Author's note:

As promised, here is the first chapter of How to deal with Dark Lords. The same warnings apply as in the epilogue, I hope you enjoy it .

Thank you for daithi4377 for being the first to review!

Chapter 1

…four years later…

It had all gone according to plan with Harry moving out of the AK's way before it hit but with the runes ensuring that the illusion of what was expected to happen is fulfilled. It had been easy to do because they had faced each other without any other witnesses and most people just assumed that the Dark Lord made sure that there was nothing left of the boy who had a chance to defeat him. The people who chose to aid Harry were all informed of his plan, and they even kept in contact after his 'death'.

In the end, most of Harry's friends turned against the light, but only a few light members were unhappy about it. The rest were simply happy that they were alive and that the war was over and that the rumors of the Dark Lord wanting to kill all half-bloods and muggleborns were false…although muggles were now banned from entering Diagon Alley and any other magical area and they were also forced to take the oath of silence otherwise their child or relative was stripped of their power.

With Dumbledore dead, it was found that Ginny Weasley and Hermione Granger's minds had been controlled using an illegal spell that basically wiped the person's personality and created a new one according to the caster's will. The Dark Lord really hated to spill magical blood and had worked tirelessly with Severus to find a way to reverse the effects. It was also found that some of the other Order members as well as some of the high-ranked officials had been under the same spell and they were also cured, thus crushing any rebellion that might have formed when the information made its way to the media.

Everything seemed to be perfect for a while until the Death Eaters noticed that Lord Marvolo Slytherin, as the Dark Lord now liked to be called, seemed very distracted. Although he wasn't very expressive, the man seemed as if he had lost his purpose and was trying to find a new one, and he was often seen pouring over long-lost tombs that he had managed to recover. It made many Death Eaters silently wonder if their Lord regretted killing his nemesis without testing him for any control spells. Just the thought of the two fighting together instead of on opposite sides made them silently wish that the young man had not died before he had the opportunity to live a full life.

Severus and Lucius even managed to catch a glimpse of the contents of one of the books and that set them on edge. It contained more research on soul magic but instead of rituals and spells that granted immortality, it contained theoretical ways on how to drag a soul back from its resting place. Admittedly, Severus was even more worried because he now knew this had something to do with Harry and there was this tiny, little detail that Harry was not really dead.

…Harry's POV…

Harry watched with amusement as Severus walked into his office with a grimace. They both knew that Harry had been nagging at the man to see a mind-healer after Harry himself went to one after the war, in a disguise mind you, and now Harry was a trained mind-healer himself. It wasn't a direction he had even thought of as a career but it kind of jumped out at him after the sessions with him talking to his mind-healer became his mind-healer confiding and talking to him and then taking him under her wing as an apprentice after speed-teaching him through the required courses.

Harry's appearance slightly resembled his old one as he had kept the black hair and green eyes, but he had used a ritual, with the help of Gringotts, to remove most of the Potter features and had managed, with the help of the Deathly Hallows, to add in certain features of the Peverell and Embrys lines. With the goblins protecting his accounts, no one would know that he had claimed the lordships of the two lines anyway. He had to keep his scar covered with normal makeup though since magic would immediately sense any glamours, and only glamouring a patch on your forehead would scream secrets.

His new name was Hadrian Ignotus Peverell, and it had taken a lot to get used to the name as he shed his old identity and after two years, he finally had his own unique mind-healer practice. It was unique in the sense that he traveled wherever he was needed, and it allowed him to mostly stay under the Dark Lord's radar. Kind of like hiding in the open, but he had put a lot of effort into making it happen.

Severus cleared his throat and Harry flushed at being caught daydreaming. "We have a problem. It seems the Dark Lord can't get over his obsession with you even in 'death', and he is looking for a way to resurrect you, or at least bring your soul back. When he does that, he will either realize that you are not dead or, with your luck, it might even drag your soul from your body."

Harry paled abruptly. This was not something he had thought of. He had assumed that the Dark Lord would be happy to have Harry out of the way and he had not analyzed it since then. He should have thought of it though, he thought with a grimace. He wasn't a mind-healer for nothing, and it should have been clear to him that a 17-years old obsession wouldn't just immediately disappear once the subject of the obsession is removed.

He glanced at the elder wand next to him on his desk. The wand had somehow managed to find its way to him after the Dark Lord had taken his Holly wand as a trophy. He missed his old wand but it would cause a stir if it disappeared and so he had left it. The wand had changed a lot after being with him for the last few years and the elder wand now had the look of a yew wand with a thestral bone core. It looked like the wand of a dark wizard, and it made many of his clients wary until he cast light magic with it. At least no one would recognize it.

He glanced at Severus. "Would it be possible to get him to come to see me?" The panicked look in the man's eyes told him that a rant was coming on, but he lifted his hand to stop him. "I don't mean telling him who I am, I mean asking him to 'speak to someone' or something…" Harry grimaced as he trailed off. As sane as the Dark Lord now was, having one of the Death Eaters tell him that he needs to see a mind healer would not go over well.

Harry thought a moment. How would he get the Dark Lord to talk to him without revealing who he was so that the man would get past his obsession with Harry Potter and not try to summon his soul? His hand went to his forehead in thought, and he blinked in shock. Of course, they could use the connection!

He jumped up in excitement and Severus narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but Harry ignored it. "We could use the connection! Somehow arrange it that I come to see you but then we bump into the Dark Lord. He would sense it and come talk to me without knowing why and then I can get him to get over it and then things can go back to normal."

Severus looked at him as if he were crazy, but then again, you had to have a few screws loose after fighting a Dark Lord with almost nothing except the disarming spell. "I don't see a problem with that," his voice was dripping with sarcasm, "but did you forget once the Dark Lord senses the connection, he will want to know why it exists so in the end you may just switch his attention from 'Harry Potter' to 'Hadrian Ignotus Peverell' and how will you hide then? If you fake your death again, he will know that something is going on and he will stop at nothing to find you."

Harry grimaced. "Well, how else would you suggest we do this? If we do not do something and he summons my soul I do not know what will happen, and if we do something then I will have the Dark Lord back on my trail again. It's not like he would talk to anyone else either. I don't see another way."

Severus looked unhappy but he nodded. "Then we will need a plan. You will have to wait until he visits me at the potions shop and I will alert you to him being there. You can come in to order some of your weekly potions. I don't know how you will strike up a conversation, seeing as he is the leader of the wizarding world and does not allow anyone to approach him, but I'm sure you will think of something."

(Another chapter will be posted by tomorrow )