Chapter 29 – Curse against Dumbledore

All eyes widened as they saw the saw the dreaded Curse sitting in the headmasters chair and some even puked at the sight of the body hanging from the ceiling. Dumbledore eyed up the relaxed vigilante, his magical power was strong. Even more so than Harry Potters, he had heard many rumours about the man, some even debated if he was human.

"Students" Curse spoke "leave, you can skip breakfast for the day"

Curse looked at the horrified students, when a few in particular caught his eye. Ginny Weasley stood by his alter ego, both looking at him with a knowing smirk. He'd return it if it wasn't for the fact that his face was covered. Neville and the twins had joined the McGonagall, Sprout and Flitwick in being incredibly confused, seeing the smile on Ginny and Harrys face did comfort them somewhat. At this point he noticed Daphne, she stood by Ginny, her eyes watered. So many emotions passed over her face before a smile possessed her face.

"Alright" Harry called "everyone out. Let's leave the vigilante alone so he can do his job"

"Mr Potter?" Dumbledore asked

"That son of a bitch" Harry pointed at the hanging body "is a piece of shit who rapes people for fun and if someone wants to take action against him, then they have my support"

"Thank you Mr Potter" Curse smiled, not that anyone could see it "take the students away with you, me and the adults are going to talk"

"You don't scare me" Draco shouted "you're nothing but a peasant who…" What Draco was about to say next would be unknown as a blast from Curse hit him and he was transformed into a ferret, he made a weird noise that was probably a squeak or whatever noises ferrets make and ran out of the hall.

"You heard the man" Harry addressed the crowd "let's go" Harry and the majority of the students ran out of the hall to their own common rooms, except for Ginny, Daphne and Harry who had found themselves in an abandoned classroom.

"Nice job" Ginny turned to Harry "the real Harry was impressed, he'll probably tell you himself"

"Thanks" Harry responded before slowly changing shape, his body shrunk until he was Ginny's height, his hair turned yellow and grew in length. His eyes morphed from green to blue as his face changed. Two seconds later, Harry was replaced by a smiling Astoria Greengrass.

"Harry was right" Astoria hugged Ginny "Polyjuice tastes horrible, but how did he know it does?"

"Oh we got bored one day during our first year" Ginny began explaining after the hug finished "Harry brewed the Polyjuice potion and turned himself into Ron, we stole some Slytherin robes and we had Harry dress up in them and then we took pictures and sent them to mum. Needless to say she was furious" All three girls laughed for a while before Astoria and Ginny turned to Daphne.

"How are you feeling?" Ginny asked

"Weird" Was Daphne's reply "I'm still a bit…I don't know the word, but I still have negative feelings. But seeing that made me feel so much better, I'm not exactly over it but this helped. I'm worried about Harry to be honest, I noticed that Dumbledore stayed in the hall along with Umbridge."

"Ha" Ginny waved an arm "don't worry about Harry, now come on, we need to get back, I'm sure Harry will show you what happened later in his pensive."

In the hall Curse was as relaxed as a cucumber, he analysed the room, Umbridge was here but she was about as threatening to him as Draco was. He saw Flitwick, McGonagall and Sprout, they clearly had to play along. He'd do his best not to hurt them, Slughorn had run off with the other students. Not that he cared, that was just one less problem, then he laid his eyes on Dumbledore.

"The dreaded Curse I presume" Dumbledore raised his wand "you are trespassing on Hogwarts grounds"

"Funny" Curse replied "you are trespassing in the world of the living, ask me to leave and I'll ask the same of you"

"Enough of this!" Umbridge snapped "I am Dolores Umbridge! Senior secretory to the Minister of Magic and High inquisitor of Hogwarts"

"And I am sure you parents are proud" Curse sarcastically responded, McGonagall's lips turned upwards slightly before she straightened them "listen to me you pink coloured hag, your titles mean nothing to me."

"How dare you?" Umbridge screamed, she was about to say more when a blast from Curse struck her, she flew back and hit the wall outside the hall.

Dumbledore was in shock, the only reason he didn't stop the blast was because it was a simple stunner and he thought it would be beneficial to keep Umbridge out of this but his blast had the power of at least ten stunners. Sprout, Flitwick and McGonagall rushed to her.

"She's alive" Flitwick announced, in a rather disappointed tone. Before the teachers could say anything, the doors closed, leaving the teachers outside the great hall.

"Oh well" McGonagall shrugged "that's that, I guess I should call the aurors, would one of you take her to the hospital wing?" McGonagall walked away, Professor Sprout was about to say anything when she realised that Flitwick had bolted in the opposite direction and had already left.

"Shit" She looked down at the unconscious body of Umbridge "ah well, could be worse, she could be conscious"

Albus Dumbledore did his best to not look at the dead death eater and instead looked at Curse who had gotten up and was now standing on the head table. He didn't like the way Curse was looking down at him.

"Why did you do this?" Dumbledore gestured to the dead body

"To make a point" Curse replied "no death eater is safe, not when I'm around. Your students have realised that, they saw that body and they saw reality. Not the illusion you've created, the illusion where everything will be fine and nobody will get hurt."

"You didn't need to kill him" Dumbledore responded "he was an evil man, but still a man"

"What would you have had me do with him?"

"Send him to Azkaban, give him time to think about his crimes. Let him redeem and repent his action"

"And let others suffer when he does not" Curse countered "some people are beyond redemption Dumbledore."

"Not everyone believes that"

"Potter does" Curse replied "I've heard tales of his strength, perhaps I should recruit him to my cause"

"You will stay away from Potter!" Dumbledore ordered, he was a bit worried. Harry had similar views to Curse and he couldn't let Harry join up with him.

"Why?" Curse asked in an almost innocent voice "you've sentenced him to a life of hell at the hands of muggles all because Voldermort decided to kill him and his parents that night."

"Harry is needed for the light side" Dumbledore gritted his teeth

"Light side?" Curse chuckled "your light is a joke, you capture criminals but do nothing to insure they stop hurting others. Azkaban no longer works, the death eaters have broken out of there"

"If we kill it makes us no better than Voldermort" Dumbledore argued "it makes you no better than Voldermort"

"I disagree" Curse jumped down from the table "I take lives to save others, he does it because he can."

"You would make a great asset to the light side" Dumbledore replied "you have skill and power, you'd be most valuable. With you and Harry, we could end the war"

"The war will be ended but it will be my way that ends it"

"What way is that?"

"Me looking into Voldermorts eyes as death claims his soul" Curse answered

"I can't let you do that" Dumbledore said firmly

"I can't let you stop me" Curse quickly replied

Dumbledore sent a stunner at Curse who dodged before sending his own, Dumbledore dodged and sent another stunner. Curse batted it away with his wand before he sent a cutting curse at Dumbledore. Dumbledore barley ducked in time, he used the disarming spell. Just before it hit him, Curse threw his wand in the air, the spell had hit his hand but as his wand was not there, nothing flew out.

Dumbledore had to admit it was a unique and inventive move but he was busy being surprised at the fact that his spell didn't even push Curse back. He saw the wand falling back down, he was about to summon it when he saw Curse aiming his hand at him. Curse sent a stunner from his hand and Albus barley managed to get a shield up in time, Curses wand landed in his hand and he threw another cutting curse.

Dumbledore rolled out of the way, when a blast of fire flew at him, Dumbledore blocked it and was immediately greeted by another and one after that. Curse was firing rapidly with impressive speed, Albus barley managed to send a stunner at him while avoiding his tenth fire blast. Curse casually flicked it away.

"I must confess" Curse said "I am rather disappointed. No wonder the light side fails"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Dumbledore shot another stunner

"It means that you're foolish" Curse ducked "if you believe that you can beat me simply with stunners and disarming, then you are guaranteed to lose"

"Incendio" Dumbledore bellowed, a massive burst of fire shot from his wand. Curse raised his own and countered with a giant jet of water.

"Aren't you adorable?" Curse joked.

Dumbledore prepared to send another spell but Curse beat him to it, he fired a dark spell at him. Dumbledore saw the spell, he recognised the shape and colour of it. If this spell hit him it would make his eyelashes go inward so every time he blinked his eyes would be poked by his lashes. While it may not sound deadly to some it could seriously damage his eyes so he quickly stepped out of the way.

The two traded spells for another five minutes, by that point all the windows were broken and the head table was smashed into pieces while one of the walls had a massive scorch mark, Dumbledore decided to keep using non harmful spells while Curse used pretty much anything except the unforgivables. Dumbledore was realising that he had to take it up a notch, he turned one of the plates into an owl and sent it at Curse. Hopefully the owl would have distracted him enough for Dumbledore to land a spell. However Curse had immediately transformed a plate into an eagle and the two birds met in mid-air.

The eagle quickly got the upper hand and after dispatching the owl he flew straight at Dumbledore, Dumbledore got rid of the meddlesome bird when he was struck in the nose. He stepped back to see the thing that hit him was a goblet, ignoring his displeasure at the wasted pumpkin juice that was spilling from it, he saw Curse had magically sent another which Dumbledore had swatted away.

Curse then magically raised ten plates, with a flick of his wand they flew straight at Dumbledore with a speed that would make the previously present bird very jealous. Albus dodged half of them but was hit in the shoulder and knees, one had struck him in his face and left him with a cut under his left eye.

"Impressive" Dumbledore complimented "it's clear to me that you don't need those dark spells to do well in a duel."

"You're a fool to believe that spells are simply divided into light and dark" Curse raised his wand into the air the fired a reducto curse at the ceiling, part of it broke off. Dumbledore apparated out of the way, greatly thanking the benefits of being headmaster.

"That was a simple reducto curse" Curse pointed out "even with that I could kill you, magic should not be divided into light and dark. What it does, how evil it is, is dependent on the intent of the user."

"I implore you" Dumbledore aimed his wand at Curse "see reason, all of this mindless killing, it needs to stop. Join the light side, help us combat the evils of this world"

"I am combating the evils of this world"

"No" Dumbledore replied "you are simply believing that you are. We cannot fall to the depths of the death eaters, to kill makes us as bad as them. Please, join the order"

"And do what? Simply stun and tie up my enemies?"

"They all deserve a second chance" Dumbledore insisted "everyone can be redeemed"

"So incredibly naïve" Curse sighed "not everyone deserves a second chance, the only ones who do are those who strive to earn it. Those who regret their actions, the people who I hunt, they don't deserve the chances you give out so freely. Only in death do they truly regret their actions"

"This is not the way"

"Yes it is" Curse smiled underneath his shadowy mask "just not your way. You have a choice, let me stop the filth from ruining the wizarding world or stop me because you disagree with my methods. I'd recommend the first, you had better stay out of my way from now on."

Dumbledore had heard enough, he tried to read Curses mind, it was a bit difficult because he couldn't see his eyes but he was positive he could do it. However he didn't even get to see Curses mind, he couldn't get in, was that hood blocking him?

Curse seemed to notice Dumbledore's confusion, he picked up one of the plates in his hand, he raised his hand and threw the metal plate at the floor, however the side of the plate hit the floor and ricocheted up and caught Dumbledore off guard. The plate crashed in-between his legs and Dumbledore fell over with a pained face.

Before Dumbledore could say anything, twelve aurors burst into the hall, followed by the three head of houses. All had aimed their wands at Curse.

"Curse" The main auror spoke "you are charged with multiple curses of…"

"Assault, torture and murder" Curse interrupted "that's what you were going to say right? Unfortunately for you all I have no intention of going to Azkaban, at least not yet, maybe in the near future"

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked in a slightly higher pitch than usual

"All those prisoners in Azkaban" Curse raised his head "all perfect targets for me, I will be sure to visit one day. But not now, I could go but escaping will just waste a lot of time."

"Surrender now" Dumbledore commanded but lost the effect as he was on the floor and had a slightly high pitch voice "if you do then I shall insure a fair trial"

"Just like you did for Sirius Black?" Curse countered "The man who spent years in Azkaban because you couldn't get him a trial or like the Lestranges who should have been executed on the spot or perhaps some of the numerous other scum you've allowed to live?

Face it, those aurors, they'd much rather work for me. They'd love the ability to deal with a death eater once and be done with it. Because you are so insistent in sending them to Azkaban, a prison they've already broken out of, those aurors have to constantly risk their lives to try and bring them back." Dumbledore was about to say something but heard the murmurs from the aurors behind him.

"Every single one of them" Curse spoke slowly "I will end every single one of them"

"Please" Dumbledore replied as he slowly got to his feet "surrender peacefully"

Curse slipped his wand back into his holster, he raised his hands, everyone else took a step closer as they believed he was putting his hands behind his head. But he didn't, just before he touched his head he opened both of his hands. A bright light burst from his hands and temporarily blinded everyone, they opened their eyes a second later and saw that he had gone.

"That's impossible!" Dumbledore screamed

"I'm too old for this shit" One of the aurors sighed

The aurors and Dumbledore eventually discussed what happened, by lunch time the hall was repaired. Lessons were cancelled for the day, Harry after his escape took Ginny and the Greengrass sisters to an unused classroom and put some privacy charms around the room before he showed them two memories in a pensive. One was of Curse torturing and killing Warius, the other was of Curses battle with Dumbledore.

Ginny beamed at Harry with pride, Astoria for the first time in her life was quiet. She was simply too stunned to say anything else. Everyone turned to Daphne, a variety of emotions flew across her face. Slowly tears shed down the girls tears and she wrapped Harry in a tight hug, Harry gently returned it.

Astoria was so happy at the relationship between Harry and Daphne. Admittedly it was a bit disappointing that they hadn't adopted a romantic relationship, Harry would make a great brother-in-law. But she was also happy at how close the two could be, Ginny didn't seem to mind the closeness between the two plus Harry and Daphne were definitely not big fans of cheating. Not like Harry could do it with his soul bond anyway.

Daphne was in no way over the incident, she always seemed to be against the idea of marrying a rich pureblood just so she can live comfortably. The constant marriage contracts had helped convince her that most boys were idiots, her last boyfriend cheating on her didn't help either. But Astoria was glad she trusted Harry, Daphne seemed to be cautious of all males now, other than her father she refused to let any other male touch her, even the male healer that tried to look over her.

Eventually they each returned to their own common rooms after Harry and Ginny escorted the sisters to theirs, Harry and Ginny returned to their own.

"Harry, Ginny" Neville saw the two come in and the rest of the room looked at them "where were you two?"

"We were with the Greengrass sisters" Harry replied

"What were you doing with those snakes?" Ron asked

"That's a personal matter Ron" Ginny replied "and we'd appreciate it if you grew up and get over this stupid house rivalry and stop insulting our friends."

"Ginny, Ron is just concerned" Hermione interrupted "after what happened in the hall you should of returned straight back to the common room"

"Well we helped the Greengrass sisters get to their common rooms then we came back here" Harry replied "we were perfectly safe"

"Safe?!" Hermione blurted out in disbelief "Harry, Curse was here! In the castle!"

"Yeah but as far as I'm aware I don't have the dark mark and neither does Ginny" Harry replied "and we were far enough away from the hall so we were fine"

"Harry it was still dangerous!" Hermione was making Harry hope his mother was nothing like her "besides you can't trust a vigilante who kills people not to hurt you"

"I like to live dangerously" Harry shrugged

"What was that in the hall anyway?" Ron asked "why were you supporting Curse?"

"Because I agree with him" Harry replied "the death eaters aren't repenting, if they can't live peacefully then they should be put down"

"But Harry!" Hermione replied "killing is wrong!"

"Yeah but who is more evil? Someone who does evil things for the sake of evil, or someone who does evil things for the sake of others?"

"Harry he's a criminal!" Hermione reminded him, even though he already knew "he's dangerous! Thankfully Professor Dumbledore would have stopped him by now"

"How do you know Professor Dumbledore has stopped him?" Ginny asked

"Of course he stopped him!" Ron shouted "he's Dumbledore! The greatest wizard of all time!"

"He's not invincible though" Harry pointed out

"And he's not in his prime anymore" Ginny added

"He's not getting any younger"

"Dumbledore refuses to use any spell that could be considered"

"Grey or dark"

"Plus Curse must be decently strong"

"If he's going after death eaters on his own"

"And is confident enough to"

"Come into Hogwarts on his own"

"Now listen" Fred interrupted

"You two might be so in love that you've actually become one person" George continued

"But we invented"

"Finishing each other's"

"Sentences!" The two twins stood, shook each other's hands and stormed off in mock anger.

"I bloody love those two" Harry chuckled. The door opened and Professor McGonagall entered.

"I have come here to inform you all that the hall is being repaired as we speak." McGonagall addressed the common room

"Professor" Ron raised a hand "what's going to happen to Curse?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean it's obvious Dumbledore beat him, so what happened?"

"I regret to tell you this" In reality she loved telling them this, she only regretted not being allowed to enjoy it publically "but Dumbledore was not successful"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked in an alarmed voice

"Well me and the other heads were outside of the hall and the door closed, when I came back a small while later with the aurors we found the hall was destroyed and Dumbledore was laid down on the floor"

"He killed the headmaster?!" Ron's jaw dropped

"No" McGonagall shook her head "the headmaster is not dead Mr Weasley, I can assure you that he is definitely alive and you will likely see him tomorrow or later this week"

"What happened?"

"Professor Dumbledore was very much awake and alive when I came back but he was however hurt and has been sent to the hospital wing and that is all I'm saying on that particular subject, thank you Mr Weasley. I would like to inform you all lessons today are cancelled and the house elves will bring food up here at dinner and lunch. Professor Umbridge was also injured by the vigilante and will not be physically capable of teaching for at least a week and possibly a month. That is all for now" McGonagall sighed and left

"Cancelled lessons?" Harry raised an eyebrow "No Umbridge?"

"Thanks to Curse" Ginny gave him a small smile "I could kiss him"

"Sorry but you'll have to settle with me" Harry joked "but still, no Umbridge for a while and he turned Malfoy into a ferret, he's definitely an order of Merlin candidate."

"First class for sure" Ginny agreed.

"This isn't funny!" Hermione spoke in a loud voice "I can't believe you two are making jokes about this, a man was hanging from the great hall!"

"Yeah but he was a raping murderer" Harry argued "sorry but my pity well is empty"

"How do you even know he was a 'raping murderer'?"

"His godfather is an auror you know" Ginny reminded Hermione "besides I agree with Harry, if he thinks that he can do whatever the hell he wants without repercussions then he is not the sort of person that should be let free"

"You're not the only one" Neville commented

"But why would he put the body here?" Hermione asked

"I don't know" Harry shrugged "you can ask him if they ever manage to catch him, now if you'll excuse me and Ginny, we're going out"

"You can't leave!" Hermione shouted

"Why not?" Ginny asked "Curse has clearly escaped and nobody said we couldn't leave the common room"

"But it's dangerous!"

"So are we" Ginny wrapped her arm around Harrys and the two left

"Wait where are you going?" Ron shouted

"I'm going to shag your sister!" Harry called back just before the two got out of the portrait hole.

Ron turned red and immediately chased after them, no sooner than he got outside he saw that they were nowhere to be seen. He cursed in frustration and went back in"

"Language Ronald!" Hermione scolded him.

"Whatever" Ron mumbled and went up to his room, Hermione picked up her own and left to her room. The whole room was left in collective silence.

"It's never boring in here is it?" Neville eventually broke the silence

"Nope" Dean shook his head

"I still can't believe that Malfoy got turned into a ferret" Seamus smiled "oh how I'd love to see pictures of that" Stink popped into the room and handed everyone pictures of exactly that before popping out.

"I bloody love that elf" Neville chuckled

Harry and Ginny made their way to the room of requirement and Harry immediately pulled his two-way mirror out of his pocket and enlarged it.

"Hi Sirius" Harry greeted Sirius

"Hey Harry" Sirius replied "what's going on?"

"Are you alone?" Ginny asked

"Yes, I'm in my room, why?"

"Put some privacy charms around the room and we'll tell you"

"Fine" Sirius placed the charms before looking back at Harry "now my irritating godson, would you and your better half kindly mind telling me what's going on?" And Harry and Ginny did just that, informing him of Warius and Daphne.

"I'm glad you killed him" Sirius growled "I would've done it myself"

"Yeah so back to the hall" Harry continued telling the story "Malfoy starts mouthing off so I transformed him into a ferret"

"What?!" Sirius burst out laughing

"It's true" Ginny smiled "we'll send you a pensive memory"

"Then Astoria" Harry continued "my polyjuiced lookalike, tells everyone to leave and after a bit of shouting at Dumbledore everyone does. Then Umbridge starts shouting at me and I blasted her out of the great hall, she'll live sadly but she's injured and will be out of our hair for at least a week or more hopefully a month."

"I'll tell Remus about that" Sirius grinned "you should have transformed her into a toad in my opinion"

"Would it have made a difference?" Harry raised an eyebrow

"Probably not" Sirius conceded

"Anyway, I manage to get the other teachers out then it's me and Dumbledore. We duel and he constantly tries to convince me that the way I'm going about it is wrong and I should join the light side"

"Of course he did" Sirius was not surprised "it's no secret that Curse is powerful and if he joined the order he'd be a valuable asset and Dumbledore would look good while gaining another pawn"

"Tell him about the end of the duel" Ginny said excitedly

"End of the duel?" Sirius raised an eyebrow

"Well" Harry blushed "Dumbledore tried to read my mind, but my hood kept him out, while he was realising that I took a plate. I threw it at an angle and it bounced off the floor and struck Dumbledore…between his legs."

Sirius had had enough, he burst out laughing and actually fell to the floor, he was useless for the next five minutes because he couldn't stop.

"Oh" Sirius wiped a tear away "by the way, Dumbledore is still assigning the order members to the department of mysteries but he won't tell anyone what they're guarding."

"Bloody old codger" Harry sighed "never mind, my elves are keeping watch as well so they'll notify me if anything happens."

"Smart boy" Sirius smiled "anyway I got to go, I have a date"

"That's nice" Ginny spoke "what is her name?"

"I…I don't know" Sirius admitted "it starts with an A I think, never mind, I'll ask Kreatcher. Before I go, Remus is currently out on a date with Nymphodora (don't call me that)Tonks and there has only been the one meeting since you left and that was just discussing the guard times for the department of mysteries. They made a list of the times, I'll have Kreatcher send it to you. Bye guys!"

"Sirius seems to be having fun" Harry commented once the mirror turned off

"Why don't we?" Ginny suggested as the room turned into a bedroom "I don't think anyone will interrupt us?" Harry leaned down and kissed Ginny.

"Someone had better be dying if they did" Stink popped into the room, looking panicked and scared.

"Arthur Wesley is dying!" The elf screamed

"Fuck!" Harry shouted. He made the motion of pulling his hood over his head and was now turned back to Curse. Without a word he disappeared, leaving a very worried Ginny.

The next day Harry and Ginny were called into the headmasters office, McGonagall was there along with Mrs Weasley. The headmaster had technically just called Ginny but naturally Harry was going to come as well and everyone knew better than to question it.

"Good morning" Dumbledore greeted the two

"Hello Professor" They greeted

"Miss Weasley" Dumbledore started

"Mrs Potter" Ginny corrected him.

"Mrs Potter" Dumbledore amended "it saddens me to inform you that last night your father was attacked at the ministry."

"What?!" Ginny burst out, in reality she knew what happened because Harry had told her but she still had to pretend to be ignorant.

"Worry not" Dumbledore spoke in a calming voice "he has been badly injured but he will recover shortly"

"What happened to him?" Harry asked

"He was attacked whilst guarding something for the order"

"What was it?" Ginny asked

"I apologise but I cannot tell you" Dumbledore replied

"Why not?" Harry responded "if her father was attacked over it I think she has a right to know."

"It is classified information Harry"

"What are you? The government?" Ginny retorted

"Don't be rude Ginny!" Molly shouted

"Rude?!" Ginny shouted back "dad could have been killed but you're going at me for wanting to know what he was nearly killed for?"

"Mrs Potter" McGonagall spoke up "your father was rescued by the vigilante known as Curse"

"Now Minerva" Dumbledore interrupted "is it really necessary to inform them of that?"

"Yes Albus" The stern witch replied "if anyone has a right to know it's those two" McGonagall turned back to Harry and Ginny "if you two wish I can accompany you both to visit him"

"Thank you Professor" Ginny nodded, the Potters and McGonagall took some floo powder and left through the fire place.

Albus was left all on his own, wondering many things, how on earth did Curse get into Hogwarts? Is Harry falling from the light side? Is Ginny doing so as well? Why didn't Harry's scar give him a vision and tell him what Voldermort was planning? Is Curse going to recruit Harry? How did Curse know to save Arthur? Did Curse know about the prophecy? Who is Curse?

The questions flooded into his brain and he was infuriated to know he did not know the answers, there was only two thing that Albus learned that day. The first is he knew less than he had liked, the second was he would from now on place protective charms on his undergarments. It still bloody hurts!