Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Star Wars movies, books or games. They belong to Disney or their various copyright owners. I don't own any of the Harry Potter books, movies or games,they belongs to their respective copyright owners. This story is not meant for sale nor rent. I make no money from it.


Chapter 15

=TSA=

Part 2

=TSA=


September 1991

unplottable location

Southern France

Drumbeat hammered nails in his ears shaking him awake. He cracked his crusted eyes open and gazed bleary around wondering what the hell was happening and why his arms hurt like son of a bitch… Jimmy Kovach closed his eyes, not believing what he saw for a moment and hoping that the weird hallucination would go away. What the hell did he drink last night anyway? What did he do last night for that matter?

Cheerful shouts of approval and an inhuman screech made him shudder and crack his eyes open again, so he could look wildly around. Nope, he was still seeing the same impossible picture… He was suspended from the ceiling by chains, which explained the pain in his arms, he wore only his boxers too, which in turn explained the cold, but as concerning as that was, what he saw in the large building put it all to shame.

There were hundreds of people milling around, talking, drinking and eating, though most of them were gathered around a parapet around an honest to God arena dug into the ground. Over there, some bare-chested maniac waved a sword of all things and faced off against the next best thing to a fucking dragon… and that wasn't the only impossible thing he was seeing. There were couches and armchairs that floated in the air so their occupants could have a better view of the bloodsport… and he wasn't the only sorry bastard who was practically naked and hung on chains from the ceiling.

The scaly, spiky dragon thing screeched in fury, its long neck moved back for a moment before it struck, its teeth filled maw snapping at the madman facing it. The man moved like a blur sidestepping the lunge, his right hand flashed and the long sinuous neck of the beast snapped back. The dragon roared in pain as a shower of blood sprayed from the side of its neck and the crowd cheered gleefully.

Seriously, what the fuck did he drink, smoke or sniffed last night?! He was a professional, damn it, he didn't do drugs! This… this had to be some kind of hallucination, right… Jimmy shook his head and looked around, trying and failing to make sense of the insanity surrounding him. When he focused on the gathered people, Kovach came to the realization that he was watching something out of a movie, like those about the Romans or something dedicated to their decadence like Caligula or something… There were people busy making out, if not outright fucking, others… was that blood, the fuckity fuck?! Jimmy stared at three scantily clad women, something he generally approved off, go down on a man tied with chains and were they biting him? What?! One of them rose from her… meal, revealing blood splattered jaw, very long, very sharp fangs and a pair of red glowing eyes. She said something and those nearby laughed, then she returned to eating that poor bastard.

Jimmy simply stared slack-jawed, while his mind refused to process what he was seeing. It took a particularly loud and pain-filled screech for Kovach to tear his gaze from the bloodbath below him and stare at the arena. Over there, the dragon-thing had retreated to one corner, its right paw hung uselessly under its bulk and bled profusely, its left wing was torn and to top it all, there was a sword stuck under its jaw. The maniac facing it appeared intact, somehow. He was grinning too, or so it seemed. The madman raised his left arm and a spear flew into his open hand from the shadows under the walls of the arena. He hefted it with practised ease and when the dragon screamed again he threw it right into its open maw. The wicked blade cut through flesh and scales before puncturing through the back of the beast, which went insane and began thrashing in agony. The madman repeated the impossible and this time a curved axe came flying into his hands. A moment later he ran at the dragon, jumped and slammed the blade into the side of its head before flowing away from the snapping jaws, which crushed the spear's shaft like toothpick, not to mention all the claws and spikes. Soon, the beast's movements grew sluggish and it collapsed into a twitching, moaning heap.

Jimmy watched in stunned disbelief how the man nonchalantly walked up to the dragon, tore his axe free and then proceeded to decapitate it with a few strong strikes while the crowd went wild… Then he did something else impossible, though by now Kovach found out that repeated shocks tended to dull the next one. The man vaulted out of the pit to land among the party-goers with penchant for cannibalism and bloodsports. He raised up his hands and the crowd quieted down, even the drumbeat became quieter.

"My friends, I'm glad that so many of you could make it tonight for this little gathering!" The bloody maniac proclaimed to gleeful applauses.

Wait a minute, Jimmy knew that voice! He squinted his eyes and focused on the man's face. Now that he wasn't in the pit and moving in a blur, he could recognize the bastard! That was Veil, the fucker whose corporation he was sent to infiltrate… and if this wasn't some kind of very weird and realistic hallucination might explain his current predicament.

Suddenly, Jimmy hoped he was indeed on all the drug and having the weirdest of trips…

"My Master and I, we fancy ourselves civilized, reasonable men..." The madman went on and Jimmy couldn't help it but snort despite his predicament.

Kovach glanced below where he dangled seeing people eating other people, reasonable and civilized, yeah, pull the other one!

"Yet, people keep getting in our way, doing their damned best to sabotage us. Infiltrators, spies, undercover Aurors, even corporate spies..." Veil sneered. "They never learn." He shook his head and pointed at the far end of the room. "Over there, we've got a couple of ICW agents."

Jimmy had to squint to see them clearly and blanched. There were indeed a man and a woman hanging from chains over there, however they had glowing brands all over their bodies too, the poor bastards…

"I see that you already drank dry that delicious Italian Auror, which leaves us with our muggle friends and today we've got who is who from their Intelligence agencies. First, our local celebrities from the DSGE," Veil nodded at a pale and struggling man and woman who were being lowered down towards groups of waiting people… who all had red glowing eyes and fangs… bloody hell… "Lets not forget our friends from across the Atlantic," another jab followed pointed behind Jimmy, who began to struggle in earnest and stopped paying attention to the lunatic.

Despite his best efforts, Kovach merely managed to get himself swinging from side to side, while no one paid him any attention. The damn chains refused to bulge in any way, it was as if they were stuck to his skin!

"… last and certainly least, the newest crop of corporate spies..." Those words made Jimmy pay attention, he was one such spy after all. "I hope you'll all enjoy the meals provided. But before we continue with tonight's entertainment, I want to introduce to you our two friends from Moscow, who aren't for eating." Veil grinned to chuckles and applause.

A stunning blond woman in a form hugging red dress that left little to the imagination walked out of the crowd and behind her two more women wearing similar dresses, just in black and blue, escorted a pale pair. Those two were a man and a woman wearing the most conservative outfits among the gathered madmen and monsters – a black and a bit outdated suit and a long cocktail dress respectively.

"Here they are, my love." The stunning woman spoke in a husky voice that promised all the wicked things someone could imagine and then some.

"Ekatherina, Timo, I'm glad to officially welcome you into the fold." Veil smiled pleasantly at the unsettled pair. I'm sure we can all look up to a long and mutually beneficial partnership."

He didn't say it, but the implied threat was there. Behave or you'll be on the menu as well.

A thin man with such a pale skin that he almost shone in the dark appeared from the crowd carrying a tray with two crystal vials filled with blue liquid that actually glowed. He stopped in front of the Russians and offered them the drinks with a fanged smile.

"A toast in your honour, my friends!" Veil declared as more servers came from the crowd to offer him and the blond woman who now hung at his side drinks.

Jimmy was pretty sure that the glass they gave her was full with blood or the next best thing and to his lack of surprise, the same was true for Veil.

Hundreds of red eyes focused on Veil and the bombshell beside him as they picked up their glasses, raised them in a toast before taking a drink, something that most of the crowd repeated. Only the Russians were reluctant to do so with whatever shit was offered to them at least until Veil looked at them and raised an eyebrow. He smiled too, and from his perch, Jimmy could see his blood-stained teeth. The same was true for the woman at his side, though in his case, those were outright sharp fangs.

The Russians looked at each other and picked up the offered crystal vials with trembling hands.

Could this get any worse, Jimmy wondered and immediately cursed himself for taunting fate. Below him, the Russian couple drank the vials in one go and Veil nodded at them.

"And now, the fun can continue!" The crazy bastard announced. "Who is going into the arena next?"

At least a hundred people, both men and women, screamed their intent and the crowd went wild. Among the noise and trying to process what he just saw, Jimmy didn't really notice he was being lowered down until he was nearly halfway to the waiting people, no vampires, who looked at him as if he was a lamb brought for the slaughter...


=TSA=

Part 3

=TSA=


September 1991

Hogwarts

Days became weeks and soon, Harry lost himself in the routine of school-life. A lot of classes practically blurred together, especially the less interesting ones, while others often stood out, though not necessary for good reasons. He found it hard to put into words at the time, however if asked years later, it would be plain to see what seemed a bit off by the end of September.

Learning magic ceased to be, well magical. More often than not it became routine, not so different than muggle school. It was just that he exchanged the Dursleys and his cousin Dudley from before meeting his Master with all the staring, ill disguised hostility and sometimes outright fear coming from a lot of students. Honestly, there were days Harry wasn't sure which was worse. While school didn't become boring, which would have been a feat worthy of Merlin with the likes of Tracey and the Twins constantly up to something and even some Slytherins from all years beginning to slowly open up and be less stiff all the time, it was far cry from those first days after his sorting. His Master's antics around the world didn't exactly help matter – as often as not Veil appeared in the Prophet ensuring that everyone's interest in Harry's affairs wouldn't ever recede.

One thing was for certain, if it wasn't for his Master's and newfound relatives high expectations, Harry wasn't sure he would have been able to push himself up to be as diligent in studying as he currently was. Too many of the textbooks were dry and boring affairs, the less said about the books in the library the better – those varied between being able to effortlessly put you to sleep, search for a dictionary or bore you to tears and rumour had it that those containing more advanced material were even worse. On the other hand, there was said something about studying with people Harry was fast becoming to consider if not exactly friends, then the next best thing. That was certainly a novel experience, one he relished and was at least for now, worth it all the issues that came with attending Hogwarts.

On the other hand, when Tracey went in one of her "creative" moods and Daphne failed to reign her in, complications ensured. Like now, when the overly excited girl found it hard to keep herself contained to her library seat and as far as Harry was concerned, she was ready to explode in excitement.

"Did the Twins slip her something, again?" Potter asked in a long suffered tone.

While beneficial as far as his Master was concerned, Harry soon found out that people looking up to him, listening to his opinion and occasionally expecting him to solve their problems, was troublesome in the extreme. Like right now, everyone but Daphne was too busy pretending that reading Transfiguration books was too interesting to pay any attention to Tracey. Draco valiantly fought to maintain a good approximation of a solemn expression, Theo hid his face behind a book and Blaise, well he was actually busy acting as a life shield between Parkinson and Malfoy. That girl had been following Draco everywhere she could after their week in school and no one knew what to do with or about her.

Harry let out a long suffered sigh and exchanged a commiserating look with Daphne before putting down his book. "Fine, I'll bite. What has you so excited today, Tracey?"

"I know how to get them!" She exclaimed. "And you are all going to help me get even!"

"I'm with Davis." Nott rumbled and put down his book, revealing a green streak shaped like a lighting bolt going all the way though his hair. "Half of us are still suffering! Green has no place on my head!"

"I don't know. I thought Daph pulled the whole wood fae look very well." Tracey needled her friend. "At least that shade of green did suit her."

"Tracey, you know, love, we share a dorm. How do you feel awakening with green hair again, hm?" Daphne asked in a sweet voice that made everyone pause and give her an odd look. That tone sounded suspiciously like Aunt Andromeda when she was particularly displeased about something, Harry concluded and that was never a good sign.

"I'm sure Tracey didn't mean it like that and she's really sorry?" He attempted to diffuse the situation.

Greengrass huffed and gave everyone the stink-eye.

"That said, I'm certainly up to getting even." Harry added. "Professor Snape still thinks I had something to do with this..." He gestured helplessly at Theo who simply grimaced in disgust.

It wasn't a good morning in the Slytherin dorms when everyone awoke with their hair disfigured by a very large, very green and very visible patch shaped like a lighting bolt. Arguably those were the lucky ones too, because there were boys and girls like Theo and Daphne where the charm or potion hadn't worked as advertised. Instead of dispelling by next morning or forming the lighting shape, in their case it either colored every single hair on their bodies green or the spell-work became semi-permanent. In the later case if you wanted to get rid of it you needed to wait for natural growth to take care of the issue, cutting off the affected hair and waiting being optional. Apparently, until the professors knew exactly what had been done and what had gone wrong, there were no simple solutions like being plucked like a chicken and taking a hair growth potion.

The less said about the poor bastards who tried it, the better. They now looked like a pair of green walking rugs.

"I'm on board as well. It sound like fun." Blaise announced. He was one of the relatively lucky Slytherins – Zabini kept his hair so short that it was the next best thing to being shaved bald and apparently it was the way he liked it. Less maintenance that way, he claimed. Well, there was something to be said about that, especially compared to Draco who spent at least a hour each day tending his hair as if it was something precious.

"I'm in." Malfoy nodded eagerly after gently checking if his hair was still in one piece.

"Me too!" Parkinson squealed. What was she doing here again?

Harry sighed and exchanged another look with Daphne. Was this how she felt all the time dealing with Tracey? That girl must be a saint, he concluded. "Whatever, I'm in as well if for no other reason you won't let me hear the end of it otherwise, will I?"

"Good, good." Tracey cackled in a very disturbing manner. "Here is what we're going to do..."

Did his Master had to deal with such bothersome shenanigans all the time, Harry wondered.


=TSA=

late September 1991

Washington DC

United States

My wife was right, getting entangled with so much work and plots as I ended up with certainly wasn't the plan. At this rate, we would be busy untangling the whole bloody mess for years to come and so much for my plans for early retirement and enjoying the spoils of my works. The political entanglements alone ate a too much time, they were extremely frustrating and as a given made me extremely vindictive in response. The actions I did in retaliation might be of great benefit in the long run, however in the here and now, they were a major pain in my ass.

"You're brooding again." My wife looked at me with exasperation and took my hand in hers. Her cool touch helped soothe my temper.

"This is going to be tiring, best case scenario." I looked at Chloe and frowned at the flashing lights beyond the darkened window of the SUV we rode in. It was a stark reminder that we were targets of all kinds of maniacs, and while before getting married, that was merely a source of amusement, nowadays it was anything but, especially when we were in public.

"A lot of muggles in your position would have been excited to be called to speak in front of the American Senate and Congress." Chloe smirked behind the thin dark veil covering her face.

While unlike the movies and novels, a bit of sunlight wasn't going to put my wife on fire, nevertheless, the sun was very bad for her and able to strip off her skin with merely a few minutes of exposure.

"You know, you don't have to do this. The media circus alone..."

"Well, this is going to be the official confirmation to the media that we're in fact married and all the Paparazzi will come out of the woodwork." Chloe's smile widened enough to show the tip of her dainty little fangs. "I'm of course the dutiful wife and will be with you supporting you all the way."

"Because someone could confuse you for a good little stereotypical housewife." Now it was my turn to smirk.

"Don't even joke about that." My wife pouted. "I loathe the very idea and you know that very well." Chloe pocked me in the ribs with a finger. "Am I clear?" She used another poke to underline her position.

"Weren't you telling your cousin last week that there was nothing bad about someone being house-wife or house-broken husband if they wanted and could afford to?"

"Yep." Chloe nodded happily and poked me again. "If people want to be such, that's their prerogative." Yet another poke. "I certainly don't wanna."

"Very mature." I caught her finger during the next poke attempt, gently pulled her hand up and kissed it. "Now if you're done committing unprovoked violence upon your poor husband?"

"The only true thing in that statement was the husband part, dear. Now on a more serious note, you know why I'm really here. Someone has to keep you out of trouble and be on hand to ensure you won't go for another vengeance fueled hare-brained scheme."

"I must admit that on reflection, I did resemble that remark. Still, are you sure you're ready for the media circus? We both know that the vultures will be even worse than usual once we arrive."

"Then I'll continue eating paparazzi until they decide to leave us alone for good, and you'll continue to arrange very embarrassing and very fatal accidents for the nosy bastards who come too close." Chloe nodded happily. She gave me a critical look and straightened my tie. "Now, that's better. Remember, you've already gotten even, there's no need to torture the poor American politicians any more than they already are."

"I can make no promises on that front, however I will do my best."

"This is going to end in tears, isn't it?" Chloe grimaced.

"That's not my fault!"

"How can you say that with a straight face, I'll never know..."