Harry and Ron immediately left The Jester, heading for Hermione's home in London. Unfortunately, when they arrived, she was not there. Knowing that Harry would be accosted on sight, Ron instead approached the Aurors, asking for Hermione's location. Not surprisingly, they refused to tell him.

Considering it was a Monday night, there was only one other place that Hermione could be: The Ministry of Magic, which unfortunately presented its own problems. Ron was no longer a Ministry employee and Harry was suspended indefinitely, which meant that technically neither of them had access to the Ministry.

Of course, with Teddy in imminent danger, nothing was going to stop Harry. Harry and Ron immediately Apparated to the Apparition point in the Atrium. The moment they landed, an alarm went off, signalling that someone had Apparated into the Ministry who didn't have the proper credentials. Immediately, two Hit Wizards tasked with guarding the Atrium approached them.

"Sir, we regret to inform you that you and Mr. Weasley are going to have to leave," the first Hit Wizard said, his wand already in his hand and twitching nervously.

"I need to speak with Hermione Granger," Harry said as he attempted to push past the Hit Wizards. As Harry moved, so too did the Hit Wizards, sliding to match his movements and raising their wands at the same time.

"Sir, as you know, you have been suspended from duty. As a result, you are not allowed access to any part of the Ministry of Magic without prior authorization and entrance through the Guest Entrance."

Harry didn't have time for this. He stepped forward past the wand of the Hit Wizard who had spoken and grabbed the collar of his jacket, bringing his face to within inches of Harry's.

"Listen to me: I am going to see Hermione Granger. If you don't step out of my way, I will not hesitate to stun you and anyone else who tries to stop me."

"Harry…" Ron said gently, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry ignored him.

"Now, you can get out of my way and I can go about my business or you can try and stop me again and I'll be forced to put you down."

"There's two of us, sir," the Hit Wizard replied. "You'll never get past us."

"Are you willing to bet on that?" Harry growled back as he noticed that everyone in the Atrium had stopped to stare at him. Whatever happened, this was already going to be a news story. But there was a chance that Harry would be painted as a madman if he kept going.

Harry found that, in that particular moment, he didn't care if the rest of the wizarding world thought he was insane. The only thing he cared about was getting Teddy back.

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the other Hit Wizard twist his wand, the first sign of his impending attack. Harry reached up with his other hand, placing both of his hands on the robes of the Hit Wizard in his arms and turning. The Stunner that the other Wizard fired hit his comrade in the back, knocking him unconscious. Rather than trying to support his weight in his arms, Harry instead tossed the unconscious man at his ally, drawing his wand moments after he did so. While the other Hit Wizard was able to dodge his partner, he was not able to dodge the Stunner that Harry fired at him, which knocked him back to the floor.

Harry knew that he was out of time. Rather than wait for another squad of Hit Wizards to show up, Harry turned and sprinted towards the lift that would take him to Hermione's office, Ron following just behind him. As they ran, Harry could already hear the sounds of boots on the floor, likely a team of Hit Wizards following the men that had just attacked their allies.

When Harry reached the lift, he turned around to see nearly a dozen Hit Wizards tailing them, all of whom began firing at him the moment they were in range. While the doors closed, Harry and Ron easily deflected the few spells that even managed to slip their way through the closing doors.

Once the doors were shut, Harry and Ron each collapsed against opposite walls, readying themselves for what they knew would be coming on the other side of the door when it opened.

Sure enough, when the doors separated, half a dozen Aurors stood on the other side, all of them with their wands drawn. Of course, the moment they saw that their mystery attacker was their boss, their resolve broke. Two of them lowered their wands entirely while three more looked side to side to see what action they would take.

Only Collin Law, Harry's least favorite Senior Auror, stood strong.

"Sir, I need you to drop your wand."

Harry had disliked Law, but this moment proved why. If he had simply allowed Harry to continue going through the Ministry, he would have proved himself loyal to his superior officer. If he had immediately attacked Harry, he would have proven himself loyal to the rule of law and the Ministry of Magic.

Instead, he asked Harry to drop his wand like the coward he was.

So, Harry easily Disarmed him with a single flourish of his wand before shoving the whiny Auror to the floor. Behind him, Harry thought he heard Ron chuckle at the ease with which Harry dispatched one of his own Senior Aurors.

Thankfully, none of the other Aurors followed Harry and Ron, allowing them to run the length of the hallway to Hermione's office. Rather than wait for permission to enter, Harry grabbed the door handle and pulled hard as if he were trying to pull the door of its hinges.

Once the door was open, Harry saw that the situation that he found himself in was about to go from bad to worse. Hermione was in her office and she wasn't alone. Seated across from her was Kingsley Shacklebolt and Amos Diggory, the Minister of Magic and his Senior Undersecretary. Within seconds, Harry and Ron found themselves surrounded by no less than twenty Aurors.

Harry was likely the best defensive duelist in the country, if not the world, and even those odds would have been too much.

Hermione stood and raised her hand, ordering the Aurors to halt whatever attack they may have been considering. While they didn't attack Harry or Ron, none of them lowered their wands.

"Harry, what the hell are you doing here?" Hermione asked calmly, although he could see a certain anger in her eyes that Harry rarely found directed at himself.

"I need your help," Harry said breathlessly.

"And it's that desperate that you felt the need to break into the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione said. "You could have set up an appointment with me."

"I don't have time for an appointment," Harry growled. "I need to talk to you now!"

At that, the Aurors all simultaneously took a step closer to Harry, who was becoming increasingly desperate as the moments passed that Harry had not returned Teddy to his grandmother.

Again, Hermione raised her hand, halting any further action from the Aurors.

"Fine," Hermione said before looking back at one of the other Aurors. "Get Senior Auror Andrews."

It turned out that Elaina had been just a few feet away, commanding the unit that surrounded Harry and Ron. She stepped past Harry, her eyes never meeting his.

"Harry and Ron, step inside and close the door," Hermione said. When Elaina began to speak up, Hermione cut her off. "You are here to ensure that nothing untoward happens, Auror Andrews. If that is not satisfactory with you, you can consider yourself dismissed."

Elaina looked as if she considered leaving for a moment. But when she finally looked at Harry, something seemed to change her mind and she immediately moved to stand between Harry and Ron and the door, blocking any chance they would have to escape. Clearly, Elaina still had concerns that Harry was the one who had been behind the attacks, even if they had provided ample evidence to the contrary.

Of course, considering Harry's state at the moment, he supposed that he should haven't blamed her for that.

"Alright, Harry, what the hell is going on?"

Ignoring the look that Elaina and the others were giving him, Harry turned back to Hermione.

"Legion took Teddy."

As expected, that got a reaction from everyone in the room, except for Elaina.

"Who is Teddy?" she asked in confusion.

"Theodore Lupin is my godson," Harry explained before turning back to Hermione. "I got a note from Legion telling him that I had twenty-four hours to find him."

"Or what?" Hermione asked.

"What do you think!?" Harry bellowed. "Legion's whole reason for existing seems to be to torture me. He's going to kill him!"

"Harry, I need you to calm down," Elaina said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Immediately, Harry grabbed that arm, turning around and in a single motion, took Elaina's wand from her other hand and slammed her against the door before sticking her wand to her chin.

"I'll calm down when I've found my godson!" Harry barked. "Now, keep your hands off me or I'll be forced to do something."

"Harry!" Kingsley said, standing in response to Harry's threat. "Stand down!"

Harry hesitated for just a moment, although he knew that he had no choice. So, he threw Elaina's wand on the ground before turning back to Hermione.

"I need to be reinstated."

"That's not going to happen," Amos said. "We're still weeks away from a verdict on the investigation into your conflict of interest. As it is, Miss Granger should consider herself lucky that she has a job."

"That's not a part of this conversation," Kingsley replied before turning back to Harry. "There is a lingering concern that your relationship with Hermione will impact your ability to work with her."

"Excuse me?" Harry replied.

"Harry, you favor those people closest to you. You cannot contest this fact. It was one of the only concerns that I had when Hermione appointed you as Head Auror. You almost immediately proved willing to circumvent normal rules and regulations in your working relationship with Hermione. That doesn't even begin to account for the obvious conflict of interest that your private relationship created."

Hearing Kingsley talk about his private relationship with Hermione while Ron was in the room would normally have caused Harry more stress. At the moment, however, he doubted that he could feel more stress than he currently felt.

"Then make someone else Head Auror or have me report to someone else," Harry suggested. "Honestly, right now, I don't care about rules and regulations, Kingsley."

"You'll refer to the Minister of Magic as such," Elaina interrupted, which nearly caused Harry to turn and Stun her. Only a pointed look from Hermione stopped him.

"And that right there is why we can't have you in the Ministry right now," Kingsley replied, ignoring Elaina's comment. "I understand that you are worried about Teddy. But we have procedures for a reason. It's because they work. I'm certain that Senior Auror Dawlish will manage to bring Teddy back home."

At that, Harry laughed coldly.

"Kingsley, I didn't know you were such a damned coward."

Immediately, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and a wand at his back, which forced Harry to fulfill his promise. Unfortunately for Elaina, Harry was not only a skilled duelist, but more than willing to fight dirty. Rather than reaching for his wand, Harry simply turned and threw an elbow, which hit her in the side of the head, throwing her off balance. Harry's whole body followed his elbow as he drew his wand and Stunned Elaina.

Every other wand in the room, excluding Ron's, was drawn, all of them aimed at Harry.

"Harry, stand down!" Hermione shouted.

"You are going to let Paul Dawlish try and bring Legion in?" Harry asked. "Dawlish couldn't bring me in, let alone Legion."

"I have faith in him," Kingsley said coldly.

"And you don't have that same faith in me? Why? Because I'm not willing to accept your bullshit?" Harry growled, the rage that Harry had felt building inside of him finally bursting out.

"Fine. If you don't want to help me, then I don't have to stand by you anymore."

"What does that mean?" Kingsley asked.

"I quit," Harry snapped back. "If you won't help me find Teddy, then I'll do it myself and I will kill anyone who gets in my way!"

The room instantly went silent as everyone else looked at Harry, stunned at the clear threat of violence that came out of his mouth.

"You don't mean that," Kingsley said, his voice soft and gentle.

"HE TOOK MY GODSON!" Harry cried out. "I will do whatever it takes to get him back. If you aren't going to help me, then you had better stay out of my way."

Kingsley lowered his wand and stepped forward.

"We can't have you running around the countryside, burning and pillaging everything in your way until you find Teddy."

It wasn't a threat, but a plea to Harry, a plea to calm down. But Harry wasn't hearing that. It was clear to Harry now that Kingsley wasn't going to support Harry in finding Teddy. In fact, it seemed as if Kingsley was more interested in law and order than in finding a ten-year-old boy. The man that Harry knew in the past would have never chosen to simply support the Ministry, even at the risk of finding a child.

But like most everyone who worked at the Ministry for any significant length of time, it either changed you or you left in frustration. Clearly, the Ministry had changed Kingsley, which made Harry's choice much easier.

"Then you've made your choice."

With a quick flick, both Amos and Kingsley went flying against the far wall, Stunned into unconsciousness. Harry turned to Ron, his wand leveled at him.

"Well?" Harry asked.

"Well, what?"

"Are you with them or with me?"

Ron paused for a moment, considering the three unconscious people in the room. Clearly, Ron was uncomfortable with how unhinged Harry seemed to have become. But in the end, Ron made his choice.

"I'm with you, mate."

Harry turned to Hermione. There was so much he wanted to say to her, even if Ron was in the room. But before he could say anything, Hermione spoke up.

"Stun me."

"Excuse me?"

"Stun me. If you don't, they'll assume that I'm working with you. It's the only way that I can continue to pass you information."

"They'll still suspect that you're working with me."

"Of course they will, but this will at least give me a chance to deny those accusations."

Harry hated having to do it, but he knew that she was right. Harry stepped over Elaina's unconscious body and placed a small kiss on Hermione's cheek.

"I love you," Harry said nervously, knowing that Ron was watching.

Hermione, for her part, didn't hesitate for a moment.

"I love you too, Harry. Now, do it and get out of here."

"Fine," Harry said before raising his wand and silently Stunning Hermione. The force was less powerful than the others had been, but it was still enough to lift her off her feet and throw her against the wall where she then landed on top of Amos.

"Mate, we have to move," Ron said, looking out the window of Hermione's office into the Auror bullpen where a team of Aurors were waiting.

"We'll be fine," Harry said as he opened the top drawer of Hermione's desk and pulled out a key. "We have this."

"What's that?"

"A key to one of the Ministry's Safe Houses. I put it here in case Legion ever came after Hermione. She could get out without having to escape back to the Apparition point."

"Well, it seems like a good thing for us to use now."

"That's the point," Harry said as he walked across the room and took Ron's hand before pressing the button that took them immediately to Safe House Two, a small house located on the edge of London. Thankfully, there were no Aurors assigned to the house at the moment, which meant that Harry and Ron were able to slip out without anyone noticing.

Having Stunned the Minister of Magic, Senior Undersecretary, and the Head of the DMLE (albeit at her request) in a single moment, Harry knew that the Ministry of Magic would no longer support him moving forward. Even if they caught or destroyed Legion somehow, there was little to no chance that Harry could go back to the Ministry after the stunt he pulled today.

Of course, with the way Kingsley treated Harry today, Harry wasn't certain that he would have wanted to go back anyway. Kingsley knew better than anyone that sometimes, leaving things to rules, regulations, and procedures only ensured that nothing happened. Sometimes, when someone's life was on the line, you threw out the rule book, especially when that someone was a ten-year-old boy and the son of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks.

Kingsley had been right about one thing: Harry did favor Hermione, even at the expense of his job. That was how things had been for years and the moment that Hermione had joined him, it had become much easier to simply work with Hermione and cut everyone else out of the process. He knew that Hermione was needed at the Ministry. She would be the Minister of Magic one day and revolutionize it, inside and out.

Meanwhile, Harry would always be trying to begrudgingly play by the rules, knowing that he would do better work outside of them. Whatever the future held for Harry, the only thing he knew was that his life would no longer involve the Ministry of Magic. But considering the fact that Harry was still looking for a way to beat Legion, that was a problem for another day.

Once the pair of them were clear of the Safe House, they raced out the front door and began dodging down side streets. Harry was relatively certain that Hermione would be able to prevent Kingsley from sending Aurors after Harry and Ron, but Harry was taking no chances at the moment.

"What do we do now?" Ron finally asked after fifteen minutes of weaving through the city streets.

"I have no idea," Harry grumbled in frustration. "I told Andromeda and Teddy to get out of town weeks ago. I didn't know where they went or how they got there."

"Did anyone help them?"

"I don't think so," Harry said. "I told Andromeda that no one could know where they were going. But, the fact that Andromeda hasn't reached out to us isn't a good sign."

"I agree," Ron replied. "So what do you want to do?"

Harry had no leads and no ideas for leads. But he knew that he couldn't do nothing, because that would only make him feel useless. Then, Harry had an idea. It wouldn't help them with their immediate problem, but it would allow Harry to do something while trying to come up with something, anything that would lead them to Legion.

"Come with me," Harry said as he grabbed Ron by the arm and turned, Apparating from the back alley they had been hiding in to the ancestral home of the Malfoy family. Ron immediately began to protest, but Harry ignored him as he charged to the front door and pounded on it.

Seconds later, the door opened and Harry pushed through it, leaving a confused Narcissa Malfoy in his wake as he nearly sprinted across the entrance hall and the main living room before climbing the stairs and charging into Malfoy's office unannounced.

As expected, Malfoy, who had taken to working from home once he had joined Harry's team, was sitting at his desk, going through old scrolls of parchment. It was obvious that he was researching something, but Harry couldn't tell what it was. The only thing he could immediately tell is that nothing on his desk seemed to pertain to The Arch.

"What the hell are we doing here?" Ron asked as they finally came to a stop on the opposite side of Malfoy's desk.

"I would like to know the answer to that question as well, Weasley," Malfoy responded, looking up at Harry and Ron coldly.

"My godson was taken by Legion," Harry replied. "I have roughly twenty-hours to figure out where he is. I have no leads and no clues as to where he is."

The look on Malfoy's face was strange. It almost looked like he was concerned.

"I am sorry about your godson," Malfoy said with genuine authenticity, "but I don't know what it has to do with me."

"I know that Bill Weasley gave you an Ogham key for the runes on the Arch. I need to know that you've made progress on that. I don't know how, but I'm going to find Teddy and once I've done that, I need to know that we can capture him again."

The moment that Harry mentioned the Arch, Malfoy's eyes dropped to the parchment in front of him. Harry had become incredibly skilled at reading people over the years. It was part of his initial training with the Aurors and just a natural extension of his ability to sense people's true intentions.

This was not a good sign.

"Potter, since your suspension, I've been unable to get into Tartarus."

"What?"

"Welles informed me that since I was working on loan with you, and since you are temporarily suspended from the Ministry, all access that I gained to the Tartarus Chamber was rescinded until you were reinstated."

Harry could feel himself bubbling deep within, rage threatening to overwhelm him again. He turned away from Malfoy's desk and began pacing the room. Harry thought that by giving Bill the right information, that meant that progress had been made on the Arch.

But for weeks, nothing had happened.

Harry snapped back to face Malfoy.

"I need you to go to the Ministry right now and I need you to start transcribing those runes."

"As you can tell, Potter, I am busy with other things," Malfoy replied, "not to mention the fact that you are still suspended."

"Busy with other things? Honestly, you twit, what is more important than this right now? Take my godson out of the equation. If Legion gets through all of my family and eventually kills me, who does it settle on next? If it gets through me, it could take down the entire wizarding world as we know it."

"You think too highly of yourself," Malfoy snapped.

Harry slammed his hands on Malfoy's desk. "I think of myself exactly as I am. I was the most gifted Auror since Moody himself. I brought in most of the remaining Death Eaters, some of them single-handedly. Now, if you want to get into a pissing match with me over whether or not I'm a good wizard, we can do that after we capture Legion."

Malfoy leaned back in his chair, observing Harry silently for a few moments, before shaking his head.

"Listen, Potter, I would like to help you, I really would. But with your suspension, the only people who can order me to do this would be Welles or Shacklebolt. I just don't have the authority to do that."

At that, Harry finally snapped. He drew his wand and lifted it up above Malfoy's head, aiming it at the floor to ceiling portrait of Lucius Malfoy.

"Incendio!"

Immediately, the entire portrait caught fire, causing the version of Lucius Malfoy in the portrait to attempt to blow the fire out to no avail. Malfoy froze for a moment before reaching for his wand, but Harry was quicker, Disarming Malfoy. His wand flew up into the air and into Harry's outstretched hand.

"Merlin, I forgot how much of a self-centered coward you are. Of course, you learned that from your pathetic father so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised."

"Don't talk about my father like that!" Malfoy barked.

"I'll talk about your father however I damn well please. Your father was a shoddy wizard, a despicable father, and an even worse person. What's amazing is that you seemed to have inherited all those traits, but you aren't any good at any of them. You're a worse wizard, I have no doubt you'll be a shit father, and you don't seem to be a bad person, just pathetically apathetic."

"The last time I was here, I told you that if you wanted my forgiveness for all of the terrible things that you had done, then you needed to do something. At the time, I wondered whether you actually wanted that or whether you were just posturing, making yourself look better than you are. You've only been doing that since the day I've known you so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that it was, in fact, all posturing in the end."

"It was not posturing," Malfoy replied quietly, finally stepped away as pieces of the portrait began falling from the ceiling. As Malfoy spoke, Harry did a quick charm on the walls of the room, ensuring that they would not burn, just the image of Lucius Malfoy.

"Then prove it," Harry countered. "Prove that you are a better man than your scumbag father. Take a risk for someone other than yourself, Malfoy. That's the only way you'll gain my respect and the only way that you'll come to respect yourself."

"If you can't do that, then you'll be the son that Lucius Malfoy always wanted."

Harry turned and marched towards the door, leaving Malfoy standing in a stunned silence. Before he and Ron left, Harry turned back to Malfoy.

"Get me that information, Malfoy. I want it within the next day. If you can't do that, then I'll burn your whole fucking house down."

Suddenly, Ron grabbed Harry by the arm and dragged him from the room. In fact, it wasn't until they were outside and Ron Apparated the pair of them back to Harry's home in the mountains that he let go.

"What the hell?" Harry barked as he finally managed to get free of Ron's grasp.

"Listen, I get it. I want to burn Malfoy's house down as much as anyone," Ron said, slightly out of breath from having dragged Harry out of Malfoy Manor. "But you have no chance of stopping Legion and no chance of finding Teddy if you can't stop and think about what you're doing."

"I don't want to stop and think. I just want to find him!"

"And you can't do that if you're in Azkaban! Just today, you've attacked the three most powerful people in the country and set fire to an admittedly shitty portrait. We both know that you being you means that you'll likely get a pass on some of this stuff. But if you keep this up, eventually even Hermione is going to have to come after you, which is exactly what Legion wants!"

Ron was right and Harry knew it. Harry took a deep breath and then collapsed into one of his kitchen chairs. Ron went to the tap in the kitchen and filled a large glass with water, setting it down in front of Harry.

"Now, think. Legion wants you to find Teddy. He wouldn't make it impossible, right?"

"I don't think so. The whole point is that I could be as powerful or as clever as I wanted and I would never be able to keep up with him," Harry replied before downing nearly half the glass in a single swallow.

"He could make all of you disappear without even trying, but that's not the point. The point is that he wants to be found. He wants to show off."

"Then he had to have left you some kind of clue," Ron replied. "The only thing we have is the hair and the letter."

"Which I can't read anymore," Harry pointed out, "and I think the hair was simply so that I knew he had taken Teddy."

"That means that the letter has to be the hint. What did it say?" Ron asked.

"It just told me that I had twenty-four hours," Harry replied before a thought suddenly popped into his head. "Home is where the heart is."

"What's that?"

"That was the postscript on the letter. Home is where the heart is."

"Do you think that means his home?" Ron asked.

Harry's mind had been so derailed by the revelation that Teddy had been taken that he had never really stopped to think about that postscript. But the moment that Ron had suggested that the "home" mentioned was the Tonks' home, Harry couldn't believe that he had never thought of that himself.

They could have gotten to him nearly an hour ago.

"That's got to be it," Harry said in frustration. "I can't believe I didn't think of that earlier."

"Your mind has got a lot going on right now. You can't be expected to think of everything."

"I suppose," Harry replied as he stood. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

Harry and Ron stepped outside of Harry's house and into the cool night air. Before they left, Harry turned to Ron.

"Listen, thanks for helping out. I...I don't think I would have found him if it weren't for you."

"Let's just focus on getting Teddy back," Ron replied. "We can talk more once this is over."

"I just want you to know-"

"Later," Ron said as he held up his hand for Harry to grab. "You ready?"

Harry was not ready, but he knew that he needed to be ready. Teddy was relying on him. So rather than focus on the fear that was bubbling underneath the surface, Harry pushed it aside, took Ron's hand and Apparated the both of them to Andromeda and Teddy's home.

Immediately, Harry knew that Ron had been right. While the house was not on fire, it was clear that parts of it had been at one point. The roof on the back part of the house had collapsed in and the back porch that looked over the moor had been ripped clean off.

Harry drew his wand and walked in through the back door. The interior of the house was in an even worse state than the exterior. Almost every wall of the home had been at least partially demolished, if not entirely destroyed, leaving the house as effectively one large room. Where the walls remained, they seemed to be coated in blood, a sight that nearly caused Harry to vomit at the thought that it was Teddy's blood.

"Merlin, Harry, look."

Harry turned to Ron, whose face was even paler than usual. He was pointing at a pile of rubble in the center of what used to be the kitchen. At first, Harry couldn't see why Ron had pointed it out.

Then, he looked under the pile where he saw a leg sticking out from under the pile of wood and tile. It clearly belonged to Andromeda.

Or at least it had before it had been forcibly removed. The top of the leg had bone sticking straight out of it, while the flesh appeared to have been ripped away. It suggested that the leg had simply been ripped away from the rest of her body, an awful thought.

But the worst part of it was that as Harry looked away from the pile to try and compose himself, he saw a chair. This chair was no different than the one that Dudley had been placed in, except for the fact that it was much smaller.

Small enough for a ten-year-old boy.

A pile of rope and shackles covered the seat. Certainly, they had ensured that Teddy couldn't move. Much like Dudley, Teddy had been forced to watch while Legion had tortured his loved one, in this case, his grandmother.

Over the next several minutes, Harry and Ron found the rest of Andromeda scattered around the house. Both her arms and legs had been removed from her torso before Legion had healed the wound that they had left, preventing her from bleeding out. The marks on her head and torso suggested that much of the destruction of the house had been caused by her body being flung about the house. A quick check of her torso suggested that every single one of her ribs had been broken and her skull had more fractures than he could count.

Still, because of the fact that Legion had staunched most of the bleeding, she had likely lived for quite some time before her body finally gave out.

All the while, Teddy Lupin sat in a chair in the corner, unable to do anything but watch as his grandmother was tortured and then killed.

"Harry."

Harry forced himself to look away from the mess of blood and limbs and down at the framed painting on the floor. Unlike everything else in the house, this was clean as if it had been placed there intentionally. Ron picked up the painting and held it in front of the two of them.

The painting was of an old Gothic-style house that stood on a hill in the center of a small, quaint town. Harry felt a deep sense of familiarity with the portrait. He supposed that the house had a similar vibe to that of Malfoy Manor, cold and distant and proudly opulent.

A winding lane wrapped itself around the hill up to the massive front gates, which had to have been nearly thirty feet tall. In the back, you can just see what appeared to be a few headstones of a cemetery.

"It's a Muggle painting," Ron pointed out. "Nothing's moving."

Something about this portrait was off and Harry was certain that it was the next clue to Teddy's location, another step in the game that Legion was forcing him to play. Harry had to fight back the urge to throw the painting. He hadn't considered the fact that Legion might lead him to more than one place. In fact, he had been fairly certain that his faceoff with Legion would take place in this very room.

Instead, he had walked in to discover that his godson had been forced to watch as his grandmother had been forcibly dismembered and then tossed about the house like a rag doll.

Harry nearly walked away from the painting before he noticed something on the front gate, a single letter on each of the gates.

The letter R.

Harry's mind immediately put the pieces together. The house seemed familiar, not because of its similarities to Malfoy Manor, but because he had been there before. In the portrait, the sun was high in the sky.

But the night that Harry had been there, the sky had been dark, except for a smattering of stars, largely due to the billowing smoke that poured out of the cauldron that sat in the center of the graveyard.

"It's the Riddle house," Harry whispered, almost to himself.

"What?"

"This house. This is the Riddle House. It's where Riddle's father grew up."

"That's where you-"

"Watched his son regain his body, yes," Harry replied, his teeth grinding against each other even as he spoke. This was another part of the game. Force Harry to relive his worst memories while creating new ones.

"That's where Teddy is?" Ron asked.

"I'm sure of it. It's a Muggle painting, right? The Riddles were Muggles. It seems like Legion left this here specifically for me to find it."

"For us to find it."

Harry turned to Ron. "No, unfortunately, you don't register for him, except as someone to use to hurt me."

"You sure know how to make a guy feel wanted," Ron replied. "Don't worry, I'm not offended that the immortal demon doesn't want anything to do with me. Now, are we going or what?"

Harry took the portrait from Ron and held it in his hands. Harry hadn't really considered what he would do if he caught up with Legion. Ever since he had gotten the letter, he had simply been running on instinct, chasing one clue to the next.

Harry was certain that Riddle House was the end of the line. Teddy was there with Legion and they were both waiting for him.

"Ron, you can't come with me."

Harry turned to Ron, whose face was plastered with confusion.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"First, I need someone to go get Hermione and let her know where to go."

"And we can do that together and then all three of us go."

"I'm not letting either of you get anywhere near Legion," Harry replied. "He doesn't want to kill me, not yet. But the two of you won't be off limits to him. If you show up, he'll kill you."

"If you go there by yourself, he'll kill you instead," Ron countered.

"No, he won't. He's obsessed with me. He hasn't caused me enough pain yet. He still has you and Hermione and Neville and Luna to get through. Hell, the worst case scenario is that he doesn't kill you, he captures you. You saw what he did to Andromeda. He'll do the same to you, if not worse."

Ron took a few steps away from Harry, rubbing his hands through his hair in frustration. Harry knew that Ron wouldn't take this well. In fact, if he had thought about it earlier, he would have simply abandoned Ron at the Ministry. But given the fact that Ron had come this far with him, and the tenuous nature of their relationship at the moment, Harry knew that he owed him an explanation.

"Listen, all I need to do is get in and get out. I don't have any intention to fight Legion."

"That's nice," Ron snapped back. "I'm sure he shares that same sentiment."

"I'm not asking, Ron," Harry said, which caused Ron to turn back to Harry.

"I'm not abandoning you to die in that house."

"You're not. I'm going to be fine and I'm going to get Teddy out," Harry replied as he tossed the Safe House key to Ron. "Get Hermione and have her meet me outside the house. If something goes wrong, you can storm the place and get me out."

"You mean when it goes wrong! Harry, this is insane. I'm not going to let you walk to your death."

"I wasn't asking," Harry said as he turned on the spot. As Harry began to switch between Andromeda's house and Little Hangleton, he could see Ron attempt to reach out to him. It was unfortunate for Ron that he was just a bit too slow, anchored down by the Slowing Charm that Harry had cast on the key behind his back before tossing it to Ron.

Harry knew that Ron was going to be furious. He knew that Hermione would likely be even more angry, but Harry wasn't about to risk either of them, or anyone else for that matter, on this part of the mission. Harry had earned some sort of strange immunity from Legion for the time being and he was going to use that to his advantage.

When Harry landed at The Riddle House, a wave of memories rushed over him. Only a few feet away from him was the headstone marked "Tom Riddle," the same one that Harry had been tied to as a fourteen-year-old. Not so far in the distance was the house that Harry had entered in his dreams months earlier, although he hadn't known it at the time.

The sun had finally set over the horizon, leaving Harry alone in the dark of the graveyard. Thankfully, the night sky was clear and the moon and stars lit the way towards the house. With his wand out, Harry raced across the graveyard to the backdoor of the house, which was already open. Clearly, Legion knew that Harry was coming.

Once Harry was inside, he was surprised to see that torches had been lit in the hallway. However, about halfway down the hallway, the torches seemed to turn. As Harry turned down the path and noticed another bend in the trail that the torches were lighting, Harry realized that this was Legion leading him to Teddy. He would have known that Harry would have Apparated to the graveyard as it was the only memory he had of this place. From there, he would enter that door and so the torches would guide him.

Eventually, they lead him up a set of stairs and into a small sitting room, the same one that Riddle and Wormtail had colluded in well over a decade earlier. The fireplace was already lit, a massive fire roaring inside of it. The light from the fire nearly washed out the frame of the young boy sitting in front of it, tied to a chair once more.

Harry sprinted towards Teddy, coming to kneel in front of him, the light of the fireplace reflecting his face. Teddy looked as if his very life had been drained from him. He was alive, but his cheeks were gaunt and his breathing labored. Harry waved his wand over Teddy a few times, casting a series of diagnostic spells that told Harry exactly what he had feared: Teddy had been drained of his magic. With rest, his magic would eventually be restored, but if any more had been taken, he would have died.

Harry was in the process of untying Teddy's wrists when his hands suddenly froze. A moment later, he found himself thrown across the room and pinned to the far wall. Legion stepped out of the shadows in the far end of the room, its hand outstretched as it held Harry against the wall. But this time, it wore a different face.

"Do you like my new look?" Legion asked, its voice echoing inside Harry's head. Apparently, Teddy heard it as well because the moment Legion spoke, Teddy cried out.

"You...monster," Harry growled as a rage that he had never felt before built up within him. Legion walked across the room, ignoring Teddy, until it was only a few inches away from him, the sneering image of Andromeda Tonks staring him in the eye. The only thing that seemed out of place was that horrible smile and a necklace that it wore around its neck, bearing the image of a raven.

For some reason, Harry felt as if he had seen that necklace before. Currently, he had bigger problems than a mysterious necklace.

"Yes, Mr. Potter, we've already established that," Legion said mockingly. "It was really quite foolish of you to come here alone. I know why you would, of course, but you wouldn't actually believe that young Mr. Lupin here was going to come out of here alive, could you?"

Harry ignored Legion, instead focusing all of his energy on his fingers. Harry had a theory about the kind of influence that Legion wielded on another person. Much like his other abilities, Legion seemed to have an affinity for the manipulation of matter. It's why it seemed as if he could move the world around him without a wand.

Of course, this was all just a working theory, one that Harry would have to put to the test.

Harry focused on the wand in his hand and the very muscles, joints, tendons and bone that made up his hand. He felt his magic in it, but unlike any other time where the magic seemingly coursed through his body, the magic in his hand, and the rest of his body, seemed frozen. This was clearly Legion's influence on Harry's body working on him.

While Legion continued talking, telling him more about how much of a fool Harry was for not having brought back-up with him, Harry used Occlumency to keep his thoughts at bay for the time being while he channeled every bit of magic in his body to his wand hand. The process was slow and painful, especially since Harry had never tried anything like this before. But he had every reason to believe that it would work. There had been stories of witches and wizards who channeled magic into specific parts of their body, allowing them to run faster, hit harder, or see further.

In this case, Harry was using all of his magic in a single point of his body to try and overrule Legion's influence. Slowly, Harry felt control return to his hand, although he dared not reveal that fact to Legion, who seemed to be having far too much fun talking to notice that Harry had managed to wrest control of a single body part from him.

It wasn't until Harry had complete control that Legion noticed. Something about the shift in power must have triggered something in him as he stopped talking and immediately shifted his attention to Harry's hand, which was flying away from the wall and towards Legion.

Legion attempted to press Harry back again, but without the control of his hand, Harry was able to fire a Banishing Charm that sent Legion flying across the room. The effect was particularly powerful because almost every ounce of magic that Harry possessed had been channeled into that spell. Harry would recover relatively quickly, but Legion would certainly bound back quicker.

That's why Harry decided to take decisive action. No longer pressed against the wall, Harry lumbered forward, his wand raised as he made his move.

"Avada Kedavra!"

In all his years with a wand, Harry had never once cast the curse, even if he had thought about it. As the power of the spell ran through Harry's body before leaving, he felt all of his rage and anger channel itself into a single, fixed point at the end of his wand before exploding in a jet of green light that dashed across the room and struck Legion in the chest.

Unlike any other time when Harry had seen the curse used, Legion didn't drop to the ground. Instead, it grunted and dropped to a knee. Almost immediately, it began to change, its face shifting further and further away from that of Andromeda Tonks and into another face that Harry recognized.

It was the man that Harry had seen when he had looked into Legion's mind. He was tall and angular with a closely trimmed blonde beard to match his cropped hair. One of his eyes appeared to be missing and had a large scar that cut across it.

Then, all at once, something seemed to change about it. Its face became twisted, almost as if it was trying to adopt several forms at the same time. The green light from the Killing Curse spread through its veins, causing its face to light up the dark room.

For the first time, it seemed like it was injured. It was also the first time that it hadn't been smiling at Harry, which Harry noticed only a moment before the room itself seemed to start shaking. Harry realized why Legion wasn't smiling.

It wasn't happy anymore.

Now, it was pissed off.

That was all Harry Potter, one of the world's most powerful wizards, had managed to do with a Killing Curse.

As the room shook, Harry attempted to make his way to Teddy, but found that he could no longer move again. Looking across the room, Harry saw Legion get to its feet and march towards Harry, suddenly seeming remarkably human.

Then, for the first time, Harry heard Legion speak. Its voice was dark and gravelly and yet airy at the same time, as if it were several voices in one.

"Harry Potter, you are a brave man," Legion said as it stopped only inches away from him. "In all my years, I never remember anyone being able to do that to me. Unfortunately, it's a trick you will only get to pull once."

All at once, every fiber of Harry's being felt as if it were being pulled apart as Legion picked Harry up. Even through the pain, Harry saw that his own skin seemed to be glowing. Harry knew what Legion was doing. It was draining Harry of his magic to restore himself.

Despite everything that Harry tried, there was nothing he could do to resist. Within only a few seconds, the green light faded from Legion's skin and he was able to return to Andromeda's form.

Still, it remained unsmiling.

Then, Harry felt himself flung towards the wall of the room again. Only this time, he didn't stop. Instead, Harry felt bones break as he broke through a series of walls before finally slamming against the exterior wall of the house. Harry tried to fight for air but found that he couldn't breathe due to the pain he felt in his ribs.

While he didn't have access to his wand at the moment, he was certain that all of them were broken.

Then, before Harry could even try to catch his breath, he was suddenly flying through the air once more, traveling in reverse back towards Legion. However, he blew right past Legion and through another series of walls, again slamming into the far wall with a thud.

Now, Harry's vision had completely faded to black, his ears rang and he spit out blood and teeth. There wasn't a single part of his body that didn't feel as if it was broken.

But Legion wasn't done. Harry found himself once again being lifted into the air, this time far more gently than the previous two instances. Harry floated back to the main sitting room until he hovered just in front of Teddy.

"You will not die, Harry Potter," Legion said, the voice in his head noticeably different than the one he spoke with. "I will keep you awake long enough so that you can watch me drain the life from your godson. Then, I will heal you and leave you here until someone finds you."

Harry attempted to speak up, but couldn't open his mouth as his jaw was broken in several places. Instead, he screamed in agony, both for himself and for Teddy, as Legion turned and held out his hands, causing the same faint glow that Harry had seen in himself just moments earlier.

But at that moment, something unexpected happened. The door just behind where Teddy sat flew open with Hermione, Ron and a team of Aurors on the other side. Almost immediately, they raced into the room and surrounded Legion.

"Leave the boy alone!" Hermione shouted, her wand aimed directly at Legion.

Harry prayed that Legion would listen. Harry didn't know why he would. Even if there were a dozen people surrounding it, Legion likely had enough power to deal with all of them. Yet, much to his surprise, Legion smirked at the suddenly crowded room and then turned back to Harry.

"I suppose I'll let you have this one. It'll only make it better next time."

Then, in the blink of an eye, Legion simply vanished from the room. At the same time, the glow on Teddy's skin disappeared and Harry collapsed to the floor, finally slipping into unconsciousness.