Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter characters.
Chapter Fourteen: Home is the hunter
Clack-Clack-Clack...
"Oh, are you expecting someone?" his guest asked airily.
Harry shook his head irritably. "Yes and no, but just now it's probably a solicitor or some such. I tend to get a lot of that." he said, contemplating the time on his watch and running some calculations in his head.
He left it unsaid whom he was expecting and that he'd lowered the wards around the castle grounds intentionally, not that he was any less vulnerable than previously.
Luna Lovegood-Longbottom just nodded her head in understanding with that strange dream like quality of hers.
Though she was a responsible business woman having taken over the running of 'The Quibbler' after her father retired, and now married with children of hers and Neville's own; she still held that same childlike innocence and optimism that was uniquely "Luna" in nature.
"Heath Cliff, get the door, would ya mate?" Harry called out to his familiar who was idly gnawing at the femur bone of a large creature that even Luna couldn't identify.
The horntail harrumphed irritably, its meal interrupted, before loping off to answer the castle doors.
A mature woman with brown hair and an easy smile turned apprehensively to the side, checking her appearance in her pocketbook's mirror when the Castle doors creaked open and a giant, horn headed creature filled the background of her mirror with rows of razor sharp teeth in what it thought was a welcoming smile.
EEEEKKKKKKK!
A scream of terror echoed throughout the castle, reverberating off the walls.
"W-What was that?" Luna nearly shrieked herself, coming instantly out of her dream like state that was her own unique air of semi-normalcy.
"One less setting for dinner I'd wager." Harry chuckled appreciatively watching his familiar skulk back to its meal hissing derogatorily.
"T-They're alright aren't they?" Luna stammered apprehensively.
"Nothing a few years of professional counseling won't fix."Harry reassured, motioning her back to their discussion.
Once seated and having downed half a goblet of wine to steady her fraying nerves, Luna returned to the topic of their interview, namely: Harry Potter.
"There's a great deal of conjecture on just why you left Great Britain that first time. I know what I saw and heard for myself from the court gallery that day, but was there more? What other reason or reasons were there, from your point of view."
Harry quirked a half smile that never came close to reaching his eyes. Luna noticed this and shuddered accordingly, hoping that such a look was never meant for her benefit in the future.
"Isn't betrayal enough?" he complained before launching into his version of events.
"Dumbledore chose his timing perfectly and with a few well placed words at a critical moment, during what should have been the final battle, he had my friends and associates believing me having betrayed the light's cause. He wanted to step in and be the hero as he once was during the first war in having defeated Grindlewald."
Harry paused to pour himself a glass of fire whiskey from his study's liquor cabinet. His study was the converted reception hall off of the Great Hall where he'd once joined his fellow tri-wizard champions after his name had conspiratorially come out of the Goblet of Fire.
He motioned the bottle questioningly toward Luna, but she waved off the offer, anxiously waiting for him to continue.
"There was that and the fact that he, with the help of the goblins, had been robbing me blind since I was orphaned. As my erstwhile, self appointed, magical guardian and conspicuously placed position as the Wizengamot's Chief Warlock; it was relatively easy for him to pass the right bills and exploit the right contacts to gain control of the fortune my parent's bequeathed me in their will. All he needed was for the goblin's to ..."
"Seal the will until you came of age thereby making all legal and financial decisions for yourself, as a minor, by your appointed magical guardian. He would have complete authorization to make any and all financial decisions for your estate." Luna interrupted him with a halting appreciation for the former headmaster's machinations.
Harry tapped his nose with his forefinger indicating she was on target.
"H-How much did they illegally misappropriate, if I might ask?" she asked pensively, unsure if he was willing to divulge , let alone even knew an accurate accounting of what he'd lost through manipulation and betrayal.
"Somewhere in the neighborhood of one hundred and twenty seven million galleons in both coin and liquidated assets." He readily answered with no little contempt bleeding into his voice.
Luna goggled at the amount.
"W-What could he possibly...? What did he do with it all?" she gasped in disgusted shock at Dumbledore's actions.
That half smile of menace was back on his face as he conjectured. "Curried favor in the political arena and funded his own private little army- The Order of the Phoenix, with himself as commander, of course. He lived at a higher standard than what even a position as prestigious as Headmaster could afford. The head master liked his tailored clothes his expensive books and gadgets- his many comforts. Merlin knows he probably sucked up a million galleons in lemon drops alone." Harry surmised in a disgusted tone before continuing. "He even went so far as to buy himself a nice little plot of several thousand acres on distant shores where he could escape, to maintain his fine lifestyle, if things went pear shaped here."
Harry paused to take a sip of his whiskey. It was Dumbledore's personal stock which made it ultimately his by proxy.
"As you already know, I threw a monkey wrench into his plans and he died before he could see them realized or himself safely and comfortably tucked away." Harry smirked that smile again, adding... "A pity that. I would have dearly loved to have visited him in his twilight years to, er, reestablish old ties."
Luna shuddered in trepidation at that. She had no doubt what "reestablishing old ties" meant for the former headmaster and it was undoubtedly unpleasant to say the least.
Before she could think to ask for more, Harry ventured. "At least I still have the goblins to appreciate. Don't think I've forgotten those little blighters in all of this. They probably stole as much or more than Dumbledore actually did, but for them it was purely for greed's sake. I'm sure that fleecing a wizard, any wizard, but especially one supposedly favored by the wizarding world, appeals to their sense of vengeance for all they perceived wrongs they've suffered throughout their history of endless goblin rebellions."
"W-What are you going to do?" Luna asked intrigued that he would even consider messing around with someone of the goblin's reputation.
"You mean what have I already begun to do?" Harry corrected with an appreciative, if cunning, smile.
Luna goggled slightly at that. She remembered him for the kind, clueless boy that he was, but now was faced with the stark reality of the man he'd become.
This Harry Potter was unlike anything she'd ever known him to have been.
He was not only confident and self assured, but cunning. Not a combination to take lightly especially in lieu of the fact that he'd recently slain the most feared dark wizard of the age.
As if reading her thoughts, which she realized he probably could, Harry ventured that:
"I'm still the same person I once was and I'm not, Luna. The things I once cared about and held inviolate, I still do. Friendship and family are still sacred in my eyes, though I've had little success in that arena." He added with an unmistakable tinge of regret in his voice.
Perceptive as always, Luna picked up on it. "Was there, is there someone special, Harry?" she asked hopefully.
Harry quirked a half grimace before taking a sip of his drink, stalling as he mulled over how much he should or could divulge.
"Are you asking as Luna or as the editor in chief for 'The Quibbler'?"
Luna rolled her eyes at that before answering sarcastically. "You know better than that."
"Do I?" he argued.
"I'm your friend, Harry" Luna shot back emphatically, without a hint of her usual dreaminess.
"Even friends betray, Luna. Your Hermione's friend, as well, aren't you?" he ventured incredulously.
She shuddered helplessly at that. Never would she have believed that Ron and Hermione would have betrayed him as they had. The three had been inseparable friends and faced dangers beyond imagination together.
Irritated with himself, he immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, Luna. That was uncalled for. I'm afraid past experience has embittered me to the point that I've become as suspicious and paranoid as old Moody was." He shrugged helplessly for want of an adequate defense.
Luna nodded in understanding, her curiosity getting the better of her, but with Luna it was a given.
"You've seen them, then?"
His visage darkened slightly. "I've seen them." After a brief and uncomfortable silence, he detailed his 'reunion with his former best friends.
If Luna remembered anything, she remembered that Harry was a man of his word. She also remembered what Ronald did when they dragged Harry into that travesty of a trial.
"Ron Weasley's been missing, quite unexplainably for over a week now,... did you kill him?" It was more of an assumption than a question.
Harry's face soured noticeably. "I wanted to, but he took the initiative." He answered vaguely, seeming disappointed by some missed opportunity.
Luna was about to ask him to clarify his last comment when the knockers at the castle door clacked ominously.
CLACK-CLACK-CLACK
His eyes went out of focus for a moment as he checked the castle's wards.
"Speak of the devil?" Harry chortled eagerly.
Heath Cliff, sensing his meal was about to be interrupted again, irately grabbed up his dinner bone and slunk away into the bowels of the castle.
"Ingrate!" Harry admonished after the dragon's retreating tail. He waved his hand oddly in a somewhat dismissive fashion,... and Luna could have swore she heard the castle door's creak open.
"Um, you mentioned something about a devil?" she asked curiously.
Harry smirked as he ventured prophetically. "They say the devil is a woman in a red dress."
Initially puzzled, Luna began giggling when Hermione Weasley stormed into view wearing deep red robes with a complexion to match.
"Where is he?" She demanded without preamble.
"Where's who?"
"Whom", Luna corrected with an airy countenance belied by her churlish smile.
"Whom?" Harry reiterated with a nod of appreciation toward Luna.
Hermione shot Luna a withering glare before rounding on the object of her ire.
"Where's Ron? I know you're behind this. I want my husband and I want him now!" she demanded, stamping her foot angrily.
"What's he look like?" Harry asked disinterestedly.
"Can you describe him?" Luna corrected, this time shooting a smug grin Hermione's way.
Harry tipped his glass in salute to her earning himself a fuming hiss of impatience from Hermione and a giggle from Luna.
"Stay out of this, Luna." Hermione warned in a dangerous undertone.
"Are you threatening my guest?" Harry asked icily.
"N-No,...I... of course not." Hermione stuttered, shifting her eyes warily back toward Harry.
He shifted his gaze to Luna who shrugged indifferently, still grinning as she was happily enjoying the byplay.
Same old unflappable Luna.
Harry harrumphed in dubious acceptance of Hermione's reassurance before scrutinizing Hermione as if he were deciding on just what he should do with her.
Her ire having run its course, she began to snuffle as tears filled her eyes.
"I..Ron's been gone for ten days... our children cry for their father. We've looked everywhere, but ...nothing. He was last seen here...? Please, Harry... I...I'm begging... p-please?" Hermione snuffled, fidgeting nervously under his intense scrutiny.
"Lost him you say?" Harry tapped his forefinger to his chin in contemplation. "Big fella, red hair,.. not too bright?" he conjectured.
Hermione's tears turned to grumbled expletives before she managed to growl out. "You know very well what Ron looks like."
She never did have any patience for anyone but herself. Maybe she should learn some? He mused darkly.
Harry smiled unapologetically, but offered in reluctant consolation. "Who am I to turn down a damsel in distress? Heath Cliff?" he called out into the Castle's Great Hall for his familiar.
The rumbling beneath their feet heralded his counterpart's arrival.
The dragon scrutinized Hermione almost predatorily before turning a questioning gaze Harry's way.
"This bird's" he paused, smirking at her indignant huff at his demeaning description of her person. "As I said, this bird's lost her mate, seen him?" he asked the dragon in English.
The dragon scrunched up its face quizzically, at which Luna broke down in guffaws.
"Paafff, tisss, grttt?" it asked.
Hermione turned toward Harry expectantly.
"What's he look like?" Harry translated.
Luna fell out of her chair laughing at that.
"URG!" Hermione stamped her foot screeching her frustration.
While Harry, oblivious to her irritation, described Ron Weasley in parsel tongue to his familiar.
Once done, the dragon shrugged its shoulder joints in an apologetic 'no'.
"Well,.. he's got to be around here somewhere?" Harry ventured. He summoned a twilight portal that opened like tear in the very fabric of the universe.
Both witches gasped in awe as Harry rummaged about, half in and half out of existence. It was like the top half of his body was just cut off in midair.
They could hear him shifting objects about as if searching through a cluttered attic.
"So that's where I left it." He sang out happily, pulling himself back into the room with a half eaten chicken salad sandwich in his grasp.
"Hmmm, not sure if it's still good?" He sniffed in speculation before his familiar seized the opportunity and snatched the sandwich out of his hand, the morsel disappearing down its fanged maw.
"Hey?" he squawked indignantly.
The dragon belched appreciatively.
"I hope it was spoilt." He groused.
Luna was giggling hysterically, and even Hermione appeared to be fighting a grin of her own at that.
With a last huff of indignance at his, now grinning, familiar; Harry's top half once again disappeared back through the portal.
"What's this?" Harry's voice came back from seemingly nowhere.
He came back into view tugging on, what appeared to be, the scaled tail of a dark black snack.
Hermione shrieked, coloring slightly as both Harry and Luna shot her withering glares.
Harry struggled to pull the appendage farther into their room before giving up and using his magic to wandlessly summon the rest.
The spell had no sooner left his lips than Heath Cliff gasped in surprise and jerked backward unexpectantly.
"What the...?" Harry gapped in surprise.
He stuck his head back into the portal where it emerged out of nowhere just behind Heath Cliff's left rear leg.
"What're you playing at?" Harry asked completely stymied.
Hermione goggled at the spectacle, pointing at one end and then the other. Harry's neck disappeared into thin air not two feet from where she stood, yet his face was some twenty feet away scrutinizing his familiar's backside.
Harry's head emerged back into their side where he promptly stomped on the end of the dragon's tail.
"You stop fooling around and get your arse back where it belongs."
"Yipe-Yipe-Yipe!"Heath Cliff squealed in pain and slunk away, its tail dragging from view as it made for the safety of the castle's interior.
"Always leaving it lying around." Harry grumbled as he resumed his search half in and half out of existence.
Hermione watched helplessly as Harry resumed his antics whilst Luna was rolling back and forth, clutching her sides in fresh waves of laughter.
So distracted were they, they never registered the creak of the castle's doors opening wider nor the voices of other parties in the hall until they were nearly on top of them.
"I'm telling you Jeff, there was a dragon at the door?" A mature brunette defended in a tremulous voice of near panic.
"I'm sure there was, dear." Her husband returned condescendingly, infuriating the women who was about to retort back.
"Oh, mother really?" An adult child cut her mother off. Their child was an obviously stunning young woman at the end of her patience.
Or so Hermione instantly noticed.
They came up short gapping at the spectacle of Harry hanging half in and half out of existence.
"I bet he's around here someplace?" Harry grumbled as he pitched up on his tippy toes and rummaged about out of sight.
"Everything but the kitchen sink? Scratch that... I just found the damn sink." He grumbled oblivious to the scene playing out behind him.
Hermione and the young woman were scrutinizing each other like a strange pair of cats locked in a too small room.
"Jamie... what in the world...?" The elder woman gasped in stunned disbelief.
"Huh..?" Harry startled, recognizing the voice behind him.
Thump
"Owe, damn it!" he howled, banging his head as he tried to hastily pull himself out of the portal.
He emerged, rubbing at his head to find Hermione Weasley and Julia Taylor circling each appraisingly. Instant dislike was etched in every nuance of their body language as each sized up the other in any and every category that mattered to the female of the species.
"Who's this?" Hermione spat distastefully, pawing the handle of her wand with one hand and flicking her other hand airily in Julia's direction.
"What's she doing here?" Julia scathed cocking her head likewise toward Hermione.
"Oh, bother." Harry grumped, heading back toward his service bar and pouring himself another drink. He downed half his drink before pausing with an appreciative sigh and gesturing the bottle toward Jeff Taylor who nodded gratefully, backing away from the growing tension. It was an intelligent, albeit cowardly, move on his part and his wife cast him a glare that clearly displayed her thoughts on the matter.
Harry poured Jeff a drink conjecturing... "You lot doing a bit of sightseeing?"
"Right" Jeff returned sarcastically. "We just decided to get away for a bit."
"He was forced out, Jamie." Gail Taylor clarified, stepping alongside her husband whilst still keeping a wary eye on her daughter.
Both women inched their way, though neither appeared eager to so much as glance away from their continued inspection of the other.
Talk about your elephant in the room.
"I retired." Jeff defended to which Gail rolled her eyes.
"It was that or be fired outright."
"Tomato- Tomatoe" Jeff returned in a singsong tone as he twisted his hand up and down, earning himself an irate huff from his wife as he proffered his empty glass toward Harry who immediately refilled it.
"Full pension?" Harry enquired hopefully.
"Yeah-barely, and had to fight to get every knut's worth. It seems they've had some unexpected loss's lately that have put their finances in quite a bind. It's a good thing I put in my papers early before things starting going downhill."
"Recession's hitting every one hard these days." Harry surmised, nodding his head knowingly.
"Listen to you? Going on so innocent and unassuming?" Gail scathed, planting her hands on her hips and looming over the subject of her ire expectantly. "You're probably the reason for the entire world's recession. " Gail scathed. "What are you, some kind of Doom's Day machine?"
On second thought, she snapped her fingers and suggested. "I know,... your one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse." She paused to tap her finger to her chin thoughtfully. "Let me guess- Pestilence, right?"
Harry saluted her with his drink, grinning churlishly.
Luna giggled appreciatively at that, earning herself a curious glance from Julia, who still kept a wary eye trained on Hermione.
"And who's that?" Julia added more incensed than previously.
"Jealous much?" Hermione goaded.
"That's enough you two." Gail warned.
Hermione smirked her direction retorting. "The name's Hermione Granger-Weasley and you're not my mother, so butt out."
"Uh-OH" Both Jeff and Harry gasped at the same time.
Too late Hermione realized her mistake as not one, but both Taylor women rounded on her and lathered her up one side and down the other, instantly cottoning on to not only who she was but the part she'd played in his past betrayal and forced anonymity; then and now.
They finished with Gail asking haughtily,.. "Why are you even here? Aren't you supposedly married to the other jerk that abandoned and betrayed his once best friend? Shouldn't you be home lying to each other about how intelligent and worthwhile you both think you are?"
"I wouldn't even be here if said git, er, I mean Ron hadn't mysteriously disappeared, no doubt thanks to that great prat Potter!" Hermione spat back caustically as she thumbed her hand meaningfully toward Harry.
"Git? What's a git?" Gail asked curiously.
"Pretty much a moron or a dumb arse." Harry offered in rough translation off handily before taking another sip of his beverage.
"Then what's a prat?" Julia echoed her mother's previous curiosity.
"Definitely a plain old arse." Harry threw in to which both Luna and Jeff snickered derisively.
"He's a prat!" Hermione groused thumbing Harry's way again to which Julia rolled her eyes and added... "You have no idea."
"Hey now?" Harry complained.
"Why can't you Brits just call things what they are? And what's with all this "bloody this" and "bloody that"?" she huffed impatiently.
"Tomato-Tomatoe" Harry returned chuckling turning his hand back and fro, taking a leaf from Jeff's page.
Jeff snickered appreciatively next to him holding his drink up in an appreciative toast.
They'd barely downed the remains of their drinks before more harsh words were exchanged and the first of many hexes started flying.
Harry ducked a nasty bluish colored jinx that Gail had cast which Hermione deflected off a hastily summoned serving platter.
"Hey, that's real silver!" he barked in outrage.
A brown stinging hex shattered one of his liquor bottles to which he responded by hastily grabbing up the rest of the bottles that were still intact and shifting his head meaningfully to Jeff that had the other beating a hasty retreat along with him.
They'd barely made it to the relative safety of the once "Teacher's lounge" before an orange colored curse shattered the doorframe they we lunging through.
"What was that one?" Harry asked curiously, not recognizing the hex signature.
Jeff started measuring out a good four fingers of scotch as he replied. "One of Gail's patented 'Beauty Busters' they make it so their target's hair and makeup won't cooperate. Doesn't have a counter, it has to wear off and until then you come out looking like you went to a salon run by Ringling Brother-Barnum Bailey."
"That's cruel that is."Harry snorted appreciatively.
Jeff shot him a speculative glare returning. "It's not even in the same league with what you did to LS-Two. Where in the hell did you get all that Dragon dung you drowned the joint in?"
"From my dragon." He returned dead pan.
"Right, sure?" Jeff came back sarcastically in obvious disbelief. "Where ever it came from, it got into the ventilation and spread throughout the whole facility. They claim the place is uninhabitable and is likely to stay that way for years."
Harry shrugged indifferently, countering. "It's not like they'll need it what with no personal available for the immediate to near future."
"Did you give them the same sort of send off you gave Warner and Anderson?"
Smirking evilly, Harry ventured. "No,.. That was done more spur of the moment. I put more thought behind what I did to the field agents. It's the little personal touches that count."
Jeff Taylor snorted appreciatively at that, chuckling as he offered: "Same old, Jamie, never the easy, straight forward way."
He raised his glass in toast. "To an artist!"
"Thank you-Thank you" Harry bowed appreciatively as he took a sip of scotch.
"Seen any of my er,.. former comrades since?" he inquired curiously.
"Your victims you mean?" Jeff countered. "I ran into Jenson at the airport." He broke off meaningfully with a raised eyebrow.
"She traveling alone?" Harry asked keenly interested.
"Interestingly enough, no." Jeff smirked. "Our previous assumptions regarding her, ah.. orientation? Anyway, seems we were on the right track as she was with a female companion and seemed happier than I've ever seen her. Pretty girl-her companion... brunette, Russian- couldn't speak a word of English, but they seemed to be getting along great given the way they were joined at the hip and making cow eyes at one another."
Harry chortled appreciatively at that.
"Max and Jenny in school?" he asked in obvious disappointment that the Taylor's younger children hadn't made the trip.
Jeff nodded. "Staying with Gail's parents til things get sorted out."
Jamie nodded before airily mentioning what he most wanted to know. "It's only the three of you, then?"
Jeff looked confused for a moment wondering what he was driving at before a thought occurred and he stifled a half smirk.
"Something on your mind?"Jeff asked innocently.
"er,.. no,.. I just figured that , well,.. Julia's probably seeing someone by now..?" he left off openly, his thoughts going back to the second human heat signature he'd spied in Julia's bedroom the night he'd checked on her and the family's safety.
Jeff quirked a knowing half smile at his friend's expense. "I'll leave that particular between the two of you to sort out."
Harry nodded reluctantly, obviously disappointed by that answer.
He was about to press for more before another round of wand fire was answered by Julia screeching...
"Don't give me that shite? You didn't come sniffing around here wearing red robes like that just to reestablish 'old ties'!"
"Like I even need to try with a cheap bit of blonde skirt like you as the only competition? I suppose you brought mum and dad along as witnesses complete with a pre-nup and a portkey to the justice of the peace?!" Hermione scathed right back.
"UH-OH" Jeff and Harry gasped as one, again. The room outside suddenly filled with the sounds of exploding hexes as the witches in question took things to a whole new and more violent level of instant dislike.
"I suppose I'd better...?" Harry began grumbling as he set his drink down and turned toward the door.
Jeff grabbed up his sleeve and cautioned. "You're not seriously going out there?"
Harry pulled a face at that. "Certainly not." he scoffed indignantly.
He summoned a twilight portal which, to Jeff's startled eyes, looked like he just threw open a window in the very fabric of the universe.
Harry poked his head through, causing Jeff to start sputtering incoherently as Harry's head just disappeared from his body.
Harry blew a shrill whistled and called out like he was summoning the family labador. "Heath Cliff- here boy?!"
Jeff staggered farther back at hearing the answering growl of something big- very big!
"There's a bit of a row out in the hall-HC. Chase off the red robed one would yah?"
Jeff heard what was unmistakable an affirmative snort and then the flagstone floor beneath his feet trembled ominously, soon followed by a tremendous roar that shook the walls and rained down dust and loose mortar from over head.
Harry pulled his head back into the room, from wherever, and clapped his hands together winningly announcing: "That's that," as he ushered, a still gapping , Jeff Taylor toward the door.
They breached the door just as shrieks of alarm from the other room, were followed by a hail of wand fire. The floor shook beneath them as a dragon scrambled past in a total panic, its ridged tail tucked firmly between its legs.
"YIPE-YIPE-YIPE!"
"Ya great coward!" Harry called after it disgustedly.
With a withering sigh, Harry made his way back with Jeff Taylor in tow.
Jeff's head was still pivoting back and forth between Harry and pointing back the way they'd come as he still tried to wrap his head around the notion that his friend had a dragon for a pet.
Harry entered the room to find Luna, tucked safely behind a suit of armor. She was giggling madly one moment and applauding the next as hexes were exchanged by the room's combatants once again.
Hermione was perched behind a large leather recliner flinging curses first one way and then the other as the two Taylor women returned fire from behind each end of the sofa in flanking positions.
Hermione's hair was more frizzled than it had ever been in her youth and her makeup, not that he'd even noticed she was wearing any before, was exaggerated to the extreme.
He smirked realizing that one of Gail's 'beauty busters' must have landed.
Gail and Julia looked no better off as their formerly immaculate clothing and appearance were shamefully disheveled.
Each was spitting and hissing furiously as they returned spell after spell.
Much to his chagrin, he had to admit that Hermione hadn't lost her touch. She was proving herself more than a match for the not inconsiderable talents and power of the Taylor women.
"Alright,.. that's enough!" Harry demanded a cessation of hostilities as he stepped into the room.
The command had barely left his lips when a hail of wand fire crackled through the air his way as all three had now turned their wrath on the common denominator to their subsequent problems.
"Jessuss!" Jeff Taylor barked in alarm as he hit the deck to avoid friendly fire. Not that he was considered wholly innocent at this point either.
Harry for his point just yawned and opened a portal in front of himself. The three curses streaked into the portal and Harry was just about to relinquish it when a scream erupted from inside the twilight realm.
"ARGHHH!"
"R-Ron?!" Hermione shrieked, forgetting present circumstances, and subconsciously rose up from her spot and moved toward the portal.
An innocently surprised Harry stuck his head into the portal calling back in relief... "So that's where he is." After a slight paused he mused. "Hmm,.. he looks a bit ill used?"
"Harry James Potter you return my husband this instant." Hermione raged toward Harry's backside.
Harry popped his head back in and shifted his gaze between the portal and Hermione's fuming person.
Luna had resumed her position on the now smoldering couch watching the drama unfold with eager anticipation as she was poised with quill and parchment in hand to gather notes.
The Taylor women were warily emerging from behind the couch, curious as to this new development.
Gail shot a questioning glance her husband's way, who just shrugged helplessly, just as baffled as they were.
"You sure?" Harry asked reluctantly of Hermione. "He doesn't look like he cares either way just now? Looks a bit traumatized, he does." Harry ventured.
Hermione stamped her foot angrily before bursting into tears.
"Oh alright." He groused. He was always rubbish with crying women.
Harry widened the portal stepped inside than closed the gaping hole behind himself. The others had barely registered their shock when another hole opened and Harry stepped into the room dragging a torn, bleeding and catatonic appearing, Ron Weasley, into the room.
"Ron!" Hermione shrieked in relief, lunging for her husband.
Harry conjured another portal behind Ron and Hermione's momentum sent them both tumbling in before she could halt her forward progress.
"Have a nice trip- see ya in the fall!" Harry called into the portal which snapped close with a satisfied 'crack'.
He was dusting his hands off as he turned to find every set of eyes in the room gapping at the spectacle in absolute shock.
"What?" He asked innocently.
"H-How... where... d-did they...?" Gail was stammering and pointing stupidly in the direction where the portal had been only moments before.
He shrugged noncommittally offering.. "They looked as if they could both use a bit of time away to rest and reflect. She needs to learn patience and he just plain out needs to learn. "
"But where?" Jeff asked dumfounded still gapping himself.
"And spoil the surprise?" Harry groused winking towards a giggling Luna, who was obviously still quite amused by tonight's events.
She had risen from her couch, pocketing her notes as she stepped toward him. Sidestepping the stunned family, she kissed Harry affectionately on the cheek and murmured, "It's good to have you home."
She waved toward the others, who didn't even hardly register the fact, and saw herself out without a backward glance.
"Same old Luna." Harry mumbled affectionately glancing after her retreating form, before thinking better of it and calling after... "Send Neville my love and tell him to floo some night so we can go for a pint and catch up?"
"Well of course I will, silly..." Luna called back incredulously.
Julia had been staring daggers at Luna's back after she's kissed Harry, friendly peck on the cheek that it was. At the mention of Neville, obviously her significant other, Julia's eyes softened dramatically. She drank in his appearance. He hadn't changed so much, except that he no longer wore his colored lenses so that his vibrant green eyes shown beneath his natural jet black hair.
Other than that.. he was Jamie, once 'her Jamie', for perhaps the briefest of moments though she had planned and hoped it would be for a life time. That was before Light Strike tried to exploit him and found themselves instead, embroiled in a war that they were losing terribly, if not having already lost.
According to her father, they were all but ruined and deservedly so.
She had known, as they all did, that Jamie was incredibly talented with enormous power to match, but this?
She couldn't believe she was standing in this legendary castle. Well, that she could believe. What was beyond belief was that he'd somehow rested control of the landmark and now it was his home.
But the eccentricities didn't end there as parked next to the castle was the entire Light Strike-One facility; in and of itself just as enormous and as rumored to be impregnable as the castle the now stood within.
Jamie had always displayed a penchant for disproving the unbelievable, but never on this scale.
All these thoughts and more ran through Julia's mind not that she paid them any individual attention, that was reserved for the man standing just a few feet away.
He was more gorgeous than she remembered and she remembered quite well.
Gail stood staring at the object of many night's tear filled discussions with her eldest daughter as she poured her heart out for what almost was before Light Strike had cruelly robbed the both of their chance.
So profound and overwhelming was the hole that he had left in not only Julia's but all their lives that she had gone even so far as to beg her husband to embrace the search, along with Light Strike, in ascertaining his whereabouts.
Of course, Jeff had adamantly refused, for which she both admired and detested his fortitude in doing what was right, not what was easy.
He was a rare man, her husband, but rarer still was the man standing before them as only he had proved worthy of winning their eldest daughter's heart away from her father.
They'd both known it would happen one day, as all parents both hope and dread, but they'd also known that it would have to be someone very special.
Special didn't cover it. Not from where she stood. As much as she rejoiced to find him now, and seemingly still him, the Jamie they'd known and loved. Still, there were changes if one knew where to look.
Other than the minor cosmetic changes of letting his natural hair and eye color hold sway, it was the way that he carried himself that was so alarmingly –not Jamie.
Part of it, she knew, was merely window dressing, but part wasn't. It was the part that wasn't that was so alarming.
The window dressing was the carefree, albeit eccentric persona he wore. The part that was all too notably real was what any fool with half a brain could deduce; that the most dangerous man in the world was not more than a few feet away.
He'd been wronged and pushed to the breaking point, and now, as evidenced by the abandoned facility outside and the castle they know stood within, he was pushing back.
As mind boggling as all that was, his smile came readily to his lips and lit up his eyes in a way that he hadn't shown before, except in that moment he'd picked up Julia for their first date.
She wasn't a fool and neither was her daughter. Whether he knew it or not, he was looking at all of them, especially Julia, in that same way he had before.
Her heart soared in the knowledge that they'd not just found Harry Potter, but they'd found... their Jamie.
Jeffrey Taylor scrutinized his once subordinate, and rival for his daughter's affections, with a practiced eye. Gone was the young warrior that had proven himself an invaluable asset to Light Strike. In his place stood something the world had rarely seen... a battle mage.
And not just any battle mage, for if the intelligence that Light Strike had gathered was correct; Harry Potter, aka Jamie Harrison, was a shadow mage.
Little if anything was known regarding shadow mages as they were so rarely occurring even within the vast uniqueness of the magical world. No books or manuals delineated their abilities.
Hell, some even argued that it was no more than a ridiculous myth or a fable to frighten children like the bogeyman.
All they really knew for sure, from personal experience, was that Jamie could teleport anywhere within the shadow of night at roughly the speed of thought.
For that alone they deemed him potentially a living –breathing shadow mage.
Whether he was or not, mattered little. What mattered was that he was incredible powerful and that his former superiors had pissed him off-royally.
Men like Jamie were not easily angered, but once done...whoa.
This castle and the facility outside were but pale testimony to what he was capable of which he knew was primarily the reasoning behind this auspicious display.
It was a great big warning sign of- NO TRESPASSING!
It hadn't taken long before the papers in the states had been filled with Jamie's picture on every cover once Light Strike-One had registered as the first casualty of what should have proven a ridiculous war.
Had anyone, anyone, told him that one man could singlehandedly bring Light Strike to its knees he would have laughed himself into unconsciousness.
Now he was standing here staring at the naked proof and he still couldn't wrap his mind around it.
When Jamie had come out into the open as Harry Potter, sequestering himself here at Hogwarts Castle, of all places, he known it wouldn't be long before majority rule in his household would force the issue and they'd come here to see what they could see.
He knew what his daughter hoped for. What he and his wife prayed for and what his younger children cried for, but what he didn't know was where all of this was going to end.
Six months ago he would have assumed that Jamie Harrison would have ended up in chains despite all the seemingly best intentions Light Strike professed to the contrary. Now, he wasn't so sure that Jamie wouldn't end up the ruler of the magical world, as ludicrous as that sounded.
He had no allusions that Jamie would go dark... the man just wasn't wired that way. What he didn't know was how far Jamie was going to push back against his oppressors.
He had all but destroyed one of the world's premiere anti-terrorist task forces without taking a single life. The same could be said for what he'd wrought thus far in the British Isles. The question was,.. would he continue along that vein? Would exacting his vengeance be enough? Would anything short of world war be enough?
These thought all raced through the back of his mind and he had to admit he was ashamed for even having them.
Ashamed because standing before him was the man they had hoped to find. They'd hope to reach out to Harry Potter. To find some way of entreating him to abandon this madness before lives were lost, but they had instead found their fears largely unjustified as not Harry Potter, but Jamie was waiting for them.
Whatever he'd done to Hermione Granger-Weasley, while alarming on the surface, he knew was just more window dressing.
She was no more harmed than anyone else thus far.
He could tell by the glint in his friend's eye and the easy smile that came to his lips that he was thoroughly enjoying himself as he'd rarely done before.
Jamie was working through some agenda and whatever it was... it was , like the man, something special.
Whilst the three friends and once potential family pondered what to do or say to break the ice now that it was just them,.. Jaime took the initiative.
"So,... what's new?"