A/N: Ehehe, uhhh, hi? Don't kill me please.

I was trying I swear, but life wants to toughen me up or something. Free time is cancelled. When and where exactly did I sign my soul away?

Also technically it would be Blurring Reality's turn to be updated, but you get this instead because...uhm, no reason really.

Enjoy :)!

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Chapter 38

"Charmed," Harry drawled.

He pointedly took a step back to avoid touching the severed head. The straw blond man looked at him like an overeager puppy.

"Ugh, no wonder it stinks in here," Rosier muttered, glancing at the head in disdain.

"It is but a few weeks old!" Barty exclaimed defensive.

A few weeks?!

Harry took another measured step back.

"Barty here has quite the soft spot for you, lord Voldemort," Salazar said lazily. "Apparently you rescued him unintentionally during a challenge about a year ago."

Yeah trust Riddle to rescue the complete psychos instead of the nice people.

"My father," Barty spat at the head – oh great now there's spit as well – "Kept me looked up. But you, my lord, challenged him and I could finally break free! I've been dreaming about meeting you ever since!"

Harry had serious doubts about Voldemort's intention to actually rescue anyone, but apparently a coincidence was enough for Barty.

He glanced back down at the head. So he had been a lord? It must have been one of Riddle's earliest challenges. Harry suddenly realized he knew next to nothing about Riddle's time as a lord before they met.

"If you killed him then what happened to the territory?" Harry asked, guessing that sort of thing was important to lords and thus should be of concern for Voldemort.

"Oh a friend of mine is tending to it, until you decide otherwise of course. I-I know you were merciful when you didn't kill my father, but…but he was a bad man! He wasn't loyal to you my lord! He betrayed you as soon as he got the chance! He was helping set a trap to kill you during your next challenge. You mustn't go there!"

"How sweet," Rosier scoffed.

They were already there… But Barty didn't know that. For him, lord Voldemort stood right in front of him. Harry guessed Barty's father had also been involved with Scrimgeour, setting Voldemort and Harry up to die at the hands of the Baron.

"I've met Barty while I was searching for a way to contact you," Salazar said. "Apparently we both had the same goal. He has been following you around, or rather he was following rumours about you. He was also the one to tell me that a boy named Harry Potter recently joined your group. I told him you were on your way here, so he waited."

Wonderful, Riddle had a stalker.

His continued silence seemed to make Barty even more hyper. "May I join you? I beg you, it would be such an honour!"

Ugh.

Harry really didn't want to be anywhere near the man. On the other hand, he had to play Voldemort's part and an eager follower that was ready to kill his own father would surely seem appealing to a lord.

"Come now lord Voldemort, poor Barty here has been dying to join you for a very long time," Salazar said encouraging.

Yes and he'll probably report back to you, you two-faced crazy son of a venomous snake, Harry cursed internally.

"Fine he can come with us," he sighed defeated.

Rosier gave him an appalled look.

"Wonderful, isn't it Barty?" Salazar smirked at the other man.

Barty seemed to be momentarily lost for words, before only Rosier's intervention prevented him from falling over Harry.

"Thank you, my lord! You have no idea how much thi-…"

"Yes, yes," Harry interrupted annoyed and turned back to face Salazar. "Any more surprises?"

Salazar held out his hands and shrugged. "I'm all out of surprises at the moment. Though I'll make sure to have some more when we see each other again. I do so hope we'll meet again soon. I cannot wait to start discussing theories with that boy genius of yours."

More like dissecting me you mean.

"Until we meet again," Harry nodded graciously. "And err, keep the head."

They left the house as quickly as possible without it seeming obviously hurried.

Harry forced Rosier to share his horse with Barty, which earned him another scathing look, though Barty didn't seem to mind. In fact the man appeared to be in an almost dream-like state for the moment.

Harry led on and forced Betty to a speed that was just barely not a full blown gallop.

Rosier kept shooting questioning glances at him. No doubt he was wondering what had happened between him and Salazar that made Harry flee like that.

They arrived at the broken bridge and had to slow down.

"So…Can we talk about it yet?" Rosier asked sceptically and nodded to Barty.

"He's coming back with us to Hogwarts," Harry replied firmly. Let Riddle deal with it.

"Uh-huh," Rosier made and dismounted to lead his horse across the bridge.

Harry did the same and followed.

They once again walked past the grotesque array of intestines lying around. Body parts that Harry now knew belonged to a man who was very much still alive.

"Has that been here before?" Rosier asked and frowned at something on the ground right after the bridge. "Actually, didn't you tell me you were imitating lord Voldemort for this meeting?"

"I was…"

Harry came to a stop next to the others. There on the ground was a new smear of blood, obviously fresh and even more obviously clearly spelled.

UNTIL NEXT TIME, HARRY

Well holy shit.

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Tom rather liked well though-out plans. But sometimes when all careful plans failed it was time to try something crazy. That was why Harry was so unpredictable. His plans usually skipped the careful phase altogether.

But Harry wasn't here and Tom had never planned to invade the Baron's fortress. So he couldn't really tell how well it was going.

They had been crawling through old sewers for a good thirty minutes. Intuitively that classified as 'not good'.

"If this is just a plan to look down on us," Lucius muttered behind him and shot the redhead a chilling look.

"It's the only way in!" Weasley protested for about the hundredth time.

"We could still take the front door, my lord," Bellatrix said eagerly. "Our swords can cut through anything, surely we could have invaded the fortress like that!"

"We need a surprise, Bella. Popping up in the middle of them will have a much bigger effect."

Tom had no idea why he had answered her question. Maybe he was getting used to talking about his plans now. That was definitely Harry's fault as well.

He hissed irritated. If that boy invaded his thoughts one more time-…

"We're here," Weasley whispered.

Above them was a sort of hatch that had seen better days. They had passed dozens of these on their way here and had made countless of turns in the underground tunnels. The Weasley boy had kept his promise and led them confidently to their goal.

"If we're going through here we'll land in one of their bathrooms."

"Fantastic," Lucius spat.

"Swords ready," Tom commanded, taking out his own.

Not everyone had one. Harry had only managed to make about a dozen and he had given them to his best fighters. The rest would have to make do with their usual weapons.

"The hatch is locked, but I should be able to get it open pretty fast," Weasley said.

"Don't bother," Bellatrix laughed excited and activated her sword.

She pushed past the Weasley boy and slashed the hatch with it, cutting through the rusty metal plate like butter.

Weasley's eyes went wide. "Wicked!"

Bella grinned at him. "That's Harry for you."

Tom could see the exact moment when realization dawned on the boy.

"Harry…Potter?"

"Yup. Now let's go kill some people," Bella jeered and pushed herself up through the hole.

Tom kept watching the boy.

He knew for a fact that Ron should not have been able to remember Harry. The twins had told them Harry had stayed with them, while their youngest brother, sister and her mother had been separated from them while Harry was still a toddler. So where then had he heard about him?

Weasley remained frozen while more of his group climbed through the hole. Then the redhead turned towards Tom.

Before he could ask any annoying questions Tom went up as well.

By the time he exited the bathroom Bellatrix and some others had found their first victims. They were keeping their swords red for the moment, matching the Baron's followers.

Tom had instructed them to keep them red for as long as possible. He wanted them to belief they had merely copied the blade. As long as they could keep up with the fight he saw no need to reveal their last trump card.

The first little group of the Baron's men were cut down before they even had the chance to take out their own swords.

A handful of other men reacted a bit quicker and managed to counter their attack, though they were overwhelmed easily.

For now everything was still relatively silent, but Tom knew the commotion would soon become louder and alert more people. In fact…

He turned to the Weasley boy. "You. Scream."

"What?"

Tom towered over him and the poor thing paled again. "Scream or I'll make you."

The redhead stared at him wide-eyed, but finally took a deep breath and screamed.

Screams had a peculiar effect on people. They tended to rush towards the source of it without much thinking. Hopefully the Baron's men in the vicinity would do the same, without alerting the rest of their group. If they came at them in scattered groups they would be much easier to deal with.

He was right.

The majority of the men and women even came alone, probably abandoning their posts in order to investigate the commotion.

Still, that was only the tip of the iceberg. They needed to find the Baron. Surely he would be surrounded by his group if he really was as paranoid as people said.

"Where does the Baron hold his meetings?" he asked Weasley.

"In the old throne room of the fortress, one floor above us."

The redhead moved quickly to lead the way and his group followed.

They were making progress rather slowly, often bumping into another cluster of enemies. Tom didn't need to order someone to scream again, now the fighting had taken up intensity and the men screamed enough as it was.

Some of them even possessed enough wit to run away from the fight, probably to alert the rest of their group that there were intruders. His group tried to kill them before they could get away, but some still managed to escape in the chaos.

The rest of the Baron's group would probably cluster around him now, expecting them. Tom didn't know how large exactly the group was, but he guessed even with the causalities in the corridors, they would still outnumber his group substantially.

But they were just as stuck in the fortress as Tom's group. If they did gather around the Baron, then they would all be in the same room. Tom could work with that.

They moved up the stairs, quickly now, as all their enemies stopped trying to engage them and ran instead to gather with the others.

Tom made a fast head count. 3 causalities on their side so far. It was to be expected. Those that did not have a sword and didn't manage to stay out of range from the enemies had no way to defend themselves.

They arrived at a huge double door that, surprisingly, was barricaded. The Baron had known they would have copies of the swords. It was part of their set-up. So a door wouldn't stop them. Though it did hinder them, as they couldn't see what was inside the room.

Bellatrix was already carving at the door.

"Bella, make sure you stand at the side. Everyone to the walls, they could use arrows or bullets. Snape, be ready."

The pale man merely nodded in acknowledgement. At least one of his men was thinking along.

Bellatrix finished cutting a wide circle into the door and kicked the heavy wood in before crouching to the side.

Tom really had expected to be assaulted by arrows. By forcing them to enter from one point only the other group could have hit them pretty badly.

Instead there was nothing. The large room behind the door was full with men and women, holding out their red swords but no other weapons.

Tom realized that the Baron had gotten so used to win with his wonder weapon that he forgot other weapons could be just as deadly.

"Fire, now," he instructed calmly.

The men that didn't have a sword were mostly equipped with ranged weapons, since they would lose in close combat immediately.

Archers aimed and bullets were fired. He saw some of the front men go down, but after that his vision was obscured.

Snape had thrown a smoke bomb into the room, courtesy of Harry. Tom could hear a loud bang after that, another one of Harry's devices that would immobilize everyone in vicinity.

Tom still didn't quite know how that worked. Harry had tried to explain it to him once. Something about the vestibular system in the inner ear. Tom rather liked the effect of it.

The thick smoke prevented everyone from seeing further than their own hands, but the swords glowed clearly visible.

"Change to blue. Cut everything down that is red."

Bella was the first to storm the room, as usual.

It was pure chaos after that. No one could see anything and thus it was impossible to get an overview of the battle. The cramped space only served to amplify the confusion.

Some of the Baron's men in the front were yelling that their enemies had blue swords. They didn't get a chance to tell their comrades about what those blue swords could do.

Snape kept throwing smoke bombs in from the door, keeping the whole room covered.

Those of his men that didn't have a sword could move in the thick mist without being seen. Those that had swords only had to change back to red whenever they got too close to a group of enemies. The Baron's men had no way to distinguish them from their comrades. Instead they mindlessly charged at everything that glowed blue, until that blue also turned red and disappeared into the crowd.

Still, the Baron's number was overwhelming compared to them. One bad manoeuvre and not even the best fighter could have defended themselves. Just one hit from the swords was usually deadly.

They had to take advantage of the confusion as quickly as possible and level the field.

It helped that Tom had better fighters. The Baron's men had grown dependent on their swords. The weapon gave them such a huge advantage that it made up for lack of skill. Now that they were faced with equally and even better equipped enemies they stood little chance.

If Harry would have had more time to make more swords the fight would have been easy. As it was they had to step carefully to not get overwhelmed.

Tom was cutting his way through another handful of bodies when he noticed that the vision began to clear up.

Someone had started to open the windows, letting the smoke out.

One of the Baron's men noticed him and attacked. Tom blocked with red and cut him down with blue. Apparently they still hadn't understood that part.

The Baron's numbers were reduced to at least half their original size. As Tom surveyed the fight he spotted him.

The Baron wasn't too impressing to look at. Thin and pale, with a gaunt face and silvery hair, he fought surrounded by a circle of protective followers.

The man fought well. Remarkably well actually.

The kind that would make a Hero throw away his advantage and fight fair, for honour, for the thrill of it. Two lords, determining who the best was by duel.

What a shame.

Tom was no hero.

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Those people were crazy.

Every single one of them.

Ron cowered behind the door frame, next to the dark bat-like man who kept throwing weird things into the chaos before them.

Ron shouldn't even be here.

He wanted revenge yes, but it's not as if he had to be the one to kill the Baron. As long as the monster was dead Ron was happy.

So he had helped the small group into the fortress, planning to stay out of their fight and if necessary even run away.

They were an incredibly small group for challenging the Baron's forces, but Ron had thought a small chance was better than none. If they lost…well, what did he care?

But they knew Harry Potter.

Ron's mind was still trying to digest that fact. Why was the group truly here? Ron had assumed like everyone else that it was some new lord who wanted the territory and fame, but now he had doubts.

Coincidence? Not likely, not after Hermione had died for that name. Something had to connect Harry and them to the Baron. And how had they gotten the Baron's swords? None of the other challengers had had that.

Whatever their reason, Ron couldn't leave without them. And that meant he had to stick around, watching the bloodbath in front of him. If they lost, his only clue about the whereabouts of Harry would be lost as well.

To Ron's surprise the small group could actually hold its own. They had quite a few tricks up their sleeves, even without the swords.

But who would just charge into a full hall of enemies like that? And blind? And the man next to him just kept throwing explosives and whatnot in there. Wasn't he afraid to kill his own comrades?

Did they even care? Their lord hadn't even blinked when some of his men died in front of him.

Maybe the townspeople were right, a lord that could best the Baron would be just as bad.

But Ron didn't have to think about that anymore. He needed to know how they knew Harry.

Once the smoke began to clear up a bit, Ron saw who he was looking for.

He had never seen the Baron fight, but he had heard stories. Like all tales about the cruel lord Ron had believed them to be exaggerated. He now could see that they were terrifyingly accurate.

Coupled with his paranoia, the man's excellent fighting skills had protected him from any challenger so far.

He saw the other lord walk towards the Baron – did he just take on four men at once? – crazy, the whole bunch of them.

He saw the black haired women throw her sword away like a spear, taking two people down.

He saw the blond man and women fight back to back, surrounded by another half dozen men.

The man next to him threw another one of those loud devices in and a good dozen men just crumbled to the ground for no apparent reason.

Ron could see people fighting and dying all around him, but two figures soon captured his whole attention.

The lord had cut his way through the ring of followers that had protected the Baron and engaged the other lord.

It was clear those two were on another level from the rest. The others just jumped each other and hoped they would be the first to land a hit.

The two lords moved gracefully around each other, their red swords clashing at an incredible speed.

One of the Baron's men noticed the fight and charged in, aiming for the lord.

Ron cried out on reflex, but a blue sword hissed through the air and pierced the man. Probably the dark haired women again, no one else seemed crazy enough to throw their wonder weapon around like that.

Some more men tried to stop the lord from attacking the Baron, but they were shot down from afar.

The synchronicity of the small group was incredible. They were still outnumbered, but not only managed to fight their enemies, they also protected each other in a seemingly random fashion.

The Baron seemed to get more desperate now, attacking the lord more viciously. But both swords were still red.

Ron had seen the blue ones passing right through the red ones. If the Baron still hadn't caught up to that fact then the lord only needed one opportunity to cut him down.

The man got his chance a few minutes later. Ron saw his sword flash blue and the Baron cried out in pain.

He had severed his sword hand, Ron realized, as the Baron curled up on the floor.

His men didn't seem to know what to do after that. They continued to fight half-heartedly for a while before most of them decided to simply give up.

Seeing that the Baron was still alive, Ron took his chances and rushed over.

The Baron stared up at the lord with hateful eyes. "You won't…be able to foil….our plans forever."

"I don't intend to," the lord replied coolly, "I intend to destroy them."

"The…guild…will know."

"The guild," spat the lord, "Will receive your head as a little promise of more to come."

The Baron made some wheezing sounds and Ron realized the man was actually laughing. "That would be…a declaration of war."

The lord remained unimpressed. "Then war we will have."

The lord raised his sword and Ron hastily jumped in. "Wait! I want to talk to him!"

An angry hiss answered him. "Don't push your luck kid."

Ron kneeled down next to the Baron and grabbed him by the hem of his shirt. "Remember Hermione Granger? Yeah? Well I wanted to tell you she succeeded. You hear me?! I know about Harry Potter!"

The man laughed again, half delirious from pain.

"And what pray tell do you know about Potter? It doesn't even matter!"

"I-…"

The Baron surged up, grabbing Ron's hair with his one hand and whispered in his ear. "That boy's clock is ticking anyways. Ironic isn't it?"

Ron reared back and scrambled away from him.

"If you're quite done," the lord drawled behind him, "I need his head."

Ron stared at the Baron before he gathered himself up and spat at the monster that had terrorized him for so long. "Take it."

The rest of the Baron's group had been rounded up in one corner of the hall. Ron would have had to count to be sure, but it seemed as if they actually still outnumbered the small group.

The bat-like fellow approached them and handed his lord a bag for the head.

"14 causalities, my lord."

"We will need to stay for a few days at least," the lord said, simply brushing over the fact he just heard. "This territory is too far away from ours to govern it properly. We will wait for lady Ravenclaw here. It should give us enough reason to strengthen our alliance."

"What about the rest of the group, my lord?"

The lord only spared a glance for the assembled people. "Kill them."

"My lord," the pale man began tentatively. "Harry-…"

"I said kill them."

"Yes my lord," the man bowed and left.

Harry again… Ron wondered what kind of relation he had to this group that they brought him up so often.

Ron turned to the lord warily. He held no sympathy for the Baron's men, since they were almost just as guilty as their lord, but he shuddered at the thought that he had dismissed so many lives so easily.

Still, he needed to go wherever this man went if he wanted to find Harry Potter.

"I-…"

"Bella!" the lord shouted before Ron could speak.

The black haired women jogged over.

The lord suddenly grabbed Ron's shoulder and pushed him towards her. "He's the souvenir."

She blinked perplexed and then grinned. "Can I tie him up?"

"I don't care."

"What?" Ron protested, trying to get away from the women.

"You're coming with us," the lord said. "That's what you want anyways isn't it?"

"Come with you where?" Ron asked.

"Home."

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A/N: Yeeeesss I know what you're thinking. 'You told us they would be together again!' Yeah see that's why I really should stop making any kind of predicitons.

That being said, they will be reunited in the next chapter. Pinky swear. (No really, right from the beginning of it.)

Also I'm way too excited to have them together again, so hopefully that will translate to a faster update (?).

This chapter was a bit Tom & co. heavy. I did try to balance their storylines over the past 4 capters, but well...I failed.

Hope to see you soon :)! Stay awesome!

p.s: We've hit 2k favs omg thanks a bunch I want to cuddle all of you :3