, settling down on large leather armchairs. "Now," Harry said briskly. "Let's be frank with each other. We are here because all of us are worried about the direction our world is going in. Every day more and more magic is lost, the number of talented, powerful people falls lower, our traditions become weaker. We are all here as we know that alone, none of us have the power needed to stem the tide, but together we can transform our world."
"Hear, hear." One of the members said.
As it was the very first meeting for several people, no matters of real substance were discussed, but the meeting continued for a fairly long time anyway. They got the introductions (where they were needed) out of the way, they clarified the aims, and so it went for nearly two hours, before the meeting was declared closed.
It wasn't as if something really ground-breaking occurred in the few hours, but Harry was satisfied with the start anyway.
Still, putting aside Ravenclaw bullies who'd had the fear of magic put into them, and also secret groups created apparently for a lot of reasons but truly just to fulfil his aims, Harry 'days had been relatively calm. It had been twenty days since the start of term, and everything was on track.
His businesses in the magical world now had a net profit going in the tens of millions of Galleons, while the Muggle world profits had long since entered the hundreds of millions of pounds. His hold over the dictatorships was strong, and the countries themselves were now on a recovery track since the money they had, went into their improvement, along with money from his vast network of illegal sources. Finally, his hold over magical Britain was strengthening day by day as he bought more debts, collected more blackmail.
His own powers grew by leaps and bounds as he kept the time dilation of the chamber at maximum, learning entire books' worth of knowledge in days, practicing it hard. Soon, he would be starting some blood magic rituals that would allow him to push past the limitations of the human body. Another thing he was considering when he deemed himself capable was to redo the ley line ritual, connecting himself to more lines. He was a long ways off from it right now, but it was worth considering.
The one magical achievement he seemed unable to get was the instincts and magical powers of his Animagus form. It was frustrating, especially as he couldn't start work on his other forms till he mastered the first one. Still, it would be done sooner or later.
The Triwizard Tournament was going to start in a few days, and he was going to be taking a powerful position in the DMLE. Meaning that he might as well enjoy the steadiness he now had, as the future was going to be very busy.
Just as he liked it.
Aaaaand, that's another chapter done.
I like this one, actually, as I gave a sincere attempt to correct what the readers said they disliked, although just like Harry, I refuse to ever stop trying to improve.
So, like it? Hate it? Have something to contribute? Find something missing?
Anything at all, please tell me via review/PM.
Ciao
blackshadow111
