A/N: A new update. Thank you all for your continued support, even after my long break.

**Read this please**

I just want to inform anyone who hadn't noticed, that I've already posted chapter 13 as well. Since it came out on the same day as chapter 12, some of you might have missed it.

That's all. Enjoy!

'Archer' - Hero or Threat?

By Rita Skeeter.

Dear readers,

I have no doubt that until now, all of you have at least heard about the horrifying attack of the Daywalkers in the peaceful village Hogsmeade. First of all, allow me to send my condolence to any witch or wizard that lost family members in the incident.

Back to the main topic. If you've known about the details of the attack, which you should, if you've been following the Prophet for the past few days, then you would surely know that the mysterious vigilante - Archer - had showed himself again. And just like with the raid at the World Cup a few months prior, he had 'saved the day', leaving behind an unbelievable number of death count.

Now, I'm sure a lot of readers also agree with me, that since all of the deaths caused by Archer this time were Daywalkers, he was just doing everyone a favor. However, let's look past the surface and see what is really happening, and you will ask yourself the same question that I've been asking, that whether or not Archer is actually the hero that people are making him out to be.

According to some of the eyewitness at the attack, and the photos that have been captured, Archer was seen fighting with a Daywalker, not with magic nor wand, but physical combat using swords. Let's set aside the questionable method for the moment, I can't help but wonder, how in Merlin's name that a human could acquire enough physical strength and speed to go against a Daywalker?

Some Potion Master, or anyone who knows their potions, would no doubt argue that there is a drought that can give its user boosted strength for a limited amount of time. Yes, I've done my research, and said drought is called the 'Drought of the Giant'. However, its use and production has been forbidden, since beside the above mentioned effect, the drought also costs the user his own sanity.

So, did Archer use it? Maybe, maybe not. And while jumping down from the top of the Owlery without any protection seems quite insane to some people, the Aurors that had a direct encounter which him at the Quidditch World Cup might say otherwise.

"Is that guy insane? Maybe he is, but not in the sense of losing one's ability to control his action and behavior," an unnamed Auror commented. "His actions are outrageous, but the way Archer talks and does things indicates that he's completely normal, if not a little arrogant."

Auror Dawlish even confirmed that there's the possibility of Archer having a partner in crime. According to him, he was stunned from behind after being able to talk to the vigilante during the attack in Hogsmeade and was convincing him to surrender.

All in all, I'm fairly certain that a person with his mind destroyed by potion wouldn't be able to have a partner that he can work with.

If that's the case, then where is the source of Archer's inhuman strength? Oh wait, did I just say 'inhuman'. I guess I did. What if he is just another Daywalker, or some other kind of creature that is naturally strong? If he really is, then I'm certain that many trusted and famous people within our community will agree, that any kind of magical creature like that is dangerous unsupervised.

Of course, what I've stated here is just speculations on my part. But I do so, with the best interest of our community in mind, to warn the readers of a potential threat. After all, if Archer really is human, or if he uses a more innocent, undiscovered way to strengthen himself, then he would have nothing to hide from.

After reading the article about Archer in the latest issue of the Daily Prophet during breakfast, Shirou was having mixed feeling. A part of him was confused, not knowing why he was being attacked this time around. On the other hand, the accusations against him was so ridiculous that it made him want to burst into laughter.

Well, I guess it's the same no matter where you go, he thought, folding the newspaper and set it aside. After all, if EMIYA, who had spent his entire life helping people, could get accused falsely and executed, then this shouldn't come as a surprise. Originally, Shirou was just looking, to see if there was anymore suicide case. He could already predicted the result though, as nineteen dead people was already a nice number to stop.

Having finished his meal, Shirou leaned back against his seat to relax and took the chance to look around. If he were to be honest, Shirou had to admit that he was just a little curious to see how everyone would react to the article. Whoever this Rita Skeeter was, she was quite a journalist, as his reinforced hearing were picking up around the hall all kind of talk and mixed opinions about Archer. However, as his gaze arrived at the Ravenclaw table, Shirou suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He didn't have to search long for its source though, as from said table's far end, a third year witch with dirty blond hair had been staring at him intently, ignoring all the commotion going on around her. Shirou met her eyes for just a second before turning away. There was something in her that made him feel exposed, and Shirou didn't like that.

His gaze then settled on the Slytherin table, where he caught Tracey's eyes and the witch winked at him before returning to talk with Daphne, who only cared enough to spare him an indifferent glance.

Finally, he looked at the staff table, just in time to see Dumbledore stood up and said.

"Attention, please."

Immediately, all the talking within the Great Hall died down, replaced by an absolute silence as all the students and professors alike turned toward the Headmaster, who gave them a gentle smile before continuing.

"Good morning to you all," he said. "By now, I'm sure that all of you have eaten and are ready for a productive day. So this old man won't be taking much of your time. I just want to announce that, in order to prepare for the Triwizards Tournament, Hogwarts will have the pleasure of welcoming representatives from two most famous magical institutes in Europe beside Hogwarts - Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. They will arrive here at the start of October, which is only four days from now, and will stay with us for the rest of the year in order to prepare for the competition. I hope that during their stay, our students will welcome and make them feel like this is their own home. Thank you."

The moment Dumbledore finished his speech, professor McGonagall started clapping. She was soon followed by the rest of the Hogwarts residence. From his seat, Shirou felt like the whole Hall was shaking under the thunderous sound of hundreds pair of hands clapping at the same time. It soon died down, however, as people started getting up to get to their own classes. Shirou wasn't an exception, though the moment he picked up his school bag, came a voice calling his name from behind.

"Mister Potter. A moment please."

Turning around, Shirou saw that Professor McGonagall was standing in front of him with a hard expression on her face. Wondering what trouble he'd gotten into this time, Shirou threw the bag over his shoulder before going over to meet her. From the corner of his eye, he could see Hermione gave him a worried glance when they passed each other.

"You want to see me, professor?" Shirou asked, looking at his head of house.

"The Headmaster wishes to speak with you, Mister Potter. Please report to his office immediately. I've already obtained permission for your absence from Professor Sprout," Professor McGonagall said, and from the expression she was showing, one could see that she definitely didn't approve of him missing class, regardless of the reason.

"I will. Thank you, professor," Shirou smiled before turning away. He could have sworn that he saw the corner of the older witch's mouth moved, just slightly, into a smile.

"Come in, please," Dumbledore's voice came from behind the door after shirou knocked on it a few times. He then pushed the door and stepped in the familiar office with all kind of strange silver artifacts lined up neatly on the shelves in the back of the room.

"Good morning, professor," said Shirou.

"I wish the same for you, Shirou, and just Dumbledore is fine. Come, have a seat," Dumbledore gave him a warm smile, gesturing toward the chair on the other side of the table, across from him. He then continued after Shirou had seated properly.

"I'm sorry for asking you to skip class. But as you've noticed, I'm rather busy lately in order to prepare for the tournament, as well as some other businesses. Actually, I have a meeting with Mister Crouch this morning, but he postponed it for some reason."

"It's quite alright," Shirou nodded. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"A couple of things actually. Do you want some Lemon Drop?" asked Dumbledore, offering him a bowl filled with yellow candy.

"Thanks, I'll take one."

"You're welcome. Honestly, you're the first one ever to accept my candy offer. I wonder why…" The old man mumbled. "But that isn't why we're here today. First thing first, and this one is a bit of good news, really. Please wait a moment."

He then reached under his desk and took out a black box. In the meantime, Shirou tossed his Lemon Drop in his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue though, he immediately understood why no one ever wanted to try one of those. It was so sour that it made his eyes all teary.

"Wh...What is this?" Looking at the box, Shirou asked after he could feel his tongue again.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" Dumbledore smiled.

Raising an eyebrow, Shirou then took the box in his hands and took off the cover, revealing a knife inside. It was made of silver with wooden, leather bound handle. The blade itself was a little zagged and covered with strange looking chains of Runes.

"Is this…?"

"Your alternative to a wand," Dumbledore nodded. "It took some gold and a little favor for the Goblins, but I finally managed to get my hand on it."

"Is it okay if I take it?" Asked Shirou while giving the blade a throughout Analysis, unsurprised to see himself unable to figure out anything about it other than the fact that it was made of silver. After all, it was made by the Goblins, using their technique and kind of Runes.

"Of course. That's the whole point of bringing it here. In my hand it's no better than a fruit knife."

"But something like this…" Shirou frowned. "...at least let me pay you back."

"Let's not worry about that right now," Dumbledore held up his hand. "Go on, give it a try. We need to see if it works or not. If not...well, let's hope that it won't happen. Do you still remember the Levitation Charm? Let's try it with this candy bowl right here."

"I do," Shirou nodded and raised the knife. When he tried to cast the spell, however, instead of floating like it was supposed to, the bowl was shot from the table, almost hit Dumbledore square in the face before crashing into the wall behind and shattered.

"Well, looks like it worked," said Dumbledore, not the least fazed by the incident.

"I...I'm sorry," Shirou stuttered. He knew it was going to work the moment he read the incantation, but the result wasn't what he was hoping for.

"It's okay," said Dumbledore as he waved his own wand. The bowl was fixed in an instant, floating back to its original place and all the scattered candy jumped back to where they belonged.

"Now, that's good for a first try," he then continued, nodding his head. "The incantation is good, the power is excellent. However, your wand movement is a little off, and I have a feeling that your intent wasn't quite true."

"Is that so?" Shirou smiled awkwardly. He might have had the wrong intent the moment he remembered the taste of those Lemon Drops.

"Indeed, but it isn't something that can't be fixed. However, a problem remains… Here, allow me to take care of the rest."

Dumbledore then tapped the knife with his wand, changing it into a wooden wand. Shirou knew that it was only an illusion created by magic though.

"This is to prevent people from questioning it," said the Headmaster. "It's identical to Harry's original wand, so you can use it without worry."

"Thank you," Shirou smiled. Having a wand that he could use was a huge step forward, though he suspect that it would take him a long time to be able to learn all the essential spells.

"Don't forget to practice often. Judging by what I've seen from you, you should consider focusing more on Transfiguration rather than Charm. But you might also try them out and decide yourself," Dumbledore returned the smile. "Now that problem is out of the way. Let us move on to a more recent event."

"I'm listening."

Dumbledore, however, didn't say anything right away. Instead, he just sat and looked at Shirou for a few seconds before starting to speak.

"I see you've been busy making a name for yourself lately, Shirou. Enough to attract rather...infamous journalists, like Rita Skeeter."

Shirou sat still and listened. He knew that this conversation would come sooner or later. There is no use denying it either. If anything, he'd showed his trademark weapons during the fight with the Daywalkers, the same weapons that the wizard in front of him had seen on the first time they met each other.

"I assure you that isn't my intention," finally he said.

"I'm sure it isn't," Dumbledore said. "But I still feel the need to speak to you. As you can see, you're making some rather dangerous enemies."

"If you're talking about the Daywalkers…"

"I'm not talking about them, though I do agree that they're dangerous," Dumbledore interrupted him. "I'm talking about the press, the media and the law enforcement force. While there are no direct harm that can come from them, they can seriously hamper you in the long way. Just a few days ago, you were a hero in the eye of the people, and what guess happened after Rita's article today?"

"Half of them think I'm an insane potion addict. The other half believe that I'm not human," Shirou snorted.

"That's about right," Dumbledore nodded. "There are still people out there who believe in you, but they are the minority now. Don't underestimate the power of the media, especially when it comes to Rita Skeeter. That… rather unpleasant woman, is very good in what she does. I myself have been her victim for more than once. Thankfully, I managed to control the damage before anything happened."

"I can see that," sighed Shirou. "Honestly, I've never given much thought about it. As long as the people are safe, I couldn't careless what they think of me."

"A very noble attitude," Dumbledore smiled. "Though if you think about it, many advantages can come from having support of the people. Your voice will have more weight, for instance. You can rally people, not to fight, but to warn them of the incoming dangers, so that they will be prepared. Because, forgive me for not being very humble, but even myself can't be everywhere at once."

"You have a point," Shirou said, looking intently at the man in front of him. "I'll be more careful from now on."

"Not making any more enemy is a good start."

"About that, I agree, but can't promise anything," Shirou grinned.

"You can at least try to give it some effort," Dumbledore chuckled lightly into his hand. He then regained his solemn expression. "One last thing, Shirou, I want to talk to you about Adam Greengrass."

"What does that have anything to do with what we were discussing?"

"Nothing, but I'm under the impression that you, or rather, Archer, is working under his directions," the Headmaster said, looking straight at Shirou.

"I have no idea," Shirou shrugged, trying to keep his face straight. "Archer only showed up two times, and I also presented in both. Isn't it more likely that I figured out about the attack and acted by myself?"

"I suppose that's true," sighed Dumbledore after taking his gaze off of Shirou. "Just remember, Adam Greengrass is more than meet the eyes."

"Aren't we all?" Shirou asked.

"Yes, we are. You can go now. Goodbye, Shirou. It was nice talking to you," the Headmaster finished his speech and gestured toward the door. Realizing that the conversation was over, Shirou said goodbye to him before leaving the office.

That old man is just making everything more confusing, he thought and sighed. It wasn't until Shirou reached the other side of the gargoyle statue that he remembered not asking Dumbledore about their agreement of him stopping to act as Harry Potter.

Shirou's next class was, much to his delight, Transfiguration. It was the perfect chance for him to try out his new wand. To be totally honest, he'd had enough of the subtle, but sad and disappointed glances that Professor McGonagall gave him every once in awhile.

Taking a turn to reach the Entrance Hall while being deep in thoughts, Shirou almost slammed into someone who was already there. Luckily, his reflex helped him as he stopped himself right before the two of them both landed on the ground.

"Harry, you scared me," it was Hermione.

"I'm sorry," said Shirou. "We should get moving though. You wouldn't want to be late in Professor McGonagall's class."

"Wait," Hermione called as he walked away. Shirou stopped and turned to face her.

"Can I help you with anything, Hermione?" He asked.

"Erm…" She looked at him hesitantly. "How are you lately?"

"I'm fine. If that's all…"

"Wait, no… I just want to know if you've got into any trouble with Professor Dumbledore…"

Shirou raised an eyebrow at the question. Why did she keep doing this? She wasn't making it easier for anyone, really…

On the other hand, seeing Hermione like that made it extremely difficult for him to just shrug her off.

"Nothing of the sort," Shirou sighed. "We can talk on the way, you know, or else, Professor McGonagall is going to chew our heads off."

"Oh...Okay," it looked like his response was completely unexpected, as it left Hermione wide eyed for a moment before a bright smile showed on her face.

"So?" She asked as they moved through the Entrance Hall.

"Like I said, I didn't get into any trouble," said Shirou. "Professor Dumbledore just figured out what was making me unable to cast spells and fixed it."

"Does that mean you can use your wand properly now?" Asked Hermione, joy apparent in her eyes.

"I think so. Still, I have no memory of any spell, so I will have to start from scratch."

"That's great," she exclaimed happily. "I can help you with that if you want. I still have all of my notes from first year. I will just have to ask my parent to owl it for me…"

"Hermione," Shirou raised a hand to stop the bushy haired witch as they both stopped on their tracks. "I appreciate your concern, but can you please leave me to my own business?"

As the words left his mouth, Shirou felt that his gut twisted painfully inside his stomach. He then braced himself for the sight of the girl in front of him break down into tears, once again with him as the cause.

However, to his utter surprise. Hermione just stared at him for a moment with a slightly shocked expression, before her eyes narrowed as she glared at him.

"How can you still say things like that, Harry?" She said. From the tone of her voice, one could see that she was furious. "You, Ron and I have been friends for years. You're our best friend, my first friend, and you think you can just walk away from us like that?"

"But...I…" Now it was Shirou's turn to stutter. The unexpected turn of event left him speechless.

"If you're going to be like that, then I'd like an explanation," Hermione continued, taking a step closer to Shirou as he unconsciously took one back. "And don't give me that 'I prefer hanging out with Malfoy' nonsense. I haven't seen you with him ever since that day when you left us. You don't hate being with us, admit it. We had been under the same roof for weeks during the summer and I didn't see you complain. Not even once."

"That's…"

"I don't think we've done anything to warrant that treatment, Harry," said Hermione. Her voice and her eyes became softer. "But if we did, we would like to know about it, so we can fix it. Isn't that what friends do?"

"You've done nothing wrong, Hermione," finally, Shirou sighed. "It's just… we can't be friends anymore."

"Why?" She demanded.

"I can't tell you that. Not now at least."

Silence then fell between them. Hermione just kept staring at him. Shirou could see her hands balled into fists and her nails digged into her palm. However, after awhile, she relax, sighed, then turned away.

"We won't accept that, Harry," she said, her back facing him. "You're our friends. And if you don't want to tell us the reason, we will keep on pestering you until you tell us, so that we can fix it."

With that, Hermione walked away, leaving Shirou dumbfounded, looking after her.

"What's with that girl…" After getting out of his shock, Shirou sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Strangely enough, she wasn't completely wrong. It was true that he didn't hate being with them, not in the least.

Lucky for Shirou that he managed to arrive at Transfiguration class right before Professor McGonaGall stepped in. Hurriedly getting himself a seat in the back row, Shirou then pulled out his textbook and parchments, along with some quills and, of course, his new wand.

"Good morning, class," McGonagall said after sweeping her gaze across the room to make sure that everyone was ready. "During previous lessons, we have finally covered the Enlargement Charm. Today, we're going to learn the opposite, the Shrinking Charm. As its name suggest, this charm will make its target become smaller, if cast right, of course."

Taking a little break, she then continued.

"Essentially, it isn't any different from the Enlargement Charm, but instead of focusing your intent to make the target bigger, we do just the opposite. Instructions can be found in your textbook. Read it thoroughly, then I will answer any question that you may have. After that, we will move onto the practical part."

For the next fifteen minutes, the entire class was silent, except for the occasional sound of a page being turned. Just like the others, Shirou was concentrating on his own book. He was trying to remember the wand movements and the incantation, since aside from those, the rest wasn't anything new to him, who had been practicing to focus his intent and direct his prana ever since he was a kid.

After everyone was done reading, Professor McGonagall looked around the class once more and asked if they had any question. When no one said anything, a frown showed on her face but she didn't comment on it. Instead, she just gave each student a rat to start practicing with.

Before doing the spell himself, Shirou wanted to see how other students were doing first. According to his experience, the first one to have any success would be Hermione, followed by Hannah Abbott from Hufflepuff. The last one to be able to cast the spell, not counting himself, would be Ron, or occasionally, Seamus Finnigan.

With that in mind, he then took a glance around, only to see Hermione looking at him from her seat. She quickly averted her gaze when she saw him looking, however. Next to her, Ron was taking turn to look at both her and Shirou, confusion evident on his face. Finally, the redhead just shrugged and turned back to his own assignment.

Just as Shirou had predicted, Hermione was the first one to have result. From where he was sitting, Shirou couldn't see it, but her could hear Professor McGonagall said that Hermione's rat shrunk just a little after her third try, although it was still a long way to go until it reached the required size.

Deciding that he'd seen enough, Shirou looked back at his own rat, raising his wand and focus on what he wanted to happen. He then did the wand movements and read the incantation. However, his rat remained unchanged.

What did I do wrong? Shirou frowned. He could feel his prana went from his Circuits, through the wand in his hand and outside without any obstruction, yet nothing happened.

"Your wrist movements were too stiff, Potter."

Hearing someone said that from the seat next to him, Shirou turned over to see a Hufflepuff girl with red hair. If his memory wasn't wrong, her name was Susan Bones. He'd seen her many times since they had several classes together, but they had never actually talked.

"Pardon?" He asked.

"I said your wrist movements were too stiff. Here, let me show you," Susan repeated, scooting a little closer and performed the spell on her own rat. Ironically, nothing happened either.

"Eh?" She stared blankly at the result of her spell a second before her mind registered what just happened. Once it did, Shirou could see her face starting to heat up.

"That's weird. I was sure that it would work. I've been practicing this for days," Susan stuttered as her face got redder and redder.

"Look, it's okay. Everyone makes mistake. I can't even cast a decent spell ever since the start of this term," Shirou assured her. Half of his mind was trying to suppress the laughter, since it would be too cruel to the poor girl.

"Ah… You're right," she looked at him and smiled bashfully. "Sorry, I just wanted to help you."

"It's alright, really," Shirou smiled at her. "You just said my wrist was too stiff, right? Let me try again."

And so he did, this time paying more attention to the wand movements. To his, and the entire class's surprise, after he read the incantation and pointed the wand at the rat, it actually shrunk and ended up with only a third of its original size.

"You did it," Susan exclaimed.

"Thanks to you," Shirou replied with a smile. It was then that he heard Professor McGonagall's voice.

"First the essay, and now this. Can I be assured that this is indeed an improvement, Mister Potter?" The old witch said, her expression was still how it normally was. However, Shirou could hear a hint of approval in her voice.

"Yes, Professor," replied Shirou.

"Good, twenty points for Gryffindor. Mister Potter is the first one to success shrinking his rat," McGonagall announced, giving the the slightest smile before continuing her round.

"Congratulation," Susan said. "Now it's my turn. Can't let all of that practice go to waste, you know."

"Thank you," Shirou nodded at her and leaned back against his seat, surprised to see himself feeling a little satisfied. It was the first time he successfully cast any magic, not counting the earlier attempt in Dumbledore's office. Besides, being awarded for it was a little nice, if he had to admit.

Still, maybe it wasn't that hard to explain. Back when he was still a highschool student, Shirou used to have top grades. His exam results were even better than the perfect Tohsaka Rin. Maybe that was the reason why not being able to perform well in a class, regardless of its kind, bothered him so much.

By the end of the lesson, the only people who managed to perform the Shrinking Charm were Shirou and Hermione. Though the bushy haired witch's attempt still wasn't perfect. The good news, at least for Shirou, was that they were excused from having any homework from Professor McGonagall for that day.

In the evening, Shirou returned the the Gryffindor's common room in higher spirit than usual. He'd just had a rather good day. Seeing that it was still a little early, he was just about to go up to his dorm to take a shower when some strange noises came from the window. Following the source of the noise, Shirou found a owl, which he recognized as the Greengrasses', knocking on the glass with its beak.

After looking around to make sure that no one was paying attention to him, Shirou went over and opened the window. The owl flew in, landed on his left forearm and held out its leg, which had an envelope tied to it. Shirou relieved the owl of the burden, telling it to get back first, before rushing upstairs, where he could read his mail without being watched.

Once he was sitting comfortably on his bed, Shirou opened the envelope. Inside was a small golden key and a piece of parchment. Shirou looked at them both before setting the key aside and read the letter. It said.

Hello Harry,

It's been awhile since the last time we talked. I'm sorry for not being able to contact you sooner, though I assure you that there are very good reasons for it.

If you've been reading this letter, then you should have received the key as well. It's the key to your own Gringotts vault, which contain five hundred galleons. Those are the payment for your two assignments. Put them to good use, you're going to need it once you stopped acting as Harry Potter.

On that topic, I still stand by what I said. The name Potter can bring us a huge advantage. However, it's your decision in the end. Do whatever you think is best.

Also, good job on the last assignment. I was right to believe in you. I'm also sorry for the surprise that I put you through, but I know it simply isn't enough to apology through a letter. So how about we have a meeting tomorrow. Gryffindor fireplace, usual hour.

I will be waiting for you.

A.G

After finishing the letter, Shirou looked at the key next to him. He supposed that Adam was right, that he would really need the money in the future. However, the man still hadn't answer for his action, one that could have caused hundreds of deaths. Shirou decided that until he could hear the man's reasons, he wouldn't use anything inside that vault.

"I can't wait to see you too, Mister Greengrass," he murmured, feeling the anger within him burning once again. Adam better gave him a very good reason when they finally talked.

End of Chapter 14